MINUTES
Regular meeting of the Laura Holland Uzzell Foundation Board of Directors
August 11th, 2010
Proper notice having been duly given, the Board of Directors of the Laura Holland Uzzell Foundation (LHU Board)
met in regular session conducted on Wednesday August 11th 2010, at the offices of Sterling Montessori Academy
and Charter School, Morrisville, North Carolina.
Call to Order and Attendees
President Sharmila Bristol called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Directors attending were Alexis Schauss, Saiid
Davari, and Cristina Gillanders. Also in attendance were Executive Director Bill Zajic, Kellie Cross, and Elisa
Sumakeris.
Community comments
There were no community comments.
PFA Update
Ms. Sumakeris reported to the Board that:
1.
The PFA officers for the academic year 2010-2011 are the following:
Officers for 2010/2011
President: Kim Elliott
VP – Operations – Geri Lyn Cross
VP – Fundraising – Christie Adkins
Treasures – Mehrunissa Owens
Secretary – Sherry Gajewski
2.
Money for the Support The Court campaign is still coming in, but the total profit at this point is $19,351.
This money has been transferred over to the LHU board, to be used “for the construction of the Sport
Court”. The PFA wants to clarify that the money was given for the LHU to use at their own discretion, and
that the PFA does not need to be consulted for permission on how to spend the money. It can be used to
purchase fans, bleachers, equipment, or whatever need is most pressing. It would be very helpful if the
LHU uses it to purchase something concrete that can be communicated to the parents, so that the parents
have something they can point to and say “I paid for that”.
This year’s theme is “Health and Wellness”, designed to tie-in to the momentum generated by the Walk-AThon for the Sport Court. We plan to have some sort of pep rally/ribbon cutting party geared towards the
children, to celebrate the opening of the sport court. For the lower elementary and A building, we intend to
offer at least 2 in-class field trips. Teachers will be given a list of choices for presentations, and as a
section, they will choose which trips they would most like to see.
As part of a discussion with the Development Committee and Mr. Zajic, the PFA has made a commitment
this year to minimize the amount of fundraising that is done at the school, to help avoid donor fatigue
among the parents. On our part, that commitment includes several steps. First, we will be making every
effort to eliminate or consolidate events so that there are fewer events overall. For example, we intend to
have only 1 book fair, rather than 2 or more. Second, rather than having multiple fundraising events to
sponsor Heifer International, we will be working with the student council for the students to choose one
international charity to support schoolwide, rather than having a patchwork of different charities (Heifer,
Change for Chile, Hugs for Haiti, etc). Finally, we are shifting our funding focus for the older children.
3.
4.
Rather than provide paid in-class field trips for the upper elementary, we will instead focus on providing
money to the classrooms for their overnight spring field trips, so that the classrooms are partially freed
from their burden of fundraising for these trips. We still intend to provide a scholarship fund for the BetsyJeff Penn Field Trip, as we did last year. For the middle school, we intend to provide funding for their
graduation, unless the middle school has a more pressing need. We hope that by providing this funding to
the classrooms, that the classrooms will have less need to have a variety of fundraisers – bake sales, pencil
sales, magnet sales, etc.
Board Transitions
Mr. Saiid Davari nominated Elisa Sumakeris as a new member of the board of directors. Ms. Sumakeris has been a
very active parent in the school for several years. She is the past president of the PFA and has performed countless
hours of volunteer work on behalf of the school. Several members of the board interviewed Ms. Sumakeris for this
position.
Executive Director Report
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Teacher Contracts: Miss Karen Gleitz has been hired as an assistant teacher for Ms. Dana Riley. Ms. Gleitz
has worked in the aftercare and as a substitute for Ms. Amy Joyce. Mr. Zajic has requested approval to
hiring. In addition, Mr. Zajic, Mr. Burt Danio and Ms. Gillanders have been interviewing candidates for the
position of Spanish teacher. One top candidate will have a second interview. Mr. Zajic has requested
approval for hiring Ms. Gleitz.
Enrollment status: There is one opening for a 3-year-old. If this opening is not filled by the beginning of the
school year, a child from the 4-year-olds waiting list will be given the place. Seventy two children have
been accepted for Kindergarten. Lower elementary is at full capacity at 226. Ten children from upper
elementary have left the school. No new children will be added to fill these openings, since Upper
elementary is at full enrollment at 191 students. Middle School’s enrollment is at 74 students.
Open House: The open house for the new academic year will take place on Friday August 20 th. Parents and
children can visit their new classroom on the following schedules:
Children from 3-6: From 12-2pm
Lower elementary: From 2-4pm
Upper elementary: From 4-6pm
Professional Days: The Welcome Back breakfast for teachers will be conducted on Monday August 16 th.
On Tuesday 17th teachers will have the opportunity to enroll in the health plans. Departmental meetings
will be held during the week.
Campus readiness: Mr. Zajic is making all efforts to make the campus safe for students. Mr. Zajic is
working very closely with builders to prepare the campus for school opening. Mr. Zajic indicated examples
of concerns about campus readiness. Mr. Zajic is doing accommodations for parking for the staff.
Health program: Mr. Zajic has not been able to talk to the Poe Center to plan a program related to health.
Other: Mr. Zajic indicated that the school’s overall proficiency level was 92%. The school made yearly
adequate progress and expected growth. Mr. Zajic will put a sign outside of the school to announce this.
The first newsletter will be paper and then electronic. After that the first one all newsletters will be only
electronic.
Conflict of interest: Mr. Zajic requested to the board to approve this policy to be distributed to the staff.
Website: Gena Jellad has requested to the board to review the new website.
Treasurer’s report:
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Ms. Alexis Schauss reported to the Board that the budget for the Academy and Charter schools ended with
a significant surplus.
The new budget has been submitted to DPI with a projected enrollment of 557 students.
As part of the stabilization funds and the program EDUJOBS, the school will receive $110,000 for teacher
salaries for only next year.
Auditors have begun the annual independent audit for the LHU Board and the School. Audit results will be
presented to the Board in the October session.
Given last year’s surplus and the additional federal funds that will be received, no additional students will
be enrolled.
Building Committee Report
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Barnhill Construction is working hard to ensure completion of classroom construction and occupancy by
October 11th. Plans are being developed for moving into the new building during the Fall Break.
Work is in progress by CLH Design to get construction plan approval for the road improvements from the
Town of Morrisville - plan submission will be completed by end of August. It will be followed by issuance
of the water and sewer permits. A road improvement permit has been requested to the Town of Morrisville.
Per latest town ordinance the Town requires that the school maintain the median that will be built per
approved plan on Town Hall Drive with some low maintenance shrubbery.
PFA has requested allocation of funds raised by the PFA to be used for fans for the sport court. This has
been communicated to Barnhill to review.
The budget for the building project was reviewed with the Board. At this time invoices are tracking to
budget and there is no concern of any major overruns.
Consent items:
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On motion and second the Board approved (4-0) the minutes to approve the nomination of Elisa Sumakeris
as director of the LHU board.
On motion and second the Board approved (4-0) to approve the Sterling Montessori Academy and Charter
School Employee conflict of interest policy as recommended by the Executive Director.
On motion and second the Board approved (4-0) the minutes to hire Ms. Karen Gleitz as an assistant
teacher in 3-6 and Laura Beth Nicholson as Spanish teacher condition of second interview by the Spanish
committee and positive reference checks.
The Board recessed to Executive session at 10:05pm
The Board returned to Open session at 10:50pm and adjourned at 10:55pm