Board meeting minutes April 2016
Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy Governing Board
FALA Campus, room 4
April 20th, 2016
Minutes
Board Members Present: Annette Zinky, Rand Jenkins, Alicia Krzyczkowski, Eli Cohen, Bret Carpenter, Laurah Hagen
Staff Members Present: Laura Kelly, Deidre Crawley, Dustin Kuluris, Julia Gilmore, Vrendi Will, Sara Buss, Alana Miller, Janeece Henes, Leslie Baker, Patti Swartzendruber, Doug Lyerly, Stephanie Loyer, Amanda Elson
Guests: Bill and Judy Jordan, John Faccone
Call to Order: Annette Zinky called the meeting to order at 4:13pm
Approval of Consent Agenda: Alicia moves to approve agenda, Eli seconds. Motion passed. Bret moves to approve minutes, Alicia seconds. Motion passed.
Information Items:
Eli delivers report on salary committee meetings. Shares that committee reviewed scales from NPA and other local schools. Committee determined base salary, and how to quantify desired skills such as teaching certificates, STEM certificates, years of professional experience, education level, etc. Identified challenges to implementing the scale; there are currently discussions underway with ED Laura Kelly and Accountant John Faccone. It looks like the scale can be fully implemented within 2-3 years, given board approval.
Bill Jordan asks question regarding how new employees will be placed on salary schedule. Committee has not determined this yet.
Stephanie Loyer requests that a scale for counseling and SPED be created taking into account their unique certifications and licenses.
Bret moves to approve salary schedule and asking for clarification on new hires, Alicia seconds.
John Faccone, accountant, delivers report on finances. School is currently $60,000 under budget, in meeting with Laura Kelly (ED) and Eli Cohen (Finance Committee) it is agreed that these resources should be channeled to accommodate the new salary schedule. John reviewed budget items that have changed, including technology and building maintenance costs. School will break even this year. John shared that the school benefitted significantly from increasing student population by 30, this had an immediate impact on the bottom line of the budget. The school is in very good financial position, it has been accumulating cash. A school this size should have 2 months of reserve cash on hand, FALA needs to work on this and should make it a priority.
FALA will need to publish the budget on May 6th, to allow for 10 days of public discussion.
ED Laura Kelly delivers report. Financials for the school are looking good, however there has been an increase in substitutes this month. Alicia moves to approve financials, Eli seconds the motion.
ED shares that parent Joe Bodin and Brent Carpenter have been assessing FALA’s internet access and challenges, are creating a plan for updating technology. A part-time technology person will be hired for on-call support next year. ED’s priorities right now include completing an exceptional budget for this year.
Alicia makes a motion to align our board of directors for the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools stating with the directors and charter representative on file with the Arizona Corporation Commission. To that end, she made a motion that states for the record that Frank Rothamer, Megan Zickerman, and Ilona Anderson are no longer members of the board of directors, and Rebeccca Daggett is no longer a Charter Representative. Annette secondsthe motion.
Alicia made a motion to align our board of directors for the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools stating with the directors and charter representative on file with the Arizona Corporation Commission. To that end, she made a motion that states for the record Bret Carpenter is added to the FALA Board of Directors, and Laura Kelly and Deidre Crawley are added as another Charter Representative. Annette seconds the motion.
Dean, Deidre Crawley, deliver report. Reiterates that new students may be admitted in classes with low enrollment, not into classes with high enrollment. The master schedule is being created which will accommodate the changes in teacher staffing for the next academic year. Contracts are not changing significantly in the next academic year. The lottery for incoming students has run, the 9th grade class has 20 students still on the waiting list. There is room for students in the 7th grade. 8th and 11th grades have students on the waiting list, but they may or may not be able to be admitted based on how their transcripts from previous schools align with the availabilityof FALA classes.
Teacher comments:
Julia asked for an opportunity to review how their experience is being included in the salary schedule, to confirm that all their experience is accounted for and represented accurately. ED clarified that this process is underway and began today.
Leslie asked for clarification on when a FALA employee qualifies for benefits. Deidre responds that benefits are earned by staff teaching 4 classes and advisory.
Public Comment:
Judy Jordan asked why shadowing was taken away from opportunities for touring the campus. Deidre explained that having students shadowing in class was impacting teaching minutes and the teaching environment.
Bill Jordan suggests creating a financial forecast for the school, projecting how the salary schedule will impact the sustainability of the school over 5 years.
Annette motions to Adjourn at 5:15. Motion passed unanimously