CLC Board Meeting 5/18/05   

Call to Order 6:30 PM

 

Present:  Heidi Fletcher, Darlene Fink, Andrea Ryan, Leslie Aderhold, Lori McTavish, Tonya Daher, Linda Bergeman, Deb Madrak, Morgan Ilgen

 

Absent:  None

 

Attendees: Kosta Dussias, Pat Hunt, and Mark Toci

 

The April minutes were presented for review.  Linda Bergeman moved to accept the minutes with minor corrections and Morgan Ilgen seconded the motion.  The revised minutes were accepted unanimously.

 

Heidi requested that it be entered into the minutes that an Executive Session of the Board was held on May 11 to discuss teacher contracts that automatically renew each year.  Based on current enrollment number, the recommended action from the meeting was to elect not to renew the contracts of the two most recently hired teachers and a half-time teacher position.   A recommendation from this meeting was to issue new contracts for the full-time teachers that would be contingent on enrollment numbers in August.  Darlene Fink moved to accept the motions made from the Executive Session.  Lori McTavish seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

 

Andrea Ryan requested clarification of the general thank you notes which were discussed at the last meeting on behalf of the Friends of CLC.  Tonya noted that the minutes were unclear regarding the fundraiser thank you notes.  She stated that her suggestion was to thank all purchasers regardless of CLC connection.  The recommendation was made that a general thank you form should be provided to the fundraising individuals for inclusion in their delivery packages.  Andrea said she would approach Friends of CLC with the revised request.  Another recommendation was made for a general thank you to be posted to the website for all who helped with a fundraiser upon conclusion of the fundraiser.

 

Current enrollment at CLC was discussed.  Kosta Dussias indicated that currently 72 students are expected for the upcoming school year at this point (50 returning this year and 22 new students).  He also stated that at this same time a year ago returning students were 71 with no new students enrolled.  The maximum students accepted would be 125, however; 90 students is the goal for this years enrollment.

 

 

ECO Report

 

Pat Hunt gave an update to the Board.  The school testing was finished.  She also indicated that recruitment was paramount at this time and that there is some sense that the recruitment activities this year have been positive.  The staff is spending a lot of time, as is Pat, on recruiting efforts.  When people are visiting the school with prospective students they are enrolling.

 

Pat indicated that she was working on end of year paperwork.  In addition, an invitation to the 8th grade graduation was going out in the upcoming Friday folders.

Pat discussed the 2005-2006 CLC school calendar with the Board.  The calendar proposed mirrors the State College Area High School calendar with a couple of changes.  The first change was to the first day of school.  The high school starts on September 1st; however, the first day of school on the proposed CLC calendar is September 6th.  This is primarily due to enrollment of students from school districts other than State College whose first day of school is also September 6th.  The second change was to show in-service days as closed days as the CLC staff work an additional 2 weeks after school ends.

 

Darlene Fink motioned to accept the proposed CLC calendar for the 2005-2006 school year.  Tonya Daher seconded the motion.  There was discussion.  Pat stated that we would still have the required number of days for school attendance.  The motion passes unanimously.

 

Business Manager Report

 

Kosta presented updated financials for review and discussion.  The updated financials look better than the ones previously submitted.  He discussed the upcoming teacher contracts and stated that they should be ready for approval by the June Board meeting, but no later than the July meeting.  He said school considerations would be discussed with the individuals entering into the contracts prior to submitting the contracts to the Board for approval.  Job descriptions of the staff will be circulated among the Board members via email for their review so that the descriptions may be approved at the next meeting.

 

Kosta circulated a preliminary 2005-2006 budget for review.  Andrea Ryan motioned to approve the budget as presented for approval and Tonya Daher seconded the motion.  There was some discussion and the motion passed unanimously.

 

An acceptable use policy (for internet and other electronic resources) was circulated and discussed.  Discussion was open and public.  Linda Bergeman moved to accept the policy as presented.  Deb Madrak seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

Andrea Ryan gave a report on the activities for the Friends of CLC to the Board.

 

Jim Johnson is looking into having two presentations by Chris Kreiger-Matisse in the Fall.

 

She discussed the anticipated fundraisers for next year.  The parent group anticipates a Fall bulb fundraiser (much like the Spring bulb fundraiser), shirt sales and cookie dough.  In addition, another pizza fundraiser may be conducted in the Spring.  The parent group also offered to assist the staff with their fundraising efforts for specific events.

 

She expressed the parent groups desire to receive the needs assessments from the staff so that they may better support the staff.

 

A discussion about the June 12, 2005 eighth grade graduation event followed.  Andrea was reminded that the school would not be open until 1 p.m. for decorating.  She voiced concern that so few 7th graders responded to the decorating flyer.  Deb Madrak said that the teachers of the 7th grade students will assist with obtaining volunteers.

 

Under new business, the Board discussed CLC brochures and recruitment.  Kosta indicated that a number of marketing techniques are going to be explored/pursued in the near future and also during the Summer.  Lori McTavish offered assistance with reviewing materials, and/or using her marketing contacts, in support of CLC recruitment efforts.

 

Andrea circulated the newspaper ad of “Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania” charter school as a sample of what they are doing to recruit.  The Board discussed the new charter school, and other local charter schools, and how they may influence CLC’s marketing, recruitment and enrollment efforts.

 

Kosta reminded the Board that the Barnes & Noble day for CLC was set for May 22nd.  Barnes and Noble will contribute a portion of that days sales to CLC.

 

There was no additional business presented to the Board.  Darlene Fink motioned to adjourn, and Deb Madrak seconded the motion.  The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM.