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North Valley Military Institute - Board of Directors Meeting

Thursday, March 31, 2016 4:00 p.m. in Room 54

12105 Allegheny Street, Sun Valley, California 91352

AGENDA

NOTE: Reasonable Accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Please contact the Superintendent, Dr. Mark Ryan at 323-217-4481 or via email at at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting to request accommodations.

NOTE: Board members may be calling into the meeting from the following locations, which will be public accessible during the meeting and at which this agenda will be posted in accordance with the Brown Act:

4828 Ellenita Ave.
Tarzana CA 91356

Pacific Air Forces Headquarters

25 E Street, Suite H-205

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI 96853

I.  Call to Order

II.  Adoption of the Agenda

III.  Public Comment – Members of the public who wish to make comments on non-agenda items are welcome to do so at this time. Speaker cards are available at the end of this agenda. Each speaker is limited to three (3) minutes

IV.  ACTION – Approval of the January, 2016 minutes (see attached) and (Information only) minutes from the February, 2016 joint Board/SSC Meeting (see attached).

V.  INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The board will receive reports from various school staff on their various areas of responsibility:

  1. Academics, including a discussion about the upcoming SBAC tests and PRESENTATION OF BENCHMARK #2 and BENCHMARK #3 DATA - Laura Stribling, CW2 Trish Doering, Captain Jeff Feinberg
  2. Cadet Regimental Staff Report
  3. Parent Advisory Board Report – Kay Deitch
  4. Leadership – Captain Amanda Mendoza
  5. Citizenship – WO1 Gina Wilson will discuss the citizenship program and will also lead the board in a discussion about NVMI suspension and expulsion policies.
  6. Athletics – Lawrence Sarenana
  7. Campus Safety – Julio Herrera
  8. Operations – Kellie Jackson
  9. Administrative Systems – Diane French will lead the board in a discussion about the “Dashboard” called for in the WASC Action Plan.
  10. Special Education – Karla Uribe
  11. Enrollment – MAJ John Wells
  12. Superintendent – Dr. Mark Ryan will brief the board on:
  13. WASC Action Plan
  14. 2016-2017 School Calendar and Planner/Handbook submission
  15. NVMI’s response to a Notice to Cure received by Steven Cotton, LAUSD
  16. Prop 39 submission status.

VI.  DISCUSSION AND ACTION – The board will discuss and take action on the proposed board membership of Steven Le, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Dr. Erroll Southers, adjunct professor of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, and Henry Lozano, founder of Red Ribbon Week. Each would have a term ending June 30, 2018.

VII.  INFORMATION, DISCUSSION, AND ACTION – The Director of Operations and Superintendent will brief the board on:

  1. Year-To-Date actual expenses through 29 February 2016 compared to budgeted amounts
  2. Cash Flow projections through the 15-16 school year and beyond
  3. A proposed revision to the 15-16 budget to reflect actual expenses
  4. Ratification of the Second interim Financial Report submitted to LAUSD and LACOE as required by law and our charter
  5. A draft 2016-2017 budget

VIII.  INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The Board will discuss a proposed fund raiser for NVMI operating expenses.

IX.  DISCUSSION – The West Point alumni society for Los Angeles would like to discuss a West Point Leadership Award given annually to one or more NVMI cadets.

X.  DISCUSSION – The board will discuss the Local Control Accountability Plan.

XI.  ADJOURNMENT

North Valley Military Institute - Board of Directors Meeting

Thursday, January 28, 2016 4:00 p.m. in Room 54

12105 Allegheny Street, Sun Valley, California 91352

MINUTES

NOTE: Reasonable Accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Please contact the Superintendent, Dr. Mark Ryan at 323-217-4481 or via email at at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting to request accommodations.

I.  Call to Order at 4:14 by Chair Lanny West. Also present members Steven Escobar, Emory Josephs, John Pruitt, and Kevin Baxter. Absent Kay Deitch. Also present Mila Reeder, Samantha Johnson, Jeff Feinburg, Captain Amanda Mendoza, Laura Stribling, Gina Wilson, Kellie Jackson, Lawrence Sarenana, prospective board member Leslie Beavers (via telephone).

II.  Adoption of the Agenda - unanimous

III.  Public Comment – Members of the public who wish to make comments on non-agenda items are welcome to do so at this time. Speaker cards are available at the end of this agenda. Each speaker is limited to three (3) minutes - Samantha Johnson spoke about her involvement with the school as a professional soccer player who has come for several weeks to provide small group coaching clinics and conversations with students in Leaders of Character and PE classes. She has had a wonderful experience with NVMI students and wanted the board to know of her positive experience.

IV.  ACTION – Approval of the December, 2015 minutes (see attached) – adopted unanimously

V.  DISCUSSION AND ACTION – The board will discuss and take action on the proposed board membership of Colonel Leslie Beavers, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. – Colonel Beavers was unanimously voted on as a new board member.

VI.  INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The board will receive reports from various school staff on their various areas of responsibility:

  1. Academics- Laura Stribling and Captain Jeff Feinberg
  2. Saturday Academy is being offered for English and Math as a requirement for those who failed one or both of those subjects first semester; last year’s completion rate for Saturday Academy was an impressive 86%. We hope to have similarly impressive results this year.
  3. Zero period is being offered for students who failed social studies, science, LOC, PE, Spanish or music; last year’s completion rate slightly less than 50%, and we hope to dramatically improve that percentage this year. The board asked a number of questions about the reasons for the low percentage, and engaged with staff in a discussion about the potential solutions to this challenge. There was also a discussion about the importance of students following through on these free offerings, especially given the financial challenges the school is facing. The board directed the Superintendent and staff to consider ways to reduce costs for programs where students are not taking advantage of the opportunities provided.
  4. Academic boot camp was offered for students with the equivalent of Ds; of the 205 eligible to participate, 168 successfully completed it, which means they no longer have Failing grades, but instead have a “C” in those courses.
  5. NVMI Policy is that students who fail any course without remediation are not allowed to move to the next grade level. There was some discussion about the value and rationale behind this policy and the board reiterated its support for the policy.
  6. Various questions from board members were discussed regarding the patterns of failure and habituation to failure by many students; bus transportation for students for academic remediation; and the culture of failure that has to be reversed. Staff explained some of the potential reasons for these challenges and staff’s current responses to intervene and change the culture to one of success.
  7. Professional development for middle school staff on executive function and classroom procedures was conducted by Dr. Ryan during the beginning of January. It was very well received and there appear to be many positive results from the implementation of common protocols across middle school classrooms.
  8. Professional development will be offered on Promethean Smartboards in the next couple of weeks to all faculty.
  9. Leadership – Captain Amanda Mendoza
  10. Three cadets promoted this month to CDT, 3 to CFC and 1 CPL; there is a growing positive culture of wanting promotions and the responsibilities and privileges that come with those promotions.
  11. Drill Academy was recently conducted at Reed MS – about 40 NVMI students participated in military drill training; NVMI’s Color Guard took first place honors.
  12. The Los Angeles Dodgers team visits tomorrow to be cadets for a day and participate in physical training with the cadets.
  13. 6 Feb the Brigade Drill Competition will be conducted at NVMI to select winners from our region for participation in the State Drill Competition in April.
  14. Cadet Medic Training will be offered beginning in February for about 16 NVMI cadets to become nationally certified as Emergency Medical Responders.
  15. 15 Feb the Riverside National Date Festival parade will occur with about 100 NVMI Cadets slated to participate.
  16. The National JROTC Drill Competition will take place in April in Florida, and NVMI will send about 20 cadets to participate in this opportunity. Board member Pruitt offered assistance with coordinating the Disney World for possible entry to the parks.
  17. Citizenship – WO1 Gina Wilson
  18. Academic boot camp remediated failure to attend demerits for academic support demerits from last semester. This was wildly successful for the 168 participating cadets.
  19. Boot camp continues after school for kids who have excessive demerits. This is likewise effective at helping students remediate failure to attend detention demerits and bring the more into line with the expectations of the school.
  20. After school cleaning crews continue to work to help students remediate failure to attend detention demerits.
  21. Athletics – Lawrence Sarenana
  22. Full CIF membership was granted this Monday for NVMI beginning in July 2016.
  23. Basketball and Soccer are concluding successful seasons. The board started the meeting by observing the boys varsity basketball team game in the VHS gym.
  24. Baseball, Softball, and Boys VB start next week for high school.
  25. Wrestling – working on donation from Birmingham HS of wrestling mats
  26. Middle school flag football, soccer, basketball start in two weeks.
  27. Softball begins next month for middle schoolers through Fernangeles Park
  28. Board member Josephs asked a question about transportation for athletic events. Coach Sarenena responded that NVMI owns six vans that are used to transport students to various activities, including away athletic contests, athletic practices that occur off campus (such as baseball), and various other events like Orienteering matches.
  29. Campus Safety –
  30. Ms. Jackson reported that the ampus Safety director works with the Dean on investigations regarding student misconduct.
  31. 3 FTE safety team members are stations at specific posts + 4 part timers support the campus safety effort as needed.
  32. Mr. Herrera also serves as the liaison with the bus company that transports students to/from NVMI daily.
  33. Cameras on buses were recently activated to help with disciplinary investigations.
  34. Monthly safety team meetings with SVHS are held to maintain strong communication between the schools.
  35. Operations – Kellie Jackson
  36. NVMI just completed its six-year WASC visit for re-accreditation.
  37. Satisfaction about facilities as a result of the move was a noted strength during the WASC visit interviews with staff, students, and parents.
  38. Salaries commensurate with LAUSD scale is a goal teachers were very positive about
  39. Donated copy paper was briefly discussed because Board Chair West inquired about where the large number of cases of paper in the main office came from. The PAC organization has done an excellent job of encouraging families to donate paper to the school.
  40. Superintendent – Dr. Mark Ryan –
  41. Current entrance camp has 10 students who will complete next week.
  42. Enrollment is currently 514, four short of the budgeted 518 amount.
  43. The WASC process was highly successful, and the Superintendent reported that he is confident the visiting committee found things in good order, found NVMI to have a solid commitment to ongoing school improvement, and found that NVMI has a strong action plan for continued growth.
  44. The independent study program discussed at last month’s meeting has been implemented with strong success in its first two weeks. This is helping NVMI recoup ADA by closely following state guidelines for independent study master agreements.

VII.  INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The Director of Operations and Superintendent will brief the board on the Year-To-Date actual expenses through 30 Dec 15 compared to budgeted amounts.

  1. The board closely reviewed the data presented of actual expenses compared to budget amount through the end of the calendar year. There was some discussion about specific line items and the reasons for faster-than-expected or slower-than-expected “burn rates” within those line items. The Superintendent and Director of Operations answered questions from the board regarding those specifics.
  2. Student absences thus far result in a loss of in excess of $100,000 this year alone. The board was reminded that the Independent Study program was approved in part to help resolve those losses in ADA that are so impactful to the budget’s bottom line.

VIII.  INFORMATION – The Board will receive training on The Brown Act. – An extensive power point presentation was discussed by the board on the components of the Brown Act. Particular emphasis was made of:

  1. Serial meetings
  2. Requirements for posting of agendas
  3. Locations of meetings
  4. Teleconference participation
  5. Special meetings
  6. Emergency meetings
  7. The facts that only items on the agenda as action items can be discussed and acted upon
  8. The content of closed sessions

IX.  DISCUSSION – The board will hear about the annual requirement to submit Form 700 forms to LAUSD. Kellie Jackson explained the requirement and collected completed forms from board members

X.  ADJOURNMENT was at 5:58 p.m.

NORTH VALLEY MILITARY INSTITUTE

COMBINED GOVERNING BOARD AND SCHOOLSITE COUNCIL MEETING

SUN VALLEY HS MULTIPURPOSE ROOM

4:00 PM THURSDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2016

MEETING NOTES

I.  Call to Order with Welcome and introductions at 4:00 by Chair Trish Doering. All present introduced themselves. There were five NVMI board members present (Steven Escobar, Emory Josephs, John Pruitt, Kevin Baxter, and Kay Deitch). There were 22 students present, 16 parents present, and 19 staff members present.

II.  General public comments - none

III.  Governing Board Announcements and Topics

  1. Steven Le, USNA Graduate, will be introduced as a possible additional board member at the March board meeting – postponed to March meeting.
  2. Charley Dobbs, fund raising consultant will discuss with the Board and SSC the current fund raising plans being contemplated for NVMI – Dr. Ryan discussed the proposal to conduct a September fund raiser at which NVMI would honor one person or group in each of the school’s four pillars – Academics (Jose Hernandez, first Hispanic astronaut), Leadership (General Petraeus), Citizenship (Governor Schwarzenegger), and Athletics (The Los Angeles Dodgers). There was discussion amongst SSC and board members about the pros and cons of such a plan, but there was general consensus that such a fund raiser would be positively received by the broader community, and that it would obviously benefit the school financially. Both SSC and board members present seemed to agree that this was a good plan to move forward.
  3. Note that while this meeting will comply with the provisions of the Brown Act, no board action will be taken at the meeting. This meeting is intended as an opportunity for the board and SSC to get to know each other and the functions of both organizations.

IV.  Reports from stakeholders