Board Meeting February 13 2025

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
Date:  2/13/2025

Facilitators:  Travis Lockhart
Timekeeper: Adam Brink
Process Observer: Jim Freund
Secretary/Minutes:  Michelle Bargo

Call to Order: 6:05 PM

Present: Jasmine GBC, Kristin Hauger, Elizabeth Parady, Michelle Bargo, Jim Freund, Travis Lockhart, Adam Brink, Mike Ashmore, Rob Horansky

Present Online: Rachel Clionsky, Emmy Kurtz

Absent:  John Bogosian, Fran Cohen

Present online: Lynn Pence, Lauren Yedell

• Quorum established 

Public Comment

• None

Consent Agenda: 

• Approve current agenda  Copy of Board Meeting Agenda – February 13, 2025.docx - Google Docs
• Prior Minutes  1/9/2025 Board Meeting Minutes - Google Docs
  • Motion to approve - Travis Lockhart
    • Second - Mike Ashmore
    • Concorded

Head of School Updates: Jasmine GBC

• Open Enrollment Update - For 25/26 we are fully enrolled in every grade except for 1st grade.  There are substantial waitlists across grades.  Our 25/26 enrollment is at 389 students.  
• Updates on Faculty Intent to Return - We have 6 staff openings: paras, front office director, 1 specials teacher, and 5/6 (Peter is retiring). 
• Strategic Plan - 
  • The 25/26 school year is not shaping up to be a lean year but we need to always budget with the expectation that there will be lean years at some future point. 
  • Open enrollment marketing was very successful this year.  
  • The plan is to send out an annual report to the community so everyone can see where fundraised dollars are being spent.  
  • GBC would like Fund 11 reserves to be raised from 8% to at least 10% as a better safety net.  The Council budget is not a great safety net because decisions can be made without the big-picture view.  
  • GBC would like to see the BVSD charters join together as an organization to be a more united front.  
  • For the 25/26 school year we do not know the PPR but we expect that this number would hold steady or potentially decrease.

Board Committee Updates: 

• Development Committee - Kristin Hauger
  • The spring gala is coming together.  Everyone on the committee is working hard to make this a fantastic night!  The committee has not yet decided what the paddle raise will be for.
  • #BigKidsPlayToo - Phase 1 of this project will be a nature-based playground with middle school students in mind.  We are hoping this phase begins over the summer.  Phase 2 is the space between the Hub and 1/2 wing.  Phase 3 is the space between 1/2 and the cafeteria.  Phase 4 is the space at the corner of Pawnee and Mohawk.  There will be additional student involvement once a designer has been selected.
  • There will be another push for the Hawksbucks campaign coming this spring.  We have raised 50K but are far below the 100K goal.  
• Finance Review Committee (FRC) - Jasmine GBC
  • We are on track to have a Fund 11 deficit of 53K which can be covered by a Council transfer.  This year’s gala has been more expensive to plan at a fancier venue but we expect to recoup this money in ticket sales.
  • Unknowns:  PPR, increased benefit costs, increased purchased services from BVSD

Facilitation Updates: Travis Lockhart

• Sara Wise led 2 facilitation sessions for interested community members.  About 15 attendees.  Slides and handouts: HK8 Facilitation Training - Google Drive
  • Some ideas for Council: Community members can have 1 minute to speak at the start of the Council meetings, for up to 15 minutes total.  This would need to be time boxed.
  • Travis plans to send out a very simple survey before Council meetings to ask community members if they have suggestions for items to discuss.  This would not automatically mean that items mentioned would be added to the agenda.

Faculty Mediator - At the 1/9/25 board meeting, the board requested feedback from faculty on the topic of mediation when conflicts occur in the community.  

• Adam discussed mediation with his 3/4 team.  The 3/4 team thought that this should not be mediation through the district.  One problem is that Horizons doesn’t have clear policies for many issues.  Not having a clear policy would make it difficult to use a mediator.  
• Jim discussed the topic with the 7/8 team.  They also highlighted the lack of clearly documented policy.
• Faculty would like to have administration support to develop a list of the unclear policies that tend to cause the most problems.  Once Horizons documents clear policies, a mediator will be more useful.
• Action Items: Create a list of “sticky” issues that are occurring the most at Horizons.  Document clear policy around these issues.

Other Board Business: 

• Move board meeting to 5/1/25 and Council to 5/8/25 to accommodate Aperture night (5/15/25).  
• When are in-depth budget and big picture conversations happening?  Those conversations happen at FRC, in faculty meetings, and in Big Picture Team meetings.  At Board meetings, budget conversations happen in March and April before the annual meeting in May.  
• Succession planning:  Let’s send out a survey to current board members about intent to return.  Please begin asking parents and faculty members who might be interested in serving on the board.
• HOS Evaluation Committee:  Michelle Bargo, Travis Lockhart, Adam Brink - We are following the same protocols as last year except that a 3rd party survey tool will be used instead of Google Forms.  Please join the committee now if you would like to influence the process.  

 

Adjourn: 7:35 PM

• Immediately followed by 2 Executive Sessions  (Notes in Confidential Board Files)