Odyssey Academy
Board of Directors
Regular Meeting
6201 Noble Avenue North
Brooklyn Center, MN 55429
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
6:00 P.M.

Members in attendance: Roshelle Amundson, Mike Auld, Jessica Driscoll, Rochelle Gredvig, Jodi Hardenbrook, Timothy Hedberg, John Sedey and Dorothy Washington.

1. Call to order and roll call at 6:04 P.M.

1.5 John Cairns, School Board Attorney: Mr. Cairns stated that it is clear that the board was given a board constitution waiver according to the State of Minnesota. Whether it was done correctly is up to the school and the school’s sponsor, the Osseo School District. The lawyer for the Osseo School District believes it was done correctly. Mr. Cairns added that we have a 2005 letter from the State of Minnesota that states we have a waiver through the end of our contract. The State Department indicated that it has no position regarding whether there is a time limit. Mr. Cairns said that the statute regarding such waivers does not require time limits for said waivers. Therefore, we do not need to redo the waiver every three years during contract renewal. Therefore, the waiver does not affect the board’s decisions, as long as we abide by our by-laws. He added that since Mr. Wright did not teach at the school, ending his contract did not need board approval. Thus, the termination of Mr. Wright was effective and binding. Mr. Cairns stated that, in his opinion, we do not need to redo our waiver now and furthermore, we should never need to redo our waiver. Lastly, Mr. Cairns said that each regular board meeting agenda should state, “closed meeting as needed.”

2. Additions to the agenda:
11.1 Set date for Expulsion Hearing.
11.2 Set Date for January Board Meeting
11.3 Address Conflict Regarding Regular Board Meetings on Thursdays
11.4 Middle School Math Teacher Resignation

3. Tim motioned and Jessica seconded to accept agenda with additions. The motion was voted on and passed.

4. Tim moved and Roshelle seconded to accept the November 2008 minutes. The motion was voted on and passed.
5. Community comment: Ms. Watkins stated that she has concerns regarding her daughter being questioned without being notified. She also expressed concern regarding the behaviors of a substitute teacher. Ms. Williamson stated that she feels there should have been some intervention with her child before his behavior escalated. Paul Zondo indicated that there have been some problems on one of the buses.

6. Audit Report: Jim from MMKR distributed the school’s audit report and stated that it is a clean audit and that the process went smoothly. In addition, the internal controls and compliance issues regarding the limited segregation of duties and the lack of internal resources available in the school to prepare its annual financial statements are not concerns as these issues are common amongst charter schools. The third issue, the lack of a director, is no longer a concern as John Sedey is acting in this capacity.

7. John Cairns (out of order, see above)

8. Presentations and Special Reports
8.1.1 Odyssey School Building Organization (OSBO): Jessica reported that Greg Gredvig stated that the bonding market is bad right now, that our original purchase agreement ran out and that he is in the process of developing a new agreement. She also reported that Greg Gredvig said that there is another option, a corporation called Hymark that buys buildings and leases them back to charter schools. The board agreed that Greg Gredvig should look into this alternative.

8.1.2 Community Action Commitee (CAC): Mike reported that CAC has had difficulty planning for events and predicting the number of people who will attend due to the recent increase in enrollment.

8.1.3 Finance: Tim reported that they reviewed the November balance sheet and the year to date profit and loss.

9. Interim Director’s Report:

9.1. John stated that he changed three employees’ staff descriptions and salaries.

9.2. John implemented a $50 per hour building use fee for the public to rent space and has continued with the spending freeze.

9.3. John recommended a 3% salary reduction across the board for all teachers and staff. Jessica moved and Mike seconded to begin this salary reduction on January 15th, 2009, with the caveat that this reduction will be from that point forward, it will not be retroactive and it will be reviewed at our next board meeting on January 11th, 2009. The motion was voted on and passed.

9.4. John recommended adding teaching elective technology classes and supervising the checking out of media center items to the Technology Coordinator’s position. John stated that when he approached the current coordinator with this proposal, the coordinator indicated that he is not interested. Tim moved and Dorothy seconded to entrust John with making a decision regarding whether to eliminate this position. The motion was voted on and passed.

9.5. John reported that there are more volunteers helping out at school than ever before. There will be a kindergarten roundup on January 13th, 2009. Staff meetings are occurring every two weeks. The level three students are now being mainstreamed with one on one paraprofessionals.


10. Consent Agenda

Dorothy moved and Mike seconded to approve the consent agenda. The motion was voted on and passed.

11. New Business

11.1 The board set an expulsion hearing for January 11th, 2009 at 6:00 pm, to be immediately followed by the regular board meeting.

11.2 The board agreed that future meetings will be held on the fourth Thursday of each month beginning on February 26th, 2009.

11.3 A middle school mathematics teacher who was on maternity leave has resigned.


12. Board Adjournment: Rochelle moved and Roshelle seconded to adjourn the meeting at 9:10 p.m. The motion was voted on and passed.