New America School - CO Board Meeting

Tuesday September 19, 2017 Minutes

Board Members in Attendance:Mary Hanewall (Chair),Matt DeAngelis (Treasurer),Gina Nocera, Jorge Loweree, Dianne Lefly, Bill Bethke, Tomas Mejia, Polly Baca, David Conde,

Regrets:Mara Gonzalez (Secretary), Deb Brackney

Meeting called to orderat 4:39 pm by Mary Hanewall.

Minutes

Action Items

  1. Jorge Loweree read the mission statement.
  1. Moved byJorge and seconded byMatt that the Consent agendabe approved. Votes: Passed unanimously
  1. NAS Interim Immigration Procedures (DRAFT) 04-06-17 Jorge Loweree led the discussion of the action item. He briefly outlined the document, the purpose and the history of this policy being considered for adoption, as well as the interest of the Colorado school having a consistent practice and procedure in the unlikely event that these situations should arise. After discussion and questions motion to approve policy was made by Polly, seconded by Tomas. Votes: Passed unanimously

Information Items

  1. Superintendent Reportwas received and no questions arose from the report. (Summary in Board Packet)
  1. Dashboard-State required measures and Weighting: (Information provided in Board Packet) Jennifer Turnbull led a discussion on the State required measures as framed in the document “I2e. 2015-17 AEC SPF results_board reporting”. The intent of the item is to make sure Board members understand the measurements NAS CO schools are held to, the weighting of those data points and an illustration of the progress of the three campuses over the last 2 years. Also discussed was the goals or cut point to reach the next level of performance in each category, and identification of those measures that most heavily impact the overall score. Questions regarding PSAT/SAT, Attendance and Truancy, and general celebration about the current performance of our schools.
  1. NAS Best Practices: Tracey McCormick (Materials attached) Tracey asked a teacher from Thornton – Joe Uptmore, Art and Physical Education – to share the work he is doing with students in his classroom. Joe identified the purpose and the execution of using rubrics to create and grade the artwork that students are producing in his classroom. He identified that students are more motivated and connected to the classroom when they help to create the means by which their work will be graded, and he explained the long term benefits of creating relationships and discussing work with peers, as well as the benefits of reading, writing, deep thinking and communication skills necessary for a student to be successful in his class.
  1. Authorizer’s Update: Dan shared updates on Jeffco, CSI and Adams 12. Application turned in to Adams 12, received feedback and request for additional information to complete the application. Shared timeline for decision making as well as major milestones such as site visit, possible board meetings for our attendance, etc. Many variables still need to be explored to ascertain the benefits of one authorizer over another. Discussed continuing work with CSI and their process for considering NAS-Thornton renewal.
  1. Conflict of Interest Policy: No discussion, Mary stressed that forms need to be filled out, signed and sent to either Dan or Mary. Received form (I5c. 2017 Conflict of Interest Policy Signature page) from Mary, Jorge, Polly and Gina.
  1. Financial Update: Ray Peterson presented financials for the month of August. Matt DeAngelis shared the Financial Committee discussion regarding the request for a supplemental budget at Lowry, and the steps that will be taken to prevent this situation in the future. Ray shared the reasons for the situation in an email that included a spreadsheet to the Finance Committee:

Attached please find a breakdown showing the difference between budgeted and actual expense for Teachers at Lowry for FY17. To get to an exact match it was necessary to include Teacher, Teacher - Title 1 and SOSA, Title III. The differences between budgeted and actual expense is shown on the right.

When I created the FY17 Re-Adopted Budget I copied these budgeted amounts from the preliminary budget worksheet but neglected to review the individual salaries making up these amounts. As a result I did not include three staff who were hired after the preliminary budget was created. These amount to $122,942.32. I also failed to include amounts for all teachers for regular additional duties such as teaching extra classes of $17,351.43. There is also another type of extra duties which are assigned randomly for $21,693.31. Together these account for the difference between budgeted and actual expense.

Going forward I have included review of individual salaries including additional duty assignments in my budget checklist. I will also add an additional expense estimate for the misc. extra duty assignments. I will make certain the Re-Adopted budget we will prepare for January 2018 will include these additional estimates.

Matt shared the recommendation of the financial committee to provide monthly financial information as has always been done, but to move to quarterly reporting to the Board as a whole. Board as a whole agreed to this moving forward.

Board considered and voted on three different resolutions:

  1. I6d. NASL FY17 Board Resolution -Fund Balance. Authorization to spend in to fund balance at Lowry. Gina moved, Jorge seconded, passed unanimously.
  2. I6e. NASL FY17 Supplemental Budget Resolution. Matt moved, Polly seconded, passed unanimously.
  3. I6f. NAST FY17 Supplemental Budget Resolution. Bill moved, Polly seconded, passed unanimously.
  1. Principal Updates

Annie (Lowry):#’s are solid, between 440 and 450. Started a waitlist. Taking a look at the current students, getting many transfers from Aurora Central and their feeder schools. Estimate 40% of students are from AC. Younger students as well, large number are 14-16 years of age. Good start, hoping to hold the numbers. Dan shared that Lowry is working on a “block type program” for the remainder of the 1st quarter to help student success for 2nd quarter.

Jon (Lakewood): Jon congratulated his staff and students for their continued AEC SPF status…inching closer to the Performance level but continuing to perform at the Improvement level. Sitting at about 220# students…still out recruiting and hoping to increase numbers. Explained some of the challenges around the construction and other efforts to grow the student body. Shared they have had three staff resignations, Nurse, Counselor and Math Teacher, and how admin and staff have rallied to cover the needs of students.

Mike (Thornton):Mike shared the euphoria of learning of their accomplishment, finally seeing the benefit of years of hard work. Focused now in continuing to improve and keeping the trajectory going. 329# students in school, still registering and will try to reach number. Shared the continued support of the community, from City Council to State Representatives, there is a lot of support for the work they are doing.

  1. National Board Update: Gina shared the current challenges around the Las Vegas charter, and the implications should it not be granted. The national board will need to discuss the future of the network. January timeline.
  1. Committee Reports

Board Leadership: Polly, Gina, Mary, Sarah (former Board member) and Dan met and discussed the upcoming Board nominations. Mara and Dianne will be going off, although Dianne will continue on the data committee). Others up this year include Jorge, Tomas and Gina. Shared that we will be looking for 1 possibly 2 alumni reps, a rep from the Community College System (focus on CC of Aurora) and perhaps some more facility expertise.

Scholarship: no update

Finance:done already

Executive:no update

Fundraising:

David shared the fundraising report, two new sources, TPPP and Denver Foundation. Marketing has been extended for the schools through the October count.

Mary shared that David is creating a one pager to help identify specific asks that will benefit programs. Three prong approach: identifying and leveraging personal connections to different foundations, individual board members possibly being able to use the one pager to share program needs with their connections, and additional dollars being used to hire short term folks to write smaller grants,

  1. Public Input: None
  1. Dec 19th Meeting moved to Poly Baca’s home, short business meeting with a holiday pot luck immediately following. More information coming.
  1. Meeting adjourned at6:33pm.

Next Meeting October 17, 2017,

4:30-6:30

NAS Lakewood

5806 W Alameda, Lakewood, 80226

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