North Springs Charter High School Minutes
Governance Board Meeting
December 17, 2013
North Springs Charter High School, Sandy Springs, GA
Governance Board voting members present: Karen Allsteadt, Adam Berger, Carrie Carreras, Allen Devlin,
Carolyn Dinberg, Betty Klein, Marc Komar, Marcy Louza, Shelly Michael, Dennis Nelson, Judy Roseman,
Rob Stein, Lee Williams and Stephen A. Winter
Non-Voting current Governance Board members and Liaisons present: Dr. Eddie Ruiz, Carol Ciepluch,
Colleen Taylor and Michael Granish
Absent: Annie Brandt, Van Craven
Guests: John Gresens, Michael Kenig, Denise Kent, Ivan Mervis, Rick Sanders and Laura Stowell
Admin/Leadership: Dr. Genolia Johnson, Adrianna Kimbrel
Call to Order- Governance Board Chair Betty Klein called the meeting to order at 7:05 am; all guests
were acknowledged and introduced.
Old Business
Approval of Minutes:
November 19, 2013 Minutes- D. Nelson moved to approve, S. Michael seconded; approved unanimously
Motions to fulfill board member vacancies - D. Nelson made the following motions which were
seconded by Stephen A. Winter; all were voted upon and passed unanimously:
Motion to appoint Ms. Judy Roseman to fill the community position vacancy due to the resignation of Dr.
Joanne Peeler and to serve in the position until the end of the board term for the current school year.
Motion to appoint Mr. Richard Sanders to fill the elected position vacancy due to the resignation of Ms.
Malissa Devlin and to serve in the position until the end of the board term for the current school year.
Motion to appoint Ms. Denise Kent, Visual & Performing Arts faculty to fill the faculty position vacancy
due to the resignation of Mr. Van Crave n and to serve the remainder of the two year term.
Motion to post notification of the intent to appoint Mr. John Gresens, Visual & Performing Arts faculty, to
be an ex-officio, non-voting member of the board for the purpose of coordinating the charter renewal
and development.
Principal’s Report - Dr. Ruiz highlighted the following from his principal’s report:
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Rejected enrollment forecast of 1677 in favor of 1630
Bell Schedule options for 2014-15: 69 faculty voted in favor of modified block schedule -53 in favor
of current schedule; noted most schools moving to 7 period day with teachers teaching 6 out of 7;
discussion followed -some concern expressed about students not having math daily with modified
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block, students like block for long tests and AP classes, parents favor mod block as easier for
students to manage homework, mod block allows for 4 preps a day rather than 6 or 7; per Dr. Ruiz
– the number one focus is keep kids engaged and flexibility is needed
Open house is Sunday, January 12, is a great recruitment opportunity
Personnel- new art teacher has been hired, interviewing for 2 Spanish teachers, 1 science teacher ,
attendance clerk and discipline clerk to fill end of semester vacancies
$94,000 from last year has rolled over and is now included in current budget
Graduation rate of 71.9% - an increase of 4.6 points reflects last year, anticipate 2014 rate to
improve due to large data clean up
GHSWT- decline of two points (84% meets,9% exceeds) across FCS writing scores went down,
looking at why and strategies to correct
Parent Seminars with the Principal: Sr - Jan. 6; Fr –Feb. 11; Soph -March 3; Jr- April 17
Thank you GB for sponsoring new year faculty breakfast on January 6th
360 Survey Update – Rick Sanders
Model from previous years will be used; questions already in constant contact- a few will be modified
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Ms. Jolly and her husband will analyze data and generate the data, graphs and charts
Volunteers needed to connect data to the GB initiatives- suggestion made to have at least 3 –a
parent, teacher, student-Colleen Taylor, Lee Williams, Karen Allsteadt volunteered
Execute survey with help from C Ciepluch and D.Pagnotti – students and teachers had great
participation, parent roll out 2nd week of January; emphasis on parents
PTSA agreed to evangelize; will add Spanish version
Marketing: Get Smarta about Sparta, parents who complete survey will register for Ipad drawing
FCS is also doing a student survey to evaluate teachers – if GB can see what the FCS questions are
we could try to coordinate and merge the two
Would teachers prefer 360 data in advance of FCS survey before March FCS survey?
Motion- by J. Roseman, 2nd by C. Dinberg – passed unanimously
Move to conduct the 360 survey as is has been done in the past at NSCHS.
Charter Update –J. Roseman,
The renewal process needs to begin in January with input from all stakeholders; J.Roseman will lead the
renewal effort and communicate committee details to faculty -each GB member will be charged with
participating on one charter committee. There will be very few large group meetings ; want
committees to “think outside the box” – we will be applying for a 5 year renewal charter; will need to
have faculty, parents, and students vote on draft by end of May. NSCHS has applied for the GA Charter
School Grant.
Committee Reports:
Academic Committee- C. Dinberg
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Will modify language to withdrawal policy; after legal input- we must be in accordance with the
Student’s with Disabilities Act.
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Next committee meeting will be Thursday, January 9 at 7am. The committee will look at how to help
with the graduation rate and look at the academic sections of the current charter and how we can
we be proactive.
Policy Manual – K. Allsteadt
The policy manual is up to date; need to check all documents on the website.
New Business- B. Klein
The GB will host the breakfast for teachers and staff on Monday, January 6th. The GB will make a brief
presentation, all members are expected to help and be present for introductions.
Update on SPLOST IV Construction-M GranishBackground: 1½ years ago FCS conducted a survey in preparation for SPLOST IV voting. Based on data
they rated each school and compared each with its peer schools as a method of prioritizing needs and
funding. The high school average was an 83 – NSCHS came in at a 75. The County is looking at making
some real improvements at NS-priorities include bathrooms, safety for students and visitors, a new
entrance and addition to front lobby area. SPLOST IV provides a little more flexibility – stakeholder
groups also identified major concerns- traffic circulation is very poor- bus lane improvements are
needed; vehicular parking is roughly 100 parking spaces shy of what it should be (our campus is only 2530 acres compared to 60 acres standard now and we are relatively land locked) new science labs, ADA
compliant bathrooms and more asthetically pleasing less institutional looking building. In December a
meeting was held with Gail Dean, Julia Bernath, FCS operations Patrick Burke, Tim Dunn head of
technology, Karen Cox, Laura Stowell and representatives from stakeholder groups to discuss concerns
and planned renovations. NS asked FCS to stop some of planned renovations and instead focus on
building a new school in the next two years. FCS denied this -the renovations will continue as planned
but FCS will consider the possibility of a new school if NS can demonstrate strong stakeholder support
from all constituents and overcrowding based on enrollment from our attendance zone only.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:23am with a motion by A. Berger and 2nd from S. Michaels. Members
were reminded to attend the Sunday, January 12th Open House.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Ciepluch, secretary