BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
At Concordia University
September 21, 2012
Library- Center for Applied Lutheran Leadership (CALL Room)
9:00 AM TO 2:30 PM
Attendees- Connie Rice (chair), Johnnie Driessner, David Atherton, Cathy Sherick, Mike Harris
Minutes from previous meeting approved.
Update and Review
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320 students (Up from 220 last fall) – Opened with 350 but had some no shows. Some may still
appear. Budget was based on 300 students (ADMw). We anticipate hitting 400 this year with
ADM closer to 350.
Question: New charter laws allow for partial enrollment. Are we tapping into that? Part time?
Answer: It is not financially viable for us. We have done some higher math courses for in-district
students as a favor.
Also There is no longer a cap at 50% from outside the district.
We have agreements with CAL and ACE with about 6 students who are 50/50 in these programs and
ours.
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Major activities this yearEvaluate the current (OdysseyWare) curriculum with an eye toward moving to Florida Virtual
School Curriculum.
Complete full accreditation in May.
Move the school in March.
Hire a new director.
Portland State Annual Evaluation noted that we did not meet AYP, but our charter is to serve
students who are not successful in other programs or in traditional schools. This is not about
students who cannot be successful but about finding a new way to help students be successful.
Let’s not use the fact that they were failing elsewhere as an excuse to allow them to not be
successful at the web academy.
 A position was created earlier this year to screen applicants and support students who were
struggling. However the person resigned for personal reasons but have not found a suitable
replacement.
 As per PSU report, we are starting with a launch seminar while working on a full 18 week
course called a bridge class. It will include keyboarding, internet navigation and general
coaching on how to operate in the online world.
This is one of Sam’s tasks. It is supposed to be ready to go by January.
 Staff wants to rework curriculum to make it more engaging. We are switching and our new
curriculum will allow us much more freedom to make changes. New curriculum- Florida
Virtual Curriculum (Owned by the state of Florida). Proceeds go into curriculum
development).
 The auditors recommend that all board proceedings are posted on the GBWA web site.
There will be a tab on the web page for Board proceedings.
 We have completed more anticipatory hiring. Guideline- Trying to keep mentor ratio at 30
to 1 with more than 200 students per instructor and no more than 6 classes at a time.
 We need to hire a technician.
STUDENT RETENTION STUDY report has many references that were drawn from research because there
was trouble getting interviews with the necessary participants. They did use our data.
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Recommendations regarding parent involvement- This stemmed from staff concerns.
Parent meetings are possibly not the most effective way to meet parent needs. Possibly a
blog or listserv will help. Start with virtual involvement.
We are getting some parent suggestions on the website.
We have been developing a learning coach program that we will be working on with the
parents. Only 50% of parents are actually reading their emails.
Possibly use Social Media for events or ideas that have a beginning and end. However,
research on Social Media shows it is expensive and not effective for marketing.
Suggestions: School Counselors- Is there a way that we can get some feedback since it was
difficult to get their participation in the study. Possibly a short, anonymous survey of counselors
could be used. They could have a voice on their own time. Can we help them understand how
GBWA can help them? Send via email to all counselors. This is about trying to build good
relations and understanding.
Suggestions:We need to be intentional about how we build our reputation and brand.
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The message about who we are may need to be repeated.
Possible front office analysis will be done this year and new administrator can step in and
make decisions based on the analysis.
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Accreditation- NW is changing to Advanced Ed – Part of a national network. Changing all of
criteria for accreditation. They will move from 96 criteria to 33, but the process will be more
arduous in a sense. Plan is to do a site visit. All information is being gathered. The
accreditation committee will want to meet with the Board members.
Continuing to work on the curriculum. There will be a Florida Virtual Curriculum cohort
group (LMS- Brain Honey- Easy use for staff) to test the new curriculum as compared to
Odyssey.
Asked the district about doing a GED program. Idea was well received. Applied to state of
Oregon to become a GED Options program. Engaged the CIS (Career Information Systems)
which will allow students to explore careers within this program. We are using Ed Options
for the online program. We have six students enrolled and one teacher in charge. There will
be a change in GED testing in 2014. Test will be strictly online.
The GED program will be assessed separately from our high school diploma program and will
not count in our data graduation data.
Partnerships with districts have been a struggle. Still working on partnership with
Centennial. Others are ACE and CAL.
Need for Social Interaction- Students come to us because of our drop in center. This is a
pivotal part of our program.
Live instruction is becoming more of an attractive feature in the online world. We are doing
regular live sessions in math and are beginning our science labs. In addition to that, we have
set up a number of links and our math staff added links into algebra I, II, and Geometry.
They connected students with Khan Academy. We also use Gizmos, particularly for science.
We will set up the same links in Florida Virtual.
Side note- Khan will be the keynote speaker at CU Vic Atiyeh Awards ceremony in Feb.
Every Monday is spent with staff discussing issues and then planning together.
We are in the process of developing a comprehensive staff development plan. Portland
State has an e-learning certificate program online. It takes teachers through four courses
that culminates in a certificate. There is a fifth course in leadership that Sam will take. All
staff will be asked to become certified through this program.
Is this a possibility through Concordia?
Could we start to look at student teachers as a possibility?
Municipal Audit Review
Independent audit review presented by Jerry Jones, Assistant Superintendent/CFO GBSD
Results: Clean opinion with no reservations. See report for details.
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Governing Body Monitoring- What are we doing besides just looking at statements at the end of
the year to help us monitor our financial activity? These processes should be covered in the
meeting minutes.
Jerry meets with board chair and vice chair about 5 times during the year to go through a series
of questions about finances.
Having Matt (Pauly-Rogers) join us once per year is a start. There may need to be one other
meeting with the board prior to the audit.
Auditors also complete a 990 which provides another lens on healthy institutions. Review of this
document by the board would count as monitoring. Make sure this is reported in minutes.
Implications- Board is going to begin a serious look at fund raising. How do we go about that
process and how do we deal with it at a fiscal management level?
Recommendation- Look at some sample policies from other charters.
In the process of remodeling a new facility and we are going to be contracting for all of the work
and the landlord will reimburse us for $28 for each sq. foot. We will exceed that and need to
make sure we set up the accounting appropriately.
A project director and architect have been hired. We are in the permiting process. We have paid
some of the fees to the city. We have not yet bid out the job to contractors.
The project manager is meeting weekly with Jerry and he is experienced at this. Jerry will discuss
the bidding process.
Auditor needs to be invited to the April meeting.
Future Meetings
November 26 – This includes a recommendation from John on the construction bid and will
need to have a vote. This meeting also includes a review of the CEO candidates resulting a
selecting those whom the board wishes to interview.
Chair: Meeting is at Web Academy. Do we need to extend that time? We
have 3-5 on that calendar. No extension of time is anticipated
December 6 - is the regularly scheduled meeting which may be cancelled because of interviews
the following day.
December 7 – Interviews at Concordia University
Facilities Planning- John Hartsock
John suggested that Mike have authority up to $10,000 for changes. This will keep from a
lengthy process for permissions if something comes up. (This would require a change in the
Internal Controls policy)
Storage of records. Plan to keep only active personnel and student files in file cabinets. All else
will be electronic. ODE has said that any files can be electronically filed but need to be backed
up and kept in fire proof cabinets
WE will need furnishings that will hold up and make best use of space as well as consider lines
of sight. Also, are we thinking about other uses for the space- community use, etc.
Keep flexibility and open space so that we can accommodate changes that might occur in our
needs.
The plan has classroom space that seats about 90 in 3-4 classrooms. Is this going to meet our
future needs with the focus on drop-ins and the hybrid program?
Move in March and start on April 1. Free rent will end in December.
Change order for the architect- handout. Discussion commenced about change orders.- How
do we make sure the project stays on time and under budget? The board needs to know in a
timely manner if there are changes so that the board can have some options.
We could increase the contingency if that would be helpful. However, this should be a
discussion after the bids.
It is important to be public and transparent in this process.
Moved to approve change order as presented- Director Sherick
Seconded- Director Driessner
Passed unanimously
Name Change- Do we want to be more metropolitan and less GB?
Complete by January.
This will need to be decided before signage.
Suggestion- Have students and teachers look at the vision for brand and ask them what they might
suggest in terms of name.
Fundraising
Adopt first part of the Benevon process when we open the new school. (Point of Entry)
It wascuggestied that we are possibly not ready for this process, but we can still create some of these
entry level events.
We need to have a plan for inviting community into the new bldg. and sharing who we are…the story.
Graduation is another opportunity.
At some point in the future there will need to be ½ or full time person in charge of fundraising.
1st foray into fundraising might be project based grants.
What is the gap between who we are and who we want to be? It must be important enough that people
want to give money to the cause. Innovation is the key.
Can we become a resource to the districts in the area of developing new online ideas for the classroom.
NEXT STEPS
Mike will take the mission and this new vision for who we want to be to the staff. Add conversation
about new names.
New Board Members- Goal – Three new members for next year
Recruitment- Send a letter to Microchip asking for someone to go to lunch with us and discuss. David’s
brother works for Nationwide in their elearning programs for adults.
PCC technology department
Mt. Hood CC technology department- Mark Wreath
Possibly a parent through PTO
Home visits can bring about cues about possible board members.
As we add capacity to the board, we may want to look for a philanthropist or someone who can connect
us with other people.
Invite Centennial and/or Reynolds HS principals
Chris Greenhalgh (sp?) at Reynolds
Rob Robertson
Think about how to link all of the constituents
Planning for Building Opening
Open house end of April
Director Sherick will work with a group to plan and process the event. Fridays are best in Director
Sherick’s schedule.
Try to get on Chamber of Commerce schedule for ribbon cutting.
Curriculum
Have Asst Principal May-Varas attend meeting and share where we are going with curriculum.
Board Assessment Process
How do we think we are doing? Online survey. We may need to institute something like this on an
annual or biannual basis.
This may inform the expansion of the board.