MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

A regular meeting of the Explore Knowledge Academy Charter School Board of Trustees was held on Friday, December 19th^th at 4801 S. Sandhill Rd. (at Tropicana) Las Vegas, NV 89121

A. CALL TO ORDER:  President Lauren Scheer called the meeting to order at 4:15 pm and led the flag salute and moment of silence.

B. ORGANIZATION

Compliant Board: Subcommittee of Ben Day & Deb Jackson reviewed the candidates that applied for the board of Trustees and made the following recommendations:

Motion to appoint Max Brown to fill Camille Wilson's post. Deb Jackson motion and seconded by Ben Day. Discussion, Max has outstanding references and brings a strong educational background to the table. Motion passed unanimously.

Carol Handergard to be appointed to the board motioned by Jay and seconded by Ben. Unanimously adopted and appointed to the board.

As a result of the Brown & Handergard appointments, the Explore Knowledge Board of Trustees in now compliant.

1. Roll Call:  A quorum was established with five board members present: Ben Childs, Lauren Scheer, Jay Rosen, Carol Handergard & Deborah Jackson. Absent members: Jill Nelson. Others in attendance:  Sean McManus, Danette Green, Clark Price, Connie Ewing, Sue Stewart, Randy Poloniecki, Cal Webster, Michelle Stanford, Abbe Matsen, Shiranda Collier, Pat Quinn, Diane Rosen

2. Adoption of Agenda:  Jay Rosen made a motion to accept the agenda as presented and Ben Childs seconded the motion. Vote: all ayes, none opposed, motion carried.

3. Approval of Minutes from October 24^th, 2008 meeting:  Jay Rosen made a motion to approve the minutes and presented and Deborah Jackson seconded the motion. The motion passes unanimously.

C. REPORTS

Administration:    Sean McManus presented the administrative report that outlined current enrollment, fundraising, elementary & secondary initiatives, school development, communications, finance & celebrations. Connie Ewing also commented on the development of EKA's National Honor Society Program. An application has been made and EKA should have its first intake of inductees in Spring 2009.

Staff:  

Miss Collier:

Advisor over leadership: Candy Grams made 60 Dollars Frozen 75 will be hosting prom. 300 per hour and DJ will be donated. The Vendor is a parent who is also looking at enrolling his students. Spirit week is coming up in January a range of activities have been planned.

Dalia Ruiz:                            

1-2 advisor at community lane. Dalia has developed a dance program for a range of projects. The students did a presentation for parents and family members. The students will be presenting at the next board meeting.

Abbe Mattsen:                     

Advised that Secondary have begun doing seminars as a booster once again. A Physics day is also planned for the spring.

Lunch lady contract has been tabled for next time and so are responses to public comments

Discussion on the building options of building 16 and the YMCA. Further information is needed before a recommendation can be made.

Organizational Assessment:

Governance committee has held 2 meetings and are working on recommendations regarding how we move forward together as a group. The group is representative of our entire organization and will provide recommendations as we move forward. Policy recommendations and initiatives will be presented when committee work has concluded.

Board Reports:         

Jay Rosen thanked the crowd for attending.

PTSA:       There was no PTSA report at the meeting due to the Trunk or Treat sponsored by the PTSA that was happening simultaneously.

D. Public Comments on Agenda Items:

E. Response to Public Comments: None

General Public Comments;

F. OLD BUSINESS:

            1. Charter Development Options: Moving forward with the YMCA partnership. Currently waiting to hear from the YMCA facilities committee regarding BLM issues that might affect site       development. Ben Childs made a motion to create a facility committee and that said committee be        chaired by Jay Rosen, seconded by Lauren Scheer. The motion passed unanimously. 

            2. Lunch Lady Contract:    

            The soft opening has been scheduled for the second week of January and will run for the month of January. Based on a successful trial, the contract will be considered.

G. NEW BUSINESS:

1. Sando Contract:

Questions raised regarding the payment that has not been sent to Joan Sando. Discussion on actual work that has been completed. Several reports were written without being requested, in addition to a report for the schools accreditation. No contract was in place before the work began despite several requests for this to occur by the Executive Director. The Executive Director advised that payment should be made for the work that has been completed and a plan be outlined and approved before any additional work was undertaken.

Trustee Childs motion not to approve the release of funds for Joan's work because there was no contract, Jay Rosen seconded the motion and called the question. Aye Childs & Rosen nay Carol, Debbie and Lauren, the motion was defeated.

Trustee Jackson made the motion to pay Joan's bill, the motion was seconded and Trustee Handegard. Aye Trustees Handegard, Jackson & Scheer, nay Trustee Childs, Abstentions, Trustee Rosen. The motion Passed.

A break was taken at 5.57pm

The meeting was re-convened at 6.04pm

2. Stipend Remuneration Policy:

Motion to approve the policy for extra pay Motion by Trustee Childs and seconded by Trustee Rosen. The motion passed unanimously.

3.      2008 Financials, Budget & 1st Qtr 2009 Financials:

Discussion on final audited statements regarding use of the surplus funds. Are there any needs that require expenditure of funds for now. The community council and finance committees will discuss and provide a recommendation.

Discussion on state budget cuts regarding recruiting additional students and the additional funds that would be generated. We are looking at taking additional students to cushion the effect of not having attained our budgeted allocation of students. Increasing the charter cap for students beyond 600 students was also discussed.

Discussion regarding the budget process for next year to ensure that we have a budget that is functional and balanced.

Motion to accept the financial report, moved by Trustee Rosen and seconded by Trustee Childs. The motion carried unanimously.

4.      Appointment of Explore Knowledge Academy Trustees:

Motion to change the bylaws to recommend the trustees to nine members and to review and update the bylaws. Motion by Trustee Childs, seconded by Trustee Handegard, the motion passed unanimously, Trustee Rosen abstained.

Motion to accept Trustee Nelson's resignation by Trustee Rosen & seconded by Trustee Childs. The motion passed unanimously.

5.      Sean McManus Contract:

This item has been tabled until the January 30^th meeting.

H. Closed Session: A closed session was held to discuss HR issues at 6.30pm and concluded at 7.13pm

I. Action on Closed Session:

J. Public Comments on Non-agenda items: 

K. Response to Public Comments:

L. Announcements:  Next meeting will be held on January 30^th, 2009 at 4:30 pm at our Sand hill campus.

Meeting adjourned at 7:14pm.