Past Board Minutes

July 2006

Members Present:
(Board Members absent marked with *)
Richard Hess
Jon Hokanson
Mark Lokhorst
Henrik Lyder*
Patti Quinn*
Bob Ruud
Deana Siekmann (left at 7:30 PM)
Liesl Taylor
Beth Wilson*
Sherry Wolfe (arrived at 7 PM)

Non-Members Present: Randi Shapiro

Parent Forum: There were no non-board parents present.

Election of Officers: Deana made a motion to nominate Richard Hess as chair, and Bob Ruud as Secretary. Mark seconded. All voted in favor. It was decided to wait with the election of a Treasurer until the next meeting.

Meeting called to order by Richard Hess at 6:40 PM.

Minutes from the June meeting were read. Mark made a motion to accept the minutes. Jon seconded. All approved.

Governance: Deana presented an idea for organizing committees and volunteers. The idea is to define broad areas of volunteer work, as follows:

                       Fundraising
                       Hospitality
                       Community Relations
                       Building and Grounds

...and to appoint a liaison from the board for each of those areas. Sherry offered to serve as liaison for Building and Grounds. No other action was taken. Randi and Bob will work on the plan for the All Parent Meeting on August 28, at which, traditionally, there has been recruitment of volunteers for these and other task areas, circulating a draft for input within this week.

There was considerable discussion of the format of the All Parent meeting scheduled for August 31. The general consensus was that we need a theme, we need a Montessori philosophy component, and we need to make sure that all parents are contacted and enthusiastically invited to the meeting. We need to appeal to many senses: visual, audio, tactile, as well as to make sure parents have something to take home with them which promotes their enduring understanding. The Board decided not to offer child care, since the potential number of children could be unmanageable, and the classrooms are prepared for the beginning of the school year and so can’t be used for child care.

As a procedural item, the board needed to acknowledge the board chair as an official signer for the corporation. Sherry made a motion to recognize Richard as an official signer (that is, representative of the board) for the corporation. Jon seconded. All approved.

There was interest in arranging an orientation for the board, focused on the bylaws. It was scheduled for Monday, August 14, at 6:15. Board Members need to do a close reading of the bylaws prior to that meeting. One of the tasks for the meeting will be to divide up sections of the bylaws among the members to analyze and come back with possible recommendations for amendments to the bylaws to be taken to the annual meeting in the spring of 2007.

Finance: The regular documents were distributed, and Randi made some observations. There were several questions which Randi will consult SBS about and report back.

Personnel: Paula has accepted another position and will be leaving WLS on August 4. We are looking for a temporary replacement to fill in for her until Shireen can begin her regular 8:30-3:00 schedule in late August. We are also looking for a person to work in the office 3-5 or so. Also, we are looking for a person who could possibly do both early and late programs, since Barb (who is currently our late program supervisor) will be on maternity leave for the first part of the year and would like to extend her leave, and has expressed her understanding if we want to consider having one person doing both programs from the beginning of the year.

Curriculum/Programs: Bob summarized a training program he had recently attended on International Baccalaureate curriculum. He plans to implement some of the ideas in the middle school. There was also some discussion of the progress reports, with feedback from board members generally positive, with some concern expressed about the lateness of their distribution and the time teachers need to do them at the end of the year, specifically with a request to consider adding to the one contract day currently provided for teachers after the last day of school in June.

Building Company: The WLS board needs to appoint a representative from its board membership to serve on the board of the JMS/WLS Building Company. Bob nominated Jon. Sherry seconded. All approved. Patti will remain the other WLS board representative to the Building Company.

Building Project: There is a meeting tomorrow (July 25) at 1 PM to discuss potential financing of the project.

OSHA: No report.

Fundraising: No report.

Grant Writing: There was discussion of Lee Stagg’s role in the school’s efforts to get grants. It was decided to articulate our interests in pursuing grants in the future, get Lee’s input to it, and bring it back to the board, perhaps as an action item in the next meeting. Randi will report back.

Technology: No report.

Communication/Hospitality/Volunteers: No report.

Calendar Review: Brief review of some upcoming events:

August 4: Paula’s last day as Office Manager

August 14, 6:15 PM: special board meeting to discuss the bylaws

August 21, 9 AM: staff return for pre-program work

                       Finance Committee Meeting, 5 PM

August 28 6:15: August Board Meeting

August 30, 7 PM: All Parent Meeting

August 31, 9-12:30: Orientation for new students and students new to their levels

September 5: First day of school 0607

Confirmation of date and time of next meeting: August 28, 2006.

Mark made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Jon seconded. All approved.

Respectfully submitted by Bob Ruud, Board Secretary. These minutes are distributed electronically to board members who have email, on paper to those who don’t. A paper copy is filed in the master file in Bob’s office. A copy is also available in the WLS office.