Minutes – August 25, 2010

August 25, 2010 6:00 pm


Procedural Items:

1. Welcome/Call to Order: Meeting called to order by Chair Naomi Swinton at 6:10PM

2. Establish quorum: Quorum established

3. In attendance: Governing Council members Naomi Swinton (Chair), Kim Kirkpatrick (Vice-Chair), Diane Moore, Suzanne DeVos-Cole, Caroline Garduño-Lopez, Sally Flores, Pat Leahan (Secretary); Director Cindy McLeod; Excused: Diana Whitten, Chris Cudia

4. Approval of agenda: Motion by Suzanne, second by Sally, all approved, motion passed

5. Approval of 28 July 2010 minutes: Motion by Caroline, second by Suzanne, all approved, motion passed

6. Confirm date of next regular meeting: September 22, 2010, 6:00-8:00PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sally!


Public Comments, Student and Amigos Reports:

7. Director’s Report: Cindy McLeod (see attached)

The student trip to Heart Butte, Montana is going well thus far. Kim posted a recent message from them to the school’s website (http://riogallinasschool.org/).

RGS is one of three schools in the WLV school district that passed AYP – this story is mentioned in today’s Optic (25 Aug. 2010). Also, the AYP report is posted on the school’s website. (Thank you, Kim.)


8. Business Manager’s Report: Business Manager was unable to attend. She sent word that she is in the process of rolling over the money and inputting data, and she will have a report for us at the September meeting.

9. Amigos de Rio Gallinas Report: Diana Whitten (Treasurer) is out of town. Naomi will meet with her (and the others) upon her return. People’s Faire frito pie booth didn’t make as much money as was hoped. The parents of the 7th and 8th grade students did a great job raising money. Suzanne is willing to help send out thank-you notes to those who contributed. The next big event will be the Fall Festival on October 16th at Melody Park. Community B-B-Q is also coming up soon.


Executive Session: personnel issues

10. Naomi made a motion to go into executive session to discuss possible threat of litigation; Second by Kim, all in favor, motion passed. Roll call: Pat, Caroline, Kim, Diane, Sally, Suzanne, Cindy, Naomi. Went into executive session at 7:12PM. No action was taken, and nothing else was discussed. Executive session ended at 7:23PM. Roll call to reconvene into regular session: Pat, Caroline, Kim, Diane, Sally, Suzanne, Cindy, Naomi.


Action Items:

11. Approval of BARS:

Fund Code 24118 Revenue Code 44500 $5,300.00

Farm Bill Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program – our application was approved (award letter attached)

Motion by Caroline, second by Suzanne, all approved, motion passed

12. Approval of budget transfers: None at this time

13. Approval of salary schedule: No need at this time

14. Approval of staff increments:

(1) Wellness Coordinator $400

(1) Food Service Director $500

(1) Stars Coordinator $500

(1) Bus Duty, Lower Campus $500

(1) Reading Night Facilitator, 4 nights $300

(1) Math Night Facilitator $300

(1) Parent Evening Facilitator $300

(1) Wellness Staff Committee Member $300

(1) Wilderness Coordinator $500

(1) Lego Aftershool Program $500

(2) Professional Learning Council Staff Committee Member $800

(1) Special Education Advisory Council Facilitator $400

(1) Bilingual Advisory Council Facilitator $400

(1) Technology Coordinator $500

(1) Educational Plan for Student Success Committee $400

(1) Camping Weekend Day $150

Motion by Diane, second by Kim, all approved, motion passed

15. Approval of tech agreement (see attached):

Motion by Kim, second by Suzanne, all approved, motion passed

16. Approval of fundraising policy, using same policy as WLV Schools:

Motion by Kim, second by Caroline, all approved, motion passed

17. Approval of non-discrimination policy for sports, using WLV Schools policy:

Motion by Kim, second by Suzanne, all approved, motion passed


Old Business:

Outstanding Items from Previous Meetings –

18. Discussion regarding Charter School governance book:

Suzanne prepared and handed out documents for us: An outline of the chapters of the Brian Carpenter book, “Charter School Board University”; A list of suggested items when a new governing council member comes on board; and a handout about the primary purpose of a governing council. (Thank you, Suzanne.)

Agenda item for next month is to review the outline of the Carpenter book and discuss it.


New Business:

19. Title IX presentation: This is related to sports and RGS does not have a sports program

20. Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) Report to Charter Schools: How do we want to respond? Should we be speaking with our legislators as well as informing our community? It seems appropriate to do so. We anticipate a response from Lisa Grover (Chief Executive Officer, NM Coalition for Charter Schools) soon.

Who is the audience we want to reach re: charter schools being under fire? Legislators, WLV School Board, Parents. So maybe a one-page handout, a summary of sorts, could be made available to these various entities. Cindy, Pat and Naomi will work on a document for Governing Council approval.

21. Grants update: We did not make the LANL grant cut at this time. Naomi did then ask them if we could apply for $1500, and they said yes. The next full application is due in April. Community First Bank grant is due tomorrow, and Amigos is submitting an application for Dome support.

22. Strategic Planning Document: Naomi and Cindy are meeting to draft some ideas for what would go into a planning document. Cindy sees it as partly a task of the Professional Learning Council, and that a Governing Council member should consider being a part of it. That group will be meeting soon. Cindy will let us know when that group’s next meeting is.

23. Plan for Review of Charter: The Charter Review Committee (Sally, Pat, Kim and Chris) will meet soon to break down what needs to be accomplished between now and February. We also need to look at the existing charter and highlight things that seem no longer in sync (Cindy will do this task). We also need to look at the new rules (Kim will download and send them out to us). We will have this as an agenda item for discussion at our September meeting. In the meantime, the Charter Review Committee will meet Sat., Sept. 4th, 1PM at Kim’s home. It is hoped that Sally, Chris, Pat and Kim will be there. Cindy is unavailable.

24. Discussion re: Master Plan: The architect came to the school today. Kim will call Kenny Lujan (718-8986), chair of the Finance Committee. Jerry Maestes is the Facilities Manager who can lead us to contact with the architect — 426-2300 is the WLV main number.

25. Sept. 23rd is the entrance meeting for the audit – with J.J. Griego. A RGS Governing Council representative should be there. Caroline will represent our GC. Cindy will let us know the time and location of that meeting. We need to form our audit committee prior to Sept. 23rd.


Adjournment:

26. Motion by Pat, second by Caroline, all approved, motion passed

Meeting adjourned at 8:19PM