June, 2009; Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

Call to Order

Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School
Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees
Minutes of Monday, June 15, 2009

Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. Members present were Kathy McNamara, Stephanie Fournier, Heidi Schmidt, Kathie Grenon, Christopher Wells, Marion Hobbs, Allison Graham , Bill Bogdanovich, Josh Stewart, Bob Dwyer, Amy Mesirow Lori LaBarge and Diane Titcomb. Public: Paul Niles

Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the May 18, 2009 meeting were approved with these corrections; Cabot should be spelled Cabot not Cabott, and Sean should be spelled Sean not Shawn.

Directors Report
Kathy reported the two day site visit by the Dept. of Education was very positive.

Kathy also stated the Charter Renewal application is in its final stages and Heidi Schmidt will sign off on final version for acceptance.

The sixth grade Step Up Day was a big success.

Overall Kathy stated this was a strong year for the school.

Two staff people are retiring.

Paul Niles spoke to the issue of the draft of the Accountability Plan which has been sent to the Dept. of Education.

Paul also said he would like to see the Accountability Plan become a "living document." This document should be used as a prism to look though whether the school as achieved it's goals for the year. Paul asked people to call him with questions.

Site Committee Report
Marion Hobbs reported the architect's feasibility study for the Brewster town hall has been completed. This was a "very positive" report, showing that the school's educational program will fit into the town hall space.

The next Site Committee meeting will be on June 24th and all are welcome to attend.

Finance Committee Report
Stefanie Fournier reported that, although the budget is currently strong the outlook for the future is not good. The State has indicated we should budget for a 7% decrease in the tuition payments. To compensate for this loss, the committee recommended a 2% cut in salaries and a increase in the health insurance contributions made by the staff.

Heidi moved to accept this recommendation and proposed to accept a 2% cut in staff salaries and an increase to a 55% contribution by the staff toward the health care premium. Kathie seconded this motion. All were in favor except Josh Stewart who opposed and Allison who abstained.

Nominating Committee
Kathie informed the meeting the following people will be officers of the Board of Trustees for the 09-10 school year: Heidi Schmidt- Pres., Bill Bogdanovich- Vice Chair, Diane Titcomb, Scribe, and Allison Graham and Josh Stewart Faculty Representatives.

Amy Mesirow reported the evaluation committee would like to see the director's evaluation forms simplified, and for each of the evaluation forms to be scaled in a similar way. Amy provided a hand out with the proposed changes. (Please see the attached handout to review the changes.) This proposals were passed unanimously.

By-Laws Committee
Bill Bogdanovich reported a few modifications to the By-Laws. We each were given a handout with the recommended changes. (Please read the attached handout to review changes.) These were passed unanimously.

Chairs Report
Heidi stated that the silver lining to the bad economy is the affordability of the Brewster Town Hall building, which would most likely not be available to us in more normal economic times.

Heidi then lead us in saying goodbye to Amy Mesirow a "wonderful Trustee" who's absence will be a "great loss."

Faculty Report
Allison reported the 8th Grade Gettysburg Trip was a huge success.

Hoops for Hearts raised $869.

The meeting was adjourned at 8 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Diane Wilson Titcomb