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Council Notes January 19 2023

Horizons K-8 School

Council Meeting Minutes

Date: 1/19/23
Time: 6pm

In Attendance: Mike A, Laynes, Rob, Lucas, Caroline, Allyson, John B, Adam, Karen, Brooke, Kevin, Maitreya, Tyler, Mike T, Suzanne, Elizabeth, Maggie, Aubrey, Jessica, Ryler, Liam, Kate H, Julie, Hilary, Joy, Lynn

Minimum of 20 member quorum established
Facilitators: Lucas Ketzer, Mike Ashmore
Notetaker: Maggie Anderson

6:00 Introductions

6:05 Communication Agreements/Procedure/Concordance/Minutes

6:10 Committee Reports

  • DAC – District Accountability Committee, John: Notes Dr Anderson presented about the dual language pathway, looking at equity issues related to it, BVSD hired a consulting group on bilingual education (report is available if interested), BVSD moving towards fundamental literacy approach, Looking at new K-5 literacy materials: three vendors presented: Amplify, Houghlin and Mifflin, McGraw Hill are the three contenders. Discussion about students with disabilities and how the pandemic affected their learning.
  • DPC – District Parent Committee: no update.
  • SAC- School Accountability Committee: no meeting this month.
  • EDB – Equity, Diversity, Belonging, Allyson: Discussion about how to be more collaborative, workshop coming up with Rerooting consulting – “Culture and Whiteness” is the topic in April, bookclub in March (Gender Creative Child), lending library starts next week – diverse books in the classroom, Outdoor Ed gear collected for students that need it.
  • HCG – Horizons Community Group, Elizabeth: no meeting in December, Steering Committee meeting Friday morning, liaison meeting Wed 1/25, discussion of how HCG can better support faculty, organize volunteers for classrooms, Anxiety workshop (x2), Board game night Feb 22.
  • FRC – Finance Review Committee, Elizabeth: revised budget to board and was approved, BVSD gave staff budget numbers so we know where we’re at, we are earning money on council funds, 500K drawdown in budget which was planned.
  • Board Report, Mike: budget, fundraising committee discussion, bulk of time spent on the hiring of Lucas’s replacement – process, etc.

6:40 Fundraising Update, Elizabeth: 63% of our goal, approximately 37% of families have contributed, looking at system for monthly donations (Donor Box, CO Gives), Donor box seems more robust, CO Gives is new, we opted for CO Gives – accounting team is already familiar with it, cost for transactions is the lowest they were able to find, Spring event is April 22 at Junk Yard Social Club, create video or material to promote winter sports and its impact on students/parents – could be used for spring gala as well, Adam: winter sports are complex with limited transportation funds, weather & temperature

6:50 Head of School Selection Process: Committee of 16 forming, potentially reducing that number, Peter’s presentation, Leading Screening, Interview, Performance Rubric spreadsheet to make the process more objective, posting is live for 15 days to see how many applicants we get, board votes to hire, discussion about the teacher led model and how it affects this process, will we examine what it means to be a teacher led school? Yes, but we won’t make the hiring contingent on these discussions

7:20 Open Forum 

  • Joy comments that Horizons is not what it used to be
  • Jessica mentions lack of cohesion across the school that other parents have noticed
  • Adam: teachers often have representatives go to council vs everyone going
  • Elizabeth loss of institutional knowledge
  • Lucas’s understanding of teacher-led school is that his role is to empower teachers to make decisions, this could be opportunity to redefine teacher-led school
  • Julie: teachers are working hard on new curriculum
  • Julie L: make sure our new families know how important the community is
  • Is the conversation about teacher led worth having if it is a teacher led school? Is it Council’s job to discuss it? Mike says it needs to be formally requested of the teachers to decide.

8:05 EDB Budget – via Allyson : During the process of hiring a speaker – found a discrepancy in budget amounts between EDB and HCG.  EDB had hoped for a speaker, but could not afford. Can we make them equal?  Question as to where the money would come from. Discussion continued.  Proposal for budget parity of EDB to be equal to that of HCG.  Question as to where the money would come from. Lucas second.  We did not have concordance.  The request was that HCG budget should be reviewed first and review EDB.  Before we change any of them.

The mission of these groups is similar-complimentary- serve the community. Council budget is determined in May. Move this conversation to the agenda for the next meeting.

8: 25 Adjourned by Mike