ADVOCATES FOR INNOVATIVE SCHOOLS, INC.
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
8550 Curran Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana
5:30 p.m.
July 22, 2019
MINUTES
Attending:
Barbara Major, President
Debra Adams, Member
Ora Wiley, Interim Treasurer
Cheryl Beaco, Secretary
Carly McClay, Member
Marcia McWilliams, Member
Absent:
Stephen Goodly, Vice-President
Melissa Johnson, Member
AIS Staff:
Terri Williams, Principal
Deidra Bradley, Assistant Principal
L’Tanya Randolph Bruno, Business Manager
Melvin Davis, SFO
Willie Zanders, Attorney
Roslyn J. Smith, Consultant
I. Call to Order
President Barbara Crain-Major called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.
II. Approval of Agenda
Debra Adams made a motion to accept the Agenda. Marcia McWilliams seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
III. Approval of June 10, 2019 Minutes
Debra Adams made a motion to accept the Minutes with corrections. Carly McClay seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
IV. Old Business and/or Action Items
1. State Funded Pay Raise for 2019 – 2020
McWilliams made a motion to accept the State Pay Raise and match funding for staff that were not included with the exception of the Clean Team.
2. End of Year Supplemental Pay Report
End of Year Supplement Pay was given to employees who finished the year with specified qualifications.
3. 2019 – 20 School Calendar (Revised Layout)
The Calendar Layout was not changed.
4. Biweekly Pay Schedule for 2019 – 2020 (Ratify)
5. Debra Adams made a motion to ratify the Biweekly Pay Schedule proposed by the Finance Committee. Marcia McWilliams seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
6. Tier 3 Personal Financial Disclosure Forms
Mr. Willie Zanders offered to deliver the Tier 3 Personal Financial Disclosure Forms to Baton Rouge, if necessary. All Board Members took care of their own forms.
V. New Business and/or Action Items
1. Election of Officers for 2019 – 2020 Willie Zanders, Attorney
Mr. Zanders conducted the election of officers for the Advocates for Innovative Schools, Inc. Board of Directors for 2019 – 2020. The following officers were elected by acclamation: Barbara Crain-Major, President (nominated by Debra Adams), Stephen Goodly, Vice President (nominated by Cheryl Beaco), Ora Wiley, Treasurer (nominated by Carly McCray), and Cheryl Beaco, Secretary (nominated by Debra Adams). Mr. Zanders expressed appreciation to the Board for all they do for the school.
2. Schedule of Board Meeting Dates for 2019 – 2020
McClay made a motion to accept the Schedule of Bard Meeting Dates for 2019 – 2020. Adams seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
3. Principal’s Report Tarynesa “Terri” Williams
Ms. Williams combined her report with Ms. Adams’ Academic Report. The faculty anticipates growth in state-mandated testing, in spite of regression in the 3rd, 4thand 5thgrade. Moton should not be an “F” school this year. We are expanding Grade K at the request of thee district. The school theme this year is “One Mission, One Vision, One Voice.” The faculty is working on a new mission statement
4. Personnel Actions (Hires and/or Changes)* Executive Session
a. This item was moved to Executive Session
5. School Operations Officer Report Roslyn J. Smith, Consultant
Facility Document Submission Report
The Facility document submission Report was sent in on time thanks to the help of L’Tanya Randolph Bruno, according to Dr. Smith. One document on Asbestos was not submitted because OPSB did not share one with Moton School yet. It is on the way.
6. School Finance Officer Reports Melvin Davis, SFO
Financial Reports – End of Year
Mr. Davis did not present the End of Year Financial Reports because he said there was too much going on. Board members expressed the urgency of getting Finances in order. Discussion included HR concerns, Student Activity Manual, Status of federal grants, lost funds from unfilled reimbursement requests, Purchasing Manual and the External Audit for 2018 – 2019.
7. Standing Committee Reports
a. Academic Debra Adams, Chair 1. Tele Health MOU Professional Services Agreement
Tele Health is a Medicaid program to bring doctor’s intervention to families who may not be able to get to their office. Questions of liability came up. The Board reached consensus that they were not ready to participate.
We were reminded that it is a compliance issue for Title I schools to introduce parents and students to the program at the beginning of the year.
2. Undoing Racism Training Willie Zanders, Attorney
Ms. Crain-Major excused herself from the meeting to avoid a conflict of interest, in compliance with directions from the Board of Ethics. Mr. Zanders shared a letter from the Board of Ethics which gave stipulations under which AIS could hire the People’s Institute to conduct Undoing Racism Training during the Faculty Retreat for an amount not to exceed $15,000 and excluding Barbara Crain-Major from participating in any way for payment or the planning and negotiation to avoid a conflict of interest. McWilliams mad the motion and Beaco seconded it. The decision was unanimous.
b. Facility Stephen Goodly, Chair
Facility Plan Warranty Items
Sue Robertson is in contact with our team to monitor the warranty work.
c. Governance Ora Wiley, Chair
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- Attendance Policy for Employees Willie Zanders
- Progressive Discipline Procedures for Employees
- Drafts of New Policies will be discussed at the Faculty Retreat
d. Finance Ora Wiley, Chair
Resolution to Provide Additional Funds for School Operations in the
2019 – 2020 Budget
The Finance Committee made a recommendation to engage Roslyn Smith, CPA again to do the External Audit this year.
We are still trying to get back some of the unused federal funds that rolled over from 2017-2018 and expired.
The Finance Committee submitted a Resolution to move $400,000 into the Operating Budget from the reserves. The motion was made by McCray and seconded by McWilliams. It was unanimously approved. Ms. Williams submitted a bulleted list of the activities and items to be purchased with the funds.
VI. Executive Session
At 8:22 pm McCray made a motion to go into Executive Session. Adams seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. The following items were discussed:
- Personnel
- Employee Leave Update – Ms. Bruno
- Employee Insurance Payments – List prepared by Mr. Davis
- Reorganization of Personnel Assignments*- New Position for Facility Supervisor
- Revision to Attorney’s Contract– Extend
- Extension of Consultant’s Contract – Extend
- Legal
- Promissory Notes or Legal Action for Employees – Zanders
Mr. Zanders volunteered to work on getting payments from any active and former employees who owe funds to the school due to errors in insurance premiums.
- Promissory Notes or Legal Action for Employees – Zanders
Carly McCray made a motion to reconvene the Business Meeting at 8.55. She made a heart-felt farewell due to her pending move out of New Orleans next month. Mr. Zanders also made a statement about her contributions to the Board. She will be missed.
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- The Board was reminded that Ms. Paulette Bruno’s Administrative Leave ended on July 31, 2019. Her personal belongings will be moved out as soon as possible.
- Mr. Zanders will assist Ms. Horne in getting reimbursements from staff that owe funds to the school for improper deductions from medical insurance.
- A new position was created. Mr. Holmes was transferred from Facility Manager to Facility Supervisor. Some of his high level tasks have been transferred to the Business Manager.
- McWilliams made a motion to accept all of the salary proposals as submitted. Ms. Adams seconded the motion. Ms. Major expressed a desire to raise our lowest salaries to $15 per hour. This only affected the Clean Team. Ms. Adams made a substitute motion with the consent of McWilliams with changes to reflect a minimum salary of $15 per hour for the Clean Team and $16 for a Lead member (Salters). McWilliams seconded the new motion. It was voted in unanimously. Salaries for the Clean Team will be adjusted.
- A motion was made by McCray and seconded by McWilliams to increase the attorney’s retainer amount to $3,500 per month, effective August 1, 2019. The vote was unanimous for Mr. Zanders.
- A motion was made by McCray and seconded by McWilliams to increase the length of time for the consultant contract to December 31, 2019. The vote was unanimous for Dr. Smith’s contract extension.
VII. Adjournment
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made y Beaco at 9:13 pm. McCray seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously.
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Secretary
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