Board meeting minutes February 2016
Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy Governing Board, room 1 on the FALA campus
February 17th, 2016
Minutes
Board Members Present: Annette Zinky, Rand Jenkins, Alicia Krzyczkowski, Eli Cohen, Bret Carpenter, Laurah Hagen
Staff Members Present: Laura Kelly, Deidre Crawley, PattiSwartzendruber, LorettaDonovon, Alana Miller, Vrendi Will, Stephanie Burns, Amanda Elson
Guest: Bill and Judy Jordan
Call to Order: Annette Zinky called the meeting to order at 4:04pm
Approval of Consent Agenda:
Alicia moved to approve the agenda, Bret seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Laurah motioned to approve the January minutes, Alicia seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Information Items:
John Faccone delivered finance report. John reviewed process for reporting FALA financials to the State. John reviewed his relationship with FALA over the years, he is glad to have recently stepped into the accountant role again after a 1.5 year hiatus.
John advised that increasing enrollment would be very helpful to reducing FALA’s very high debt load due to a 30 year bond. John would like to see the school grow up to the maximum allowed in the charter, 340 total, to increase school revenue.
Tax credit change now allows for an extended deadline of April 15th, rather than mid-December, making it easier for people to donate to FALA. $44k in tax credits have been collected this year. John encourages staff to promote this tax credit to families.
Field trip finances are now gathered in a liability account rather than in the income account, to keep that money separate and reduce confusion when money is taken out of the income account for trips.
The staff payment schedule has been transitioned to 2x/month.
John recommends preparing a very strategic budget for the upcoming year, proposed in May and adopted due in July.
Annette called for a motion to approve financials from January. Bret motioned, Eli seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
The board expressed deep thanks for John’s work on organizing the budget and making it readable.
Eli gave update on salary scale committee meetings, of which there have been two. The committee reviewed salary schedules from other charter schools. They are developing a formula to be applied to salaries of all staff. There are still outstanding questions which the committee will continue to work on in upcoming meetings. Implementation is still an outstanding question, this will be discussed after the theoretical conversations are over. Laura Kelly added that this is a great time for the conversation, as it will impact the upcoming budget discussions in April and May.
Laura Kelly delivered the executive director report. Campus is still feeling the impact of the Columbinus play, and the guest speaker who survived the Columbine shooting. The school has not received pushback from the community for taking on this sensitive topic. Karen Hanley has been hired for a SPED position. A due process complaint has been filed regarding the SPED program, and mediation is occurring. The budget process will be starting in April, Laura is looking forward to involvement from teachers in order to determine a budget that accurately reflects our needs. Student led conferences will be next month, they fall on the day of the next board meeting. Board members are invited to attend. The board meeting in March will be moved to Thursday, March 24th at 4pm. Laura Kelly requested that Deidre Crawley’s name be added to the charter, to give her signing approval.
Annette moved to make Deidre a charter repetitive. Alicia seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Deidre Crawley gave a Dean of Academy report. Current enrollment is at 322, another student will be enrolling tomorrow bringing the number to 323. There is room for one more 7th grade student and one more 11th grade student. A letter of intent will be sent to all teachers this week in order to assess who plans to come back next year. Class size is a very important topic on campus, and equalizing class sizes across teachers. Deidre is working on creating a class schedule to equalize loads. Middle school students will be given elective classes to explore a variety of the arts, rather than selecting their own classes, to help with equalizing class sizes. Deidre is working on communicating well and often with the teachers, to ensure people feel aware of what’s happening administratively.
Teacher comments: Vrendi requested that teachers be included in the process for determining which classes students entering mid-year are enrolled in. Patty commented that although the student population is growing, additional teachers have not been added. Deidre mentioned that one of the intentions of requesting letters of intent from teachers is to identify where gaps in teaching staff need to be filled. Alana discussed the differences between AP and IB curriculum; IB curriculum may be more aligned with FALA’s mission rather than an AP curriculum focused on regurgitating content. Stephanie gave an update on the SHARE curriculum, a sex ed training for students focused on relationships and emotions.
Public comment: Judy and Bill, parents of a student with an IEP, expressed concern that the SPED department is not sufficiently staffed to meet the needs of their child, and that their child is not receiving the support they were initially told the student would receive.
Annette called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Alicia motioned to adjourns. Eli seconded. Motion passed unanimously.