January 29: Great River School Board Meeting

Great School Board is opened every month by reading of the school mission and the reading of the board mission.  Although you may be familiar with the school mission (hint: it is on the front page of the website as an overlay on each photo) but what is the board mission?

Board Mission:
The Board of Directors exists on behalf of the public to ensure that Great River School achieves the student outcomes for which it is chartered and provides exemplary stewardship of resources while at all times operating within all required parameters. Accordingly, as the governing body of the school, our intent is to refrain from co-managing. Read more including board parameters and vision here.

Board Members and guests gathered on January 28th at 6PM for the first meeting of 2015.  Note:  All Board documents can be reviewed in detail here at any time.

All GRS Board Meeting agenda items fall into three areas:

• How are the students doing?
• Is everything occurring appropriately?
• Board assessment and development

How are the students doing?

MCA math testing scores were in focus; Great River 7th & 8th-grade scores are somewhat lower than MN state averages; by 11th grade the scores increase and are higher than state averages.  The math department is working with this data and developing recommendations.  The Board discussed that when Great River accepts new 7th graders, the MCA score data from previous schools do not arrive with the student; previous schools are not required to provide them.  If the state does mandate the sharing of previous MCA scores, Great River will be able to track student progress; this would allow Great River to measure the progress of incoming students.

The Student Achievement Committee reported about working with students and the inspiration of hearing from students on the importance of the Great River community to the students; the student survey also reflected this.  Great River students clearly value the importance of community! 

The Pedagogy Committee reported on their work and about how the committee may transition from a board committee to a school working group in the future.

Is everything occurring appropriately?
Finance Report and FY16 Budget revisions were approved with discussion of some budget line items. Policy Committee reported on recommendations around faculty computer use. The Consent Agenda was approved.  Charter renewal was discussed; it was top of mind for the board because the authorizer Novation Education Opportunities (NEO) completed their site visit on Monday of this week.

Board assessment and development
The Executive Committee reported on planning work with incoming Head of School, Katie Ibes and Sam O'Brien, current and continuing Head of School.  A decision was made to have four open Strategic Plan Working Group meetings to prepare the plan for board review next month.

November 19th: Great River School Board Meeting

GRS Board Members and guests gathered on November 19th, 2014 at 6PM.  All Board documents can be reviewed in detail here at anytime.

All GRS Board Meeting agenda items fall into three areas:

• How are the students doing?
• Is everything occurring appropriately?
• Board assessment and development

How are the students doing?
This month the board devoted an hour to review and to weigh in on the work done by the Strategic Planning Committee; Great River's Strategic Plan is 'owned' by the entire board. The top themes for the strategic plan were discussed and voted on; more will be posted about these themes very soon.  The next step is to turn these themes into measurable goals.

Student Performance was reviewed in the context of academic honesty, wellness, work completion, and mathematics. These categories were established with our authorizer during our last authorization process.

Is everything occurring appropriately?

Great River School is under budget and the fund balance is up; great news!  A budget revision and finance report was approved.

The draft of reauthorization documentation is with our authorizer.  This is work to be proud of; most charter schools are not prepared for reauthorization two months early!  Kudos to Great River Leadership for this work.

Board assessment and development
The Board participated in financial training led by Treasurer Eric White; diving in on how to read the financials.  Oath of office was administered.

After reflections on the meeting, the meeting was adjourned.

October 29th: Great River School Board Meeting

GRS Board Members and guests gathered on October 29th, 2014 at 6PM.  All Board documents can be reviewed in detail here at anytime.

All GRS Board Meeting agenda items fall into three areas:

• How are the students doing?
• Is everything occurring appropriately?
• Board assessment and development

How are the students doing?

Great River students are well prepared for college:

The board reviewed student performance factors specifically:  ACT, PLAN, EXPLORE, IB Results and Great River School MMR (Multiple Measures Rating).

View of what happened in October at Great River School 'By The Numbers.'

Is everything occurring appropriately?

• GRS is currently under budget.
• The annual audit is complete and GRS received the best available opinion from our auditing firm Abdo, Eick, and Myers: Unmodified Opinion. 
• The Search Committee recommended the board approve hiring Katie Ibes as Pedagogy Leader for Fiscal Year 2016; the board unanimously voted to approve the Search Committee's recommendation.
• The Annual Report is complete and was discussed.
• The board reviewed surveys completed by staff, parents and students and discussed how these survey results will inform the work of the Strategic Planning Committee as it gets underway.

Board assessment and development

• The board discussed opportunities to make the meetings even more efficient.

September 24th: Great River School Board Meeting

GRS Board Members and guests gathered on September 24th, 2014 at 6PM.  All Board documents can be reviewed in detail here at anytime.

How are the students doing?

• Board reviewed student performance factors document and discussed the importance of collecting the data and using the data to ensure we are constantly improving.
• Board reviewed the International Baccalaureate Action Plan noting the strong overlap between IB goals and Montessori goals.

Fall Experiences by the Numbers

Is everything occurring appropriately?

• Finance Report was reviewed noting the good news that GRS' lease aid was approved to get retroactive payments owed to GRS earlier than anticipated which will benefit our cash flow.
• Wendy Swanson-Choi of NEO, GRS' authorizer, presented to Board and answered questions on GRS's charter renewal process.  NEO's evaluation process will assure GRS meets MDE standards and we will know term length of our charter renewal by April 2015.
• The Search for a Pedagogy Leader was discussed noting there is one highly qualified candidate who has applied.
• Charter compliance was reviewed in conjunction with the World's Best Workforce work; World's Best Workforce is a Minnesota Department of Education program with the goal of making sure all schools are meeting these goals:
  All children are ready for school.
  All third-graders can read at grade level.
  All racial and economic achievement gaps between students are closed.
  All students are ready for career and college.
  All students graduate from high school.
• Consent agenda was approved; a consent agenda is a list of documents reviewed by the board before the meeting and that do not require discussion.

Board assessment and development

• Two committee mandates were approved to continue the work already started: Student Achievement Committee and Strategic Plan Committee.
• Board reflected on the meeting noting how helpful it was to meet with Wendy Swanson-Choi.

August 20th 2014: Great River School Board Meeting

GRS Board Members gathered on a beautiful evening, August 20th, to continue the work kicked off at the GRS Board Retreat on August 9th.  All GRS Board Meeting agenda items fall into three areas:

• How are the students doing?
• Is everything occurring appropriately?
• Board assessment and development

How are the students doing?
The Board discussed student performance metrics.  Great River School’s metrics will be categorized as follows:  Academic, Social, and Montessori Outcomes.  The Board approved the establishment of the Student Achievement Committee.

Is everything occurring appropriately?
Eric White, GRS Parent, and Scott Brown, Business Manager from BKDA, presented the Finance Committee report: cash flow looked good and audit work is starting in August.  The Board itself discussed how revenue comes into our school:  State Revenue based on pupil units.

The updated Enrollment Policy was presented by Stacey Kreger, School Systems Manager, and Lucy Suits, Communications and Outreach Manager.  The policy was revised to:

• allow for students to take extended leaves, 
• clarify sibling preference enrollment was,
• combine three previous policies (enrollment, lottery, waiting list) into one policy.

Charter compliance was discussed specifically: GRS’ plan to comply with MN State Statute: World’s Best Workforce Legislation.

Every month, the Board reviews all documents in a folder called Consent Agenda.  These are documents that require review by the board, but do not necessarily require discussion.  This month GRS board members passed the consent agenda and pulled out the Landscape Contract for further discussion.

The board discussed the budget and the exciting outcomes from the Wenck Associates contract, which will beautify the school and create safer and more beautiful outdoor play spaces.  At the same time, this work will address storm water run-off and conservation.  Wenck Associates was the lowest bid and has demonstrated experience delivering other projects in conjunction with the Capitol Region Watershed District (CRWD).  CRWD is providing the grant for the work completion.

Board assessment and development
New Officers were elected, Committees, and Committee Chairs approved.  All Board members read Good to Great and The Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins. The Board discussed how this gives the group a framework to focus our work and raised excellent questions for continued exploration around communication, support, and strategic planning.

Next Month:  Draft of Annual Report, Full agenda available here by September 18th.