Regular Meeting
Odyssey Charter School
6510 Zane Ave. N.
Brooklyn Park, MN55429
May 29, 2002
6:30 P.M.
Call to Order A regular meeting of the Odyssey Charter School Board of Directors was held on Wednesday, March 20, 2002 in room six at Odyssey Charter School. The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m. and was facilitated by Nathan Disch.
Roll Call The following Board members were present: Jeni Holm, Nathan Disch, Lyle Clemenson, Rick Wolf, Steph Dess, Karen Johnson, Lori Bona, and Mark Hunter.
Additions to Agenda There were no additions to the agenda dated May 29th, 2002.
Acceptance of Agenda A motion by Steph Dess, seconded by Lyle Clemenson, to accept the printed agenda. The motion carries unanimously.
Approval of Minutes A motion by Karen Johnson, seconded by Jeni Holm, to accept the minutes of the May 1st regular board meeting. The motion carries unanimously.
Community Comments There were no comments from the community.
Consent Agenda There were no items for the consent agenda.
Old Business Business manger’s report
Personal Time Off Motion by Jeni Holm, seconded by Karen Johnson, to offer full time staff ten personal days per year at the employee’s discretion with approval of administration. Time is not accrued. Time not taken will be paid out at 50% pf daily sub pay at the end of the school year. There was discussion regarding the cost of this benefit. Lyle Clemenson asked how much it would cost. Mary Beth Frank, business manager, stated the cost to date would be $8,000. Jeni Holm stated that it was very important for staff to have days they can use as they wish. She stated it would also be an incentive for staff not to take days off as they would be paid for personal days not used. Lyle Clemenson asked how much Odyssey has spent on subs this year. Mary Beth Frank stated she wasn’t sure, but she could find out. Anne Lindgren, executive director, added that we have a budget for subs and we have not used it all this year. Rick Wolf asked what Odyssey’s absentee rate was. Anne Lindgren stated that that information would be in the administrative report and she could get it if necessary. Rick Wolf asked that the absentee rate this year be compared with the absentee rate next year, under the new agreement. Anne Lindgren asked if this would take effect this year. Mary Beth Frank stated it will take effect next year. Jeni Holm added that Odyssey will have to pay out this year because in some cases staff have accrued days, and those days would otherwise be lost to the employee. Lori Bona added that Odyssey will offer the option of accrual or pay out to staff that began the year under the old agreement. Lori Bona added a friendly amendment, seconded by Karen Johnson, that accrued days from this year will not be eligible for payout next year. The motion carries unanimously.
Medical Benefits Motion by Jeni Holm, seconded by Karen Johnson, to offer medical benefits with a cap of $300 per month (average shared cost) for individual and family coverage. There was some discussion of how the committee arrived at the decision. Rick Wolf stated that he did not understand, and would like more information. Anne Lindgren asked for more clarity in the matter. Lyle Clemenson called the question. The motion carries with Lyle Clemenson voting nay and all the others voting yay.
New Business Administrative Report- Anne Lindgren, Executive Director, presented administrative report. She explained the upcoming board retreat and discussed possible locations. She stated that Dr. Sara Noonan will facilitate the retreat and training. Dr. Noonan will be present from 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. and then again from 1:30 p.m. until the training is finished. Anne explained that the retreat will focus first on strategic planning and then projecting into the future. She asked if there are any issues that the board members would like addressed. Mark Hunter stated that he would like the training to result in more clarity about who we are and how Odyssey differs from other traditional and charter schools.
Anne Lindgren also discussed the lease agreement with Osseo school board. She stated that there are 42,000 square feet available in the Orchard Lane building, and Osseo plans to hold back 5,500 square feet of that space for their Adult Basic Education program. She explained that Osseo would charge us $11.00 per square foot, and that the square footage calculated would include hallways and wall thickness. Anne explained that our funding is based in our Weighted Pupil Count. She further explained that at $1500 per student, with 220 students, we will have $330,000 in lease aid. She stated that the lease plan as presented would cut out 12,000 square feet from the storage room and the gymnasium. She stated that Osseo and Odyssey would have a gentleman’s agreement that Odyssey would be able to use the gymnasium space. She stated that Odyssey would try to increase enrollment in order to get more space in Orchard Lane building. Mark Hunter asked if Osseo would decrease the amount charged per square foot if we were to increase enrollment, and Lyle Clemenson replied that they would not. Lyle added that Osseo would be very accommodating regarding the use of the space.
Motion by Karen Johnson, seconded by Rick Wolf, that the Odyssey board approve the lease. Motion carries unanimously.
There was discussion regarding how the space would be used after the move. Anne Lindgren stated that we would not be able to make any structural changes in the building. Nathan Disch asked if we would have a buyout option if the building were offered for sale. Anne Lindgren stated that Osseo needed legal advice regarding that issue, and there will be an addendum to the lease. She did state that Odyssey would have the right of first refusal upon the building being offered for sale. Steph Dess asked about point seven in the lease, which states: The Tenant is granted the option to increase the square footage of the leased premises for the second and third years of the of the initial lease term and the option period(s) if exercised by providing written notice to the Lessor of such exercise on or before April 1st immediately preceding the next lease commencing the following July 1. The additional space available to the Tenant pursuant to its option to increase the leased premises is identified by shading in the attached exhibit labeled Exhibit A. Steph Dess asked if Odyssey would be able to increase their space after April 1st. Anne Lindgren stated that that would be possible. Lori Bona asked if there would be a problem with Odyssey paying rent on the first of the month. Anne Lindgren stated that the state pays Odyssey on the 1st and 15th of the month, thus making it necessary to increase the number of days from 10 to 20 before rent is considered to be late. Anne Lindgren asked if the board wanted to approve the lease without the benefit of legal review. Lyle Clemenson advised that legal advice would involve unnecessary time and expense at this point. He stated that he thought it prudent to get the lease signed and approved by the Osseo school board as soon as possible. The motion carries unanimously.
Motion by Karen Johnson, seconded by Jeni Holm, to allow Anne Lindgren to sign the lease. Motion passes unanimously.
LEA Representative- Motion by Steph Dess, seconded by Lyle Clemenson, to identify Anne Lindgren as the LEA representative in filing an application for funds as provided under public law 107-110 for the 2002-2003 school year. The lEA representative will ensure that the school district maintains compliance with the appropriate federal statutes, regulations and state procedures currently in effect and will act as the responsible authority in all matters relating to administration of the Consolidated application for ESEA. Motion carries unanimously.
Personnel Committee- Anne Lindgren asked the board to establish a standing committee to deal with ongoing personnel issues.
Finance Team – Mary Beth Frank explained that Odyssey gets only one payment from the state in June. She asked for a motion to make permanent the policy of moving pay date from June 16th to June 21st. Motion by Karen Johnson, seconded by Mark Hunter, to move June payroll from the 16th to June 21st and July 1st to June 30th. There was discussion about the motion. Lyle Clemenson would prefer that other payments were deferred in an effort to pay employees on time. Anne Lindgren asked for permission from the board to talk to the staff about the possibility of changing the pay date. Lyle Clemenson stated that he would rather we used our line of credit to pay employees on time. The motion carries unanimously.
Merit Pay- Motion by Karen Johnson, seconded by Lyle Clemenson, to allocate $2,000 for part time employees for merit pay. To be eligible, the staff person must have worked a majority of the term. The team leader, leadership and administration make evaluations. The amount is not to exceed $250 per employee per term. Steph Dess added a friendly amendment, accepted by both Karen Johnson and Lyle Clemenson, that this be for this school year only. There was discussion about the motion. It was decided that part time employees would be included this year, but they would not necessarily be included next year. Motion carries unanimously.
LarsonAllen- Mary Beth Frank asked for permission from the board to sign the attached contract with LarsonAllen . Motion by Steph Dess, seconded by Lyle Clemenson, giving Mary Beth Frank permission to sign and return to LarsonAllen the attached contract. Motion carries unanimously.
Software Package- Mary Beth Frank recommended using Smart Software with Region 3 out of St. Cloud for Odyssey’s accounting package. Lyle Clemenson asked about the price. Mary Beth Frank stated that the software would cost $3,700; the yearly fee would be $2,500; and technical support would be $100 per hour for anything on our site or their site. Phone support would be free. There would be a $400 charge for the company to install and set up the software if that were to be necessary. Anne Lindgren stated that although there would be an initial cost of about $8,000 this system is state complaint and Odyssey will need this or some other state complaint system in the near future. Lyle Clemenson asked about the length of the contract. Mary Beth Frank stated there is a purchase agreement rather than a contract, thus Odyssey would not be obligated to Smart software for any length of time. Anne Lindgren stated she and Mary Beth Frank were asking for permission to use the Smart software package. Lyle Clemenson asked if Odyssey has the required hardware to run the software. Dave Rand, Odyssey computer technician, stated that we did have the required hardware.
Motion by Karen Johnson, seconded by Mark Hunter, to refuse to sign the contract with Skyward Accounting software.
Motion by Jeni Holm, seconded by Karen Johnson, to approve the use of Smart software with Region 3 as our accounting software. Motion carries unanimously.
Adjournment: Motion by Tim Wollenzien, seconded by Jeni Holm, to adjourn at 7:35pm.
Next meetings: Next Regular meeting is Wednesday, June 19, 2002, at 6:30 p.m. at Odyssey Charter School.