Idea Charter School Governing Council

Minutes – August 13, 2012

Present: Kristine Weirauch, Shannon Young, Jacques du Vair, John Vanderwyst, Sue Thompson, Andrew Dercks (two voting among advisors), Steve Pophal (non-voting), Laura Fitzsimmons, Joe Wilhelm, Heather Martell, Peter Vance, student member- Jake Eckmann.

Meeting called to order at 6: 30 p.m. by chair Laura Fitzsimmons.

Agenda Item / Discussion / Action taken/Needed
I. Minute approval for June / Motion made by Sue, seconded by Heather. All in favor. Motion carries, minutes for 6.14.12 approved.
II. Minute approval for July / Motion made by Heather, seconded by Kris . All in favor. Motion carries, minutes for 7.23.12 approved.
II. Budget and Expenditure Report / Steve reviewed the budget documents and discussed the budget as it pertains to grant funds and when they will be available. Shannon motioned to accept the budget documents as presented. Seconded by Kris. All in favor. Documents accepted as presented.
III. Update on Enrollment Numbers / Current numbers are at 79. There are 12 students who are brand new to the district this year. There were 6 last year, for 18 total. This is a tremendous amount of revenue for the district.
IV. Building Use Plan / Advisors received information from a couple sources as late as mid-May that the district no longer had interest in the north east section of the building and began to use that space a lot. The space was used for family socials, art, music, testing, advisories, group lessons and planned to use it for distance learning, science labs and lunch. Then, the advisors were told in late June not to use the space via email. They would like this issue to be re-visited with the district due to the fact that a plan was in place to put in the required electrical and data drops to use that space for distance learning. The problem with using the warehouse for these activities is supervision.
The space was originally designated as district space. Matt was originally on the committee working on this, so he will be asked to spearhead that discussion again. Joe volunteered to be on an ad-hoc committee to address this. Joe spoke to the need for a plan to present on the space needed and what it would be used for. He is willing to put together the information needed for this. / Matt, if willing, will work with Joe on this issue.
V. Stezala Strategic Planning Process / A. Kickoff will be at the 9/10/12 board meeting with Kim - This is the open house at the high school. Alternate date would be the 11th or the 13th. Laura will check with Kim on this change.
B. Board retreat October 13, 2012, 9 a.m. to noon - this will involve all voting members and will include the advisors only for the last portion of the retreat. / Laura will confirm all of these dates via email.
VI. Committee reports – review and action if needed / A  Policy Committee – Chair, Kris Weirauch- Kris is setting up a meeting.
B  Resource Committee – Chair, Matt Yde - not present this evening, but is setting up a meeting.
C  Business/Relations Committee – Chair, Heather Martell - was waiting for wish list to proceed with meeting. Inquired about donorschoose.org.
D  Marketing Committee – Chair, Peter Vance - Had a meeting tonight. Shared summary with the board. Many ideas were generated focusing on a variety of mediums. Looking at testimonials - still pictures with bios. The focus will be on highlighting those students that this school was a tremendous “fit” for. Sue brought up Tagos Charter School and some of the work they are doing with their dissemination grant.
VII. Old Business
●  Grant Availability and Updates
●  Updated Wish List
●  2012/13 Student Handbook / Grant availability - some additional grants were found and some additional information from NASA. Laura is contacting a grant writer who is new to the area. She will update us after she discusses with him.
Wish Lists- new ones were distributed.
PE equipment was discussed and how to offer this within the school. Experiential opportunities were also discussed.
Student Handbook - A few board members will review in detail and make a recommendation to the board. That action will be taken electronically. Clarification was made on changes to scope and sequence and learning targets versus hours for credit. / Heather, Joe, and Laura will meet to review., two days of email discussion can take place before the electornic approval.
IX. New Business / Steve will be presenting at the Everest Optimists luncheon this week.
The board will be put on all communication to families.
X. Next meeting: September 11th or 13th, 2012 at 6:30 p.m.
VIII. Adjournment / Kris motioned to adjourn, second by Peter. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

IDEA Charter School Governing Board Minutes August 13, 2012. Next meeting: September 10, 2012