INTERNATIONAL SPANISH LANGUAGE ACADEMY
ISLA BOARD MINUTES
August 28, 2007
ISLA School Building
12007 Excelsior Blvd, Minnetonka, MN
CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:02 PM
ISLA BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Melody Brombacher (Board Chair), Rolf Brombacher, Lily Johnson, Mark Mathison, Sonia Miller-Van Oort, Michael Valley, Steve Semler, Kerry Krawczyk-LeMieux, Molly Quinn (Board Secretary)
EX-OFICIO MEMBERS:
Karen Terhaar (Director) Present, Diane_Schimelpfenig (Hopkins District) Present
VISITOR(S): Karen Utt (PTO representative)
ISLA BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Angie Cabrera, Jenny Brockman
MOTION TO APPROVE PREVIOUS BOARD MINUTES
Moved, seconded, passed.
MOTION TO APPROVE TONIGHT’S AGENDA
Moved, seconded, motion carried.
BOARD CHAIR ANNOUNCEMENTS
PTO Chair to sit on Board as non-voting member per by-laws – Melody asked Karen Utt if she would be open to this and she has accepted.
Open House – Faith is hosting a welcome dinner for ISLA families on Thursday, August 30 at 5:00 pm.
Recognition of Board members and Karen Terhaar as we begin the next phase of ISLA.
CONSENT AGENDA
Hiring of Carmen Higueros, ISLA Before and After School Care employee - successful background check – all in favor.
FINANCIAL REPORT
October 1st – grant deadline. As of July 31st we had spent $19,000. Josh and Jenny are working to have budget more accurately reflect our situation and next month’s report will be more in line with our expenses.
ISLA has received approximately $80,000 in General Funding which includes lease aid.
Balance of $150,000 as of July 31st.
We have what we need to get the year started but would like to wait until bills have come through to know more specifically how much we have left of the grant money – only certain things can be paid for with the grant money, for example, cannot pay for teachers’ salaries.
If grant money is not completely spent by October 1, 2007 then we will not receive the next installment of grant money until the current allotment has been expended. At this point we are still basing funds upon estimates. Once the school year has begun then we will be able to pin point the specifics.
Our enrollment is 80 at this time.
Lunch program: Would Stenmark be able to help us with the check end of the lunch program? Josh felt that it would be possible as long as we had a system for collecting checks every other week. We will be required to pay for lunches that have been ordered but do not feel that we can require parents to pay for lunches ordered if children are absent.
We must serve the lunch, clean up, keep track of who has ordered, who is actually eating. Looking for volunteers to help staff the lunch.
Options:
Parents to pay for a card worth a set number of lunches.
Parents pay a given amount in advance and then ISLA keeps track of balance.
Additional input from Board? We need to decide who is going to do the bookkeeping.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Staffing? Not comfortable hiring a part time EA at this time. Definitely need help to serve, etc. In what way could we incorporate volunteers into the serving, clean up, recess support, bookkeeping? We do not want to overspend. At the last PTO meeting, a parent had indicated that parents are interested in being present in the classrooms from the beginning – helping with lunch, etc would be a great asset. Karen proposed that we also consider paying someone for only the hour in order to solidify the commitment. Mark brought up the fact that we need a person to attend a training regarding serving and should be an employee present in the building – would not need to be the actual server. Training available though a number of different organizations – and is a condition of our license through the City of Minnetonka.
Karen will put out a notice to parents seeking candidates for a part time EA position – 3.5 hours.
Karen Utt will take on finding volunteers for the first week of school – she will give them the heads up to come prepared on Thursday to sign up for lunchroom, recess, bussing and all around volunteering.
PTO REPORT
Processes in place to collect donations for playground equipment, teacher wish list, button sales – beginner fundraiser, ISLA listed on Target red card, McDonald’s night, LandsEnd, volunteer opportunities listed on web site. Karen Utt will send out info to gather more people for volunteer pool.
Theresa Aleckson
Major item: September – finalize our fundraising calendar. Auto-pilot projects such as those listed previously as well as investigating other options. Primary focus of fundraising will be foreign language teaching assistants. Will have a classroom rep for each classroom. Next PTO Executive Board meeting will be on Aug 30 after the Open House. Agenda posted one week prior and minutes posted one week post.
COMMITTEE REVIEW AND CHAIR ASSIGNMENTS – Refer to ISLA By-Laws, Article VI
a. Executive Committee – Board Chair, Chair-Elect, Executive Director and Officers of the School
Officers of the School refers to other officer positions of the Board – secretary, treasurer. We have never elected a treasurer nor a chair-elect. Mark suggested that we put on the next agenda the election of these two positions. The definition of treasurer: the chief financial officer of the school, make a report at each regular Board meetings and chair the budget/finance committee.
b. Governance Committee - The Governance Committee shall perform the duties set forth elsewhere in these Bylaws in regard to the election of Directors, election of officers, and filling of vacancies, and such other duties as are deemed appropriate and necessary by the Board of Directors. The Governance Committee shall be chaired by a Director and include two additional Directors and two individuals who are neither Directors nor officers of the School. (ISLA Bylaws, Article 6, Section 5)
These people would be familiar with the by-laws and see to it that they are followed. Sonia, Steve and Mark volunteered to serve on the governance committee.
Sonia nominated Mark, Rolf seconded. Discussion: Mark accepted. Mark was unanimously elected as chair of the governance committee. Additional members of this committee: ideal would be to have parents, and those with governance expertise.
Michael moved that we put a notice on the ISLA and PTO websites seeking people interested. Steve seconded. Discussion: Sonia suggested putting together a flyer communicating to all parents that this committee is seeking members and including it in the Thursday Information envelope at Open House.
c. Standing Committees and Chairs - Election and Removal of Standing Committee Chairs. Except for those standing committee chairs designated in Section 1 above, standing committee chairs shall be elected and removed in the same manner as officers of the School. (ISLA Bylaws, Article 6, Section 6)
We need to include a section in our by-laws regarding Standing Committees. Mark suggested that first order of business for governance committee would be to find 2 additional committee members and re-address the by-laws, updating as needed.
Melody suggested that it is key to have chairs of standing committees to be sure that goals are being met.
Standing Committees:
Committees that do not yet exist but would be beneficial: strategic/long-range planning – falls under finance? All agree that a strategic committee would be very beneficial. Use the next months to look at creating such a committee and re-address by-laws.
d. Ad Hoc Committees - The Board of Directors may, at its discretion, create Ad Hoc Committees to address specific subjects of concern to the Board. The resolution creating a committee shall specify the purpose, duration, powers and responsibilities of the committee. The Board of Directors shall appoint a chair, who may, but need not be a Director. The Board of Directors may remove an Ad Hoc committee chair at its discretion. (ISLA Bylaws, Article 6, Section 7)
e. Advisory Committees - The Board of Directors may, at its discretion, create Advisory Committees to keep the Board informed and to make recommendations on an ongoing basis in any area of the operation and management of the School that it deems desirable. The resolution creating the committee shall specify the purpose, duration, powers and responsibilities of the committee. The Board of Directors shall appoint a chair, who may, but need not be a Director. The Board of Directors may remove an Advisory committee chair at its discretion. (ISLA Bylaws, Article 6, Section 8)
Personnel Committee: Sonia, Steve, Mark, Molly - Rolf nominated Molly as chair of personnel committee, Mark seconded, all in favor.
Facilities Committee: Karen, Mark, Michael - Kerry nominated Michael, Steve seconded, all in favor.
Communications Committee: Karen, Kerry, Steve, Sonia, Lily, Molly -
Molly nominated Steve, Sonia seconded, all in favor.
Finance Committee: Rolf, Jenny, Michael
Will determine chair at next meeting since we must elect a treasurer (must be a Board member) and the treasurer automatically becomes the chair of the finance committee.
Need to recruit more committee members from the ISLA community with expertise in the area of finance knowledge.
Mark moved that at the next regular meeting of the Board that the Board consider the following resolution: that the by-laws of the International Spanish Language Academy be amended as to article 3 #2 so that the Board of Directors of the school shall consist of no less than 5 and no more than 13 as determined by the Board from time to time. Kerry seconded.
Discussion: Clarifying Karen Terhaar’s role regarding voting or non-voting. Karen would prefer to be non-voting in order to keep the differentiation clear.
Clarification that the motion is to consider the number change. Question as to why we feel we need to alter the membership numbers. Suggestion that we take time to investigate before making changes.
All in favor, motion carried.
Time Keeper: Melody suggested that we assign a Board member to act as time keeper. This role could be rotated, but basically up to Board Chair to assign someone as needed. Michael brought up the fact that we follow Robert's Rules to a point but also have in depth discussions. Brought up that we have been functioning as a working Board and this has required deeper discussions.
REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF THE FOLLOWING:
Employee Handbook – Presenter: Steve Semler
Steve feels that it could be missing some pieces yet but could also be possible to go ahead with it at this point. Not prepared to approve handbook since not everyone has reviewed it. Definitely need to approve it at next meeting. Need to address a few major pieces, for example, the section on leaves. Rather than worry about what is missing, it would be more important to be sure that what is included is complete and accurate. Seeking feedback especially with regards to: clarity – is something not clear and could it be inaccurately interpreted. Law-wise, are things accurate. Molly will work with Steve to complete this project. Personnel Committee will bring it back to next meeting for approval. Areas to address according to Karen could be leave. The contracts cover many points. Melody mentioned that the section on data privacy seemed unclear. We could include a welcome statement. Solicitation and Distribution of Literature: review this as pertaining to such classes as Young Rembrandt’s.
Student Handbook – Presenter: Lily Johnson
Mark moved that we adopt the student handbook as presented by Lily. Kerry seconded. Discussion: Question as to exact specifics regarding Minnesota school attendance. All in favor, motion carried.
Lily – put together the entire handbook by hand!!
Discipline Policy – Presenter: Karen Terhaar
Karen felt that we needed to have something in place as we start the school year. Presented the possibility of sending parents a copy of a policy of consequences to inappropriate actions to be reviewed with their children, then signed by both parents/students and returned to ISLA. Explained that, basically, if a situation arises in which a student would require intervention on the director’s part, a meeting with the child would be the first step, followed by a conversation with the teacher and the parents to keep the lines of communication open and provide for an opportunity for learning and growth.
The end result of the discussion: we do not feel that it is necessary to send such a policy home, etc. Prefer to focus on the school’s mission/vision and positive behavior guidelines. The in-house policy that has been drafted is a work in progress and will be revisited. There is a possible security in having some type of discipline policy in place. Ultimate goal: to be consistent and clear in following up on behavior.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
Personnel
Update on healthcare benefits package. We have received final approval on Sept 1, 2007. Believed that we would be able to offer two plan options but because we don’t have at least 5 enrollees we will not be able to offer dual options. If we are not able to offer two options then, per prior meeting decision, we will offer the 300/25 plan.
Facility
Communication
Elect treasurer and chair-elect
Breakdown of Committee Assignments
NEXT MEETING
Next meeting: September 25th, 2007 at 7:00 p.m
MOTION TO ADJOURN
Moved to adjourn at 11:15 pm, seconded, all in favor, motion carried.
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