New Heights Board of Trustees

June 22, 2016

Starting Time: 5:30

Location: Old Colony YMCA, 320 Main Street, Brockton MA

  1. Call to Order
  2. Mike Sullivan called the meeting to order at 6pm
  3. Roll Call
  4. Carlos Gomes
  5. Vinnie Marturano
  6. Tony Modica
  7. Traci Vaughn
  8. Mike Sullivan
  9. Nick Christ
  10. Gregory Philips, absent
  11. Ollie Spears, absent
  12. Rick Schwartz, absent
  13. Maria Fernandes, absent
  14. Carl Kowalski, absent
  15. Manny Daphnis, absent
  16. Reading and Approval of Minutes
  17. Motion to approve passes unanimously
  18. Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees
  19. Chairperson’s Report
  20. Goal of the meeting is to approve the 5-year budget.
  21. July 22nd meeting will be held at 10am, call-in number available for those who will be traveling. In advance of this meeting staff will distribute all remaining policies.
  22. Executive Director’s Report
  23. Meeting with Kathy Smith (Liz Coogan, Director of Operations and Janice Manning, Head of School attended with Executive Director Walker). Reviewed student data and Superintendent Smith commented that she will support our work, given that we all share the common interests of education Brockton students. It seemed like their were opportunities for a true partnership to develop between our two districts.
  24. We learned at this meeting that we need an Authorization of Release of Records. We have prepared our own Authorization of Release that we have distributed electronically and we are sharing releases with all of our families at the information sessions. We are already receiving information from Randolph and have reached out to Taunton. This process will take some time and the records are essential for us to build our academic model.
  25. Chairman Sullivan wondered how we would deal with this if all records are not in place on day one and ED Walker said that we are asking our outreach staff to work on this.
  26. Student Enrollment: 103 6th graders, 95 on waitlist; 102 7th graders, 77 on waitlist; 91 enrolled, 21 on the waitlist.
  27. Student Information Sessions are going great – the 16th, 22nd, and 23rd. Very passionate parents who are energetic and very supportive. Trustee Gomes asked if we could have our 6th grade families volunteer to support our outreach activities.
  28. Our families are interested in afterschool care. And we have very few students who will qualify for busing within the 2-mile radius. Other charter schools are charging to families to keep the children form 3:30-6pm.
  29. Trustee Gomes wondered if there was a voucher for afterschool care that we may receive from the state. Vinnie offered to review the voucher/childcare slots process for New Heights. There is a voucher agency that pre-qualifies organizations to provide childcare.
  30. Trustee Gomes said that in Boston he has heard that parents pay $5-6 per hour for afterschool childcare. Trustee Gomes wondered if we may reach out to Massasoit Community College about volunteers.
  31. Trustee Marturano mentioned that over a certain number of hours may mean that our afterschool program needs to be licensed. Trustee Marturano offered to have a staff member from the YMCA reach out to Executive Director Walker to brainstorm how to pay for the time period between 4:30-6pm.
  32. Chairman Sullivan asked the Board to provide feedback regarding the idea of charging families a nominal fee.
  33. Motion to allow NHCSB staff to proceed developing a fee-based afterschool program passes unanimously.
  34. Building Updates:
  35. There is a list of items that must be turned into the state included in the information packet this evening.
  36. The drinking water was tested and it is potable.
  37. Staffing Update:
  38. Five members of our staff have been principals and one has the credentials to serve as a superintendent.
  39. Contracts:
  40. The Governance Committee will likely meet to discuss Executive Director Walker’s contract. The leadership team is also looking for contracts.
  41. Executive Director Walker consulted with other Executive Directors about how they handle staff contracts and was warned that most charter schools do not include charter schools for staff.
  42. Executive Director Walker asks that the Board of Trustees grant him the same contract that the staff will have, which is a one-year contract.
  43. Chairman Sullivan asked for clarification. We should not have contracts for staff but the contract for the Executive Director is a bit different. How is that different?
  44. Executive Director said it is up to the Board if they want to give a letter of commitment or a one-year contract for staff.
  45. Chairman Sullivan understands and lauds Executive Director Walker for asking for the same level of commitment from the Board that the staff receives.
  46. Chairman Sullivan asked the Governance Subcommittee to review the contracts of other Executive Director’s to develop a one-year contract for Executive Director Walker.
  47. Executive Director Walker will distribute a copy of the letter of commitment staff are sending to teachers.
  48. Reports of Special Committees
  49. Finance Committee Report
  50. Trustee Christ provided the finance report and a review of the five-year budget. The Finance Committee chose to be conservative with the per pupil numbers included in the budget.
  51. Line 12: $150,000 is going to come from a variety of sources. One source may be another loan from BayCoast, the CSP Funds from the state. The state has applied for the CSP funds, which provides approximately $600,000 for the first three years. We will learn in July if this money is available.
  52. Major challenges in FY18-FY20: NHCSB will be looking for a new building location since we will be at capacity in our current building.
  53. When all is said and done $770,000 into 141 Main Street
  54. In FY18-FY19, we will need to grow into a new building to accommodate 10-12th graders. We are looking at a rate of $200,000 per $10,000sq ft. The Finance Committee wondered why we do not buy a new building. The challenge is that we get a five-year commitment from the state.
  55. Chairman Sullivan and Trustee Marturano is to be begin looking at new building options starting in FY19 or later to consider a final home for NHCSB.
  56. Line 7, in-kind contributions. This is directly related to transportations.
  57. The operating expenses, line 48, help for students. As our population grows we may see new issues arise.
  58. Line 14, Administrative Costs. This position will assist Executive Director Walker with central office responsibilities. Tom Coogan, the Director of Operations of Fall River, has agreed to take this position. Tom Coogan, will be the Director of Finance and Development and his wife, Liz Coogan, will be the Director of Operations and Human Resources.
  59. Chairman Sullivan suggested that we might look at a model with a school of 315 students to assess what our ratio should be of staff to students with an eye to being as lean as we possibly can be. Chairman Sullivan recommended that Executive Director Walker keep an eye to not having a large bureaucracy at the top of the organization.
  60. NHCSB has a large staff but we are opening with a larger population.
  61. The addition of Tom Coogan to run the central office will free Executive Director Walker to work on development.
  62. Chairman Sullivan wanted to acknowledge that our administrative staff, such as Executive Director Walker, will be working in the classrooms, doing direct service with students.
  63. Work is underway on the 3-year narrative, which will be presented to the Board of Trustees.
  64. Trustee Marturano wanted to know who is providing our health insurance.
  65. MassMutual is the insurance company that will provide insurance coverage for NHCSB
  66. Trustee Modica wanted to know about custodial services
  67. Response, there is someone who will clean over night be there will be no custodial services during the day.
  68. Motion to approve the five-year budget passes unanimously
  69. Governance Committee Report
  70. None.
  71. Academic Excellence Committee Report
  72. The Academic Excellent Subcommittee will tackle remaining policies which must be submitted to DESE by July 11th, 5pm.
  73. A conference call number will be made available for anyone unable to attend the meeting in person at the YMCA.
  74. Special Orders
  75. Unfinished Business and General Orders
  76. New Business
  77. Good of the Order
  78. Announcements
  79. Adjourn
  80. The meeting was adjourned at 7:15