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Board Minutes Mar 12 2020

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF
Board of Horizons K-8 School

March 12th, 2020
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Facilitators: Paul Martin / Lucas Ketzer
Note Taker: Hope Nelson-Roohr (non-member)
Minutes: Geary Layne
Timekeeper: Alex Osias

Process Observer: Julie Cohen

Call to Order:  6:00pm
Present:
Alex Osias, Beth Coleman, Geary Layne, Julie Cohen, Karen Wolfer, Lucas Ketzer, Paul Martin, Paul Ramer, Peter Hegelbach, Teran Sittner, Tyler Currie

Absent:

Allison Akhnoukh

Quorum established

Guests:

Welcome & Invitation for  public comments:

Approval of Agenda:
Motion – Paul Martin

With addition to discuss how to respond to COVID-19 at beginning of agenda 

Second – Alex Osias

Concorded

Approval of Minutes:

Motion – Lucas Ketzer

With correction that open enrollment will continue into next fall

Second – Peter Hegelbach

Concorded

Covid-19 Response:

Discussed best course of action for Horizons, regarding closing school and possibility of online learning. Some challenges if Horizons, as a charter school, deviated from BVSD. 

Motion – Lucas Ketzer

Given that an announcement from BVSD is expected, moves to table this to later

Second – Geary Layne

Concorded

Head of School Report:

  • Charter Renewal:
    • We met with BVSD on Tuesday, March 10th. See Charter renewal update portion of board agenda. 
    • Preliminary financial impact: 
      • -$297,436 in Special Education- Schools
      • -$85,258 in Mill Levy Funding
      • +$151,691 (approximately- but may be less based on minutes) in reimbursed teacher salary and benefits
      • Resulting in a $231,003 increase in expenses starting in FY21 
  • Evaluations

Para evaluations will be completed followed by debrief conversations. 

  • SAC Meeting

SAC met and recommended that we should offer clubs in three different areas next year: Robotics, Drama/Performance, and Mountain Biking/Running. Lucas is reaching out to potential partners. 

  • Personnel Update

Letters of Intent to Return have been sent and have received all responses.

  • Open Enrollment

Initial Open enrollment has concluded. We are finalizing the last spots to ensure that we are fully enrolled. This process will continue through the fall and is based on attrition from Horizons. 

  • BVSD Update

The District Leadership Team met on March 3rd. and discussed Coronavirus preparedness, the Strategic Planning Process (S3M) that will be rolled out next year, a Census update, and the new board Bullying and Harassment Policy.

Mumps Update

One case of the mumps was confirmed at Horizons. Communication from the Boulder Valley Department of Health went out to all parents. Our staff has increased and intensified cleaning efforts.

Coronavirus Update 

BVSD is continuing to refine it’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak. They are finalizing plans if they need to close schools. Horizons will follow BVSD approved procedures and the Board Resolution. 

  • Conferences

Will be held on March 17,18,19.  

Hiring Process:

Discussion and clarification of current hiring process. 

  • Parent may be included in initial screening process, but is not required
  • Interview committee includes 1-2 admin, 1-2 not-board parents, board parent, at least 1 faculty from impacted and 1-2 from non-impacted.  

No vote was taken

Charter Contract:

Charter renewal process continues, generally going well. BVSD provided feedback and agreed that improved/clarifying language is needed for many of the areas that Horizons identified. BVSD has not provided responses to all issues raised and clarified that BVSD Board believes that 5 years is the appropriate term for charter contracts. Current projection is for a minimum of $231k in combo decreased revenue and increased expenses.

Motion – Alex Osias

Extend meeting by 20 minutes

Second – Tyler Currie

Concorded

Finance Review:

  • FTE Request from Faculty
  • Financials Update
  • Discussion of Services in light of March 10th BVSD meeting

Development Committee:

  • Thermometer on window
  • $36K towards $50K goal
  • Paddle Party canceled
    • Apply deposit to next year
  • Maybe virtual paddle raiser

Motion – Lucas Ketzer

Extend meeting to 8:25 pm

Second – Karen Wolfer

Concorded

Board Recruitment:

Request for bios from those interested in serving on the Board will be sent out via Skylines.

Assistant Head of School Job Description:

AHoS position description drew from the origin AHoS description and the Interim AHoS description and then clarification was added to align with current responsibilities. AHoS is a needed position and given feedback from the recent evaluation, the position will be offered to Karen Wolfer. AHoS evaluation process will be formalized in the future. 

Salary Schedule:

The salary schedules for both Horizons and BVSD were reviewed. Horizon schedule favors teachers that stay at the school many year over first/second year teachers. Discussion will continue once there is a better understanding of financial projections.

Return to – Covid-19 Response:

During the meeting BVSD announced that schools will be closed starting March 14.

Process Observer:

  • Good job of adjusting agenda
  • Meeting facilitation was good
  • We did not finish a “go around”
  • Trouble staying on topic
  • Other opinions were asked for
  • Attention to detail

Adjourned: 8:30pm