TWIN CITIES ACADEMY
Board Meeting
Monday, February 24, 2014
5:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by Joel Michael at 5:08 PM.
ATTENDANCE:
Members present: Alex Bajwa, Chris Rider, Janelle Voxland-Flomo, Joel Michael, Kristin Sieg, Krista
Varley and Sara Jennerjohn.
Members not in attendance: Anna Schneck, Chrissy Snider.
Others in Attendance: Principal/Director Betsy Lueth, and members of the TCAHS Board.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
A motion to approve the January 27, 2014 minutes as amended was made by Janelle Voxland-Flomo
and seconded by Alex Bajwa. Motion passed unanimously.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
A motion to approve the agenda as amended was made by Kristin Sieg and seconded by Alex Bajwa.
Motion passed unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS:
Enrollment Seat Numbers:
Two handouts were presented by Ms. Lueth. Twin Cities Academy Middle School enrollment seat
recommendations for the 2014-2015 school year are: 6th grade – 75; 7th grade – 75; and 8th grade – 65.
Motion to accept the enrollment numbers for 2014-2015 school year was made by Alex Bajwa and
seconded by Kristin Sieg. Motion passed unanimously.
Lottery:
Ms. Lueth reported that the lottery is scheduled for Friday, February 28, 2014 at 4:30 p.m. The
applications for 6th grade are numerous and there is significant interest in these seats and in our school as
a whole.
OLD BUSINESS:
There was no old business to report.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
January Financial Summary
Sara Jennerjohn reported that this had been a quiet month, and the budget for next year will be reviewed
at next month’s Finance Committee meeting. There are 212 Middle School students currently enrolled.
Motion to accept the treasurer’s report was made by Chris Rider and seconded by Alex Bajwa. Motion
passed unanimously.
REPORTS:
Committee Reports:
•
Governance/Policy
•
The Governance Committee met in February to discuss the Graduation
standards policy and the Disciplinary Policy; both are brought to the Board today with the
recommendation of adoption.
•
The Grad testing policy is a new statutory requirement from State
legislative changes made last year. Adoption of this policy would bring TCAHS
into compliance with state statutes. This gives students who do not pass the grad
standards an option to take the ACT exam and get a score of 15 or higher in a
subject that the student did not pass (math, reading); that student can then
graduate upon meeting this requirement. Motion not needed by Twin Cities
Academy Middle School Board as this is a policy effecting the high school only.
•
Disciplinary Policy: Ms. Lueth stated that a new Middle School
discipline policy was adopted by the board last year. However, upon recognizing
inconsistencies in the literature (handbook, website, and in school practices) this
policy was devised and modeled after the Edina Public Schools policy. The
Administration prefers to have as much detail in the policy as possible to ensure
fair and consistent discipline processes. The FYI system has been instituted so
lower level infractions in the Middle School (tardy, gum, uniform violation) are
not counted so kids have the opportunity to change their behavior throughout a
school quarter. This policy would go into effect for the 2014-2015 school year.
Ms. Voxland-Flomo raised questions about the gambling and pushing, shoving,
scuffling as additions to the Level One category. Motion to approve as amended
made by Chris Rider and seconded by Alex Bajwa. Policy was adopted
unanimously.
•
The Governance Committee also continued discussion of the Board Self
Evaluation process and presented a document to the full TCA/TCAHS Board for
discussion. The University of Saint Thomas, the authorizer of TCA/TCAHS, has
suggested that the Boar institute a policy to gather information relative to Board activity.
The following changes will be made to the document submitted by the Governance
Committee:
•
Twin Cities Academy and Twin Cities Academy High School
should have separate documents for each board;
•
A section will be added relative to how long a board member has
served;
•
A section for open ended comments and suggestions will be added.
•
A section for “Not applicable/don’t know” section will be added.
Updating Evaluate validity and value and revise re-evaluate it as necessary.
•
Motion made by Sara Jennerjohn and seconded by Alex Bajwa to adopt the TCA Board
Evaluation policy with the amendments listed, noting that it will undertake this process
in June 2014 along with the internal assessment and that a full report on the results will
be given to the full TCA/TCAHS Board in August. Motion passed unanimously.
•
Recruitment/Marketing
•
No formal meeting was held this month, it is high recruit season and two
new student shadow dates have been added.
•
Curriculum
•
World’s Best Workforce was discussed (college readiness) and the
curriculum is being reviewed to replace textbooks based on need.
•
Facilities
•
Ms Lueth met with the church and the lease is set for the next year.
•
Schools
•
Ms. Lueth reported that she has been working with a charter authorizer on
the first steps of application to combine the schools. TCA will need to apply to the
Unviersity of Saint Thomas, which will then apply to the State of Minnesota to combine
the schools. A legal opinion has been requested on this topic as well. This is anticipated
for the 2015 – 2016 School year.
Principal/Director
Ms. Lueth reported that a baseball cooperative would be undertaken with Nova Classical Academy for
the High School.
Teachers
The Arts Showcase held in mid-February was a success. Spirit week is next week for the High School.
The Silent Auction Fundraiser is set for later in April 2014. Sarah Ancel is working on this.
The next board meeting will be Monday, March 27, 2014.
MOTION TO ADJOURN:
A motion to adjourn was made by Kristin Sieg and seconded by Alex Bajwa at 6:30 p.m. Motion passed
unanimously.