Channing Hall

Board Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A regular meeting of the Channing Hall School Board was held Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 6:30 pm, located 13515 South 150 East, Draper, UT. 84020

Present: Rachal Milford, Angie Lillywhite, Matt Haines, Greg Featherstone, Eunie Piper, Deena Pyle, Michelle Crowley, Debra Didier. Excused: Karl Vizmeg

Administrators: Heather Shepherd

Public Present: Heather Evans, Camille Honeycutt, Melissa Young, Ashley Nuttall, Rebecca Kern, Gichin Marsden, Lindsey Allen, Sheryl Rushton

Rachal Milford, President, opens the meeting at 6:30pm.

Rachal asked if there are any objections to the agenda. With no objections the agenda is approved.

Rachal asked for any objections to approve the minutes from January’s Board meeting. With no objections the January minutes are approved.

PUBLIC COMMENT– Lindsey Allen, the middle school English teacher, addresses some concerns she has with the board. Lindsey shares with the board a discussion some teachers had with Ralph Turner. Lindsey goes over her items of concern which are; 1. Additional things the Channing Hall teachers are asked to do beyond what is asked of by teachers in our local districts. 2. Work more contracted days. 3. Salaries have been frozen for two years. 4. Insurance and retirement plans.

After Lindsey finishes her presentation, she asks the board to invest more into the teachers that have helped build Channing Hall to what it is today. Lindsey reassures the board certain teachers want to stay at Channing but don’t want to be last on the totem pole when budget time comes around. The middle school team would like to be paid equal to their peers.

Due to the “public comment” rules there is no open discussion at this time however, Rachal thanked Lindsey and the other middle school teachers for addressing their concerns. Rachal assures them there will be a discussion and she will report back to them.

TEACHER PRESENTAION – The third grade team reports to the board each teacher takes a moment to share what the third graders have been doing. They have been talking to the kids about “What is a Hero.” What it takes to be a hero themselves and how they each can demonstrate qualities of being a hero. The third grade teachers decided to teach the children what it means to be a hero using their valentine’s party. To show the children what being a hero really means the third grade teachers partnered up with the Lioness project. The Lioness project has a local chapter located here in Salt Lake; they provide blankets to emotional needy children. The Lioness foundation provided all the material and scissors and all the third graders spent their Valentine’s celebration making blankets for other children in need. The teachers shared pictures of Channing Hall third graders cutting out fabric and making the blankets. The blankets will be donated to children of fallen soldiers and children in the hospital. Each teacher took a moment to share their personal thoughts and feelings on how the day went. The teachers all agreed the children really grasped a hold of what they were accomplishing that day. Even the third grade boys were very positive. All the children experienced a little of what it was like to be a hero in someone else’s eyes and were able to internalize how we each can be heroes. Kathy from the Lioness chapter of Salt Lake City went to the school and talked with the 3rd graders. The third graders made 96 blankets during their valentine party. The teachers talked about the supportive parents that help this activity be so successful. Some children wrote letters to go along with the blankets they made and a lady from the Draper Journal came and asked permission to use one of the children’s letters. It was a perfect valentine’s party to share love.

The board takes a moment to express their appreciation for the third grade teachers, for their dedication and hard work. The third grade team finishes their presentation and leaves.

ADMINISTRATION REPORT – Heather shares with the board the year end audit. Heather also tells the board she had a visit from Summit and they will be doing the IB program in their new high school. Summit is hoping the Channing Hall kids will funnel into their new high school which will be opened the fall of 2011. We will not have an articulation agreement this year however; our children should not have a problem getting in. In the years to come we will have an agreement in place and Channing kids will automatically feed into summit without going through the lottery process.

Rachal takes a moment to update the board on the status of our MYP application which is due in April. Since Summit will be offering our children a continued education in IB, Channing will continue with their MYP application.

Heather tells the board about a new elementary Spanish teacher. Her name is Jennifer Hatch and she comes to us with 6 years of teaching experience. There was one week of overlap between Danna and Jennifer so all the kids were introduced to Jennifer and know she is their new teacher. It has been an easy transition.

Heather also talks about salary comparisons; this is a subject that comes up every year, especially since we have had a salary freeze for three years. We all know our faculty is the foundation of the school. They make Channing Hall what it is. We also have an extremely dedicated and knowledgeable group of teachers. They are the best she’s ever worked with in education. As discussed at the last meeting, Heather did a salary comparison chart with other districts. Ralph also came to the last faculty meeting and did a 30 minute presentation with a question and answer session. Other teachers have talked to him individually. It is important for teachers to know where the money comes from and how we are allowed for it to be allocated

Heather continues with her administration report and talks about the Student Led Conferences. The SLC’s went well. A new addition to SLC’s this time came from the Strategic Planning Committee. As part of our goal to find ways to “measure” ourselves, the committee wanted to gather both anecdotes of student learning and to educate parents. The anecdotes are a solid way for us to know how we are meeting our Guiding Principles. The idea was for parents to come with at least one example of a way their child is displaying a Learner Profile. This helps to educate parents on what is included in our Learner Profile. This was our first time and although many parents didn't have anything prepared there were a majority that had examples. A survey was also sent out to parents to fill out regarding each child. There were 156 survey responses (out of 660 students). The highest response rate was in kindergarten (18%), 4th grade (16%), 2nd grade (13%), and 6th grade (12%).

The board and Heather discuss in detail the salary comparison chart Heather sent out. They took time looking over Canyon’s, Jordan and Alpine school districts, their pay scale and benefits. The board discusses that the comparison chart does not show other charter school and private school salary comparisons. The board also discusses other positives of working at Channing that is not reflected in salary, i.e: class sizes, TA’s. 80% of Channing’s budget goes toward salaries, insurance and retirement. The board and Heather take time and discuss options. With the legislation still three weeks away from announcing Channing’s next year budget, we will be discussing this important topic more next month and in April. Each year the April’s board meeting is reserved for discussing the next school year’s budget.

Rachal entertains a motion to approve the hiring of the new Spanish teacher.

Michelle makes a motion that we approve the hiring of Jennifer Hatch. Greg seconds. The vote is unanimous the motion carries.

FUNDRAISNG COMMITTEE REPORT – Eunie received all the last minute changes to the newsletter and it is currently being printed. Channing received their first brick purchase from Peck Ormsby. Peck purchased a $500.00 brick and expressed their support of our school.

Eunie tells the board that Karl so graciously is making a $10,000.00 match donation again this year. This year the campaign efforts will go toward the expansion and teacher development.

The fundraising committee is gathering the survey information to see where our families shop, then they will target those businesses for donations. The committee is also sending out the Annual Report to the grandparent’s who attended the Grandparent’s day last year. The cost to send out the report is $.78 each.

Rachal would like a commitment from the board to donate, so we may say the board has a 100% participation towards the campaign.

We will be laying the bricks sold on May 6th.

FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT – Debra reports. Debra and Ralph will begin working on next year’s budget as soon as the legislative session is over, which should be in three weeks. They will start crunching numbers keeping the staff in mind. They will also be working on Channing’s 5 year goals. Debra will be making sure they are meeting the 5 year matrix that is in place. Debra would like the board to approve a 2% bonus to be given March 1st.

Rachal entertains a motion to approve the bonus.

Michelle makes a motion to approve the employee appreciation payment to be paid in March. Matt seconds. Discussion. Deena would like the chair to report back to the board after the fact.

Michelle makes a motion to approve the employee appreciation payment to be paid in March in which they will report back the amount in the March board meeting. Matt seconds. Vote carries its unanimous.

STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE REPORT – Michelle’s report is brief since a lot of it was covered in Heather’s admin report. Michelle was pleased with the percent of participation on the student led conference survey. With this being the first one we knew it would be low.

At the strategic meeting scheduled for tomorrow they will be discussing their 5 year plan and will bring the update to us next meeting.

POLICY COMMITTEE – Deena reviews the policies on the agenda. The board job description policy reviewed GC-03. When Heather gives her report she goes to the assessment goal policy R-03.

The board discussed how they reviewed themselves as a board last year at Debra’s house. It was done through a survey monkey and the board decided this was the best month to evaluate themselves each year.

The board and Deena discuss the wording on the policy GC-03 the board job description policy.

Matt read GC-04 the Officer Roles policy. The board and Deena discuss possible wording changes. Deena’s question regarding this policy is that we need to include the role and job description of the executive committee. Deena also would like to see if the treasurer or secretary job description should be listed in this policy or at least a reference where to find the list in the by-laws.

The board discusses the Operational Expectations policy, if it would be the chair’s responsibility to review the operational expectation with Heather in Heather’s annual review? The board decides it should be the chair’s responsibility with Heather.

The board deferred for more discussion on the policy motions until next month.

Rachal discusses with the board a need to have a policy in place for fundraising purposes. A policy in place would help us to allow or not allow certain standards when asking businesses to support our school. For example, if a business wants to buy a brick during our fundraising event and the logo of the company is deemed inappropriate, then we as a board would have the right to change it or not allow it altogether. There is a lot of community interweaving and if something is offered to one it should be offered to all. Deena will do some research on good models to follow as well as check the law. Deena will draft a copy of the new policy and bring it to the board for discussion at a future board meeting.

In the meantime, Rachal entertains a motion for an interim policy.

Matt makes a motion that all forms of advertising, corporate or private go before the EC committee for review, for approval or refusal until a formal policy is in place. Michelle seconds. Vote carries its unanimous.

OPEN FORUM: Rachal contacted Chris Bleak who will be attending our March meeting. Also Sarah Bannon will be at the meeting so Rachal asks the board members to check their schedules to see if we can start March’s board meeting at 6pm.

Rachal entertains a motion to adjourn the meeting. With no objections the meeting adjourns at 9:00pm.

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