The Ranches Academy Board Meeting Minutes

September 1, 2005 4:30-8:00 pm

MINUTES OF 09-01-05 BOARD MEETING

The Board of Directors of the Ranches Academy held a meeting on:

Date: Thursday September 1, 2005
Time: 6:00 pm closed session, 7:00 pm open session
Place: The Ranches Academy

The following directors, constituting a quorum of the full board were present:

Stephanie Colson
Linda Tuttle
Katie Allen
Jennifer Maroney
Valerie Mattson
Stacey James

The following directors were absent:

David Hadlock

The Chair called the closed portion of the meeting to order.

Adoption of agenda:

The Chair made a motion that the following agenda be adopted for these meetings:

Closed session:
1. Personnel issues.
2. Financial issues-Annual budget, Grant.
3. Board issues- Governance, follow-up on assignments.
4. Facilities issues.

Open session:
1. Approve minutes from 08-04-05 Board Meeting.
2. Approve changes to 2005-2006 budget.
3. Discuss 501-C3 designation and fundraising guidelines.
4. Review confidentiality agreement.
5. FSO report.
6. Public comment.

The motion was duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, and was made a part of the records of the meeting.

Closed Session
Motion

Motion by the Chair to approve the changes to the 2005-2006 budget was duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, and was made a part of the records of the meeting. (Copy is attached)

Motion

Motion by the Chair to start the qualification process with the attorney for bonding through Wells Fargo was duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, and was made apart of the records of the meeting.

Open Session
Motion

Motion by the Chair to approve minutes from 08-04-05 Board Meeting was duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, and was made a part of the records of the meeting.

Discussion held during the open session of the meeting:

-The public was notified of the motions that were made in the closed session meeting.
-The Board discussed the 501-C3 designation and fundraising guidelines and felt they needed more time to review this information.
-The Board also requested more time to review the confidentiality agreement and the letter from the auditors. These items will be discussed in the next board meeting.
-The FSO has made changes to their board due to the resignation of the former Vice-President. The changes are as follows:
Vice-President- Joylin Lincoln
Secretary- Trisha Johnson
Treasurer- Michelle Evans
-The FSO also expressed interest in offering after school classes for the students. The classes that were discussed are Spanish, violin, and keyboarding. There will be more discussion in the next meeting.
-A copy of the Principal’s report was distributed.

Principal's Report

Academics:
K-6 grades all, at one level or another, have groupings in Reading and Math. Assessment data will be available each time assessments are done. Even the plan to teach Saxon Math a year ahead, we do have data that shows not all students are there at this time. Teachers are adjusting and TAs are being used to do breakout groups to appropriately challenge gifted and talented students, keep the "vast" middle rolling along, and remdiate for students needing that effort. Teachers are required to share this info with parents in a timely fashion. From what I can see of the notes going home, this is happening.

Grade-level Teams:
Teachers are planning and collaborating on newsletters, groupings, assessments, specialty classes, use of volunteers, keeping TAs hopping, and so on. They meet once a week for this effort. It is showing up again and again that teachers must have this type of time to develop professionally and seek best solutions for individual students.

Committees:
Beginning next week teachers will work on 4 different committees all with the idea in mind to offer input to the Board and to assure all involved that we are meeting the goals ad objectives determined by our philosophy and mission statement. We will also have 2 or 3 teachers rotate through board meeting attendance. The four committees are: Assessment & Curriculum; School-wide Management; School Pride & Volunteer Coordination/ Appreciation; and Technology & Research. They will meet at least twice a month, depending on need.

Mentoring:
Another aspect of opur professional development plan and due to the number of newer, inexperienced teachers we have, partnering teachers with experience with those lacking will make a huge difference in our ability to develop teachers who are committed to the mission of the school. Along with planned staff meeting professional development opportunties and journaling, we will attack issues and resolve them before problems arise. The peer evaluations will facilitate a more highly qualified level of teaching. All of the efforts have as a direct goal to get teachers to focus on using practices that are researched and data-supported. All of this is connected to the underlying objective to offer as much of an individualized education as we can, not just for students with IEPs.

Concerns or Items for Future or On-going Consideration:
--Playgrounds; progressing slowly, but progressing
--Roof work appears to be done; drainage is holding up so far
--Maintenance is now up to us
--Parking lot expansion; with exisiting space, could more than double what we presently have
--Storage space for stage (?), tables, chairs and so on
--Breakout room reconfiguration to give us more of the above, but also more useful space for a variety of issues that a school our size has to deal with
--Curriculum needs across grades; some to complete sets, some to extend programs we already have

-The teacher representatives, Mrs. Scherer and Mrs. Tillotson, presented the board with their questions and concerns. They asked about how many days were allotted for time off and maternity leave, The Principal said that we follow that state requirements.
-The teachers also expressed a concern they had with parents feeling they could make the decision were the teachers should place the student in regards to ability grouping. The board felt that the parents should be able to express their concerns and their opinions, but that these decisions were ultimately the teachers. The board will add this to the policies and procedures outline. Mrs. Scherer will be making an assessment layout that will be used school wide and sent home to inform parents of their child’s level in that specific subject.