001Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining. >> Good morning and good afternoon, good evening. Um, all the goods. Um, thank you for joining October's monthly board meeting. Um, we will get started. Um, Dominique, did you have a chance to record attendees? Um, >> yes. Thank you. >> And we do have a >> And we have a Thank you. >> Do you mind reading today's uh reading wish statement? >> Sure. Uh, Metroina Regional Scholars Academy provides a differentiated, challenging, and equitable learning environment that supports the distinctive intellectual, social, and emotional needs of highly gifted children from diverse backgrounds and enables them to form meaningful relationships with their intellectual peers. >> Thank you. Um guess the first order will be the approval of previous board um meeting minutes. I'll entertain a motion to approve the draft minutes
002from September open session. >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you, Dominique, and thank you, America. All those in favor for approving the draft minutes for September 22nd, 2025, say I. >> I. >> Okay. Anyone um not approved say nay. Right. The seventh minutes have been approved. Um, I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dominique. Thank you, Danny. All those in favor of approving the uh adopting the agenda for today, please say I. >> I. Any who don't approve today's agenda say nay eyes have it. The agenda has been approved. This will be the first opportunity for community comments. The public is welcome to speak limited to three minutes per speaker. Topic should not cover private, confidential or personal information. The board will not respond or enter
003into dialogue on topics discussed. At this time, you may indicate your desire to participate in Q&A comments by raising your hand using controls in the Zoom application or browser. When it is your turn, a moderator will identify you by name and grant you access to speak. Okay. No hands have been raised. All right. Uh, Miss Kuno, do you have uh you want to talk about your report for today? >> Uh, yes. So, um, for the director's report for this month, um, I just wanted to review our admissions plan. Um, right now we are just advertising through our website and social media sites. We're doing um a total of five in-person open houses. They're all on Tuesdays at 10:00. And our student uh eighth grade student leadership are doing the tours and then we do an
004information session afterwards. We're doing two virtual sessions um in one in November, one in December. that will be more informationbased which we will record and have those available on our website um for potential applicants. Um so we're accepting applications now and we are doing our information sessions. Our group test deadline will be December 12th for the January test dates and our deadline for admissions is in February and that's all on the website. Um I also wanted to review well did anyone have any questions about that? Not question but I guess that's fine. I know we could they have done in the past but to the extent do you think that there is any value in having any board member attend one of those e either tours or testing um let let us know I guess.
005>> Okay. Um maybe one of the virtual ones would make sense if possible or I mean you're welcome to attend any of them but on the virtual one that we're going to record with first will be November 4th. So that might be um something where you can describe what the board does because we have a very short piece on that. We don't go into a lot of detail, but I think that could be elaborated on um with a board member and have that kind of information on the website. That might be a good idea. Um I wanted to go over our teacher and staff evaluation plans and how this works or how this is working this year. So, um, Miss Delp, our academic director, and myself are conducting teacher evaluations. Um, every stat, every teacher
006falls under one of three categories. So, it's either comprehensive, which requires four observations throughout the year. Three are formal, which means you schedule them ahead of time with the teacher. You go through a full rubric and you go through a pre and post observation conference and the observation itself has to be at least 45 minutes in length for each of those. And then for that comprehensive one, there's also a peer observation which Miss Stoultz is completing the peer observations. These are for beginning teachers who are within their first three years of teaching or teachers new to uh scholars academy. So the second category might be is standard which has three observations. Um, these are abbreviated, which means they have to be no less than 20 minutes in length for the observation. And they also use
007um, so every observation we use the North Carolina teacher evaluation rubric, which has five strands and is pretty lengthy. For abbreviated observations, there's just two strands. It's standard one and four for teachers in that um, area. These are for teachers who are in their renewal year. So once a teacher becomes a professional licensed teacher after three years, they renew their license once every five years. And that renewal year is they'll have they'll be in the standard observation where they need three. They have to receive 80 renewal hours over five years um that they submit to the state for their renewal as well. So there's um state requirements and then we have the abbreviated which is just two shortened observations with standards one and four. These are for teachers not in their renewal year and who
008have taught for more than uh three years and who have been at Scholars Academy for at least one year. So we are almost done with round one of those observations. Um we'll be continuing those throughout the year. We also do a midyear um check-in with teachers regarding their professional development plans that they write. They pick two goals that they work on throughout the year. Some may have more than two goals, but two goals is pretty common. They're measurable goals that are going to help improve their practice or they relate directly to the evaluation rubric. And then there is a summitive meeting at the end of the year with every teacher and we go through the goals that if they've met their goals or what where they are with everything they've done this year and that
009aligns with the renewal time for contracts usually starting in March, February, March. Um and then in addition we do something kind of similar with support staff. We do a mid-year review and an endofear review where we look at rubrics that are specific to their job responsibilities. And um we also visit classrooms constantly for short periods of time um just to give feedback, observe observe the students, get to know the students better and just the teaching climate of each classroom. So any does anyone have any questions about that process for teachers or support staff? >> And you might have said this and I might have missed it, so I apologize. Do does this occur right now or is this throughout the year? >> So it occurs throughout the year, but um Miss Delta and I are
010finishing we'll be done by the end of October with our first round. So for I'd have to pull up my spreadsheet, but it we have to start now and it will take us the rest of the year to get all of these in so that each person within either four, three or two observations gets their appropriate amount. And then the meetings, we have a pre-conference with teachers which is usually about 15 minutes and then a postconference which is a little bit longer. it talks through the observation, um, giving feedback, figuring out how to support the teacher, um, and just having more of a formal meeting with all of the staff. So, they they they're time consuming, but um, >> and are these planned as in someone's scheduled on this very specific day, or are they
011kind of surprises? >> We they're planned for the most part. Um, sometimes we'll do unplanned, but usually the unplanned are less formal. Um, but we allow the teachers to have a say in which what it is they want us to see because sometimes what they want us to see aligns with their goals. So maybe they are working on small groupoup instruction and language arts and they want us to observe that so that we can provide specific feedback to them towards what their goals are. Other times we'll say, "We want to see math. What day works well for you?" The kids aren't taking a test that day. We're going to see more instruction. So, we may be specific in what we want to see, and they help schedule that. But then the um frequent visits are
012not scheduled. We just pop in, talk to the kids, sit, watch for a little bit. So those are those are more those could be five 15 minutes not very long. >> Question Miss Kuno um how different or similar is this process this year versus previous years? Do you know that >> this is the process I took seven years ago? I have no idea what happened. I I mean I I found observations and things in different drives, but I don't know the process that the formal process that was taken laid out. Um I think it was a well-laidout plan, but I don't know if it was much. I don't know. I can't I'd have to look more into it. I think the same rubric was used because it's a state rubric. We do have the ability
013to use any rubric of our choice, but this one is the state rubric and it transfers from school to school and the teachers have been trained on it anywhere they've been in North Carolina. And we train the teachers on um new to North Carolina or new to scholars, but it's easy to use the standardized one just because it it applies to any setting. If we ever used our own, it'd probably be best to make our own specific to our school versus use um a different one that exists. And I had a question on the previous topic, the um so actually not a question but just a comment when we talked about board participation. Just wanted to share that in the past when we did the testing sessions in person, the board kind of walked around
014the room while the kids were in um while the kids were in testing and we talked to the parents to address any questions that they might have had. So that was sort of the value ad. Um just so you can think of whether that's something you want to do this year or not. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Those are in January. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I I'm curious. Uh thank you. I'm very I love the eval I don't think I've ever paid attention to the evaluation program. So I think it's great to hear and understand like breaking it down. I'm curious to whether this is an opportunity to tie it back to the bonuses. I remember towards the end of the year we're talking about retention and we're talking about bonuses and I don't
015think I think to extend on my knowledge we tied it back to maybe this course isn't addressing here um but to try to level up the compensation towards market so making sure that they're compensated visa ves um melmber um for licensed and lens teachers but I think there's always this question to where when we can stretch more if they're to an objective standard. I wonder maybe this is a place where we could do more of that. Uh so in traditional schools are um are evaluations tied with compensation? >> There are schools who um do that. Um I don't know if scholars did in the time I wasn't there. We never did when I was. Um teaching is tricky to be compensated in that way. Um >> I personally don't want a competitive atmosphere. Um, I
016I want a collaborative atmosphere and kind of tying a bonus to the evaluations can create kind of a culture that is competitive. It's kind of um a little bit less willing to share their practices with each other. There are successful places that have tied bonuses to retention, but often it is not retention to evaluation. The research I've done is close to challenging districts or schools where turnover is really high or student achievement is challenged. that um they've had some success with tying bonuses to teacher evaluations. I think it would be something we'd have to take some time to really think about if we were going to go that way. >> No. Fair. Thank you. Very valid point. >> Any other questions on the teacher evaluation process? Um is any of that information will be shared
017with us in some sort of aggregate way or anything like that? the evaluation. >> So, >> yeah, I don't think so. I mean, that's I think that's operational and um a lot of it is I don't want to say subjective, but quite a bit. We're sitting there there's like more than like numbers they give some somebody, right, Miss Coono? It's not like you're rating somebody, you're giving like constructive feedback, >> right? It's not numbers. It is a rubric that says similar to our kids report cards like developing, progressing, um mastered. So, it's um it's check boxes, lots and lots of boxes and and narrative feedback. So, it isn't an overall like score that they get. um you do end up ranking, not ranking, but saying if they're proficient or developing overall. Um so there could
018be an aggregate of that and that could help possibly determine like some goals for the school. Um I've never done that before, but I could do that. Um, >> additionally, we have not gotten that information, but we think it's valid >> considering maybe it's something educational excellence can discuss if there's any value to that. And certainly as it would apply to our strategic goals, if there's something that >> um a strategic goal and the committees can do to help um with professional development or retention or or I don't know if retention is included in that, but whatever um if there's takeaways from the summary data throughout the year that you want to share with the the school or a committee, we're always happy to take that extra information to help develop our goals. >> Can
019I pipe in real quick? Excuse me. This is Allison. I would just say that that information we would need, I think, like as an overall maybe or if there were trends. I don't want it to be I don't want the teachers to feel like, you know, we're all keeping score or something to that effect. You know, there's a trend that, you know, SEAL does need more focus and the teachers need more help. You know, something like that and that is that's totally off the cuff versus like, you know, teacher a >> block. That's why that's why the situation was that the data would be aggregated. >> Yeah. Aggregated, not individualized. >> Yeah. Again, I don't I think it's worth considering. I don't know if it's at the end of the day if it'll provide us
020any valuable I mean, it might I I don't know. I guess it's something we have to think about more. I don't think we make that call right now. I think it's a something to consider. Allison, any other questions? Okay, >> we'll go um on to the governance committee. >> Sure. So, the governor committee um number one, we talked about this in the prior um meeting that we wanted to make sure that we are on track on our board activities. So we collected and reviewed different sources from where we have taken notes um as far as what has worked or not worked in terms of our calendar for activities. So we put that together and we finalized that um it's here attached and I posted it in the board on track. So hopefully we'll we'll now
021have like that one source that we can go back to if needed. Um hopefully that's helpful. Um we discussed key hallmarks of our bylaw that may require an update. Um looking them then compared to what h what council has proposed as to be um what she has provided to the uh charter schools. Um so we looked at that. We definitely need to get on on some of those um before we move anything further. One thing though to consider um was that potentially this guil review may require to go back to the review board um as part and so we might want to look into that a little bit more. I don't there might be a concern uh taking this to the review board. Um >> you mean to the state? >> To the state. Yeah.
022>> Okay. U because it's part of the chart renewal document. >> Thank you for that with >> so I want to validate that but from what um and thank you miss Kenny for sharing that information from so I think I want to look into that deeper and validate that before we take any further steps investing our time and reviewing something that may we may have we may you may not be able to at this time. Um we discussed um we agreed actually to purchase um the new in the prior meeting we did um share to and acknowledge to the board the review the staff and parents handbook um council has shared an updated one that includes also new code of conduct that is lashing out the latest and greatest um from cell phones title 9
023bullying. So there's, you know, just a lot on that that it may just be better to just buy the whole package versus trying to um amend piece by piece. Um so be looking at that. Moving on to personnel and staff. So we will be discussing various personal matters and one employee contract at closed on board recruitment. We still have one opening for this school year. So to the extent we could do more, we're going to continue to um bring that top of mind of everyone support um for that opening and we would have three openings in the next cycle. Again um new staff and employee manage to discuss if it closed. Um I think things to come up later not here. Um we will be revisiting um strategy B planning SED evaluation. So more to
024come on that and that's it for the governance committee. >> Any questions? >> We have to vote for this parent student handbook thing or is that what they agreed with? >> That's you mean in terms of purchasing that's below any threshold that requires a board vote. Um it's not very much forget what they don't >> 150. Yes, um the board will acknowledge that we've seen the need policies once it becomes finalized, but we don't need to approve the purchase or the little thing. >> Okay. I would just be interested in looking at what changes they're proposing, >> particularly for things like cell phones or things that are laws that we have to comply with. So, cell phones are um part of that >> part of that we'll talk about policy. >> Okay, great. So the
025strategic calendar for government well I guess it's not just for government it's it's for >> general >> okay cuz >> I think that's a first kind of the first >> okay because there's some things on here that are I think are might be missing and some things that like the liability insurance review that happens in March not June >> anything where you use anything that seems out of >> out of order. So is it what is it? What is the purpose of this? Because I see things next. I see things like born is supposed to do and then I see things that the ED is going to present to us. So I see two different things here that the ED Yeah. So I think so. Let me go back to kind of what how it
026was put together. This is just an aggregate of different sources. Um, and it the extent of this is meant to be a guide but not what we should follow. Sure. >> I think it came what we were trying to solve here is >> if if you're in the governance committee, you have not you don't know what the government's committee well you know what they should do but if there are guide you can lean to um that is meant to be that source. Um but I it's from other experiences we have a better way to put it in a different order or to your point like is it ED presenting or the governance I think they can definitely I think we could talk offline about it. I think a lot of it is ED's presenting this
027because we have oversight over so we want to make sure the ED is presenting it because we have to make sure that it's happening and going >> that but like we could talk offline. >> Yeah. So maybe saying like is that maybe like is it responsible like the roles and responsibilities versus >> Yeah. clarifying the roles. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's what got it. That's kind of what I struggled with when I social media ED and it's like a word. Exactly. >> Yeah. >> I'll take a look and tell you like the things that I see missing and that might you might want to change. We'll take a look. >> I'm going to share to you like a soft version. Maybe that's >> Thanks, Erica. >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't call >> any other >> um
028Liliana finance update. >> Sure. I sent you guys something on the CD. So when we get to that um >> so the first item on the agenda is the 403b plan status. Um so basically um we have been working with policy committee to update the um the 403b plan policy. Um I think there's um there's an item in there that requires that doesn't allow employees to withdraw the employer contributions. So we're looking to get that amended and we're pending that policy update. Um, we're also uh have been gathering information regarding other restrictions or requirements of the plan. So, Miss Hansen is is looking into that and then um to make sure that that all that aligns and then we can make changes with the actual uh provider TI craft to update that plan. Um tax
029preparation. So the five 5500 um tax form was due on October 15th and that has been submitted by the deadline successfully that um required an extra charge that was not accounted for in our budget for that form with uh the accounting firm. So that's going to be one of the budget amendments that we see today. The audit report was originally due on um October 28th, but um Oh, okay. So, somebody updated here. >> I think it was around was December 31st, be wrong. >> Okay. Um so, Heather told me it was a month from the day. So November 28th is when we think the the extension is until for a month. >> Right. Thanks. >> But we did get an extension on that and so we're working with the audit firm to confirm that. Um
030we we're getting sort of mixed feedback on the audit firm. The person who we are working with is um not as diligent. So we've had to like submit things multiple times. Same things have been asked for multiple times. So that's kind of delaying the process. So it's a little frustrating from that end. But um should be done by the new deadline. Um and then I wanted to share the financial statements that we have um for September. So, that's um one of the PDFs that I put in there. If you can pull that up, >> we can walk through those. >> This one, >> uh no, that's the budget amendments. That's the last one. We're going to talk about that one. Oops. Thank you. Um so this is the balance sheet. This is the balance sheet
031as of September um 30th 2025 and this compares to June. So basically our total assets um are um 7,211,000 that includes um our cash and our property and equipment expenses. Uh all of that sorry those assets our liabilities are 258,000. There's not much change here. Um this is just sort of the that um point in time view of our assets and liabilities. The next page it's more interesting because that's what's going to give us if you just scroll down. >> Yeah, just scroll down. Yeah, there you go. This page does the comparison of our initial budget to our actuals. And this is what we analyze on a month-to-month basis to determine um budget amendments and to see where we are on a month-to-month basis on expenses. This is you know to establish the rigorosity of
032managing our expenses. So on here um you could see that our um original budget was 4.7 million in revenue and so far as of September we've received 560794. That's about 12% of what our expected budget was. Um so nothing to be concerned. We're only a quarter through the way in the year. So this is coming in as expected. that you'll see in our budget amendments. We now have actuals for the um for some of the state and federal revenue that we expect and we're going to discuss that in the amendments as to the actuals that are coming through. If you scroll down a bit, we're going to go through the expenses. Um so basically we we go through most of these lines Heather and I and Heather goes through it with um the accounting firm
033through and she checks to make sure to see with you know how expenses are coming through and if everything is getting coded properly and whether we how we're running against budget on these. So pretty much right now there's nothing alarming. It's only been a couple months into the year, so um we expected um expenses on a total payroll to be about 3 million. We're at 675, which is about 19% of the budget. That seems uh to align. And on the non-payroll, um 943 is our was our budget. and we're at 212,000 which is about 23% of our budget on some of these things um like transportation. You see that it's the percentage it's about 124%. So some things like that we're going to explain in the budget amendments. These are things that um activity that
034has come through transactions that we've done that are impacting those line items. And um you know this last section just um reconciles the income statement to the balance sheet based on uh depreciation. >> Any questions on this? >> Do you know traditionally when the state and local revenue comes in? >> Yeah, so some of it is coming through now. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. I didn't know if it I couldn't remember if it comes in all on like a lump sum or >> No, I think it it comes throughout the year. Different things come in depending but some of it has come through already and we know the numbers. Sure. >> Is that part of the amendment? >> Yes. So, we'll go through the budget amendments. So, Heather put together the budget amendments um in this
035um nice schedule here. So the revenue that as as it has come through you'll see the first um two items are federal grants. So the first one is a 060 ID EA AIC. We expected 83,83 but now we know that actuals came in at 69,497 and uh it's nothing specific to the school like why we got less or anything. It's just everyone got less. So this is what we are expecting. Um similarly for the 103 grant um that came out you know fairly close. So um we're just aligning the actuals to the budget. Um and then we have the foundation one. So this is increasing now. We we originally have budget 13,500 and you may remember this amount. Um this was for the theater program that we were we were doing this year. So in
036this line item we're now including the d the foundation director salaries. Um and the idea is that this it's it's a pass through to the school. The school pays the receives the funds from the foundation to pay those salaries and then pays it out. So there's it's a net zero impact to our budget. >> Say that again. Sorry. >> So um the f the foundation's director is really an expense of the foundation >> but it gets passed through to the school so that the foundation director can be included in the benefits with the rest of the other school. >> Yes. Good. Thank you. So this line item, it was always planned to be this way, but there was no specific line item done in the budget form. So we are now including it in deal.
037So that's um another budget amendment that we're doing. Um the fourth one, you may remember at the beginning of the school year, Miss Kunia went through all the rental agreements. So there was a bit of an increase in that revenue uh that she proposed. So that's being included in here. And then the last one is for field trips. This is it came across as one of those things as we're reviewing the budgets versus actual. We noticed that um the budget was originally at 20,000 but last year we spent 35,000. So it just made sense to update it that. And this is one of those that's also a net net. Um the funds for this come from the parents >> um to fund the field trips. So there's a corresponding field trip expense associated with that
038at the bottom. So just to review with everyone that this may be new like budget amendments are just to align the budget to what we expect our expenses to be. And so we do this process month to month to make sure that we bring our budget as close as we can to actuals with the information that we know of what's coming in or what we expect. So for salaries, this one is one that over the summer there were um a number of staff that was fired and contracts that were completed. So, this brings it all up to date with the new slate uh with everyone that's on board. Now, uh social security unemployment aligns to that. Um unemployment, you're going to see a little bit of an increase here. Um we did we did a
039calculation of what unemployment should be and uh it just wasn't aligning to what their budget was giving us. So we just bumped it up a little bit more based on uh the information that we know. Um so books and supply this was a line item. It comes across from the 060. Uh I think we clear that out because we don't expect to spend that. Um and then we have the field trips which we talked about and staff development. It comes from the 103. So that's aligning with the 103 on the top for the revenue and the admin services audit. This is the one we talked about for the form 5500. The additional expense um for the accounting firm to do that. So these are the budget amendments we have for this month. Um there's other
040ones that are in the works, but these are the ones we know for sure are happening. >> That was helpful. Thank you for coming through that. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Any questions on this stuff before we move on to the other agenda item for the finance committee? >> Are we voting at the end of >> We can vote these now. Um so we will need to vote on this. Um and then we um let's vote at the end of finance. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Oh, you want to talk through? >> Yes. So, the last is this the last item or is there another one? Okay, sorry. So, the last item we have here is our CV ladder. So, we talked about this, I think, in our last meeting, but our goal is to um every
041two months, I think, to to um one of our C we have like four different CDs that mature every nine months. And so, it's almost like every two months, one matures, and so we had to reinvest it. So, this is our schedule right now. Um there were two um corrections that had to be done that are outlined here on the right hand side. But we have another one um expiring on October 30th which is like number four like line number four there. Yeah, that one. Um and so we are going to be reinvesting that this week. And I think we what we want to do is vote on this ladder structure so we can continue to reinvest in this manner for the remaining of the year >> and each each CD has um 250,000 in
042it and >> different banks or were the CDs all together? >> No, they're in diff they are in different banks. So the process what happens is when the CD is about to expire, we get a list of um available CDs to reinvest from different banks with different interest rates. And so we review that information. Heather looks at it. She proposes a few CDs. I approve and then it goes back to the bank. And the turnaround has to be very quickly because soon those CDs could go away and not be available anymore. So if we're lucky, we get our preferred ones. We give them, you know, like, yeah, we give them our, you know, top three options, something like that, and then they just grab them. But they end up being in different banks, but it
043all goes through trourist. >> Okay. So, just to make clear, what we're going to be doing is voting on the um finance committee um and the school automatically rolling over expiring CDs into a new CD through the end of our through through June effectively. like um June of >> we have some that expired in July. >> Yeah. Yeah. But for we're asking for um to go into So we only need to approve it once because >> right >> it's we can't get the board to approve these um every time it happens because the the commit the school needs static effects. >> Yeah. >> Because they're all taken up. So, we're approving the schedule >> throughout the arrest through through the summer. You >> Yeah, through the summer is what I'm trying to say. If you
044can please approve it through the summer so that um at least we are covered till beginning of August and >> Okay, any questions? So, um I'll enter a motion to approve the budgeted uh amendments to the school as um recommended by the planning committee. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dominique. Thank you, Eric. All those in favor of um >> approving the budget amendments, please say I. >> I. >> All those who do not approve the budget amendments say nay. That Ian uh unanimous approval for the budget amendment must pass. I'll entertain a motion to approve the renewal of the expiring CDs for the latter discussed and proposed by the finance committee through August 2026. All those in Oh, >> so moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Okay. All those in favor of approving the CD
045uh renewal process say I. I. I. All those who don't approve say nay. The eyes have it. Has been passed unanimously and we can go to finance committee. Yes. Got it. Alison, >> sorry, my kids were just driving me nuts. Um, I Is that what you're waiting for? I thought I said I. >> Fine. The fast committee still. >> Oh, yep. Okay. Sorry about that. Um, um, yes. Um, and I'm now blinking because I don't have board on track up. So, um, do you have >> you want me to prompt you? >> Uh, yeah, that'd be great. >> Yep. Uh, the update for the fence. >> Yep. Um, everybody's probably seen the fence is up and running with We have one gate that is still missing. Um, but, uh, I believe we are in touch
046and we have not paid in full yet. we have put it down a deposit, but we will not pay in full until everything's done. So, um I have no worries there. Um we will get uh keypads that um the operations, maintenance, and um admin staff will have um in addition to the landscapers. Um but yes, we have a big front yard now that um the teachers will be able to start utilizing um whenever they are ready and whenever the last gate goes in. Um other things we had there were questions about if there were any HVAC issues. Um and right now everything seems to be humming along. Um so we're kind of um or uh Paul and Jessica are um keeping track of that to see if we have any issues. There were some issues
047last year that we're just trying to make sure we stay on top of. Um but we also don't want to fix something that's not broken. So um just kind of uh staying on top of that. And then there are some small operational changes um that the board or fast committee does not really need to um be a part of because they're just kind of day-to-day changes that um Jessica and team will take care of on their own. Of course, if you all need anything, you can let us know. And then kind of the overarching thing that we are working on in the background um is trying to determine how we can adjust our building to fit our strategic plan. And so it's kind of a little chicken and the egg. Um we're trying to outline
048or trying to figure out what we need the building to do for us and then we'll try to figure out what we can adjust in the building to make it work better for us. So it is a big question mark on the answers. We have to kind of know the the needs before we can solve the needs. And so we're working on that, but nothing to report in detail there. Did I do okay? Did I hit all the highlights? Uh there are a couple more things. The the sidewalk on the south side of the school, I believe. >> Yeah. So that was underneath under the threshold. So that's just going to financial threshold. Yeah. So that'll just be handled >> kind of inhouse, but some things that were um noticed as school started of things
049that that would be nice to fix. And so Jessica and Paul, I believe, are working on that again if you guys need help. Um but the the fees or the costs for a lot of those things were um not needed. Board approval or board you know um board approval was not needed. Yeah. >> Right. And that includes the alarm system as well that we're looking into it and the um we're looking into the PA system. >> Those will not be under that threshold amount. Um, but we're trying to figure out the most cost-effective scenario that would work best for the school. U Miss Ellington was looking at that and I can um poke her and see um if she's had any updates. Obviously, if money weren't neural object, we'd have this grand Cadillac system. Um,
050but just trying to identify again the needs versus trying to get the best bang for our buck. Those will be above that threshold though. So, >> okay, >> stay tuned. And then 77 Center Drive. >> Um we did there were um like in terms of the pothole >> um >> bumps >> speed. >> Oh, I'm not sure if this is reference to speed bumps or the potholes. >> Well, we had request to add. >> Oh, yeah. Request add. I'm assuming it's not requesting to add speeds. >> I don't believe that we'll be able to put speed bumps on that street. Um um actually I don't know but it is I don't know I could check on that. I don't know if we want them but we did um I have poked someone about making it
051a school zone. Um I don't know how effective those are because there's not really police patrolling it for anyone to feel scared about slowing down. Um but I can ping them again. And I noticed I did um fill out the form the online form to fix potholes and I noticed that it was at least filled in. And I will note um you can tell so there's that portion of street that is like kind of a like the top layer of asphalt's not yet laid. And the same is for the entire apartment project. You'll notice if you drive through the apartment, there's like a 2-in gap between where the asphalt is now and the top of the or the bottom of the curb. So there is a top coat of asphalt that normally goes in at
052the end end of the project like after all the construction vehicles are done. I have a feeling. And they usually wait until like absolutely everything is done on the project. That's like the last thing that they do. Kind of like when you're doing something at your house, you get your concrete driveway poured last. Um so I believe that that pothole area where it kind of dips down right by our um driveway will get filled in at the same time as that. No idea when that will be, but that is not that should not be the end. But it does seem like they at least filled in those holes so that we're not um busting any tires. >> Yeah, I've noticed they filled it in. >> I have a question if if you have anything to
053share, Allison. Our challenges, let's say, that we experienced with the HVAC, was that more so for AC not heating? Um it was um it because it was a it was warm. The problem is that the building was warm. Um we knock on wood did not have any AC problems yet this year. Um and we specifically asked about those when we like at the beginning. I think that was one of the first fast meeting meetings that we had back in September or whenever the first one was maybe even August. Um, don't quote me on the date, but um, and we seem to be humming along even for AC. Um, so we have not, again, knock on wood, we have not had any, um, documented large-scale problems of heat as we are rolling into the heating season.
054Hopefully that will stay true. I do feel like we are positioned a little bit better from an operations and building management standpoint to um pivot as needed and supply auxiliary heating or cooling as necessary. >> Um and Allison, I think you mentioned that for the fence there's only been a deposit paid. No other payments have been made. >> That's correct. Okay. And do we have like a um I remember seeing um on an email one of the like the latest proposal, but it still had options like option one, two or like different types of um um materials. Do we have a a document that would give us the final estimate with the materials that we chose so that we can use that to feed our the budget? >> Yeah. So this should have been already
055budgeted. Um it was so it was already I guess in last year's budget I believe and listen I am the least financially savvy person in the world but um I believe it was on the last we had like we had the money to cover it. the $25,000 that was put towards the deposit was for the grant that came from the state and so that should have been like a net zero and the rest of the money was part of a line item in last year's budget that had not been used for safety and security or something to that effect. Um so it should all be accounted for in that budget. However, I yes I can get you um an updated or the latest and greatest. Um, Jessica, do you know there was a question and
056I don't know if Denise was in charge of this or Paul or you, but there was a conversation about adding additional netting at the kinder like at the K2 playground around the soccer field. Was that ever decided if we were going to spend a little bit more money and add on to that netting or not? Um, I I think this is a a rough estimate, but it ended up being about $3500, I think, for that additional netting. >> Um, I don't know if we gave them the go-ahad on that or not. Um, I don't know. The reason I think maybe not is because you kind of thought it was packaged in the whole fence deal, which I didn't know if that was still under my realm to approve that price because so at this point,
057no, we haven't given him the go-ahad, but we have the quote for it. >> Okay. So, we were so the and and we can talk offline too. The initial quote gave us I believe it was 40 feet of netting. And so that is included in the original proposal whether we so I think there's 20 20 feet installed uh these numbers might not be exact but the you know general percentages concept is so if we wanted to keep what's there not keep it but replace it and replace it with the new we could we can double the length of what we have for net zero. Um, and then I think the $3,500 was if we included the entire I think it was 54 feet between the soccer quote soccer field and the parking lot. And so
058when I last saw any emails floating around, Tim the fence guy and um, uh, Paul were checking on site to kind of talk through what we wanted to do. Um, I don't know, and this would be a question for the board in general, do we treat that as an adjustment to that budget item, a $3,500 net ad if we do decide to do the whole thing, or is that a an additional 3500 separate and that is underneath the threshold as required for board approval? I >> think we should look at what's in the in the budget though. >> Yeah. that will be determined after we look to see what we put in the budget because at the time >> there was a range. So I don't know where we landed on the final number in
059the budget. So maybe we take that offline >> and see what's there to make. >> Yeah, I can Yeah, I can send the final proposal that is before this additional proposed netting. Jessica, if you can check with Paul and see what what came of that conversation and what the suggestion is from an operational standpoint and then we can see, you know, if I obviously I'll still get you the updated proposal. Um um but if we do need to adjust it, if we decide we need more netting and need to adjust it, then we can cross that bridge when we come to it. I guess I'm a little confused. I had asked whether we were getting more netting and the answer was yes. This was from last meeting. Was that just the uh the the initial
06020 ft that you're talking about Allison? Maybe. >> So we originally So we have I believe the linear footage we have right now is 20 feet. On our proposal we have 40 feet. we were going to double it. >> Now, as we were playing on the playground this year and as we're losing balls like we do, >> the question was, hey, should we add more? >> And so that more than 40 and that's kind of the question. We already have more than what we had last year in the budget. >> Do we need additional? And that's kind of the question mark that's that's happening right now. Is that 40 up right now? >> No, it is not yet up. And I think we are trying um they are trying to install it all at once.
061>> Um and so yeah, we need to >> Yep. >> Any other questions for Allison? >> None for me. >> Great. Um Malik, you want to take us through the policy committee agenda? >> Certainly. On the agenda, we have the uh second reviews for uh the two policies that were discussed at the last meeting. Uh the first being the wireless communication device policy which has been created in response to the state legislaturator's requirement to have a wireless communication device policy. Um it was attached uh we had the review um we had the the first review last month and we attached a copy of the uh the law uh which the law is uh house bill 959. Um the policy committee made uh some edits. They were not uh material edits, but we cleaned it up
062and it's been placed on the agenda in the format um to align with our standardized policies. So, we would recommend that that vote occur. I believe that Liliana uh asked earlier about uh cell phones uh when when she was discussing or she was asking about some of the uh potential changes. Um and uh so if there are any questions there, happy to answer those. But this is the first policy that we would be recommending a vote upon. And uh should we vote this evening, we would then have to present it to the state so that we to note that we are in compliance of the approval of the wireless communication device policy. Any questions regarding that? So our >> sorry our policy will essentially allow them to bring a device to school as long as
063it's put away during >> instructional time. >> That is correct. Unless the device is being used for instructional time. So, we have examples, right? A wireless communication device if it's >> if there's a laptop. Uh we have scenarios where teachers have had students take photos uh with their cell phones of homework assignments or assignments that are being worked on in class and submitting them. Uh so, you know, those would be examples of utilizing the devices uh as part of instructional time. Uh there's also uh the statutoily required uh other scenarios. So, uh, if the phone is needed as part of a 504, um, or individualized education plan, uh, in addition to if the phones were to be utilized for translation purposes or assisted communication, if there's a safety plan for the child that incorporates the
064utilization of a of a a wireless communication device, that is an option. as well. Otherwise, uh the exceptions, the primary exceptions are for educational purposes or for the use in the event of an emergency. >> Any other questions? you can move on to the next policy. >> Then uh Leiana also noted the uh reference to the retirement withdrawal policy and that the existing or the current policy was stating that um they could not uh make a withdrawal of their retirement funds. and the uh document uh proposed this evening uh as an amendment. Take a look at that. Uh in this situation stating that uh the in the event of termination, the former employee will have the ability to review uh excuse me, will have the ability and should have access their account so that they
065can initiate a rollover to another retirement account or request some sort of distribution. Uh it notes that the uh scholar academy may uh periodically consider strategies to reduce the participant count uh particularly related to uh terminated employees and it notes that uh scholars academy may uh be able to consider uh if there's a force out balance uh the opportunity to perform an automatic rollover And of course give the former employee the uh options to to uh to make distributions or request distributions rather consistent with the plan protocols. This will uh allow the request that is being made. Uh, of course, prior to and it's noted in here that prior to that distribution, uh, the uh, as they'll need to um, confirm the status of the employee and um, note or ensure the accuracy regarding uh,
066vesting uh, prior to uh, approving any distributions. Any questions on this? >> Hey, thank you, Malik. Um, >> do you want to vote on these items now? Um, yes, unless uh we're doing a um a a a group of votes um at the end of uh um >> I can do them now because I'm already queuing them up. >> Let's do it now. >> All right, then. If you are entertaining a motion, I will move to approve the wireless communication device policy as uh presented by the policy committee. >> Second the move. >> Yeah. So all those in favor of approving the wireless communication device policy as recommended by the policy committee, please say I. I. I. >> All those who do not approve of the policy uh the communications policy say nay. Eyes have
067it. Unanimous decision to approve the communications policy as proposed by the policy committee. >> Uh Mrs. Couno, I just want to make sure that you're going to um sub submit um the new policy. Do you or do we need to do something um specific to that? >> Oh, for the state um I could >> All right. Excellent. Thank you very much. >> Um that was just the wireless. >> That's just the wireless communication. Yes, that that's the one that has the um the deadline. >> Do you want to I guess I'll propose I'll entertain a motion to um amend the retirement withdrawal policy per the policy committee's recommendations. >> So moved. >> Second. All those in favor of adopting the amended retirement withdrawal policy as recommended by the policy committee say I. >> I. >>
068All those who do not approve the recommendation say nay. Eyes have it. The policy has been approved. Anything next, Malik? >> Yes. Yes. The next section on the uh on the policy. I apologize for uh not correcting that um the portion of the agenda that says that we're acknowledging and reviewing the teacher parent student handbook. We did that already during the September meeting. Uh we'll just note the uh the upcoming topics. uh they include uh I no need to go further um uh Donnie has already noted um that governance is talking about the bylaws but the policy committee also so there's some cross referencing there the uh AI within acceptable use policy we're still going over that um and that those topics will be addressed in uh during the uh Tuesday, October 28th meeting along
069with uh uh taking a look at some of the shared material from council regarding the student code of conduct and uh that would be all for the positive committee. Thank you, Molly. motions from on >> uh educational excellence Malik. >> All right. Thank you. Uh the next educational excellence meeting uh will be December 9th uh at 8:15 a.m. We are going to just quickly note uh some of the highlights from the parent survey was closed August 22nd. Uh the uh parent survey is still uh going through its analysis and uh there isn't there will be a presentation of some of the results uh to the school community. But uh just quickly uh um in regards to the survey uh every grade was represented with the largest percentage coming from the third grade. families were overwhelm
070our families overwhelmingly value our academic excellence. They're happy with our fabulous teaching stance. The advanced curriculum uh with a gifted focus. There's a desire for renewed innovation with enrichment programs uh possibly integrating modern uh technological skills. There seems to be a desire for more consistency and clarity in the SEAL program. Uh again uh the results will be further presented to the community at large at a later time period. Uh and then the last uh item on the agenda is to note that the required computer science program is up and running. That final uh bullet on the educational excellence committee agenda. >> Okay. any for educational excellence. >> Great. Kim, do you want to talk uh about DI? >> I do. Thank you. Can y'all hear me? Okay, >> we can. >> Okay. Um, so our
071next meeting will be November 14th. Um, we have, thanks to Danny, we've gotten the holiday calendar to the PTO. Um, we are continuing to monitor legislation that will, uh, affect DEI concerns at the school. Um, we are working thinking about an ads package of support. We were talking about for incoming students um to figure out what kind of financial support our families might need. Uh we've had a really recent development in that. Uh, Miss Kuneo shared that there's been some suggestion that it might be it might be good to think about what our current families are needing right now. Um, specifically in thinking about the uh the pause to SNAP benefits and changes like that that are happening right now. Um, so there might um there's an opportunity for us to step up and be
072supportive in terms of nutrition and food security for our families. So, I guess the question is what do we think that might look like and um what do we envision uh for our school and what we can do? >> Thank you. Um, Kim. Yeah. So, I encourage anyone in the community who's impacted by this um or not to um share their thoughts um so that we can support one another as Kim said. Um we will um be working with the foundation and the PTO to see if there's something we can do um in relatively quick fashion. Any questions? >> I just think this is very easy. I think it is a great idea. >> Is an announcement being made in the um newsletter to this effect? Um that's a good point. I think I think
073Malik once we come up with an action plan I mean this just came to light today. >> Um so we don't have a um >> when I say that >> I mean um the a like uh if you are being impacted by the government shutdown and in need of any assistance please contact XYZ. That's what I mean by uh >> Yeah. Yeah. >> that uh an announcement, not so Okay. >> Yeah. We'll I think we'll want to be able to know what we can support versus not. So, we don't certainly don't want it over promise. So, um and I think we'll try to act quick and if we can get something in the newsletter for this week, um we certainly will. Maybe we solicit volunteers or people interested in, you know, being part of the
074effort. Uh because we will definitely need folks who will volunteer the financial support um time if we're going to do like a a backpack weekend backpack type initiative or whatever that might be. We're going to need some hands on deck. So maybe we call for for interested people. I could I'm definitely willing to be the contact person um if we can put a call out. >> Yeah. >> No, let me >> Yeah. So, we'll we'll try to coordinate with the foundation and the PTO um as well. >> Thank you, Kim. Um Erica. Well, any questions before we move on? All right, then. Um, >> um, Holtz Wild met um last week. Um, right now there's um some uh changes with uh as far as the staffing goes. Um, so the awards are sore. organiz once
075we have a a staff committee established and we have more uh consistency there we will reassess um the schoolwide programming uh the remains a important and integral part of curriculum and So, um it it remains on our to-do list to to reassess and to incorporate and also the committee is working on a strategic goal um to put into our uh fiveyear plan pertaining to. So if anybody have any comments or inputs on you know what should focus on in the next five years um we welcome you to come to our next meeting which I believe isn't just but it's posted on >> and we'll also um there were a lot of comments about seal in the survey as mentioned so health committee will also be looking at the survey results Yeah. Yeah. >> Any questions
076for whole child? >> When is the next meeting? >> It's the We just had one October. So that I I don't know off the top of my head. is actually some Monday. >> Monday to be the Monday Thanksgiving. >> Yes. Everyone should eat nice and tired. Any extensions for child? >> Okay. You want to go foundation? >> Sure. Um so our uh foundation annual giving compa campaign is underway. Um you've seen the emails. Um we are hoping for 100% uh family and staff participation and we are currently um having a grade week challenge um which I believe this week is the last week and currently I believe fifth grade is in the lead and I just saw the email fifth and second grade or fifth and third I just saw Um um I think I
077I know it's fifth grade. I apologize. I saw the email and now I don't know what happened to it. Um, but I know fifth grade for the lower school and I think it's second or third um for the upper school uh lower school, excuse me. And the winning the winning uh grades will receive a a uh prize teacher will choose. So if you are going to pledge um this week is a great week to do it. Thank you. Any other questions for people looking at Foundation? Right. This is the second opportunity for community comments. Um if you have a comment, please raise your hand. and um subject to the guidelines uh just the beginning of the meeting. All right. No hands have been raised. The board does have several agenda items to discuss in closed
078session. So I will entertain a motion to go into closed session. B. >> Thank you, Erica. Thank you, Danny. Um, all those in favor to enter into close session, please say I. >> I. >> All those who close going to close session, say nay. Eyes have it. We will be entering into close. We will return from close as soon as we're done. Um, thank you for your patience. He's not there. >> And is that you calling in? All of a sudden, is that you dialed in? Um, >> yeah, it's him. >> Okay, great. So, we're uh >> Yes, it is me. >> It is me. >> Thank you. Um, so we are back in session. We're turning them closed. Um, I will entertain a motion to approve the um employee contract as presented by the
079executive director during close. >> So moved. >> Second. All those in favor of approving the employeement agreement as proposed by the ED and closed say I. >> I. >> All those who do not favor say nay. >> I have it has been passed unanimously. I will entertain a motion to end today's board meeting. So >> moved. Second. >> All those in favor of uh adjourning today's meeting say I. >> I. >> All uh those who oppose ending today's meeting say nay. >> I have it. Thank you for your time. The uh meeting has been is concluded. Thank you everyone. Thank you.