Jan 23rd, 2013

Board of Trustees Work Session Minutes

Monday, December 17, 2012

Edward W. Bok Academy

3:30 PM

Those Present: Chairwoman Cassandra Denmark, Dr. Terry Fasel, Pat Cain, Cheryl Garnett, Kristine Shollenberger, Danny Gill, Co-Chair Keith Wadsworth

Staff Present: Superintendent Jesse Jackson, Brian Fisher, Marie Cherrington-Gray, Damien Moses, Donna Dunson, Anuj Serran, Barbara Jones, Kenneth Henson, Gail Quam, Jennifer Barrow, Angela Heyward, Gary Loar, Julio Acevedo, Richard Columbo, Daniele Shick

Others Present:  Robin Gibson, Cassie Jacoby, Phil Attinger, Anthony Cothron

I. CALL TO ORDER                                                           Jesse Jackson, Superintendent

Moment of silence was requested for the students, staff and families of Newtown, Connecticut.  Prayer was done by Trustee Dr. Terry Fasel.

II. FINANCIAL REPORT                                                                      Brian Fisher, CFO

1. A.    Monthly Financials

CFO Fisher reviewed the balance sheet. Cash all funds up $564K compared to October. November NSLP claims outstanding.  All funds net excess revenue from operations – up $279K through November 30^th.  Funding received for LWHS advance placement that will be posted in December.  Pre-K activity is strong overall.  Trustee Pat Cain asked about Polk Avenue fund balance of $516,771 – this updated June 30, 2012.  Trustee Cain commented…so there is a gain of $518,771.  Trustee Cain commented on the $3,005,989 that has been generated by the system since its inception.  CFO Fisher advised these represent fund balances as of June 30, 2012.

On the Special Revenues statement – Food Service – has a $22,700 net surplus for November and YTD $57,404.  Menu is still not certified yet, once it is certified an additional six cents will be received per meal.  The program has had a 180 degree turn-around from last year.

The Federal Programs – 420 Fund – ROTC – has two months of payments in arrears.  Trustee Cain asked: Do we have any financial statements for transportation such as are we breaking even or are we ahead.  CFO Fisher advised: we don’t currently have a separate report and we expect a $700,000 subsidy from schools for the entire program.  Superintendent Jackson advised: what the state provides in funding is less than what we need.  Trustee Cain asked how do we stack up?  CFO Fisher advised: we only have statewide averages.  Superintendent Jackson advised:  We will provide a quarterly transportation statement.  Trustee Cain: If Polk County does not assist us this is a heavy load for us.  CFO Fisher advised our school sites have always paid a sum beyond what students have earned even when the PCSB provided our transportation.  Trustee Cain: What did we pay before and what do we pay now?  CFO Fisher will provide this information.

CFO Fisher went over the salary and benefit document pgs.1-7, this included the student allocation chart, Phase 1 – Evaluation chart.  He also went over what it will cost to equalize our salary for LWCS – based on PCSB.  Superintendent Jackson advised:  There will continue to be a gap for every year we don’t provide a step increase.  We have to address this now; if not it won’t get any better.  Trustee Cain commented:  What’s the rationale for having nothing the first 1-3 years?  We would have to up all steps to meet Polk County.  Trustee Wojcik commented:  We have a $1,800 difference that we provide more benefits than PCSB.  CFO Fisher:  We have a more robust benefits package.  We will have a survey going out to the schools for feedback.   Trustee Cain:  We have to figure out a way to be equal or better.  We need motivated happy teachers that feel appreciated.  We have a brewing morale problem – we need to fix it.  Net profit since inception is $3M – funds should be available to use to accomplish this goal.  We need to walk our talk.

CFO Fisher:  The fund balance is a potential source; however we have to think about Bok Academy and also the recent loan waiver documents.  Trustee Cain:  We don’t receive any funds and we built Bok Academy for less – we have a proven track record.  We must push the legislature to change the law and the language to fit our system.  We need to somehow remove the covenants that we have to be able to use the $3M profit for teachers.  Foundation Chair Robin Gibson:  Capital Improvement for start up schools – we received dollars for the last three years.  However, it is no way near enough to cover the costs of the capital improvements.  We need to continue to make Bok Academy our priority.  One donor recently gave us $150,000 towards the Bok Academy mortgage.  We have more folks out there like this and our Foundation is assisting with this.  We are paying the mortgage at Bok Academy with FEFP dollars and this is the student money for academics.

Superintendent Jackson:  I spent some time recently with Dr. Stewart last week – we talked about the student information not being received for our IB Program.  Our goal is how we serve all students at the highest level.  We talked about financial issues as well.  Whatever we do we have to be very wise to not have budget cuts in our system.  Statewide the budget is flat – very few dollars in the system.  I agree with Trustee Cain, we have to do something.  I looked at the class size penalties for the state that had not met class size.  We were wise and diligent to ensure we met this to avoid any penalties.  We need to continue to add value and educate our staff to ensure we make an informed decision and not an emotional decision and being well informed on the impact these decisions will have on our employees.  We are very guarded in protecting the folks in our system.  We are getting feedback from our employees.  We’ll do a survey so we get employees ideas – continue to use wisdom in making these decisions.  Finance – we don’t want to have a misstep in our system.  We have to show good faith and do something, but do it with wisdom.  We must do something about steps so the gap doesn’t get wider.

Trustee Fasel:  We appreciate CFO Fisher and all the hard work he has done.  We appreciate Superintendent Jackson and the actions he has taken to meet with the teachers.  I would like to applaud the system for doing this.  Trustee Cain remarked:  We as a Board and as a system want to show support for our teachers.  Trustee Wojcik:  Support rewarding the teachers and ensure we retain these experienced teachers.  Can we do a two-year plan and also have decent benefits?  We appreciate the teachers and all that they do.

B. Personnel Changes

Presented for review in the Board Work Session and will request approval at the December 17, 2012 Board of Trustee Meeting.

III. ATTORNEY’S REPORT                                            Robin Gibson, General Counsel

A. Litigation Update

Two fold litigation: 1. LWHS student who lives in Lake Wales and attends the Collegiate HS should be allowed to participate in athletics at the home school (LWHS).  The District wants this to be an opt out school (Collegiate HS).  It’s a thirty five mile drive for the student to participate in Bartow.  The student will withdraw from Collegiate and do dual enrollment at LWHS.  2. Statistical information for Charter School IB Program that the District has.  The judge did not consider this one an emergency.  We’ll find a way so the Charter School will receive their share of Federal Funds.  We’ll concentrate on a solution and not going into litigation.

IV. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT                              Jesse Jackson, Superintendent

1. A.    MINUTES: November 12, 2012 BOARD OF TRUSTEES WORK SESSION AND MEETING MINUTES

Presented for review and approval at the December 17, 2012 Board of Trustees Meeting.

B. PRINCIPALS’ UPDATES

None (time constraints).

C. CAPITAL CAMPAIGN                                                 Robin Gibson, Foundation Chair

1. 100% Campaign

Foundation Chair Gibson provided a summary of the 100% Campaign.  Received 100% participation.

2. Lake Wales Charter Schools Expo

The Expo is January 19^th at the High School.  This is one of the sources of our pride.  We want to do a lot more for the schools after the Expo.

D. NEXT MEETING DATES

The January Board Work Session and Board Meeting will be Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at Lake Wales High School.  The meeting will be on a Tuesday due to the holiday on Monday.  The Work Session will begin at 3:30 PM and the Board Meeting will begin at 5:00 PM.

V. OTHER BUSINESS FOR THE GOOD OF THE CAUSE

None

VI. ADJOURN

Meeting adjourned at 5:10pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Marie Cherrington-Gray, Corporate Secretary

Board Approved:  1-22-13