Regular Meeting
Odyssey Charter School
6201 Noble Ave. N.
Brooklyn Center, MN55429
February 19, 2003
6:30 P.M.
Call to Order A regular meeting of the Odyssey Charter School Board of Directors was held on Wednesday, February 19th , 2003 at Odyssey Charter School. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. and was facilitated by Lori Bona.
Roll Call The following Board members were present: Lori Bona, Stephanie Dess, Nathan Disch, Jeni Holm, Rick Fletcher, Dave Rand, Kari Mitchell, Janice Sandberg, Steve Skramstad, and Susan Dougherty.
Acceptance of Agenda Motion by Nathan Disch, seconded by Steph Dess, to accept the printed agenda as amended. Motion carries unanimously.
Approval of Minutes A motion by Nathan Disch, seconded by Dave Rand, to accept the minutes of the January 22nd meeting. There was discussion about amending the minutes to reflect that drug and alcohol policy were not attached to the agenda but were, rather, given to board members at an earlier date. Motion carries unanimously.
Community Comments Community member Joni Anderson commented that she would like Designs for Learning (DFL) to move up the search for Executive Director. She stated she felt the searcher should begin sooner than planned. She also thanked the outgoing members of the board of directors.
Consent Agenda Motion by Jeni Holm, seconded by Steph Dess, to accept the consent agenda. Motion carries unanimously.
Old Business 6510 Zane Building
Lori Bona stated she has been in contact with both Excel Academy and SAGE regarding the Zane building. She stated that SAGE needs more space than Excel feels is available. As a result, SAGE is no longer interested in any of the space in the Zane building. She added that SAGE may be interested at some point in the future, should Excell find the cost of the building prohibitive.
Mary Beth Frank stated that Tony Spears is still interested in the space. She will stay in contact with him regarding the space.
Bylaws
The board reviewed the attached draft of the election bylaws. It was stated that all of the bylaws need to be reviewed and updated.
New Business Dennis Hoogeveen
Dennis Hoogeveen from Larson Allen presented the audit report. There was discussion about why the school is audited and about how the audit is preformed. There was also an explanation, for the new board members, of how school finance works. He recommended Odyssey maintain a 15%-20% fund balance at all times.
Administrative Report- Ed Kossmann presented the attached administrative report. He added that as Odyssey was not on the last agenda for the Osseo School Board, he will be presenting information on Odyssey’s academic and financial health at the next regular meeting.
Finance Team Report
Steph Dess and Mary Beth Frank discussed the school’s cash flow problems. They pointed out that cash flow is poor due to slow special education payments from other districts, student population different from last year, 28% of the Zane building not being rented out, and not getting all the money due from Excel Academy.
They stated that they would like to generate ideas about how the space can be used to generate lease aid, such as using the space for clay projects.
The team stated Odyssey needs to increase enrollment in order increase revenue.
Steph Dess stated the board needs to look at ways to improve cash flow until the October payment from the state.
Mary Beth Frank stated she is still looking for a line of credit for the school. She stated Anchor bank was unwilling to extend to Odyssey another line of credit unless several board members were willing to put up collateral. She went on to say she would be speaking with both TCF and St. Anthony bank about a line of credit. She stated that both banks were working with MACS and were willing to extend credit to charter schools.
Mary Beth also spoke about the attached letter from Odyssey’s attorney. She stated that she spoke with Sabrina Williams about getting lease aid to help with CAM costs for the Zane building.
Steph Dess stated she would like to stay on the finance team as a volunteer member. The finance team will meet on Tuesday, February 25th at 8:30 a.m.
Human Resources Team
Lori Bona stated that the human resource team did not meet this month.
Educational Programs
Nathan Disch stated that the team had been discussing their mission and goals. He stated they would like to look at classroom related issues. He stated next month they would be discussing issues related to EIC and LEPs. They would like to encourage staff participation in the meetings.
Election of officers
Janice Sandberg was elected board chair, Dave Rand was elected board vice chair, Steve Skramstad was elected board treasurer, and Kari Mitchell was elected board secretary. Motion by Jeni Holm, seconded by Rick Fletcher, to appointed the officers as elected. Motion carries.
Check signer
Motion by Jenu Holm, seconded by Nathan Disch, to give Steve Skramstad the authority to sign on checking, savings line of credit accounts. Motion carries.
Adjournment:The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Next meetings:Regular meeting to be held Wednesday, March 19th at 6:30pm.