Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.
Board Members Present: Stacy
Bender, Sandy Flint, Cassie Gaede, Dawn Janusch, and Jeff Vitali
Absent: Anna Egge, Kelly Legg, Ed Jordan, Tom Plocher, Brenda Swanson, and
Karen Paul
Ex-officio member, Tracy
Quarnstrom
Visitors: Sheryl Palmquist, Peggy Reese, Kelly Vilson, Lindsay Jarombek, Heide Miller, Brad Falteysek, and Anita Pelzer.
1. Call to order and approval of agenda.
TRIO Wolf Creek Distance Learning Charter School Board met in the blue lab of the school at 10363 Liberty Lane in Chisago City on December 9, 2008. Board vice chair, Jeff Vitali called the meeting to order at 3:03 pm. A revised agenda was distributed and it was moved by Bender to accept it as revised. Second by Gaede. Motion carried.
1.A. Open positions on the Board.
Director, Tracy Quarnstrom reported that she had contacted board members Anna Egge and Ed Jordan to ask if they still had an interest in serving on the board at Wolf Creek. They were asked to respond to Quarnstrom by the date of this December meeting by 3pm. Neither of them responded. A motion was made by Gaede and seconded by Bender to remove Ed Jordan from the board, as directed by the bylaws, Section 7 on attendance. Motion carried. Flint moved that the board appoint Karen Paul as his replacement. It was seconded by Bender. Motion carried.
It was noted that Anna Egge held a parent position on the board and she no longer has a child enrolled at Wolf Creek. Since she did not indicate a desire to continue serving on the board, it was moved by Flint that the board appoint Dawn Janusch to replace her. Second by Bender. Motion carried.
Bender moved the acceptance
of the minutes of the previous meeting.
Gaede seconded the motion. Motion carried.
3. Open forum
There were no open forum
participants.
4. Consideration of claims and accounts
5.A. Brad Falteysek, an auditor from Abdo, Eick & Meyers, our
accounting firm, was present, and reported the results of the current
audit. Brad distributed two booklets, one was a management letter and the other the
actual audit. The management letter
outlined the responsibilities of the school and the accounting company. He took the board through both booklets, page
by page, explaining the information on each.
He explained procedures and standards, especially those which have recently
been changed. TRIO had one audit finding for 2008. Due to a change in audit standards, the
auditors can no longer draft the audited financial statements and related
footnote disclosures as part of their regular audit services. For the 2008-09 school year,
Heide Miller will be preparing this information in conformity with these
standards. She will also attend a
seminar that will teach her how to prepare Form 990, which
Brad
also took the board through the audit booklet page by page, explaining each
page. Quarnstrom pointed out an error in
the listing of the board members. She
will correct the error, Brad will have the page reprinted and Miller will
replace the corrected page in the booklets.
The
auditor reported a very healthy fund balance and Miller explained the listing
of reserve funds, also found in the audit.
There were no major errors or omissions in the audit. Vitali moved the acceptance of the audit for
the year ending June 30, 2008. Second by Flint.
Motion carried.
5.B. Miller presented the bills for November. She itemized the list and explained many of them. We now have a new lease from Liberty Lane Ventures which reflects some equity made possible by the grant money. The bills for the month totaled $20,845.31. Bender moved that we pay the bills reflected by checks numbered 2454 through 2480. Vitali seconded the motion. Motion carried
5.C The financial report, dated December 9, 2008 reflects expenditures over revenue in the amount of $99,973.47. Outstanding grant money in the amount of $235,137.34 will take care of the deficit and the claim form is being sent to MDE for reimbursement tomorrow. Gaede moved the acceptance of the report. Vitali seconded it. Motion carried.
Miller presented a revised preliminary budget to see how the numbers looked with only 161 students instead of 175. She reported that even with 161 students we would still be $8000 toward the revenue side of the budget The present national financial situation will probably tighten funds in the next year or two even more. Approval of the revised budget for 2008-09 will take place in January. It was noted that all board members should review the budget and email questions to Miller before the next board meeting.
5.D. Miller reported that $17,229.00 of the grant money is still left. She urged us to spend it before using any other funds. Outdoor furniture was mentioned as a spring cost item and Miller urged the board to spend the remainder of the grant money now and pay for the outdoor furniture out of the operating capital we have in reserves. It was noted that Quarnstrom and Swanson will meet with Miller before the next board meeting to discuss the remainder of the grants funds further.
5.E. Quarnstrom pointed out the full report of the “Minnesota Miracle”, a public school funding plan for the 21st century. It is a good plan with good intentions to make public school funding simpler, more fair, and good for both students and tax payers. She pointed out that tough financial times will undoubtedly slow down the process, but it is in place for when the state can financially implement the plan.
6. Old Business
6.A Quarnstrom reported that new furniture did get assembled and installed during the Thanksgiving holiday. Because of an ordering glitch, not all of the items were here, so the company had to reorder with the promise of a delivery date of January 5. We are negotiating with the company for compensation for the mistake and for the delay.
6.B The board member position description was reviewed. One correction was made to the description and that was splitting the last line of item #1 into its own item #2 as requested by Gaede. Quarnstrom pointed out that board members will be asked to sign the description when we have a full board at the January meeting. It was also noted that a board photo will take place in January for all board members.
A discussion was held concerning creating another community-at-large position on the board. This action would mean that we would no longer have a teacher-majority on the board, and by law we must have a teacher-majority board unless we apply for and receive a waiver. The process for applying for a waiver is quite extensive, and not all applications are approved, so if we want to change our board to include another community-at-large position, we should start the process very soon. Quarnstrom related that there is legislation pending that could change the law, in which case there would not be an extensive application process. Quarnstrom also noted that based on the financial issues at the capital that not much else may get accomplished this year and it may be best to start the application process now to have the option in August for the annual meeting. Board members had differing views so this item will need further discussion at upcoming board meetings.
The options laid out for consideration were 1) to wait until the legislation process is completed and if passed, there would not be so much paperwork involved, 2) to also increase our teacher representation on the board so that we would retain our teacher-majority status, 3) keep the board as is, for there is really no reason to change. No action was taken.
6.C. The Strategic Planning Document was presented as a final document. A few minor changes were presented and will be implemented. Bender moved the acceptance of the document. Gaede seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Quarnstrom also asked board members to prioritize the
items in the Strategic Plan, using a 1-10 listing, giving it to her by January
6 in preparation for presentation on January 13.
6.D. The issue of changing the name of our school was presented to our legal representation-Pat Maloney from Ratwik, Roszak, and Maloney. Their suggestion was for us to go ahead and use whatever name we choose for casual interaction, for marketing, for our letterhead, even on our website, but to keep the legal name for all official business. The marketing committee will decide what name we will use and where to use this name in the near future. Wolf Creek Online High School seems to be the suggestion at present time.
Liberty Lane Ventures has asked for suggestions for ways to reward our school, for they have made money on our occupancy of their building. Quarnstrom suggested to them the purchase of laptops and perhaps also help with internet costs for our students.
6.E. The new contract for Sheryl Palmquist was presented for approval. Quarnstrom noted that Kurt Palmquist needed to have his own contract for cleaning for liability purposes. Kurt is involved in the weekend janitorial responsibilities and is now an official TWC employee. Questions were asked about the separation of hours worked and reimbursement received, for Sheryl’s contract since that the contract covers three different areas of work, clerical and outreach, teen parenting instructor and janitorial. After some discussion and explanation, Bender moved the acceptance of the contract. Flint seconded. Motion carried. Bender then moved the acceptance of the contract for Kurt Palmquist. Flint second. Motion carried.
6.F Quarnstrom announced that Emily Stull is the new lead learning manager. She also announced that Stacy Bender is the summer school coordinator and Kelly Legg will fill the summer special education position.
6.G. The graduation committee is meeting and plans are being made for location of graduation, with provisions made for rainy weather. They are looking at both tents on our school lawn and alternate locations.
7. New Business
7.A. The facilities use policy has been finalized and a section dealing with the capacity of our building was added. Appendix A and B, which are forms to be completed by prospective users are also finished. Quarnstrom stressed that these forms may be revised as they are used and the need arises. A few minor changes were pointed out. Bender moved the policy be accepted, with changes. Gaede seconded the motion. Motion carried.
7.B. The truancy/attendance policy was presented as an extensively revised document. Bender urged all board members to read it carefully. The committee hopes for board approval at the January meeting. Quarnstrom noted a special thank you to Bender who worked very hard on making corrections to this policy. Vitali moved the acceptance of the first reading. Gaede seconded the motion. Motion carried.
7.C. The first reading of the social networking websites policy was presented. A discussion was held dealing with the protection of staff in the world of social websites when staff is approached by students to be a friend, or when students post issues about themselves. This will be considered in the revisions to be made by Quarnstrom. Quarnstrom also noted that she will again consult with Pat Maloney on the protections for staff members. Bender moved to accept the first reading of the policy. Second was by Gaede. Motion carried.
7.D.
The director evaluation tool was presented. The tool with instructions for completing it
will be sent out electronically. It is
to be completed by January 6, 2009 so that the results can be presented at the
January 13th board meeting. A
motion was made to accept the tool as prepared by Swanson. Motion was made by Vitali and seconded by
Flint. Motion carried.
8. Since Governor Pawlenty has publicly announced the importance of online learning in Minnesota, Quarnstrom wrote him inviting him to visit our school on any Tuesday or Thursday during the school year. A regrets letter was received, but she will continue to attempt future contact with the Governor.
Board Vouchers are being completed today.
It was also noted that the IRS mileage rate has dropped from 58.5 cents to 55 cents
9. The meeting was adjourned by a motion from Gaede at 4:38 pm. Second by Flint. Motion carried.
The next TRIO Wolf Creek board meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. at TRIO Wolf Creek.
________________________________________________ ________________
Vice-Chair, Jeff Vitali Date