North Valley Military Institute - Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, December 17, 2015 4:00 p.m. in Room 54
10250 Allegheny Street, Sun Valley, California 91352
AGENDA
NOTE: Reasonable Accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Please contact the
Superintendent, Dr. Mark Ryan at 323-217-4481 or via email at mryan@novamil.org at least 24 hours in
advance of the meeting to request accommodations.
I.
Call to Order
II.
Adoption of the Agenda
III.
Public Comment – Members of the public who wish to make comments on non-agenda items are
welcome to do so at this time. Speaker cards are available at the end of this agenda. Each speaker
is limited to three (3) minutes
IV.
ACTION – Approval of the November, 2015 minutes (see attached)
V.
INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The board will receive reports from various school staff on their
various areas of responsibility:
a. Academics, including PRESENTATION OF BENCHMARK #1 DATA - Laura Stribling, CW2 Trish
Doering, Captain Jeff Feinberg
b. Leadership – Captain Amanda Mendoza
c. Citizenship – WO1 Gina Wilson
d. Athletics – Lawrence Sarenana
e. Campus Safety – Julio Herrera
f. Operations – Kellie Jackson
g. Administrative Systems, including the final draft of the WASC SELF-STUDY DOCUMENT – Diane
French
h. Special Education – Karla Uribe
i. Enrollment – MAJ John Wells
j. Superintendent – Dr. Mark Ryan
VI.
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION – The board will discuss the 2015-2016 Fiscal Policies and
Procedures tabled from the November meeting.
VII.
INFORMATION, DISCUSSION, AND ACTION – The Director of Finance, Director of Operations, and
Superintendent will brief the board on the Year-To-Date actual expenses through October 30, 2015
compared to budgeted amounts and will receive the “First Interim” Financial Reports submitted to
the Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles County Office of Education.
VIII.
INFORMATION, DISCUSSION, AND ACTION – The Board will receive a briefing on and take action to
approve Independent Study Policies for NVMI.
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IX.
INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The board will receive a briefing from the Superintendent on
the status of the NVMI Proposition 39 application for the 2016-2017 school year as well as the
current status of the Prop 39 colocation agreement.
X.
INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The Superintendent will brief the board regarding the status of
NVMI’s involvement as part of the California Cadet Corps.
XI.
DISCUSSION – The board will discuss the procedures for evaluating the Superintendent for the
2015-2016 school year.
XII.
POSSIBLE ACTION – The board will discuss and possibly take action on the membership of one or
more additional board members.
XIII.
ADJOURNMENT
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North Valley Military Institute - Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, November 19, 2015 4:00 p.m. in Room 54
10250 Allegheny Street, Sun Valley, California 91352
MINUTES
NOTE: Reasonable Accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Please contact the
Superintendent, Dr. Mark Ryan at 323-217-4481 or via email at mryan@novamil.org at least 24 hours in
advance of the meeting to request accommodations.
I.
Call to Order at 4:05 by Chairman Lanny West. Present: Board members Lanny West, Emory
Josephs, Kay Deitch, Kevin Baxter. Absent Cesley Frost. Guests: Commander John Pruitt, Steven
Escobar. Staff: Dr. Mark Ryan, Diane French, Kellie Jackson, Gina Wilson, Zak Lara, Capt. Amanda
Mendoza, Chief Chris Pulos, Capt. Jeff Feinberg, JR Sarenana, Laura Stribling, Mila Reeder,Ssgt
Johnny Padilla, Col Larry Morden, Chief Leighanna Sears, Maj Vanessa DeAvila, Capt Kriscia Tejada,
Julio Herrera.
II.
Adoption of the Agenda - adopted unanimously
III.
Public Comment – Members of the public who wish to make comments on non-agenda items are
welcome to do so at this time. Speaker cards are available at the end of this agenda. Each speaker
is limited to three (3) minutes - there were no public speakers
IV.
ACTION – The board will consider possible new board members and take action to clarify terms of
current members. Possible candidates for Board membership include US Military Academy (West
Point) graduate Steven Escobar and US Coast Guard Academy Graduate Commander John Pruitt –
Commander Pruitt and Mr. Escobar were both unanimously welcomed as new members of the
board, with terms from November 2015 through December 2017. Commander Pruitt is a native of
Atlanta Georgia. He is a graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy and has performed various roles
in the USCG all over the US. He has commanded three USCG ships, worked in the White House
under two Presidents, deployed to Iraq twice, and worked in USCG education efforts.
Steven Escobar is a native of New Jersey, majored in Engineering at USMA and was on their boxing
team, is on the board of the West Point Society of Los Angeles, and has been in the investment
banking industry. He works in entrepreneurial efforts now.
The board also clarified terms of current board members:
a. Cesley Frost’s term is now expiring and she will not be renewing.
b. Lanny West serves as Chairman of the Board and his term is through December 2016.
c. Kay Deitch’s term was extended through December 2017 and serves as the Board Secretary.
d. Emory Joseph’s term was extended through December 2016 and serves as the Board Vice
Chairman.
e. Kevin Baxter’s term was extended through December 2016.
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A motion was approved unanimously to accept the resignation of Cesley Frost and the terms of the
remaining six board members as noted above: members West, Josephs, and Baxter through December
2016 and members Pruitt, Escobar, and Deitch through December 2017.
V.
ACTION – Approval of the October, 2015 minutes (see attached) – approved unanimously
VI.
INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The board will receive reports from various school staff on their
various areas of responsibility:
a. Academics – Laura Stribling, Academic Dean of the high school explained her role at the school
to the board members. One of our foci this year is increasing the amount of reading and
writing students are doing at all grade levels, in preparation for the Smarter Balanced
Assessments and in response to the adoption of the Common Core State Standards. Because
the school receives so many students who come to us dramatically below grade level, and are
English learners and Special Needs students, we need to consider how we best address the
needs of those students. We are also working on how to address motivation of students, and
how we can integrate the military model as a tool to help students to be more effective at
their academic efforts. Mark noted that the new service academy grads on our board can
bring significant insights into how we can best incorporate the military models into the
academic program.
Jeff Feinberg, the middle school Academic Dean for grades 7/8, spoke about the middle school
program. He discussed that we have only one middle school teacher new to teaching and the
rest are veteran teachers. He also discussed his efforts to ensure that we have working
technology in each classroom, including Promethean Smartboards in each classroom. The
results of benchmark exams will be discussed in the WASC presentation later in the board
meeting.
There was a brief discussion about the Smarter Balanced Assessment results from last year and
how those indicated a significant gap between what those tests were measuring and how well
students are mastering those concepts. Both Ms. Stribling and Mr. Feinberg indicated that the
school staff are well aware of the gaps and the WASC action plan being developed will have
specific action steps to address the gaps.
b. Band – Chief Leighanna Sears reported that this is the first year of the band. We have a
combined 7/8 grade band and a high school band. There are also 6th graders taking a course
including rock band instruments, and all will be performing in several parades the first
weekend of December. A concert on December 15 will feature all students in the music
program (over 300 students in all). In the Spring, students will learn some Souza marches and
increase their performance abilities of patriotic songs including the National Anthem. Chief
Sears would like us to be able to expand the band repertoire to include both patriotic and pop
songs, for a variety of public performances and purposes. She is also hoping to introduce them
to a field marching show in the next couple of years. The band is also performing at
Disneyland in the Spring. The board members discussed the many benefits of music programs
and their strong support for the music program here at NVMI.
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c. Leadership – Captain Amanda Mendoza, the new Commandant, replaced CPT Steve Diab who
went to the LA Police Academy. She told us about her background, including a deployment to
Iraq and her National Guard experience. She explained that the Leaders of Character program
recently completed a bivouac (camping trip) 6-8 November, and the Veterans Day parade in
San Fernando. We also had a Veterans Day Breakfast, Honor Wall, and Pass in Review on
November 13. The cadets also have done a number of color guards and we completed the 6 th
grade mile run program. There is a Leadership School coming up December and a number of
other leadership development events. Dr. Ryan also explained the various grade level physical
challenges which were implemented last year – namely each grade level is challenged to
complete physical tasks (sixth grade mile run in cadence, seventh grade high ropes course,
eighth grade 5K run, 9th grade 40 mile bike ride, 10th grade white water river rafting adventure,
11th grade hiking the pacific Coast Trail, and 12th grade marathon.
d. Citizenship – WO1 Gina Wilson introduced herself and explained her role as the Dean of
Students. She discussed the merit and demerit system and answered a number of board
member questions. She introduced Ms. DeAvila and Ms. Tejada, both counselors on the
school staff. She explained that 114 of the 521 current students have more demerits than they
should and 273 have ZERO demerits. That statistic is powerful because more than twice as
many have NO demerits than are in trouble. She explained that “every student here has a
story” that we need to be sensitive to those stories and the individuals behind them; we also
need to remember whom we are called to serve despite the many challenges that they bring
to their NVMI experience. She explained the school’s various efforts to remediate students
with excessive demerits for not coming to academic support programs – including before
school homework help which allows them to earn off demerits at a rate of one demerit per
day they show up to before school homework help. The board asked excellent questions
about the citizenship program, which Ms. Wilson answered. Another program we started this
year to help students reduce demerits for failure to attend demerits is an after school boot
camp program that decrements one demerit for each day they successfully participate in the
after school boot camp. The board also heard about the Opportunity Program which allows
students with excessive behavior-based demerits through participating in a one-room
schoolhouse taught by Dr. Ryan. Mr. Feinberg discussed that the one student who has thus far
graduated from the OP class has been doing wonderfully in the regular general education
classrooms. The board asked a number of questions about the OP Program which various
school staff answered. A robust discussion took place about the benefits of the OP program
which include the many supports students are receiving and the positive attitude most of
those students are exhibiting.
e. Athletics – Chief Pulos reported on the school’s Orienteering competitions during the 20152016 school year. NVMI participates in the LA Orienteering Club Youth League. The
Orienteering team won second place in its first competition and competes again the coming
Saturday. He also reported that our color guards and armed and unarmed drill teams have
been doing exceptionally well in a variety of public performances and competitions. Lawrence
Sarenana reported that the NVMI rigorous extracurricular eligibility policies have resulted in a
number of students becoming ineligible to participate. But it is important for us to hold to
those high academic and citizenship and leadership standards. In high school sports, we
continue to hold practices until 5PM daily. There is a new 90% rule (must attend 90% of
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practices and games) to earn an athletic letter. The schedule of games was presented and
explained. We currently have both basketball and soccer for boys and girls at the HS level. For
middle school, we are doing both boys’ and girls’ basketball beginning in January for our own
league, since we have decided not to participate in the FIYA league. Participation rates are
dramatically higher than previous years at both middle school and high school levels. The
board members asked about Maxpreps and the AD explained that it is a website for high
school sports tracking.
f. Campus Safety – Julio Herrera, director of Campus Safety and Security, introduced himself and
explained his role in promoting safety and security on campus. He explained the roles of safety
team members throughout the day. He explained some of the challenges that occur in the
area of safety and security and our efforts to work collaboratively with the Sun Valley HS
administration and staff. He shared some of the common challenges students face, including
drugs, alcohol, tobacco, fights, and bullying. He shared the role of the safety team as
supporting students to be successful in their academic classes. He also coordinates the school
bus transportation program for NVMI and explained that program to the board. Board
members asked a number of questions about the safety and security efforts and Julio
answered those questions, including a discussion of the academic and personal supports all of
those students receive on a daily basis. Dr. Ryan also thanked the Student Support Services
team for their excellent work in supporting the Opportunity Program students.
g. Operations – Kellie Jackson introduced herself and her background. She explained her role in
human resource management, budget and fiscal services (Chief Business Officer), supervising
campus safety and security, facility maintenance, and clerical support personnel. She
explained that she is working with the Superintendent on attempting to expand the support
personnel to perform roles such as HR and financial services. Kellie shared the successes we
have experienced in the colocation with Sun Valley High School, including the fact that we are
experiencing tremendously positive remarks from the SVHS administration, staff, and
students.
h. Administrative Systems – Diane French explained her background at Imagine Academy and
North Valley Charter Academy and NVMI, most recently as Director of Instruction. Now, she
serves as Director of Administrative Systems. She explained the transition to NVMI and the
reasons behind it and the board asked a number of questions. She explained the Western
Association of Schools and College accrediting process to the board. She described the WASC
history of the school, including candidacy and eventually a six year term of accreditation which
expires this coming June. She explained the WASC Chapter 1 data and presented the board
with copies of the current versions of Chapter 1 and 3 of the WASC report. Dr. Ryan explained
the five chapters of the WASC self-study and the impending WASC visit in January of 2016.
There were a number of questions about the WASC process which both Diane French and Dr.
Ryan answered.
i. Special Education – We currently have 11 full time special education personnel serving
approximately 20% of the 521 students presently enrolled. We have both resource push in
services and a new Special Day Class for grades 6 and 7.
j. Enrollment – Currently 521 which is slightly above the budgeted 518 number. We will offer a
Winter enrollment camp during the first part of January to address any first semester attrition.
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k. Superintendent – Dr. Mark Ryan reported on some of the struggles the middle school teachers
are experiencing, especially with behavior of some of our middle schoolers. He said we need
to adopt some policies and procedures that systematize the middle school program and
ensure that all middle school teachers are the right fit for NVMI and feel supported so that
they can be successful with all middle school students and all middle school students can be
successful.
VII.
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION – The board will discuss the 2015-2016 Fiscal Policies and
Procedures. This item was TABLED until the LAUSD site visit person gives us her feedback on the
existing manual. The Superintendent reported that LAUSD did conduct site visits in October and
November and the preliminary results of those visits indicates no serious areas of concern, other
than a teacher credentialing question which Ms. Jackson is addressing.
VIII.
INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION – The Director of Operations and Superintendent will brief the
board on the Year-To-Date actual expenses through September 30, 2015 compared to budgeted
amounts. The board discussed year-to-date income and expenses for the months of July, August,
and September. A detailed report was presented and discussed with those actuals. As of
September 30, income was $625.997 and expenses were $1,256,432. The income numbers are so
low because the state does not give the school income based on the current enrollment; they give
funds based on last year’s enrollment, which in this case is over 150 students fewer than the
current enrollment. Expenses are based on the higher enrollment realities which makes for a
challenging financial situation. Kellie explained in great detail each of the components of the
revenue and expenses and the board engaged in an extensive discussion about the various reasons
for particular “burn rates” of expense line items.
Kellie and Mark explained the “sale of receivables” to the new board members and there was an
extensive discussion about the challenges charter schools like NVMI experience as they grow in
enrollment. The board discussed the need for a line of credit and/or a loan. There was discussion
about the shift to a much more explicated budget with more “buckets” within the larger “buckets”
in the budget. This has increased our transparency and allows both the Superintendent and board
to more closely examine the data in both income and expense. Board members asked excellent
questions about the financial statements and those were answered by the Superintendent and
Director of Operations.
IX.
ACTION – The Board will take action to select an auditor for the 2015-2016 school year. NVMI
normally selects an auditor in the spring for the coming fiscal year. In the spring of 2015 we were
notified that due to auditing regulations, we could not engage their services for the 15-16 school
year. Therefore, we have to select a different auditor for FY 15-16. We received proposals from 3
certified state school district auditors. Vavrinek, Trine, Day, and Company proposed a fee of $5800
+ $950 for tax returns. Desente, Lloyd, and Stutsman had a fee of $6800 + $1200 for tax returns.
Hill, Morgan, and Associates had a fee of $3500 for everything. The board voted unanimously to
engage the services of Hill, Morgan, and Associates for the FY15-16 Audit Services.
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X.
ACTION – The Board will receive and accept the final audit report from the 2014-2015 FY ending
June 30, 2015. The audit was “clean” with no deficiencies found. The board unanimously
accepted the audit draft as presented by Vavrinet, Trine, Day, and Company after a brief discussion
about some of the contents of the audit.
XI.
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION – The board may discuss facilities leasing and/or purchase
options in lieu of a Proposition 39 colocation agreement with LAUSD. The Superintendent will
report to the board on recent challenges faced by NVMI with regards to its Facilities Use
Agreement (FUA) and Shared Use Agreement (SUA) with LAUSD. The Superintendent is
investigating available options to seek financing to lease or purchase land and make improvements
to that land to possibly house NVMI in future years.
The Superintendent reported that the Los Angeles Unified School District has sent several emails
detailing concerns about NVMI’s compliance with the Facilities Use Agreement (FUA) and the lack
of an agreed upon Shared Use Agreement (SUA). The Superintendent briefed the board on the
specific concerns raised by the district, and NVMI’s legal counsel’s views on those issues. The
Superintendent has been verbally told that the district intends to issue a formal Notice to NVMI
demanding specific actions to correct what LAUSD perceives to be violations of the FUA and SUA.
The Superintendent reported that he has engaged legal counsel for discussion with the district,
and will continue to keep the board abreast of any notice(s) received by the district. Specific
concerns raised by the district appear to include:
*the existence of storage containers on the SVHS service road
*the parking of NVMI vans on the SVHS campus
*the use of rooms for the OP Program and Special Day Classes
*the use of the campus for Parent Advisory Council activities on weekends and reports that NVMI
has not properly cleaned up after events
*the second chance breakfast program
*the use of military replica drill rifles on campus
*parents and students cleaning classrooms and the office
*the use of the Agriculture area as indicated in the original FUA
*the Veterans Day Pass in Review ceremony and breakfast
*the fact we bring community barbers to the NVMI campus to cut male cadets’ hair each month if
they and their parents choose to take advantage of that free service
*the existence of the NVMI flag pole and achievement bell structure on campus
The Superintendent reported to the board that NVMI legal counsel believes NVMI is in full
compliance with the FUA and that NVMI has done everything reasonable to get the SUA signed.
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The Superintendent also reported that LAUSD legal counsel has the obligation to revise the FUA to
reflect changes made by the district. At the heart of concerns by the district seem to be
compliance by NVMI with various district policies. NVMI’s legal counsel questions whether NVMI
is obligated to comply with all of those policies, and the Superintendent reported that he will
continue to work with NVMI legal counsel to attempt to resolve LAUSD concerns amicably.
XII.
DISCUSSION – The board will discuss the procedures for evaluating the Superintendent for the
2015-2016 school year. TABLED
XIII.
ADJOURNMENT at 7:30 p.m.
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North Valley Military Institute College Preparatory Academy
Governing Board
SPEAKER CARD
Date: _____________________ Name: _____________________________
I wish to address the NVMI Governing Board on the following subject:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Agenda Item Number: ___________________________________________
Check one:
 Parent
 Student
 Teacher
 School Staff
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I understand that I am limited to three minutes. I also understand that on items that are not on
the agenda, the Board may not take action pursuant to Board and State regulations.
Signed: __________________________________________________________
This information is a Public Record
Please state your full name and affiliation with NVMI when you begin your remarks in order that the
official minutes record your appearance before the Governing Board.