SY 2022-23

Horizons K8 School

Board Meeting Minutes

June 9, 2022

Call to Order: 12:00pm

Facilitators: Lucas Ketzer, Mike Ashmore

Notetaker: Lucas Ketzer

Present: Lucas Ketzer, Michael Ashmore, Mike Tadros, Karen Wolfer, Rachel Buckley, Elizabeth Parady, Jessica Hogan, Peter Hegelbach, Ryan Conrad

Absent: Allyson DeSart, Aubrey Demmon, Adam Brink

Quorum established 

Head of School Updates

• Hiring Update – Motion to approve hiring of one-year ⅚ Teacher- Ashley Bailey, Motion (Lucas), 2nd (Ryan), Concorded on 
• Still need to hire a PM Custodian, 0.4 FTE Counselor and K Para

Board Elections- Approve Mike Ashmore as Board Co-Chair and Elizabeth Parady as Board Treasurer

At the first Council meeting of the year in September, revisit Parent/Guardian Board requirements. Council still needs to fill one Parent/Guardian position. 

Adjourn: 12:40

Horizons Board Meeting Minutes
August 11, 2022

Board Members Present: Adam Brink, Karen Wolfer, Lucas Ketzer, Ryan Conrad, Peter Hegelbach, Mike Ashmore, Allyson Desart, Elizabeth Parady, Mike Tadros, Jessica Hogan

Called to order 6:03PM
No public comment

Consent agenda – one amendment – no council on 8/17
Accepted: Lucas and Adam seconded, concorded

HOS Update
Update on Mission, Vision, Value implementation
Fundraising – Update on new fundraising policy
Outdoor Education will be taking place in September. We are still following BVSD and CDC guidance re: COVID
One board vacancy needs to be filled – this will need to be done at the September Council meeting.
Student safety update: Lucas met with some parents who are concerned about student safety – especially in light of the shootings.
Need a SAC- school accountability committee member and DAC- district accountability committee member
Lucas and Karen will update volunteer requirements and send to the community

Board position elections
Mike A makes a motion to elect Allyson as vice chair
Jess seconded, concorded

Secretary : No one volunteered – will wait until the new board member is elected and then decide.

Process Observer – Ryan: great job staying on task and being warm and friendly

Adjourned: 7:20

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
September 8, 2022

Call to Order: 6:05
Facilitators: Lucas Ketzer, Mike Ashmore
Notetaker: Maggie Anderson
Process Observer: Lucas Ketzer

Present: Adam Brink, Mike Ashmore, Elizabeth Parady, Fran Cohen, Peter Hegelbach, Mike Tadros, Lucas Ketzer, Allyson DeSart, Jessica Hogan, Lynn Pence, Ryan Conrad
Absent: Karen Wolfer

Quorum established

Public Comment
No Comments

Consent Agenda:
Approved current agenda
Approved Prior Minutes

Motion to approve – Mike, Second- Lucas
Concorded

Head of School Updates-
2021 SPF – Lucas explained the report. Horizons had low participation as many families opted their student(s) out of the test. Report will be made public on the Colorado Department of Education website soon.
SAC/UIP – Next steps: Karen & Lucas will create a unified improvement plan, present to the School Accountability Committee (SAC), present to faculty, then to the board. Anyone is welcome to sit on the SAC – open committee.
Jessica – can we have a unified voice on this data when parents ask? Lucas will work on messaging to the community.
Board Vacancies – vote next week at Council meeting
OE Trips – Celebrate the work and planning. Kids were beaming.

FRC –
Elizabeth is the new Board Treasurer
Fiscal Year just recently closed and we received end of year numbers from the district
We drew down reserves
Will continue to draw down reserves this fiscal year
Given our current revenue and expense projections, we will not be able to meet our reserve goal in FY25
We will use this year to formulate a plan to increase revenue/decrease expenses
Unknowns in the budget – retirements, state funding
Fundraising Committee – committee is revising the wording and approach for fundraising, 23% of our fundraising goal has been reached so far

Strategic Planning – Board discussed next area of strategic plan to address
Lucas proposes to work on decision making matrix areas that are most important, and then move onto another topic (parent engagement)
Consensus was reached

Process Observer: Lucas
We did a good job staying on track timewise
Appreciate thought partners for these big ideas
We covered a lot and everyone has a better understanding of our process moving forward

Adjourn: 7:48

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
October 13, 2022

Present:
Mike Ashmore
Jess Hogan
Allyson DeSart
Rob Horansky
Mike Tadros
Lucas Ketzer
Karen Wolfer

Virtual:
Peter Hegelbach
Elizabeth Parady
Ryan Conrad

Community Members:
Lynn Pence
Fran Cohen

Open Forum: Adelaide, an 8th grader, discussed the need for a Gender Sexuality Alliance club at HK8.

Consent Agenda:
Motion to approve Lucas, 2nd Mike A, approved

HOS update:
UIP overview – Karen discussed the UIP and the goals for the next two years, including the reasons for CMAS – as defined by UIP needs and goals.
Action – if a letter goes out regarding CMAS, we need to discuss more.

Budget FRC Update:
No new numbers. BVSD is still working on this. All school budget documents to keep track of spending at this time. Delayed on both EOY and monthly reports.
Lucas – SpEd funding – State mandate that would allow us to manage the SpEd department ourselves, rather than the $30K we pay BVSD. Lucas went to a meeting to learn more about this. It would be significantly difficult to make this happen. Suggestion from the Colorado League of Charter Schools was that schools would need a significant reserve to make this feasible. However, it is an option, and might be something we consider at a future time.
Lucas – fundraising – Committee continuing to meet and strategize and the Auction committee is working on a Spring celebration.

Board Membership:
Proposal – Take the HOS and AHOS off of the Board as voting members. Keep faculty members at 6.
1. HOS directly reports to the board, so as a member of the board makes this awkward.
2. Also, it would allow for a more diverse membership of the faculty – increase actual number of faculty members – from other areas of the staff.
3. This would not change the structure of the meeting or who reports, but it would change who votes.
4. HOS does not get named as a title in the bylaws, but the responsibilities are named. The AHOS is not named.

Proposal : Accept the revisions in the red-lined document, with the amendment that “Preside” changed to “Participates Openly” in section 5.6 subsection E. – Proposed by Karen.
Jess seconds. Elizabeth Abstains. Concordance reached.

Further Board Business: Ryan did reach out to the ⅞ team for supporting the GSA. ⅚ – Peter supports as well. Karen as well. Adam would like to see it K-8.
Is there any other educational or outreach needed or available that we can look for?
What is the ideal time for this to meet?

Time keeper : We did a great job keeping time.
Process Observer: Addy- again thank you for your well spoken piece. Avoided getting stuck in the weeds. Good discussion and completing a vote. Virtual – this is an issue – not ideal. Hybrid is not easy. How can we solve this?

Mike adjourns at 7:39.

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
Date: 11/10/22

Call to Order: 6:20
Facilitators: Mike Ashmore, Lucas Ketzer
Notetaker: Maggie Anderson
Timekeeper: Peter Hegelbach
Process Observer: Adam Brink
Present: Lucas Ketzer, Mike Ashmore, Elizabeth Parady, Lynn Pence, Karen Wolfer, Allyson DeSart, Peter Hegelbach, Rob Horansky, Adam Brink,  Aubrey Demmon
Absent: Jess Hogan, Mike Tadros, Ryan Conrad

Quorum established 

Public Comment

• No public comment

Consent Agenda: 

• Approve current agenda
• Prior Minutes

Motion to approve – Mike Ashmore

Second – Elizabeth

Concorded

Head of School Updates

• Winter Sports – Discussion with faculty – beginning stages of planning, might look different than it did in the past, we’ve already budgeted for Winter Sports, transportation costs have increased substantially
• UIP Draft – our UIP is approved, will be public at the beginning of January

Board Membership – Faculty agreed that various viewpoints are more valuable than having different grades represented. The faculty will have interested people submit answers to questions about why they are interested and what their skillset is, faculty will vote Dec 2.

FRC Meeting Minutes Lucas:  There are different ways to look at long term planning of the school, these are not recommendations, just jumping off points, PPP loan and reserves mean this could be a phased in approach, long term we want revenue to equal expenses, $665K is what we need to fundraise to balance the budget
Faculty is looking to board to shape the options available
Less we spend now, the longer we have before our reserves are drawn down

Long Term Budgeting Spreadsheet

Fundraising Committee – Elizabeth: We still don’t have up to date budget to actuals. Hilary is working with BVSD for numbers so we can make our revised budget by January. Current fundraising as of Nov 2: $95K, 

Other Board Business: We’ll have some kind of winter activity in the spirit of what we’ve done in the past for winter sports, up to faculty’s capacity. 

Process Observer: 

• Schedule, but based on needs
• Left with a lot of questions
• Lucas is doing a great job, handling a lot

Adjourn: 8:00

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
Date: December 8, 2022

Call to Order: 6pm
Facilitators:  Mike A
Notetaker: Maggie
Timekeeper: Peter

Process Observer: Ryan

Present: Lucas, Maggie, Peter, Mike A, Allyson, Elizabeth, Stephanie, Dulce, Fran, Mindy, Kate, Michelle, Adam, Lynn, Karen, Hope, Aubrey, Kevin, Brooke, Micah, Bogosian/Stone, Nina, Vivian, Nicoleta, Stephanie, Peter, Fran, Adam 

Absent: Mike T, Rob, Jess

Quorum established 

Public Comment

• No public comment

Consent Agenda: 

• Approve current agenda
• Prior Minutes

Motion to approve – Mike A
Second – Elizabeth
Concorded

Head of School Updates

• Three things focusing as faculty
  • Trauma informed instruction, monthly debriefs
  • Christy and Karen will facilitate conversations about literacy instruction in Horizons
  • Celebrate staff for their willingness to pull together when the power was out

FRC: Minutes

• We just got our budget to actuals for 9/30/22 from the district
• Long-term planning framework- potential revision to process
• January FRC will present board with revised budget
• Our beginning fund balance came in higher than we had anticipated
• Council budget – Elizabeth – budget is earning interest, can the money stay there so it continues to earn interest and continue to draw down on Fund 11 instead? 
• Send a letter to BVSD declaring our intent to research outside business support options
• Elizabeth proposes Lucas write the letter, get board approval, and Mike sends to BVSD on behalf of board; Adam seconds. Motion passes.

Staffing Structure Document: Lucas: 

• How we solicit input from faculty when we’re having long term budget discussions that would allow faculty to think about potential cuts to FTE and potential revenue increasing measures, explore impact on students and family 
• Take this info to parent board members, allow them to formulate a long-term plan based on what faculty provided
• It’s a three step process, individuals fill it out first, that doc gets looked at by certain groups, then gets looked at by individuals again to make sure everything is captured

Fundraising Committee: Elizabeth

• 52% of goal before CO gives (which was approx 15K)
• How campaign is going: we typically reach 50-70% about now

Other business: 

• Covid: how to respond/address the rising cases in the community, Elizabeth recommended asking everyone to wear masks, several immunocompromised students and family members
• We can’t mandate but we’ve encouraged masks and are seeing more people in our community using masks

Process Observer: 

• Interesting agenda, robust conversation around the budget, long term planning, and staff input
• Voices were heard, overall a good meeting

Adjourn: 7:44p

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
Date: 1/12/23
Call to Order: 6:02

Facilitators: Lucas & Mike
Notetaker: Maggie
Timekeeper: Peter
Process Observer: Rob

Present: Lucas, Mike Ashmore, Karen, Maggie, Peter, Chris Osborn, Elizabeth, Allyson, Adam, Lauren, Lynn, Stephanie, Mike Tadros, Jess, Hilary, Fran, Rob
Absent: none

Quorum established
Introductions
Public Comment (none)
Consent Agenda: 

• Approve current agenda
• Prior Minutes

Motion to approve – Mike
Second – Elizabeth
Concorded

Head of School Updates

Lucas will be resigning at the end of this year. Peter says the process to find a replacement is exhaustive and thorough (and can be costly). Lucas is editing the job description). We are posting for a Principal (vs Head of School). We will develop a rubric of the desirable characteristics/traitP in the next principal. We will also post the position. Board discussed using an exit interview in order to understand how we could improve the hiring process and who might be part of the hiring committee. Mike motions to get the job description published. Elizabeth seconds the motion. Motion passes. 

FRC – Meeting Minutes  

The Finance Review Committee discussed a compassionate way to reduce salary overspending. Committee met with Summit Middle school since they are similar in their relationship with BVSD. Summit has a business manager and operates very similar to Horizons. We are aiming to earn interest on our money in CSAFE accounts vs transferring it to fund 11 where we won’t get interest. Board needs to approve our revised budget in January. Hilary was asked to share – not transferring the money will help us see what our actuals are. Elizabeth mentions increasing students per class. Is increasing class size a board decision? Elizabeth motions to approve the revised budget. Adam seconds. Everyone in favor. Motion passes. 

Fundraising Committee – $154K of $208K raised (64% of goal); discussed software to be used for monthly donations, kick off monthly donations for Hawk Bucks at the spring gala (April 22). Create media to show what the Hawk Bucks covers (such as winter sports). 

Other Topics (none)

Process Observer: 

• Good job with sensitive subjects

Adjourn: 7:33pm

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
Date: 2/9/23

Call to Order: 6:05
Facilitators: Lucas, Mike
Notetaker: Maggie
Timekeeper: Mike Tadros
Process Observer: Rob Horansky

Present: Lucas, Mike A, Mike T, Caroline, Adam, Allyson, Karen, Lynn, Hilary, Elizabeth, Rob, Brooke, Melissa, Aubrey, Lisa L, Nicoleta, Shannon, Kevin, Megan, Julie, Maggie
Absent: Peter, Stephanie, Jessica, Fran (arrived late)

Public Comment (none)
Consent Agenda: 

• Approve current agenda
• Prior Minutes

Head of School Updates

• Professional Development Work: Faculty are continuing trauma informed training. We are also discussing potential adoption of a new literacy curriculum in K-4. Literacy curriculum needs to meet certain CDE requirements.  Horizons is looking into different options to align with BVSD. Our goal is in the 24-25 school year to have selected and implemented a new program. Next year, we may pilot a new curriculum, Into Reading. Right now we have a variety of curriculum, including Orton Gillingham
• Staffing for FY24 – process we start at the beginning of January. Hilary and Lucas discuss positions that will need to be posted by Feb 21. Lucas will have more info at the next board meeting. 

Head of School search update

• Process – the committee  had a productive meeting, we have ten candidates, looking over the rubric that was created, going to be taken back to faculty and create interview questions

FRC – Meeting Minutes, Elizabeth

• Five parents came to the meeting, Hilary/Desiree created a one sheet proposal and a parent offered to create new ways of proposing different budget scenarios. The school is not sustainable beyond three years. Lucas is looking into how much involvement  the faculty want in budget making decisions and the faculty created a budget subcommittee
• Lucas: Last year when we approved our budget, the board directed us to draw down reserves. If we keep everything the same as this year: drawdown of $690K (doesn’t include fundraising money), $140K is the hope for fundraising. Lucas is asking faculty:  how do we as a faculty make a decision to bridge the gap? Budget subcommittee group will meet 2 more times and the goal is to concord on one of the three scenarios (or a mix of scenarios) by February 24th. At the March board meeting, Lucas will bring faculty suggestions.  BVSD may give an 8.3% cost of living raise (depending on legislation), so Horizons is looking to see what that raise may look like for us and how we can stay competitive with BVSD salaries.
• Mike T supports the idea of tapering off the shortfall in the budget, while continuing to draw down the reserves. He wants us to be competitive with other teaching positions
• Fran: faculty group talked  about long term ways to attract and keep quality talent, what can we do to reduce costs? This is a very collaborative approach
• Elizabeth would like to see a balanced budget
• FY23 Budget 
• FY24 Budget

Fundraising Committee

• Elizabeth: $137K in fundraising so far and a couple people signed up for monthly donations via CO Gives.Fundraising Committee is drafting a letter to community about the process and how to do it. The committee discussed the spring fundraising push. Katie and Michelle took over grocery cards. Gift cards aren’t as lucrative,  so focus on groceries and spirit wear. 

Other Topics (none)
Approve last month’s board minutes
Process Observer:
Good, respectful discussion

Adjourn: 7:58

1. Public Comment from Cory Pavicich- comment on support for Principal Candidate Jasmine
2. Elizabeth reviewed FY 23/24 budget

Budget Planning

Jessica: Overall budget and the $905K starting deficit does not include Council Funds moved into Fund 11 because doing so was “masking” the budget imbalance issues. This was a smart budget exercise but not a comprehensive view of a budget for planning purposes. The net result is that we could end up making deeper than necessary budget cuts to balance the budget in 1 year, rather than looking at a more realistic view that includes some Council budget funds and extending to a 2- or 3-year view. 

Jessica: Propose that we look at the budget deficit using a more conservative transfer of council funds into the Fund 11 budget before we make final decisions on budget cuts.

Agreement by the FRC to work up various scenarios using Council funds at more conservative levels and with a 1-, 2-, and 3-year forecasted budget and discuss those at our next board meeting before making further budget decisions and cuts beyond what might be decided upon tonight.

Allyson: We should also look at other potential cuts that maybe were not included by the teacher subcommittee.

Jessica: Yes, was informed that 5 FTE at the admin level is “unprecedented” or certainly high for our size school, as an example. 

Headcount decision

Need to make before the pool of prospective students is depleted.

Jim: Taking 1 student now per class is preferable than scrambling to add more later when we’re in a tighter spot.

Proposal caps the grade levels – so motion can include additional students and grade level maximums.

Elizabeth: Motion for addition of 38 students in the 2023-2024 school year and beyond with grade level caps as stated in proposal/by Lucas.

No second of the motion.

Allyson: Would be open to discussing the addition of 19 students but not ready to jump to 38 in the coming year.

Allyson: Motion for the addition of 19-20 students beginning in the 2023-2024 school year and forward with the changes as outlined in Proposal A by the teacher subcommittee.

Jessica: Second the motion

Vote: No quorum

Jim: Do teachers need to recuse themselves from this type of vote?

Lucas: Teachers could recuse even though it’s not a cost decision but rather a revenue decision

More discussion about the balance of additions with grade level caps.

Compromise to cap the following: 40 for Kinder, 80 for 1-2, 80 for 3-4, 88 for 5-6, 88 for 7-8

Michael:

Motion to add 19 students for the 2023-2024 school year and going forward with grade level caps as follows: 40 for Kinder, 80 for 1-2, 80 for 3-4, 88 for 5-6, 88 for 7-8

Jessica: Second

Vote: Parent board members unanimous, teacher board members recused

Elizabeth: Next steps?

Lucas will hit go tomorrow with Maggie.

Michael: Close of meeting at 8:48pm

 

Horizons K8 School

Board Meeting Minutes

Date: 4/13/23

 

Call to Order: 6:05

Facilitators: Mike Ashmore

Notetaker: Lucas Ketzer

Timekeeper: Adam Brink

Process Observer: Jess Hogan

 

Present: Mike A, Fran, Lucas, Elizabeth, Mike T, Jessica, Rob, Stephanie, Adam, Allyson, Jim

Quorum established 

 

Consent Agenda: 

• Approve current agenda and minutes with addition of “and compare with other charter schools”. Motion to approve - Mike A

Second - Elizabeth

Concorded

FRC-

• We are currently at 65% of our fundraising goal

• Next school year, we may not be using RevTrack to collect contributions. BVSD is planning on phasing RevTrack out after next school year. 

Open Enrollment

• Given our current grade level caps, we are projecting 362 students for next year because we are short students at Kindergarten

• Proposal- “The FY24 enrollment cap will be 375 students and the HOS and faculty will work together to find appropriate spots for students on the waitlist.”- Motion to approve- Mike T

Second- Mike A

Concorded

FY24 Budget

• The board discussed the reduction of a 1.0 math interventionist and 0.25 middle school literacy interventionist for FY24

• The board discussed the costs and benefits of a graduated COLA vs. an 8% COLA for FY24. 

• The board advised the HOS to work with the finance team to be able to present a budget for FY24 that includes an 8% COLA for all staff members and the elimination of a math interventionist position and a middle school literacy interventionist position.

Process Observer: 

• Respectful discussion

• Ran over time

 

Adjourn: 8:30

Horizons K8 School
Board Meeting Minutes
Date: 5/11/23

Call to Order: 6:05

Facilitators: Mike Ashmore, Lucas Ketzer
Notetaker: Maggie Anderson
Timekeeper: Adam
Process Observer:

Present: Rob, Elizabeth, Jim, Lucas, Allyson, Stephanie, Mike Tadros, Adam, Jessica, Fran

Absent: 

Quorum established 

Public Comment- Sarah Wise

Consent Agenda: 

• Approve current agenda
  Prior Minutes

Motion to approve -  Rob
Second - Mike
Concorded

Head of School Updates

• End of Year Events - Graduation, Plant Sale, Student Sales, Pizza Friday, Variety Friday

• Hiring Update - Solid candidates for many open positions (5 paras), interviews will go into the week after the last week of school

• Transition Plan with Jasmine - meet with various people in June

• Board Candidate Update - 4 opening

FRC -board letter to request evaluate sped needs minutes with district (CFO of BVSD), look into how district is allocating , numbers are going up every year, Lucas will draft letter adn board will sign

Salary Schedule - Mike Tadros presented questions to ask regarding faculty salaries The goal being to remain competitive, retain top talent, Horizons favors longevity and has done so historically, 

Are there regions of the schedule that we can be strategic about? 

Mike presented data showing where we offer more than BVSD and where we offer less. American Teachers Act (all teachers have minimum salaries of $60K) Mike showed where we align with that act and where we dont

Horizons Council - Mike presented a document addressing how we could improve council meetings, how to inspire parents to come, how we could improve education to the community about what it is, 

CO League of Charter Schools training opportunities - free offerings paid, discounted offerings as well, strategic planning , nondiscrimination training,  improve transitions between board members  

Discussion about the role of the board, we need a uniform way to receive feedback

Karens letter - Jess says she thinks the AP should report to the board 
Desiree’s letter
Adam - propose to table this and let Jasmine and the board next year tackle it

Rob: agenda for next year, how communications are handled and what decisions does the board make 

Process Observer: 
Topics were concise and well structured
Dialogue was to the point
Tricky topics
Fruitful progress

Adjourn: 7:55