Northfield School of Arts and Technology
School Board Monthly Meeting Minutes
February 10, 2011
6:30 pm
ARTech at 1719 Cannon Road, Northfield
1. Call meeting to order at 6:36
2. Verify Quorum
Present: Janine Nelson, Tammy Prichard, Lisa Malecha, Tim Goodwin, Maria Musachio, Jake Roberts
Additionally present: Simon Tyler, Rebecca McMullen, Chuck Rinkey
3. Approve Agenda for 2-10-11
Motion to approve: J. Nelson
Second: L. Malecha
Motion passed: Unanimous
4. Approve Minutes of 1-13-11
Motion to approve: M. Musachio
Second: T. Goodwin
Motion passed: Unanimous
5. Speaker's Corner: This is an opportunity for community members to address the ARTech School Board on subjects related to the school. Please limit comments to three minutes. None present.
6. Consent Agenda: None
7. Reports
(a) Auditor’s Report
Chuck Rinkey, auditor, presented the school board with the 2010 Financial audit which he conducted. Summarized, the school did a good job of increasing it’s fund balance and managing its assets over the past year. ARTech managed to survive and thrive during a year of cutbacks.
(b) Finance Committee and Financial Report
Finance committee has reviewed a draft of the FY12 budget. The draft does not meet the Board’s mandate of 2% of revenue toward the school’s fund balance. That mandate requires $26,770 of next year’s budget go toward the fund balance. The committee will continue to adjust the budget to achieve a balance of revenues and expenses.
The school’s line of credit was renewed through the Community Bank for next year.
(c) Board Chair Report – non report
(d) School Director Report – see attached
i. Enrollment and Waiting Lists
ii. Curricular Initiatives
iii. Staffing Updates
iv. Building Status
v. External Relations (Northfield School District, MDE, community, etc.)
vi. Professional Development
vii. Status of Academic and Non-Academic Goals
(e) Committee Report:
i. Facilities Committee report: The committee has presented a draft lease to the landlord. The lease will include funding for increasing the school’s square footage. The staff has participated in a discussion of priorities for adding on to the building. The committee is requesting a 10 year lease.
ii. Education Committee report: The committee has formed a subcommittee to explore what colleges look for from students and from school records. Committee will report their findings to the board and will make recommendations.
8. Discussion and Action Items: Employee handbook discussion is tabled until next month due to the absence of Chris Bashor.
9. Announcements:
· Feb. 27 Open House, 2pm
· Mar. 1 Charter Day at the Capital
· Mar. 10 Next School Board meeting
· Mar. 14&15 NO SCHOOL, middle school conferences
· Mar. 19 ARTech auction, 7pm
· Mar. 24 End of 3rd quarter, Presentation Night: discussion about changing Presentation Night to Mar. 24, the Thursday before Spring Break begins. This decision will be made by the director.
· Mar. 28-Apr. 1 NO SCHOOL, Spring Break
10. Adjourn
Motion to approve: T Goodwin
Second: J. Nelson
Motion passed: Unanimous
Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm
Director’s Report
Director Report
January 2011
i. Enrollment and Waiting List
A wait list has been started for next year’s 6th grade. Currently there are four applications on file.
| Grade | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Total |
| Enrollment | 18 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 24 | 13 | 20 | 124 |
| Waiting List | 1 | | | | 1 | | | |
ii. Curricular Initiatives
· Middle School students are engaged in group projected creating videos of interviews. They are interviewing community members as part of their “walking in your shoes” theme.
· The next Presentation Evening will be held on January 27 at 6:30pm.
· ARTech’s annual performance of Arts for Martin will be held this Friday at 7pm.
· ARTech will host a College Information Night for parents on Jan 18. The presentation will be hosted by Lisa Malecha and Ryan Krominga.
· There will be a field trip to The Guthrie for high school student on February 8 to see a performance of Winter’s Tale.
iii. Staffing updates
No Updates
iv. Building Status
· The facilities committee will present the board with a draft lease document for review.
v. External Relations
· Simon Tyler and students Gabby Frenstad and Arye Lovestrand were interviewed on the ArtZany KYMN show about the upcoming Arts for Martin event. Arts for Martin has also been featured in several other local media outlets including Northfield.Org, Northfield Patch and the Northfield News.
· The Northfield School District has been approved as an authorizer of charter schools by MDE. ARTech will now continue its relationship with the district.
· Three St.Olaf students are participating in an Interim class that involves projects at ARTech. Two of the students are mentoring seniors who are engaged in their senior projects, one student is preparing an Alumni Directory and a survey that will collect data on alumni progress since graduating from our school.
· Jerry Smith from the Northfield News visited the school to research an article on ARTech and our initiatives in the curricular area of math as well as the strategies we have employed to maintain programming in challenging financial times for schools.
· Simon Tyler and Tami Kasch-Flugum will lead a workshop at the MDE Q Comp conference on January 27 on the topic of project-based staff development.
vi. Professional Development
· Lisa Malecha, Annie Klawiter and Lori Coleman led a staff workshop on bullying and harassment. The staff also reviewed the proposed changes to the ARTech Bullying Prevention Policy.
· Peter Schmelzer has been leading a series of small group conversations with staff about building improvement needs. These conversations will inform a possible building expansion as part of the new lease currently under negotiation.
· On January 17, staff will attend a presentation at the Northfield high school on the topic of cyberbullying. The speaker will be Aimee Bissonette, an attorney with Little Buffalo Law in Minneapolis.
Staff will also meet with Peter Schmelzer on January 17 for further discussions on ways to improve the facility.
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