The Mission of Xavier Charter School is to instill in its students:
A love of perpetual learning An aspiration for personal achievement The capacity to become cooperative contributors to society
Present: (voting members in bold) Renee Robbins (Chair) X
Nathan Huettig (V.C.) X
Scott Hunsaker (Treas) X John Coleman X
Tracey Meyerhoeffer Cindy Fulcher (Principal) X
Becky Baird (Staff Rep.) X
Lisa Maxwell (clerk) X
6:31 p.m. Open Meeting Renee 6:31 p.m. Mission All 6:31 p.m. Agenda Review All Review Minutes: Moved by Nathan 2nd by John to accept the agenda. Motion carried. 6:33 p.m. Previous Minutes All Minutes: Moved by Scott 2nd by Nathan to approve minutes of last Board meeting. Motion carried. 6:35 p.m. Special presentation by Xavier Second Grade Class 6:37 p.m. Presentation by Becky Baird on Classical Education 6:55p.m.56 Health Education Becky Baird Discussion Adopt curriculum for teaching health education and puberty to fifth graders Minutes: Brought before the parents of the 5th grade students on 2/19/08. Parents were very accepting of the content. The curriculum is from Core Knowledge. The students will be separated by gender during the teaching of this Health Education curriculum. Mrs. Baird is very comfortable teaching the girls but would like to find a male health professional to teach the boys so they can be taught at the same time (she cannot be in two places at once). The curriculum is available for parents to review ahead of time. There is an opt-out for families who are uncomfortable with the curriculum. The unit is not graded but purely informative. Notes will go home to parents before-hand. Reports 7:04 p.m. Nominating Committee Renee Update
► Meet Candidates for open board positions
►Roles of Board and Administrator
►Committee Responsibilities
►Board Election Minutes: Two individuals interested in serving on the board. Paul Lloyd—2 children at Xavier, wants to be involved with the education of his children and of other’s children, background in business and agriculture, works for Dow Chemical Company, involved with educating educators on the science of agriculture, has a very flexible schedule, interest in strategic planning and public relations. Jeff Bulkley—2 children at Xavier, interested in his kids education and what’s happening at school, owner of Cain’s Home Furnishings, background in business and public relations, interest in facilities.
Election of new Board members for open position: Formation of a Nominating Committee (a staff member, a Board member, and a PFA member or multiples there-of). That committee then screens potential applicants and forms a ballot for election. Election/voting by stake-holders (registered guardians of students) and staff of the school. Members serve for a period of 2 years. Positions are staggered so they do not all vacate at the same time. The By-Laws state the election process must take place prior to the end of the school year and new members will take office in June. Renee is requesting 2 staff members for this nominating committee. It was agreed that the April parent-teacher conferences would be the ideal time to hold a ballot for open board positions.
Discussion about Roles and Responsibilities of School Board Members, Committees, and the School Administrator. This will be posted on the web page. 7:50 p.m. Principal Report Cindy Update
►Enrollment (drops, adds, numbers on waiting list)
►ISAT Scores and IRI Scores (Fall and Winter % change)
►Application for next year’s enrollment # turned in so far
►Special Education update, # of IEP’s completed, who is fulfilling IEP requirements, how many waiting for IEP’s
►Discipline & Office Tickets
►Server and Technical update
►Charter Commission Meeting and your Request for Adding 9th grade Minutes: Staff has discussed when to allow new students to enroll in the school. There is not a current policy re: when new students can be brought into the school. It can be very disruptive to the teachers and the classroom to bring in new students at any given time in the school year. Staff proposed to allow enrollment any time during the first quarter but only at quarter breaks thereafter and not accepting any new students after the start of the 4th quarter. Looking at the current enrollment, most of the students that we have had leave the school were previously home-schooled and returned to their prior environment. Registration for 2008-2009 we have already received 275 applications for enrollment. Open enrollment deadline is 3/31/08. Lottery being held on 4/12/08. Currently in the process of sending letters to families on the current waiting list re: enrollment for upcoming year. There is an enrollment form available on the website. Advertising is in the newspaper and the banner will be placed in front of the school.
We won’t be receiving money from the state for February because we have received more money than allowed (due to being understaffed). Special education: contract with “EdWise”. We most likely won’t receive any federal special education money this year due to files being out of compliance in November and still in February. Children are receiving services as outlined in their IEP’s, but the IEP’s needed to be amended upon enrollment in Xavier. They were simply “rolled over” from their previous school. At this point in time all IEP meetings have either been scheduled or already held. The students who are in need of speech and/or occupational therapy have been receiving it from the very beginning of school. Children who requesting special education are in the process of teacher observation/evaluation and a recommendation is then made. Mindy Harmon from Sierra Therapy stepped forward in December and helped out in this area without being asked. We are still actively seeking a ½ time Special Education teacher.
Recommendations for teacher contract renewals next month. We will potentially need another 1.5 teachers or more for next year. In order to teach 9th graders teachers have to have 6-12 credentials.
Meeting with 5th grade parents re: whether to keep 6th grade as part of middle school or as a self-contained classroom (elementary model). 100% of parents present voted for self-contained.
Winter IRI scores are reviewed. ISAT testing will be in April.
A part-time computer technician has been hired. We need to buy a new server for the Power School program.
The Office Ticket program is reviewed. Discussion of severity of infractions and consequences for those. The students need to be reminded that this is a no tolerance school. At times there may be a need to call a Special Board meeting to discuss a student who is to the point of expulsion. 48 hour notice is required for that. A recommendation is made to bring students to the Board after the first suspension (not the second). Before the student is suspended the first time a team meeting is held with the student’s teacher and the principal. The student and the parents are completely aware of the gravity of the situation. A request was made to the principal to not negotiate tickets away. The students have the right to a forum but negotiation is never an option.
Meeting March 6 with Idaho Charter Commission. Will be proposing a change in the wording of our Charter to include 9th grade and to allow our own Board to make decisions re: expanding to 10th-12th grade and also adding a second class per grade. Good News report will be presented at that meeting.
Regarding facilities: a presentation will be brought by US Charter Schools at the March Board Meeting.
Our very own Kyni Manke has been nominated for the 2008 Jefferson Award.
8:32 p.m. Finance Committee Scott Discuss
►Finance Report Minutes: Scott distributed a detailed financial report. Bottom line is we are under budget. Renee moves and Nathan 2nd to adopt financial report. Motion carries.
8:38 p.m. Fund Development Committee Tracey Update
►Progress Minutes: Working on 1) grants for science equipment; 2) grants for the Apple Smart program—a keyboarding program for K-3; 3) would like to sell butter braids
8:39 p.m. Facilities Committee John & Cindy Update & Discuss
► Modular Units
►Discuss property and companies that want us to contract for a lease to on own on new building
►Progress on setting up committee and setting goals Minutes: Working with the city to figure out the requirements for the modular units. Need to have a decision made prior to the meeting with the Charter Commission in March. The school has been approached by 2 companies (US Charter Development and Academica West) offering to help with the building of a new facility and also to handle the business end of the school. Awaiting a formal proposal. We had also spoken with a local developer but that did not work out.
Minutes: Would like to entertain a faculty member to serve on the strategic planning committee. Renee moves to have a self-contained 6th grade classroom, 2nd by Nathan; motion carries. Public Relations Committee none Minutes: none
8:50 p.m. Survey Renee Inform
►Survey at next Parent Teacher Conference – Parents and Staff Minutes: We would like to conduct some surveys to determine parent satisfaction and concerns. We also need know what areas are doing well and what needs to be improved. Survey Monkey--$200/year for unlimited surveys. We may be able to facilitate this through our own web page. We could do this at Parent-Teacher conferences in April. 8:52 p.m. Communication Renee Discuss
►Discuss the communication from school to family Minutes: Web site changes are good. Still problems with communication throughout the school. There has to be a certain amount of parent initiative. Because some parents don’t have access to internet, we still have to be able to provide paper newsletters. The newsletter that is on the school webpage is also available in print in the office. 9:00 p.m. Special Education Contract Cindy Approve
►Discuss the contract for special education services Minutes: 2 contracts—“EdWise” consultants providing special education services for $65/hr. John moves to accept the contract, 2nd by Scott, motion carries. In the future will we designate the principal as the Special Education Director and hire a Special Education Teacher.
9:05 p.m. Bus Contract Cindy Approve
►Review and sign bus contract Minutes: John moves to sign the bus contract, 2nd by Scott. Motion carries.
►Policies being considered are on file in the office Minutes: Question on legality of policy 504 re: timing of enrolling students and of 675 re: teaching of evolution to make sure the wording meets state code. Cindy will follow-up. Policy 682 refers to “Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong”, we have a copy of that book for parents to read if needed. 2nd reading of policies will be done at the next Board meeting and they can be adopted at that time. Discussion of dress code: teachers are requesting the dress code be “stiffened up”. Immediately there is an issue with boys’ hair length. Several proposals for uniforms have been made. There is a need for a very explicit dress code to be formed. Computer Support Personnel Executive Session Cindy Recommendation and Hire ►Executive Session - Idaho Code Section 67-2345 (1) (a) to consider hiring a public officer, employee….. Minutes: none
Other Business Renee Discuss
►Charter Commission Meeting March 6th
►Meeting times
►Appoint new Board Members Minutes: 7:28 Appoint new Board Members—one position is a 2 month term and the second a 14 month term. Nominees are Cynthia Hall, Amanda Hyer, Karrie White, Paul Lloyd, and Jeff Bulkley. After a considerable amount of discussion, John moves to ask Paul Lloyd to serve on the Board for the 14 month term, 2nd by Nathan, motion carried. Do we need to fill the position for only a 2 month term? John moves to put the other 4 interested individuals on the Nominating Committee’s list for the ballot for the upcoming election for open board positions, 2nd by Nathan, motion carried. Renee will send a letter to these individuals reflecting this decision. Discussion of amending the By-Laws to designate one Board position as a Community position (someone who does not have children attending the school).
9:21 p.m. Vote on changing of Board meeting times. Motion by Nathan to change Board meeting times to 5:30 p.m., 2nd by Scott. Motion carries. 9:25 p.m. Close Meeting Next scheduled meeting March 20, 2008 at 5:30 p.m.
