Odyssey Academy
Board of Directors
Regular Meeting
6201 Noble Avenue North
Brooklyn Center, MN 55429
MONDAY JUNE 22, 2009
7:00 P.M.
Odyssey Board Mission:
The purpose of the Board, on behalf of Odyssey Academy membership, is to create
sustainable conditions in which Odyssey Academy achieves desired results for students,
parents and staff in a financially responsible manner.
Membership in Attendance: Tim Hedberg, Mike Auld, Rochelle Gredvig,
Heather Wincek,
John Sedey, Jessica Driscoll, Roshelle Amundson, Jodie Hardenbrook, Dorothy
Washington,
Notetaker: Sheila Prokott
Absent members: None
Community members/Guest Visitors: None
1.
Call to order and roll call at 7:16 p.m. by Mike Auld. Monthly
Board Meeting was
started following a Board Work Session held from 5-7 p.m.
2. Additions to agenda made at Board Meeting. Rochelle Amundson inquired about the need for her to transition in July 2009 from a staff to community member representative on the School Board. Brief discussion was held and Mike Auld, Board Chairperson stated that there are a group of Board Member positions that need to be adjusted or filled and this would be an agenda item for the July 2009 Board Meeting rather than for this meeting.
No additions or changes were made to the Board Agenda for the June 22, 2009 meeting.
3. Approval of Agenda.
Rochelle Gredvig motioned to approve June 2009 Board Meeting
agenda. Tim Hedberg
seconded this motion. All Board members present agreed. No one
abstained or objected.
The motion to accept presented Board Meeting agenda was approved.
4. Approval of minutes from May 27, 2009
Board Meeting.
A copy of minutes for May 27, 2009 was distributed to all Board Members
for review.
Heather Wincek motioned to approve the May 27, 2009 Board Minutes. Jodie
Hardenbrook seconded the motion. All Board members present agreed. No
one
abstained or objected. The motion to accept and approve the submitted
May 27, 2009
Board Meeting Minutes was passed.
5. Community comments.
No community members were in attendance at this Board Meeting. No
community
comments were addressed.
6. Closed Meeting as needed. No closed meeting was needed or
held.
7. New Business.
2009-2010 School Leadership Team.
John Sedey engaged Board Members in a discussion about what kind
of involvement
Board Members want to have with selection of members for the
2009-2010 Odyssey
Leadership Team. John indicated there are two groups not currently
represented
on the Leadership Team—Teaching Specialists (Art, Music, Spanish,
Physical
Education) and Student Support Services (Title I and Special
Education.
Discussion about the organization and purpose of the School
Leadership Team for
2009-2010 was conducted. The following are key ideas and concerns
presented
by Board members during discussion.
--two Board members stated the importance of having Board members be
part of the
Leadership Team interview process
--Questions were raised:
How much involvement do Board Members want to have with selecting
Leadership
Team members for the 2009-2010 school year?
--What function will the Leadership Team have—executive and decision
making or advisory role to school leadership? The level of
decision making
and authority given to the 2009-2010 Leadership Team affects the
decision
making process the School Board will use in being involved with
development
of Leadership Team members and role.
--Would Board Member involvement with selecting Leadership Team
Members be
a form of micro-managing the School Director and day to day school
management?
--What about dual roles of being a school staff member who is on the
School
Board and selected for the Leadership Team?
--Are there models Odyssey is looking at for creating and sustaining
a school
Leadership Team?
--Role of 2009-2010 Leadership Team: would function as an advisory group
to the
School Director as it currently has been working rather than a
replacement for
a School Director
7. New Business continued.
2009-2010 School Leadership Team.
John Sedey stated the following concerns and thoughts in response to
Board Member
input and questions.
a. It’s desirable to get Leadership Team in place now to do
training, planning,
and work needed before the new school year begins in August
2009.
b. Goal of the 2009-2010 Leadership Team is using a shared
leadership model
for the coming school year and not have the School Board rush
into making
immediate decisions about a long-term leadership model for
Odyssey.
c. After the 2009-2010 school year has started, the School Board
would discuss
different models of school leadership so long term decisions
about Odyssey’s
chosen leadership model and approach would be made based on
good information
that has been researched, discussed and carefully considered.
Board Members made the following consensus agreement about the 2009-2010
Odyssey Leadership Team following discussion. The consensus agreement, not a
motion, made by Board members present is that John Sedey, the current appointed
School Director, will select 2009-2010 Leadership Team members. School Board
Members will not be involved in the Leadership Team selection process for 2009-2010
school year.
In addition, there was consensus agreement, not a motion, that the Leadership
Team will not replace the School Director at this time but work with the
current School Director as an advisory group. The Board had consensus
agreement that once the 2009-2010 Leadership Team is established, the School
Board would look into future leadership models for Odyssey to consider
including consideration of making the Leadership Team a decision making group
in the future.
8. Reports:
8.1 Odyssey School Building Organization
(OSBO):
Jessica Driscoll reported that the OSBO group did not meet.
John Sedey reported that he met with the investors from Denver on
Thursday June 18, 2009 at Odyssey’s building. The investors
identified pros and
cons for acquiring funds and purchasing the building. The
investors identified
two pro factors: Odyssey has a history and increasing
enrollment. The investors
identified two con factors: Odyssey does not have a strong fund
balance at this
time and the building isn’t an “exciting space”, but a good
building.
The Denver investment company people
indicated that bonding money is available
for 9-10%, which is more than Odyssey can currently afford. The
Denver investment
company representatives suggested Odyssey consider a shared
purchase with Osseo
using bonds and potential federal stimulus money. John stated the
Denver investors
would probably get back to Odyssey in a month with more
information.
8. Reports continued:
8.2 Community Action Committee (CAC): No
report was presented.
8.3 Finance:
John Sedey and Tim Hedberg reported. This committee did not meet
in the past
month. A copy of the current Balance Fund Report was given to all
Board members
present. John reported that based on information provided by
Lorrie Semelink,
Odyssey’s Business Manager, the fund balance will probably be a
negative
balance at the end of the 2008-2009 fiscal year. May 2009 has a
positive fund
balance, but June 2009 will be a clean-up and close out month and
will probably
result in a negative fund balance. John Sedey stated he would
email an updated
Balance Fund Report after getting another update from the Business
Manager.
John updated Board members about current information regarding
recent
legislative action Minnesota’s Governor has taken related to K-12
education
and its potential impact on Odyssey’s 2009-2010 budget. John
stated that 73% of
state funding will be metered out to us during the school year and
27% of state
funding for 2009-2010 will be held back until October 2010. The
current state
funding hold back is 10%. The most recent K-12 funding
legislation increases
the amount of hold back funds during the school year and will
affect Odyssey’s
cash flow during the upcoming school year. John stated Odyssey
may need to
dip into the school’s credit line in July 2009.
As of March 23, 2009, the projected student enrollment for setting
up Odyssey’s
2009-2010 budget was 303 students.
9. Interim Director Report: John Sedey updated the Board on a variety
of issues.
9.1 School Enrollment: John
distributed a chart with current enrollment numbers
for each specific grade level. Data on the chart given out was
based on actual
number of students whose parents have completed and have
enrollment papers
on file for the 2009-2010 school year. As of June 22, 2009, 335
students are enrolled
for 2009-2010. Student numbers in multi-age grades 1/2 is more
than was
anticipated. Jessica Driscoll commented that once enrollment
numbers are firm,
review and consideration of grade groupings and configurations may
need to
to be adjusted to manage class grouping numbers. John stated he
isn’t anticipating
increases in grades K or grades 3-5 at this time.
9.2 School Staffing: John stated he is currently not
anticipating increasing staff
numbers at this time to meet the needs of the 335 students
enrolled. Adding
more staff will be based on student needs and this will be
monitored as the
new school year approaches and begins.
9.2 School Staffing continued:
There are some staff positions that have not been filled for the
2009-2010
school year. John provided Board members with a list of current
open staff positions
which are:
-- .5 (half-time) Health Specialist (John stated he will try
to determine if this
position can be combined with another to create a
full-time position.)
--1.0 Middles School Math Teacher
--1.0 Media and Technology Specialist
--1.0 Spanish Teacher K-8
--1.0 Elementary Teacher (Grades 1/2)
--.5 Title I Math Teacher (tentative position)
--Special Education Paraprofessionals (to be determined based
on enrollment an
IEP information)
John stated that applications are being accepted for these
positions and he will be
meeting with a group of staff on Wednesday June 25, 2009 to set-up
the next
round of interviews for open positions.
John provided the Board with a list of 4 current staff positions
that need to be
clarified and redefined. The staff positions on this list were:
Dean of Students,
Manager of Operations, Office Manager, and Health Specialist.
10. Consent Agenda
10.1 Payment of bills, including
payroll.
Roshelle Amundson motioned to approve payment of current bills,
including
payroll. Heather Wincek seconded the motion. All Board members
agreed
and the motion was passed and approved.
10.2 Approve licensed staff agreements.
John distributed a list of 22 licensed staff that have been
offered work
agreements for the 2009-2010 school year. Each staff members
name, position title
and grade level(s) were noted on the licensed staff list given
to Board members.
Mike Auld motioned to approve and accept the work agreements of
those
named on the 2009-2010 licensed staff list presented by John
Sedey. Dorothy
Washington seconded the motion. All Board members agreed. No
Board members
abstained or opposed this motion. The Board passed and
approved the motion to
accept work agreements for 2009-2010 licensed staff named on
the list provided to
the School Board by John Sedey, Interim School Director.
11. Old Business:
11.1 Approval of 2009-2010 Budget:
John Sedey presented a proposed 2009-2010 budget which included
salary adjustments for the Dean of Students and Business Manager
positions from the
budget presented at last month’s meeting. The proposed 2009-2010 budget
included a
5% fund balance as requested by the School Board and is based on an
enrollment of
11. Old Business continued:
11.1 Approval of 2009-2010 Budget:
303 students. John Sedey commented that increased enrollment from
this number is
expected based on registrations currently on file and this will help
Odyssey financially.
Jessica Driscoll motioned to approve the presented 2009-2010 budget. Tim
Hedberg
seconded the motion. All Board members were in favor and agreed. No
one abstained
or objected. The motion to approve the 2009-2010 Budget presented was
approved and
passed.
12. Action to adjourn meeting was made by
Rochelle Gredvig. Mike Auld seconded the
motion. The Board Meeting adjourned at 7:53 p.m.