Board Minutes Nov 12 2020
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF
Board of Horizons K-8 School
November 12th, 2020
6:00 pm – 7:40 pm
Meeting held virtually via Zoom
Facilitators: Tyler Currie / Lucas Ketzer
Note Taker: Hope Nelson-Roohr (non-member)
Minutes: Geary Layne
Timekeeper: Mike Ashmore
Process Observer: Alex Osias
Call to Order: 6:00pm
Present:
Alex Osias, Beth Coleman, Geary Layne, Julie Cohen, Karen Wolfer, Lucas Ketzer, Mike Ashmore, Peter Hegelbach, Rachel Buckley, Teran Sittner, Tyler Currie
Absent:
Paul Ramer
Quorum established
Guests: Many present
Public Comment: None
Consent Agenda:
- Approve November 12th Agenda
- Financial Policies
- Grievance Process
- Prior Minutes: October 8, 2020
Motion – Rachel Buckley
Motion to approve consent items, with edits: replace ‘parent co-chair’ with ‘parent chair’, and update date to 2020
Second – Tyler Currie
Concorded
Finance Review Committee:
- Updated projection for Fund 11, deficit 438K,
- Projection at last board meeting was 175K deficit
- Higher salary, higher purchase services costs, COLA & step increase, lower Per Pupil Revenues (PPR)
- Lucas will begin 5 year budget
- Expect increase in PPR of $900 for 2021-22 school year
- BVSD advising we keep flat PPR budget for 2023-24 & 2023-24
- Current balance of 1.4 million in district funds (Fund 11) and 800K in council funds
- Planned spend down of reserves will be part of 5 year budget
Head of School Evaluation Committee:
- Last year’s effort was to develop a process
- This year, dates were adjusted to allow time in spring for the HoS to work on goals based on feedback
- Faculty members on the committee contribute to the process but are not part of evaluation
- Proposed Head of School 6 goals
- Strategic leadership – get strategic planning process down
- Climate/Culture – relevant instructional strategies- WEEAC
- Student Performance – 20-21 CDE framework, standardized tests and growth, evaluated by color; this is a major contributor to how Horizons is evaluated
- Instructional Leadership – teacher evaluation system created with alignment to values; include teacher feedback
- Concordance Process
- Financial Goal – sustainable 5 year budget
Motion – Tyler Currie
Moves that Board accepts these goals
Second – Alex Osias
Concorded
Head of School Updates:
- Faculty completed WEEAC anti-bias training
- Community Conversation on Bias with Vernon Jones will be held on Tuesday, Nov 17
- Continuing to address needs identified through Parents Needs Survey
- Scholarships for enrichment, obtained Grant of 1k, grocery coupons, etc.
- Thanks Sherry and task force of 12
- Update on Charter Renewal – Lucas talked with Kathleen Sullivan (BVSD legal) – process starts again next week, goal is to finalized contract by January board meeting. We will consider what services to purchase from BVSD
- Cold Weather Policy- because our students are outside a lot (15 minutes out every 45 minutes in). It is not safe to come back when it is extremely cold
- If the wind chill factor is forecast to be below 10 degrees Fahrenheit from the hours of 8:00-4:00, Horizons will not hold in-person learning for that school day
- Horizons will use the weather.gov website, for zip code 80303 (zip code of the school) to determine the forecasted wind chill temperature
- Horizons will send email notice to families via email by 12:00 pm if in-person learning is cancelled for the following day
- In the case that in-person learning is cancelled because of cold weather, all students will be expected to participate in Home Learning
- Horizons will continue to follow BVSD guidance regarding Snow Days.
- Shared COVID Decision-Making guidelines and process
- Development of this was a collaborative process
- BVSD will need to return to in-person before Horizons returns
- BVSD is exploring bringing back prioritized groups after Thanksgiving
- Horizons has 18 staff members who are quarantined
- Call to action – during holidays and breaks – reducing COVID spread will help Horizons return to in-person, and gatherings increase transmission
Strategic Plan:
- Following Three Phases approach as described by Education Consulting Research Analytics (ECRA) Group
- Phase one – Lucas collecting archival material into a single location by end of this academic year, and gather input from community
- Will use the World Cafe method
- Efficient way to gather input from various people on various topics
- Maybe use a Personal Development day
- Stations where people rotate (6 groups) to synthesize input and feedback on that certain station or pillar
- Will use the World Cafe method
- Phase two – share with Horizons community at Board and Council
- Then collaboratively decide on what we agree with and what is missing
- Phase three – Develop implementation, in 2021-22 school year
- Considering the hiring of a consultant so that everyone can participate
- Other thoughts
- Is there an avenue for student voice?
- Get alumni voice as well
Process Observer:
- Great job
- Everyone kept cameras on
- Agenda was fabulous
- Lots of participation
- Respectful & kind
Adjourn at 7:40 PM