MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

A meeting of the Explore Knowledge Academy Charter School Board of Trustees was held on Tuesday, June 12^th, 2007, 2:30 pm at 1711 Whitney Mesa Dr., Ste # 140, Henderson, NV 89014.

A. Call to Order: President Ben Day called the meeting to order at 2:39 pm and led the flag salute and silent meditation.

B. Organization

1. Roll Call: A quorum was established with four of seven board members present: Ben Day, Jill Nelson, Camille Wilson, and Lauren Scheer. Kristine Browder, Dee Anna Carey (excused for family emergency), and David Osman (excused for conflict with work schedule) were absent. Others in attendance: Heidi Thompson, Jay Rosen, Joan Sando, Danette Green, Constance Ewing, Marlo Tsuchiyama, Mike Wiener and Clark Price.

2. Adoption of Agenda: Jill moved, Lauren seconded a motion to accept the agenda as presented. Vote: All members voted "aye", none opposed. Motion carried.

3. Approval of Minutes of meeting on May 21st, 2007.

Lauren asked for a clarification on public comments. Joan suggested she listen to the audiotape, so Lauren made a motion to postpone the approval of the minutes until the next meeting. Camille seconded the motion.

Vote: All Board Members voted "aye", none opposed. Motion carried.

C. Reports/Presentations

1. Administration

Connie gave a report about Graduation on June 6^th and how it all went so well. Ben, who had presented the diplomas, commented on how special and personalized it was, and congratulated everyone involved in the planning.

Danette presented data on enrollment, showing how many students are enrolled and how many openings are left at each site. Jay asked about directory information, op in or op out. After discussion, it was agreed that administration should check legalities and make a decision. Either way, Danette suggested it should go out with the first day packet so everyone receives it.

Joan reported that she has reapplied for the Sandhill Special Use Permit from the Clark County Planning Commission and it is on the agenda for the Paradise Township meeting on July 10^th and Clark County Planning Commission meeting on July 17^th.

Joan reported on the CCSD Compliance Review. All interviews had gone well, and the written report is expected soon.

Joan presented the CRT results for grades 3-8, State Writing results for grades 5 and 8, ITBS results for grades 4, 7, and 10, and the NHSPE results for grades 10-12. She noted the trend is steady improvement for all grades except 8^th grade math. Tenth grade scores on the pilot science test were much higher than other charter schools and higher than all but 3 of the 39 high schools in CCSD.

Heidi asked about possible improvements to the Sandhill building and volunteered to help organize parents for clean-up days, painting the entry way or whatever else needs to be done. Joan reported that she is meeting with the landlord to discuss the big items, like carpeting, paving the parking lot, and painting the exterior of the building, but she would welcome the help from parents.

2. Students: none

3. Advisors: none

4. P.A.S.T.E. none

5. Board Members

Lauren said her son had an incredible year at EKA. She explained his history project on replicating the influence of Hitler, and his computer project in which he built a computer.

Ben commented, for the record, that the test scores look good with significant upward trends and he congratulated the staff on doing a good job of improving student achievement.

D. PUBLIC COMMENTS on agenda items:

E. Response to Public Comments:

F. Old Business

1. Use of Facilities: Ben stated that this is the second reading and asked for a motion to accept the policy. Lauren moved, Camille seconded a motion to accept the policy. Ben asked for questions. There was a long discussion, including the following topics: the purpose of the policy, the users providing insurance riders, the possibility of charging fees to off-set the rent, the CCSD policy, after school activities sponsored by the school, possibility of providing a waiver so the user would be covered by our insurance, teachers hanging out, and the administration having the right to refuse a user, Ben asked for a motion to amend the motion to table it until the next meeting. He asked that the insurance statement from our broker be included. Lauren moved to postpone this item, Camille seconded. Vote: all ayes, none opposed, motion carried.

G. New Business

Ben asked about financials but bank statements had not arrived yet for May. Marlo informed the board that our bank has been bought out by City National Bank and Jill suggested watching them closely as someone she knows has had a bad experience with them.

1. Evaluation of Executive Director

Ben asked Joan to discuss her self evaluation and then he would get a committee together to finalize it. (See attached.) Joan explained that her evaluation is actually an evaluation of the status of the school since she is responsible for the entire organization; therefore, it is not a checklist of what she did and did not do. In summary:

Strengths of the school included:

• improved test scores at all grades levels (3-10) except 8^th grade math,
• general compliance with charter agreement as per our CCSD annual review,
• focus on math instruction at all grade levels,
• HS students programs planned in writing by end of first quarter,
• continued EdVisions training and coaching from EdVisions,
• development of a school wide tech plan and tech committee, and
• improvement in Special Ed record keeping.

Weaknesses included:

• not maintaining enrollment due to situation at Community Lane
• inefficient staff evaluation procedures
• lack of written PLPs for many students
• inefficient use of Project Foundry
• inability of administration to unify all three sites to work in collaboration
• inconsistency with a values based program

Areas to focus on for school improvement include:

• refine the personnel policies and procedures, including hiring and evaluations,
• use NWEA assessment results to plan instruction (PLPs) for each student,
• use Project Foundry for middle school and train the students as well as teachers,
• refine the roles of theTPPs (site teams), and the schoolwide committees, which are Technology, Crisis Response Team, SIP Team, Fund-Development Task Force, and Community Council. Responsibilities and expectations of each group need to be clarified and articulated to entire staff.
• improve internal communications
• implement a values-based program at each site, like Habits of Mind.
• develop more community partnerships for mentors and for fund-raising

Personal Professional Goals for 2007-2008

• renew the charter agreement with CCSD, and
• implement the accreditation/school improvement process which has been started
• monitor expenditures to stay within the budget
• apply for grants

Throughout her report, board members commented and made suggestions, especially about improving communication and trust among staff members and with parents.

2. Approval of hiring staff members for 2007-2008

Joan and Danette presented a list of staff members who have signed letters of intent for approval by the board. Ben reminded everyone that we could not discuss individual staff members in open session, so he would call a closed session so questions could be answered. However, he would take the last item on the agenda prior to the closed session.

3. Commissioning/Recognition of new board members

Ben announced that this is the last meeting for Kristine Browder who completed one term and David Osman who completed two terms for EKA. He extended a sincere appreciation to both of them. He welcomed back Jill Nelson and Lauren Scheer, both of whom were reelected to another term, and Jay Rosen and Heidi Thompson who were newly elected. All four have signed the affidavit required by the NV DOE.

H. CLOSED SESSION: President Day adjourned the public meeting to closed session at 4:45pm

I. Action on closed session: President Ben reconvened the meeting to open session at 5:15pm. He asked for a motion to approve the hiring of the staff members presented on the list. Camille made a motion which Lauren seconded to approve the list. After discussion, Ben called for a vote. VOTE: 4 ayes by Camille, Heidi, Jay, and Ben and 2 nays by Jill and Lauren. Motion passed.

J. Public Comments on Non-agenda items: none

K. Response to Public Comments: none

L. Agenda Planning: Use of facilities policy, Business Plan, Marketing Plan, Communications Plan, Community Relations, hiring a grant writer, director of fund-raising, First Day Packets, Goals for 2007-2008

Announcements:

Next Meeting: August 6, 4:45pm at 1711 Whitney Mesa Dr.

Adjournment: 5:35 pm