BOARD OF DIRECTORS REGULAR MEETING Merit School of Music 38 S. Peoria, Chicago, IL 60607

Transcription

1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS REGULAR MEETING Merit School of Music 38 S. Peoria, Chicago, IL Conference Line: , passcode then press then # Call to Order: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016 MINUTES OPEN SESSION Time: 6:59 P.M. ROLL CALL LASHONDA MILTON - BOARD SECRETARY ABSENT/PRESENT Board Members: Michael Lucci - President Absent La Shone Kelly Vice President Present LaShonda Milton Secretary/Treasurer Present Austin Berg Present Seth Harkins Present Renee Nash Present (Telephone) Angela W. Richardson-Bryant Present David Qu Absent Staff: Elizabeth Roth Present Interim Head of School Farland Jenkins Board Administrator Present Introduce Guests: David Cumberbatch, Edward DePersis, K12 Finance, Allen Wall, Board Attorney, Charles Grode, Merit Music, Cheryl Wolfersberger, Merit Music, Brian O Malley, Merit Music Nevin Hedlund, Architect. 1. Public Comments on Agenda Items : None.

2 2. Accept Agenda Austin Berg Discuss and take action on agenda item #4, Merit Lease/Building before the approval of minutes item. LaShonda Milton Voice Vote - LaShonda Milton; Aye, La Shone Kelly; Aye, Seth Harkins; Aye, Austin Berg; Aye, Angela W. Richardson-Bryant; Aye, Motion Carries. LaShonda Milton Accept the agenda including the adjustment in item order. Seth Harkins Voice Vote - LaShonda Milton; Aye, Seth Harkins; Aye, Austin Berg; Aye, Angela W. Richardson-Bryant; Aye, Renee Nash; Aye, Motion Carries. : Discuss and take action on agenda item #4, Merit Lease/Building before the approval of meeting minutes item. : 3. Merit Lease/Building Inspection Seth Harkins Approve the payment of 50% of the architect assessment fees in the amount of $1,325. LaShonda Milton Roll Call Vote - LaShonda Milton; Aye, Austin Berg; Aye, Angela W. Richardson-Bryant; Aye, Seth Harkins; Aye, Motion Carries. A building inspection took place as a part of the charter renewal process. Merit is here to discuss how they will discuss the inspection findings and what part, if any, the Board will play. The Merit Executive Director thanks the Board for their partnership and they have enjoyed having the school here and CVCS is a great neighbor. The Merit and CVCS missions are complimentary. There have been a number of conversations with the Board Administrator and Merit is taking this seriously. It was decided that an architect needs to be involved. The architect offers an historical perspective. The architect was involved in the original acquisition of the building in Adjustments in the building s usage may be necessary. The architect of record reviewed the report. In general, if the architect is hired for the process, there is a way to comply directly with the report or make adjustments or to work through each of these issues. There is not any one issue that would be a stumbling block and could not be overcome by either a programming, management or construction solution. This is good news for both parties. The architect believes that the end result of the analysis would be CVCS ability to not only maintain the facility here, but to also continue and

3 grow programs as needed. The architect will not go into specifics because the work has not started but the report has been reviewed. The architect is confident that not only is CVCS use going to be maintained here, but it may grow as well. The Board inquires about how flexible the architect will be in making the corrections. The architect works with the city all the time with very specific and unusual projects that are more unusual than this project by knowing who to contact with the city and getting the appropriate resolutions. As a school, CVCS is concerned that they will be removed from the building during the school year. The architect is very confident that continuity can be maintained. The CPS charter renewal process has been moved back one month to March. CPS would like to have a reasonable timeline as soon The architect would characterize each item in several ways; Items that can be corrected right away or if something will take more time a date for completion would be estimated. October, 2017 is not a date that is immovable. The architect thinks that the overall timeline is more than adequate. Not all of the items are construction related. The plan of action will address each issue, how it will be solved and when it will be solved. The total cost for the scope of the architect s services is $2,650. Merit proposes the CVCS share evenly in the cost. The Board is interested in what would be a reasonable contribution to the project. The Board is not sure about the tenant landlord contract issues. This may be a new arena that has never been dealt with. The Board would like to see an estimate of the total cost, how Merit would like CVCS to participate and what impact this may have on the lease contract. These issues can t be resolved in a single meeting. The Board would like an indication of what role CVCS will play and the impact on the contract. The Board could then decide how they would participate. The Board has financial concerns. The cost sharing suggested is simply for retaining the architect. Part of the architect s report will lay out the time frame and an estimate of costs. The board would need to consider the sharing of costs. Lighting of the classrooms seems to be in conflict with what CVCS needs and what Merit needs. The resolution of these issues will become clearer once the analysis is completed. The Board needs to decide whether or not to split the costs of the architect. Charles Grode, Merit Music, Cheryl Wolfersberger, Merit Music, Brian O Malley, Merit Music and Nevin Hedlund, architect left the meeting after the roll call vote. Renee Nash joined the meeting by telephone at 7:17 P.M. and voted.

4 4. Approval of Meeting Minutes : Seth Harkins Approve the Finance Committee 1/27/16, Regular Board Meeting 1/27/16, Special Call Meeting 2/8/16 Austin Berg Voice Vote Unanimous Aye, Motion Carries. The Board compliments the Board Administrator on the level of detail in the minutes. 5. Head of School Search The position has been reopened. There have been approximately 9 interviews. Two candidates have moved into 2 nd interviews. Face to face interviews will be done in the next week to week and a half. 6. Head of School Executive Report Enrollment update as of February 17th: o Approved students: 682 o Orientations scheduled: 0 o New seat offers pending response or orientation: 10 o The February count date enrollment was 681 students o The Board would like management to be aware that the school is not just meeting enrollment at the count dates and that we practice at having the 680 student enrollment each count date. o This could be a red flag for a CPS auditor. CPS may have changed their count date pattern because of this. o The enrollment report shows year over year retention rates. The starting group retention for this year is 3.5% better than last year. Staffing update: o Open positions: HS ASP Reading Teacher HS ASP Math Teacher Full Time Bi-Lingual Teacher interviews are scheduled o A recruiting efforts report has been provided that shows the number of candidates that have been interviewed for various open positions. Notes are included in certain sections. o The Board appreciates management providing the notes on recruiting efforts.

5 Special Education Update o The part time EL Teacher has accepted the full time position. o Candidates are being interviewed for the Bi-Lingual Teacher position. o There are no additional updates on the related service providers other than what was discussed in the Finance Committee meeting. 7. Finance Committee Report LaShonda Milton Approve the Board Finance Committee report. Angela W. Richardson-Bryant Voice vote No vote, motion to be amended. Amended LaShonda Milton Accept the Board Finance Committee report including the recommendation to approve including the nursing rate, the Title I funding and the consent agenda as stated. Austin Berg Roll Call Vote - LaShonda Milton; Aye, Austin Berg; Aye, Angela W. Richardson-Bryant; Aye, Seth Harkins Aye, Renee Nash; Aye, Motion Carries. Items Discussed in Committee: January, 2016 Financial Reports Net Asset Balance Language in K12 Contract Update FY 2017 Budget Expense Reimbursement Procedure Career Staffing Unlimited Contract Nursing Hourly Rate Maxim Staffing Title I, Title II Program Design Amendment CPS Compliance Calendar Items o FY15 January, 2016 ETL Report o SPED Template o CPS 2nd Qtr. Statement of Financial Activities o CVCS Staff Listing o Form 990 Consent Agenda o Board Administrator Expenses - $130

6 o Legal Fees, December, $1, o Credit Card Charges, January, $912 o K12 Invoices, January, $240,209 : The January year to date financial report was discussed. There is a concern that $280 thousand in budgeted expenses had not been spent as of January, some of which is due to staff positions that have not yet been filled. The request for a change in the net asset balance language in the K12 service agreement has been sent to K12 legal but there are no updates on that. There was a $384 thousand discrepancy in general funding revenue between the summary and detail budget assumptions report for the draft FY 2017 budget. The Committee took action requesting that management resubmit the report by March 9 th, 2016 to make sure that the summary and detail numbers agree. Expense reimbursement currently takes 21 days. The Committee requests that the process be tracked to determine if the 21 day time can be reduced. The Committee approved the Career Staffing contract and recommends that the full Board approve it be submitted to Career Staffing with the changes in the language recommended by the Board attorney. The Committee also recommended and approved that if Career Staffing agrees to the language changes, the rates are ok and the agreement can move forward. The CPS nursing services hourly rate was recommended for approval by the Board for the nurse to perform services for the proposed scheduled hours. It is a reimbursable expense from CPS. There is an issue with the late fee proposed in the Maxim Staffing contract. The interest rate language needs to be amended. The Title II and Title II Program Amendment was approved by the Committee with knowing that the program can be amended at a future date. The Dean of Students position was approved. The compliance items have been submitted on time with the exception of the Form 990 report which is due by the end of the month. All other reports. The Committee recommends that the compliance items other than the Form 990 report be approved. The Committee recommends that all the consent agenda items be approved. 8. Chicago Teachers Pension Fund Payments for K12 Employees It was noted at the January meeting that K12 was depositing funds into the Chicago Teachers Pension fund for K12 employees using the school s funds. The K12 Finance Manager will address this issue at the next month s meeting. The payment has been reversed and CVCS has been credited. The Board suggests that the Finance Committee review the payments to determine if credit should be issued by K12 for prior payments made into the fund for K12 employees using CVCS funds. The Board will not take action at this time.

7 9. Career Staffing Unlimited Service Agreement This item was addressed during the Finance Committee report. 10. Board Calendar The Merit building is not available on February 27 th to schedule a Board training session with the Board attorney s firm. The Board Administrator will follow up to determine times and locations. The Merit space (room 207) is inadequate for Board meetings. A centrally located conference room may be rented for the training. If guests are anticipated for a full Board meeting, a rented space may be needed. Space could be a hotel conference facility, a public library or some other facility in the area. The training must be confirmed with the Board attorney s firm. The Merit concert rooms could be used for dates in March. Each Board member will indicate to the Board Administrator their availability in March. Once a date is determined a space can be researched, whether it is this building or in a nearby area. Rooms can be reserved in public libraries online. A library could be available for meetings. The Board Administrator will inquire about alternative spaces at Merit for Board meetings. The Board training will only need one room and lasts for about 4 hours. The interim Head of School evaluation will revert to the old format and will not be done online this year. There is not an urgent need for the Strategic Planning Committee to meet. Board members should try to be available to meet in April. The Committee could meet after the end of the school year. Part of the strategic plan is that we not take on too many issues. We are monitoring performance against our goals. Members should send schedules to the Board Administrator. The Committee may develop initiatives. The Board would like teacher performance information prior to taking action on employee bonuses and salary increases. Information was provided in the Academic Committee and last month s Board documents. Partial evaluations can be provided by the May Board meeting. The goals for evaluation need to wait until close to the last day of school. High school teachers have to wait for passing rates. For K through 8, we will have to wait until the end of May or the first week of June as their results are tied to either NWEA or benchmarking tests. It is management s recommendation to the Board to provide the Board with the evaluations for the main Board meeting. The scorecard goals will be provided as soon as possible so that the Board has enough time to review the data in time for the June Board meeting. The Board would like to be able to review the data, embellish it and then

8 make a decision. Bonuses are normally by the July 7 th pay date. The Board is relying on management s expertise in what recommendations will be made because they observe the employees on a day to day basis. The Board deems that the time from one meeting to the next meeting would be sufficient time. The Board would receive the data in May to be able to consider it in June. Management stated in the December meeting that the scorecards would not be available in their entirety until the June Board meeting. If the Board approved in July, employees would not receive the bonuses until the August payroll. Management believes that there probably would not be any problems with that. The Board thinks that is an administrative decision. The Board does not think that they should direct when that should occur. This is not a matter of policy; this is simply what the Board tells management. The decision with regard to how payroll is handled is not their concern. The timing of the checks will be management s responsibility. Management will continue to move forward with the scorecard evaluations in May. The discussion will be presented as a timeline and should be placed on a calendar for May. The Board has expressed what they need and the rest should be an administrative decision. If the Board does not get the information by May, there will be a delay and the Board will not take action on it. 11. Professional Development Policy 2nd Reading : Angela W. Richardson-Bryant Approve the 2 nd reading of the professional development policy with the changes striking his or her that comes before designee and it reads as: or designee in the sentence All CVCS personnel shall have an individual professional growth plan that is reviewed at least annually by the CVCS Head of School or designee. In the subsequent sentence The individual professional development plan shall be developed collaboratively between the Head of School or designee and the staff member. Accept the second reading with those amendments. Austin Berg Voice Vote Unanimous Aye, Motion Carries. The Board attorney has reviewed the policy draft. The collaboration between the Head of School and his or her designee language may not be quite the appropriate language. Typically a designee is a stand-in. If that is the case, the way it reads is individual professional development plan shall be developed collaboratively between the Head of School and his or her stand-in for the staff member. This is a wording issue rather than a legal issue.

9 The intent was to give the administration as much flexibility as needed so that the Head of School will have a backup person. The language should read the Head of School or his or her designee rather than and his or her designee. The Board attorney recommends that all that is needed is the one word changed. The language could be amended to read collaboratively between the individual employee or staff member and the Head of School or his or her designee and the staff member. The sentence could read The individual professional development plan shall be developed collaboratively between the Head of School or a designee and the staff member. 12. Salary Negotiation Policy 2nd Reading The Board Attorney has provided comments on how the policy is worded. The person who is offered the position can then negotiate. Either the position does not indicate a salary or post that it is negotiable. The posting may just state that salary is commensurate with experience. A teacher who has not yet read the policy states that when the school started the policy there were a lot of hurt feelings because teachers were not aware of a policy. The Board appreciates the need for the teacher to make comment but the Board s interaction should be with the Head of School on this issue. The Head of School should be prepared to interact with the Board on these issues rather than the Board being engaged in a dialogue around this besides in the public comments part of the meeting. The teacher apologizes for the comments. The Board states that the teacher can hold their comments to the public comments part of the meeting. The Board should consider when there is action on an item the comment is moot and will not necessarily pertain to the action taken. The Board needs to determine how that is handled because the comments may be relevant to decision making. The Board will review Robert s Rules of Order to determine how that pertains. The Board wants to be clear on this and is in agreement. If there is comment on something the Board is voting on, they probably should allow public comment. There are usually 3 readings on policies before final action is taken. Action does not necessary to be taken on this. There is time because this won t be in place until next school year. The Head of School agrees with the teacher s comments with regards to if a position is posted with a salary range, there are going to be team members that will consider the position and see the salary range. There may be internal resentment when considering the experience necessary for the position. Other conversations may take place regarding salaries. Salaries are public information. In the operation of this particular school, the Board gives management the direction. Because the Board has hired K12 to manage the school, they give them the directives and leaves it to management to act upon it.

10 We are in an atypical environment. Comments from teachers that are directly impacted would help in decision making because this is a new model. The model is a more collaborative process. Had teachers known that the salaries of certain positions were negotiable they might have applied. The purpose of the policy is to avoid that situation. K12 was not aware that this is an issue. The teachers are the Board s employees and the Board is the last resort for supporting the teachers. As a professional in any organization, all salaries are negotiable. It is up to the interviewee to inquire if salaries are negotiable, whether it is posted or not. It should not be the Board s decision to make a determination to negotiate on behalf of the employee. The position in question had a set salary posted. A salary policy is a good idea if the policy is that there is a stated salary or salary range posted. Any posting beyond that it is negotiable is not a Board issue. That is an internal administrative issue. If there are challenges with that then that has to go the expertise of the administration and management team. It is the administration s responsibility to handle any negotiations about salaries if the Board establishes a policy to state a salary or salary range. This is an example of delegation upward to the Board. This is an example of an administrative challenge that is delegated upward to the Board so that the Board creates a policy to help them manage. There is not a problem with a Board policy. The process is that the Board is being a receptacle for what is an administrative challenge. If salary ranges are identified, it shows a range. There is a minimum and a maximum. If an offer is made and the candidate is not satisfied then it is incumbent on that individual to have further discussion. It is not necessary to state on a position posting is stepping into an administrative aspect. It is up to the individual to initiate discussion about the salary. A salary range identifies the negotiable range. Positions are posted based on the position control forms that are approved by the Board. The Board does not approve a salary above what is posted. There needs to be a policy in place that will inherently take care of those situations. It is appropriate to have a salary policy. The policy may be as simple as the Board establishes a salary range. Whatever the dynamics are it is not a Board decision. A Board member would not be willing to approve the policy language. If there are positions that are identified and presented to the Board they can be identified as a policy. In terms of indicating that it is negotiable it is not appropriate. A bigger picture is that if the fees are set, there is no range. In reality when a salary is increased, it is taken from another part of the budget. The range is to provide flexibility. It is the Board s responsibility to set the salary. Beyond that the Board does not have any responsibility. The position control form has a minimum and maximum range. There is problem is if the position exceeds the position control range. Management should get approval before a salary beyond the position control range. The Board would be crossing the boundary of administration. This is not where the Board needs to be. The Board needs to be very clear about where the Board begins and ends and where administration begins and

11 ends. Anything beyond the salary range should be administrative. Perhaps the Board should consider salary ranges before moving forward with the policy. This is an area where the Board wants to be fiscally responsible. CVCS wants the best person for positions, but must also fiscally responsible when doing so. The value that administration has placed on the positions should be considered by the Board to define what the policy will be and have time to evaluate the position. The Board needs to distinguish between policy and practice. Management can evaluate older positions to determine what the salaries would be. For some of the positions that were approved, not all the position control forms are available to the Interim Head of School. Someone on the management team should have the forms because the positions were presented by management. 13. Charter Renewal Update The Charter renewal recommendation will move forward at the March CPS Board meeting. CVCS will receive formal notice of the recommendation some time before that meeting. CPS will want to have a formal, in-person meeting to: o Provide feedback on any proposed timeline for their planning purposes (They are held accountable to the CPS Board) o The timeline must also take financial considerations into account o The next contact for this meeting will probably be from their facility people o The date of completion of the work is not set in stone and needs to be realistic 14. Public Comments A teacher stated that based on the Board s comments they are willing to share their feelings with the Interim Head of School concerning the salary negotiation policy. The Board will make sure that teachers are kept abreast of decisions that are made that affect staff. Staff should bring their concerns to the Board. The Board encourages staff to feel free to communicate with the Board. The Board has improved on governing at a more strategic level. At some point there needs to be a happy medium between strategic thinking and management operations. There is a shared responsibility between K12 and the Board for the success of the school. The Board is informal sometimes. There are very serious problems at the school with management of the boundaries between the Board and the administration. Those have a parallel impact. The degree to which the Board gets engaged in that is the degree to which administration is not authorized in its role. Authority can be delegated to management because the Board pays them well to do so. If they do not do it to the Board s satisfaction it is the Board s responsibility to explore different administrations or contracts. For the Board to engage in dialogue about various things that makes the school move forward is pulling the cart ahead of the horse. The Board s responsibility is to be strategic. The Board would like to have the clock times associated with the agenda

12 items on the agenda margin so that the meetings start and end on time. If strategic planning were done more often, the Board could cover some of the responsibility areas. It may be nice to have new business indicated as a new topic for the next meeting's agenda so that when new topics are raised the Board does not have to discuss it at that meeting because it is not on the agenda. Make those items new agenda topics and the item would be discussed at the next meeting. When discussions run over times allotted, they can become topics on the next agenda. The Board Administrator would like more feedback when the draft agenda is distributed to Board members for review in advance of the meetings. Agenda items are only discussed during the meetings. The Board can be more strategic in their interface with management is that management needs to authorize members of the management team to give various reports. Otherwise, the Board interaction should be between the Board and the Head of School. The Board should not be interacting directly with an administrator or staffbelow the Head of School's authority. Lead teachers sometimes attend and act as spokespersons. The problem with boundary management is that no one should be speaking to the Board without the explicit authorization and direction of the Head of School except during public comments. The visitor from K12 thanks the Board for sharing the meeting. It may be helpful for the Board is to see the potential ofk12 school model by seeing the next generation of the K12 curriculum. The entire virtual school experience will be transformed in the next 3 years. K12 invests $70 million per year on the student experience. The next platforms will work on smartphones. Someone from K12 may demonstrate the revisions. K12 will be launching a career academy named Pathways. 15. Adjournment Seth Harkins - Adjourn. LaShonda Milton : Time Voice Vote- Unanimous Aye, Motion Carries. None. 8:27P.M. Respectfully Submitted: = Board President for Board Secretary These minutes have been posted on Chicago Virtual Charter School's Web Page-