Dixie Montessori Academy
Board Meeting Agenda and Minutes for February 5, 2014
53 N. Main, St. George Utah
Board Members in Attendance: Julie Wand, Kevin Groke, Tracy Mitchell, Michael Wand, Michael “Mike” Currie, Brian Poe, Jacqueline “Jacque” Newman
Others in Attendance: Dave Barry, Justin Morgan
MOTION: Kevin Groke calls meeting to order at 7:12pm
Reading of Vision Statement by Mike Currie
Reading of Mission Statement by Michael Wand
Reading of the minutes by Jacque Newman
MOTION: Kevin proposes we accept the minutes with the correction.
Tracy Mitchell seconded
Voting: Unanimous
Training was skipped due to technical difficulties.
Finance Update by Brian Poe:
We are in the process of fine tuning budget from the initial estimates to reflect current reality. Caps and ranges for salaries was discussed and sent to Julie. First payment made for teacher training. Training was today at Valley Academy in Hurricane. Met with Von Horton with USOE. Tuacahn was at the training as well. Von gave insight that the first 3 years you don’t have enough information you need to get everything with the State. He said if you reach out, the state is willing to help you through the growing process. In the first 3 years, you need an auditor that will look deep enough to find the loose ends. Tuacahn mentioned the process to find the Business Administrator went very well. There is an employment fair at Dixie State University, we will be there. There is a specific teacher employment fair they offer also. Von suggested we make sure and plan our vacations as board members for the summer so that budget deadlines and other state requirements are met. Brain suggested that the finance committee will start mapping the budget early so it is all done beforehand.
There’s discussion about when the transition happens for the Governing board.
Facilities Update by Tracy: The SP4 and SP5 permits are submitted to Michael Glausser to submit for processing. Property is still in waiting. Everything should go through the private entities for permitting next week. The big pieces are done, there’s just fine tuning.
Marketing by Michael Currie: There are currently 608 enrolled in the lottery as of today. There are about 14 duplicates. Committee will look into cancelling the radio advertising. It is not bringing in the attention we were looking for. We have a lottery software program that will be utilized for the drawing. Part of the software we acquired will send notification to the parents with confirmation numbers. It will all be imported by this Friday. We will be getting a bill from H-Wire for $95 an hour for their services and software. We need to choose a location for the lottery drawing if we are offering to have parents witness it live rather than doing the drawing remotely.
Conference Call with Joel Wright with the office of Kirton McKonkie: He is in the real estate section of the law firm. He started working with Charter Schools 8 years ago. He now serves on the Utah State School Board as real estate law advisor specializing in Charter Schools. Kevin has suggested we submit the contract between DMA and Boyer and also the contract for the site proposal to Joel to prove his team to us. He would serve as borrower’s council to support the school in those transactions. He can support in buying out our contract after the 13 months per our contract with Boyer. He informs us there is a law that you cannot hold up a charter school over impact fees. Michael Wand asks “How would you see the financial arrangement due to the nature of Charter School grant monies”? He will offer a $15,000 line of credit.
Break for printing of document for attorney retain 8:21pm
Meeting commences at 8:30pm
Kevin Groke goes over our concerns and questions regarding the agreement with Kirton McKonkie. As far as we can read into this agreement we can cancel at anytime. Michael Wand contacted a local real estate attorney. He does not have specific school experience.
MOTION: Julie Wand proposes we move into the agreement for representation with Kirton McConkie.
Mike Currie second
Voting: Unanimous
Teacher development by Julie Wand: We sent out 9 letters of intent. All but one has sent back accepting positions and salaries as is. She is interviewing two additional candidates this week. Julie states that the team is very strong. There is only 1 green teacher. All others have a lot of experience in Montessori and charter. Discussion continues on furniture purchases. Office furniture needs to be put on the purchase requisition form for approval. Storage will be located at Dayspring for 6 weeks in a pod, and then will be moved to the site.
IT Update: We need to get dedicated email addresses. Email Dave to get any aliases you need. We do have the ability to do group emails, i.e. finance committee. Dropbox is updated and is now under DMA Board of Directors. We will be using Aspire as SIS program. We need to find a secure system for financials and student files. We have the budget for teachers to have computers for use with SIS. Von recommends that we have our applications done by March 15th. The whole process for lottery and applicants should be done mid-March.
Accountability: Brian Poe is looking to ask Matt Sharrer to be on board as accountability chair. Brian met with Tracy and Kristen to clean up the lists and details on site and facilities. The burn chart hasn’t been utilized as it should to streamline our meetings and know where we need to direct attention. Use them to your advantage.
Lottery discussion: How many should be pulled and how many will we lose to attrition? How should they be pulled either 7th grade down or Kindergarten up? Does the software even allow for that option?
Rules and regulations to facilitate the daycare rental: There are notices we have to physically post that we are making this space available. We should table this decision until we have the site finalized.
Ken Nelson suggested we approach St. George City about the potential of SunTran providing bus service to DMA. Kevin will follow up on that.
MOTION: Meeting is adjourned at 9:57pm