Inspire School of Arts & Sciences Board of Directors
Monday, April 14, 2014
Held at Inspire Classroom IC-6
901 Esplanade, Chico, CA
MINUTES
1. Regular meeting called to order at 7:35pm after closed session
Attendees: Debbie Travers, Eric Nilsson, Mike Panunto, Sue Pate, Dale Word,
Matt Brown, Doris Luther, Danielle Reynolds, Emily Gaynor Teague, Antonio
Isern
2. Consent Calendar
a. Consider Approval of March 10, 2014, minutes - Dale made a motion to
approve the March 10, 2014, minutes, Sue seconded, and all approved.
b. Consider approval of donations - No donations
c. Consider approval of expenditures – Computers for approximately
$19,600 (8 laptops, 8 desktops) to replace old computers received years
ago from Computers for Classrooms. This should cover all the remaining
staff needs for computer upgrades. This would pull from the over $900k
surplus. The board asked staff to put together a technology replacement
plan, targeting replacements about every 3 years. Dale made a motion to
purchase 8 new laptops and 8 new desktops to replace old staff
computers, Mike seconded, all approved.
3. Student Report
Emily Gaynor Teague updated board members on Inspire happenings - rally,
incoming 8th graders visit, senior picnic, Spring Standout on Weds, Every 15
Minutes, spike ball tournament, star testing, senior coffee fundraiser, spirit
week, advisory challenge, prom on May 17th in Chico Events Center, senior
slideshow, senior acknowledgements, teacher appreciation week, ASB
elections, award assembly for whole school so awards night can focus on
seniors, Day on the Purple on last day. Emily thanked board for support.
4. Principal’s Report
a. Form 700 update - Forms need to be done again. Matt, Mike, and Debbie
still owe for this year.
b. Update on next year’s numbers – Enrollment numbers are very solid
c. LCAP update – Eric sent out emails two weeks in a row with limited
responses. He will be getting feedback from student group on Thursday.
d. Chevron Design Challenge – (Danielle Reynold made PPT presentation)
This PLTW event was sponsored by Chevron and NextEd for IED
students. Students design something based on parameters given in the
morning and then get scored. Inspire’s team was led by Danielle and
consisted of three freshmen: Lucy Sandoe, Joy Zeichick, and Ryland
Jolliffe. Kids made presentation of their emergency kit and were the only
team that modeled parts and spoke about it, and put together a selfevaluation. Probably only all freshman team. Won 3rd place out of 15. And
they each got a $75 Amazon gift card, and $1400 to go to state in San
Diego.
e. BCOE STEM Meeting at Inspire – This advisory council meeting will be
held at Inspire and our kids will present.
f. 2nd Annual Summer STEM camp for girls, grades 5-7 – This is also put
together by PLTW and NextEd. (see handout) Scott did this camp last
year. Danielle Reynolds will do this year and wants CSF girls to be student
helpers. Dale mentioned CSUC’s SWE (Society of Women Engineers)
group would be ideal to also help. Danielle has asked some STEM
companies to sponsor a student or two - costs is $175 per student. Ben
Juliano ran one of these at Chico State about 6-8 years ago and might have
ideas to help. Sue suggested someone should contact Chico Christian.
Danielle will send out electronic copy of the STEM camp flyer to board
members and to elementary schools. The camp is not really limited to
girls.
g. Murals on campus – Eric focused board on noticing murals being painted
on walls and doors on A days during 1st and 2nd period.
h. CSF visit to UC Berkeley – One UC visited each year. This year about 19
kids, 3 parents, Debbie and Danielle R toured the campus and met up with
Austin Gregoire, an Inspire alumnus. Kids played Frisbee and went to top
of Campanile. Experience opens up their eyes to possibilities.
i. STEM Industry Partner Tour – Four companies (Lairs Research,
Alternative Energy Systems, Transfer Flow, Sierra Nevada) were toured
by the four math and science teachers teaching engineering at Inspire. It
was very helpful to see engineers at work and engineering companies at
work – drawings, tiny dental drills, etc – and building connections with
Chico engineering community.
j. Upcoming events – (see handout) Incendio launch party at 1078 modeled
after CSUC’s launch party.
5. Discussion/Action Items
5.1a. Discussion/Action: Consider Approval of 2nd Interim Budget - Dale
made a motion to approve budget, Mike seconded, all approved
5. 1b. Discussion/Action: Consider Approval of Release for ASB - (see
handout) PV has 4 times as many students, but we do as many
events/activities. PV counterpart gets 336 hours release and Antonio only
gets 120 hours per year. PV counterpart gets 20% of salary as stipend,
Antonio gets 8.7% stipend. Antonio wants another release. Sue wants list of
events to be part of the job expectation regardless of who has the ASB
position. Debbie would like list reorganized by type of event. Debbie brings
up that other teachers have other outside duties. Sue wants others to come
then to make a pitch if they think they can justify release or stipends. Dale
points out that this isn’t curriculum or academic development, rather
something for school spirit. Sue made a motion to give the ASB activities
director a second ASB release, Mike seconded, all in favor.
5. 1c. Discussion of Staff Compensation – To be tabled until next meeting. We
know that Inspire teachers work more hours than other teachers, but not
much can be done until MOU is renegotiated. Next month will just be the
start of discussion with board looking for consistency, but not just following
district. We need long-term philosophy statement relevant to something. We
need to measure how different we are - advisory, number of meeting,
number of students; Sustainability Committee needs to meet to bring this list
to next board meeting.
6. Public comment – Thank you card from staff to board for bonuses. Lots of
staff also sent ‘thank you’ emails.
7. Items from the Floor – Eric will invite Molly and Tiffany to come to the next
meeting to talk about advising students to 2 year or 4 year colleges or other
options. Tiffany and Molly have really increased the info going out to
students about career and college options.
8. Announcements
Meeting adjourned at 9pm.