ACSA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Teleconference

April 3, 2015 – 1:30 PM

APPROVED

ACTION ITEMS

I.Routine

A.Establish Quorum

President Jennifer Schmitzcalled the meeting to order at 1:30 PM.

Members present: Jennifer Schmitz, Carol Boatman, Todd Poage, Michael Johnson, Steve Atwater, Mary McMahon, Mario Gatto, Mark Vink

A quorum was established.

Staff present: Lisa Skiles Parady, Laurie Miller, Kelly Tonsmeire, John Pile, Denise Greene-Wilkinson, Amy Lujan

B.Approval of AgendaAction

Mario Gatto moved and Mary McMahon seconded to approve the agenda as presented with the understanding the New Business Item A may be moved to the front of the agenda based on when John Sedor joins the teleconference.

Motion passed unanimously.

C.Approval of MinutesAction

Steve Atwater moved and Todd Poage seconded to approve theNovember 5, 2014 minutes as presented.

Motion passed unanimously.

II. Old Business

A. Budget UpdateAction

The financial report was provided to the board. The report reflects final amounts for 2014 and actual amounts through February 28, 2015.No budget revisions were requested.

The 2014 ACSA financial audit was conducted March 9 – 13, 2015. No adjustments or findings were reported.

2014 Final Closeout

Revenue:

  • AAESP Dues – $4,878 more than budgeted
  • Indirect Revenue – $8,807 less than budgeted. Indirect is a correlation of actual grant amounts spent. Carry over funds from 2014 will be spent in 2015
  • ASDN Membership - $2,500 more than budgeted
  • ASDN DE & School Year program transfer - $52,646 less than budgeted. This is due to lower than anticipated enrollment in classes
  • Transfers from other Funds - $51,425 more than budgeted. The majority of this transfer is from RTI and a small portion from the Principals Conference.

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Expenses:

  • Legal fees - $2,175 more than budgeted
  • Audit services - $3,865 more than budgeted – due to IRS 990 audit review that was inaccurate
  • Travel & Per Diem - $5,229 more than budgeted
  • Mortgage Principal – No amount is show here because the expense is moved to the balance sheet for audit reporting purposes. The total amount of mortgage principal paid in 2014 was $16,372
  • Conference Expenses - $5,311 more than budgeted
  • Office supplies - $4,375 more than budgeted due to ASDN staff moving to Gold Street building
  • New Superintendent Transition Program - $2,000 more than budgeted – Please note this was a new program at the end of the year of which sponsorships were obtained to cover the cost.
  • ASA Dues Expense - $4,677 less than budgeted
  • Transfer to savings - $18,823 was added to unrestricted net assets (fund balance)

2015 Actual amounts from January 1, 2015 to February 28, 2015

The provided report included the actual amounts for 2015 to February 28, 2015. No budget revision was requested.

Carol Boatman moved and Mary McMahon seconded to approve the 2014 budget update.

Motion was approved unanimously.

B.ACSA Strategic Plan Reflection

ACSA has begun a new strategic planning process. Members of each affiliate group worked together for a day with Erica Olsen and Kim Perkins of OnStrategy to identify key strengths and threats and develop a new path to the future. The mission statement we came up with is simple and echo’s our historic role in education across Alaska: “Our mission is to create a common voice, advocating for public education by shaping policy and growing leadership capacity across the State.” Our mission answers the question of why we exist as an organization. As to where we are going, the best answer stems from our vision statement: “We envision ASCA as the premier organization that brings great educational leaders together to raise our collective voice for the success of all Alaska’s students.” Underneath the strategic umbrella of this mission and vision, we created a series of goals, objectives and actions so that we can measure our progress and keep ourselves on track.

Thedraft plan was reviewed and the board agreed to include the strategic plan as a focus item on the May board meeting agenda.

III. New Business

A.KGB Lawsuit Action

John Sedor joined the Board for a discussion regarding the KGB v. State lawsuit. John Sedor and Saul Friedman have offered to file a joint Amicus brief at a reduced rate of $10,000 on behalf of ACSA and AASB who would share the cost equally. The board was asked to formally support the filing. A discussion followed.

Steve Atwater moved and Mary McMahon seconded that the ACSA board support the drafting of an amicus brief by Sedor and Friedman in partnership with the Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB) to oppose the KGB lawsuit.

Motion was approved unanimously.

  1. Legislative Update and Discussion Information

Dr. Parady provided a review of current legislation. The board was encouraged to continue its advocacy by contacting their legislators and testifying during these final weeks of the session. Dr. Parady also suggested sending out an ACSA press release regarding the education budget cuts. Dr. Parady will write up a draft and send it to the board for review.

Todd Poage, ASA President, briefly discussed a letter from ASA to legislators regarding public education funding committed to Alaska family children education. The letter was signed by more than 40 Superintendents and delivered to all legislators.

C.Affiliate Organization ReportsInformation

AAESP- President Jennifer Schmitz presented the AAESP report. Highlights included:

  • Attended the National Leaders Conference in D.C. and met with Senators Murkowski & Sullivan.
  • Excited about the prospect of a joint conference with NASSP in the near future.
  • John Pothast ran for Zone 7 Director and while he did not get that seat, it put Alaska out there and we had a number of great conversations as a result.
  • 2015 Principals’ Conference planning is underway.
  • Thanks to Laurie Miller for her support of AAESP and its business.

AASSP- President Elect Mary McMahon presented the AASSP report. Highlights included:

  • AASSP is entering a transition phase as the current Executive Director will not be renewing her contract as of June 30th.
  • The Executive Board will be traveling to D.C. in June for advocacy training.
  • The 2015 Principals conference is in the works and looks to be the best one yet. The conference theme is The Passionate Present Principal and we are designing a program that targets building school leaders.

ALASBO- Executive Director Amy Lujan presented the ALASBO report. Highlights included:

  • Attended the ASBO Leadership Conference in February.
  • Held the ALASBO Fly In in March, and we feel that we made some headway.
  • We are currently running our certification group
  • Our July Leadership Meeting will be held in Wasilla this summer.

ASA- President Todd Poage presented the ASA report. Highlights included:

  • ASA members are focused on lobbying efforts right now
  • We held our Legislative Fly In last month and were able to meet with the Governor as well as a large number of legislators
  • Attended the National AASA Conference in February where Dave Herbert was honored as Alaska Superintendent of the Year and Deena Paramo received her National Superintendent Certification.
  • Thank you to all educators for your efforts this session, advocating for Alaska’s kids.

D.ASDN Annual ReportInformation

ASDN Director Kelly Tonsmeire presented the ASDN report. Highlights included:

  • The RTI Conference took place in January and we had over 1100 attendees from 35 districts
  • We have two grants projects underway in the Bering Straits and Lower Kuskokwim School Districts
  • The 2015 Alaska School Leadership Institute will take place in Anchorage, May 26-29
  • We have a great series of webinars we are offering with presenters like Melissa Linton, Steve Edwards and Anita Archer.

E.ACSA Executive Director ReportInformation

  • ASA will be hosting the ASE Summer meeting this year, July 14-17 at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood.
  • ASDN will be fully incorporated under ACSA.
  • Pursuant to board direction, ACSA will be renewing its contract with SERRC, our accounting provider, for one year.

F.AnnouncementsInformation

  1. ACSA Office Manager hiring update- We have received a number of qualified applicants are in the process of interviewing.
  2. ACSA Education Bulletin deadline- The April Bulletin has not gone out, so the board was encouraged to submit any additional articles and pictures as soon as possible.

G.Board Member CommentsInformation

  • Thanks to Lisa for the legislative updates and for putting together the strategic planning retreat.
  • Continue your advocacy efforts. They make a difference.
  • Appreciate the board and its work.

H.Staff CommentsInformation

None at this time

I.Upcoming EventsInformation

April:Alaska Legislature Adjourns – April 19

May: ACSA Board Meeting – Dr. Parady will send out a doodle poll

June:State Board Meeting – Fairbanks, June 3-5

AAESP National Conference – Long Beach, CA, June 30-July 2

July:ALASBO Summer Leadership – Wasilla, July 24-26, 2015

ASA/EED Summer Meeting – Juneau, July 26-27

IV.AdjournmentAction

President Schmitzadjourned the meeting at 3:00 PM without objection.

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