By: Margaret Hopper
Aldo Leopold Charter School Governing council met at the school on May 11, 2017, with a full slate of members present; Crista Osborne, Martin Maxwell, A. J. Sandoval, Mary Gruszka, Shauna McCosh, Dale Lane, Ken Stone and Dave Peck, chairman, present. The meeting was called to order about 5:35 p.m.
Gruszka noted that the student council report was very brief. The staff report followed with Allison Heneghan telling of end of course exams, finals next week, a field day, and graduation.
Under committee reports, all ten were somewhat reviewed, with comments given on their fit and whether they needed members at this time. Wayne Sherwood, director, noted that Naava Koenigsberg was heading SAC, School Advisory Council, the oversight group that received reports from all other committees. It kept the "fit" and direction of the other nine as they served the school. Several needed governing council members at this time.
In the director's report, Wayne Sherwood told about the 8th grade graduation and the activities of the day. He noted that the next 8thgrade was a large group and with the right numbers, that group could be split into two classes. This year's seventh grade was close to that point. He said he would like it to increase to where the two classes could each have 20 to 22 students; those would be good numbers.
Old business used the overhead to show the user agreement for electronic information services for students, and again on the 2017-2018 salary schedule for employees. The categories for teachers were set up to show bachelor's degrees and master's degrees ranges with 15 or 45 additional hours. Sherwood explained how long beginning teachers had to move from that beginning level to the second and third levels, by state mandate. They had to keep progressing.
The PTO (personal time off) donation policy was discussed again. Harry Browne reminded the board that all staff who opted to donate their saved-up credit days to another person were subject to reserves for themselves first, and limited to 5 days for any donation. They would vote on it later in the meeting.
The lease agreement with WNMU was more fully reviewed. A map showed the location of proposed student rooms, near a back gate where gardening could be facilitated, and the lease was posted on the large screen where all could see it together. ALCS had not only the rooms, but a number of perks written in, such as parking space, cafeteria, athletic and other draws. There were other beneficial factors, too. And architects were working on needed changes.
The 90-day notice before removal seemed good, but Sherwood said that should be reworded to "not during class attendance periods" as a move at such times could be very disruptive and expensive. The ten months of occupancy would be for $70,000, paid monthly in $7000 increments. Some noted that this should be dependent on state approval and appropriations. They would also have legal counsel look over the document before final signing, and send it all to the Public Education Department(PED) for approval, which was to happen soon.
One unaddressed problem was the nearness of one of the large dorms. Council members thought it important that college students not be wandering around the high school rooms during their free time. There should not be distractions. Meanwhile, the middle school students could occupy the present building. Sherwood said the goal was 90 middle schoolers, 120 high school kids. He reviewed possible hiring needs, some part time.
PED had recently asked charter school board members to increase their yearly training from five to ten credits annually. Peck said the mandated areas were not all that exciting, and some charters were asking for a hold on that. He noted that some classes could be taken at Las Cruces, rather than Albuquerque.
The director's evaluation is still unfinished. McCosh noted that they needed to get all the surveys back and evaluated, then get everything back to the Governing Council for final work. The GC needed to place new members on committee positions of their choice and update all the results, so committees could be working at a regular pace again. The next half hour saw those present discussing the positions they would take. They also discussed committee days and times, to avoid any conflicts.
In the financial report, Browne said there were three BARs, (Budget Adjustment Requests) one for the Title II program, another for the Youth Business Incubator and the third a decrease, to transfer funds back to the State within the Operational Fund, which all schools in the state have to do, with the recent cuts. Aldo's share is about $31,000 for this.
On May 4, Dave Chandler had been at Freeport's Award program, held at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, to receive $25,000 for students of ALCS, Silver and Cobre. A total of 540 students are to benefit from this entrepreneurial development gift.
Considering the long list of action items that the board must vote on, Browne suggested that, in the future, they might group some of these votes together, as other organizations do. Browne's financial reports and presentations numbered several at this meeting. Bank register figures for April included a School Equalization Guarantee of $135,948 from PED, a Youth Conservation Corps amount of just over $10,500 and a half dozen activities and donations amounts of around four-to five hundred each.
Major expenses listed were payroll checks, IRS amounts, Investments West, two direct deposit withdrawals, and many smaller checks on the account. Neither deposits nor withdrawals were actually shown as totals. Browne had prepared two fiscal 2017 budgets, one for operational funds, including sick leave reserves, deferred, through March 31, 2017. This showed revenue totals of $2,263,386 budgeted and $2,266,768, "realistic". Actual comparison figures from FY 2016 were $2,057,755.
The other, for local, state and federal funds, showed revenues budgeted as $344,400-plus, for the fiscal year 2017, but only through December 31, 2016, with a "realistic FY17" figure of $539,775. The FY16 figure total was $339,351. Support services, administrative and community services showed budget figures the same as "realistic" figures.
Capital outlay had been budgeted at over $158,000 from state, local and federal funds, plus nearly $70,000 out of operational funds; actual YTD funds were a mere $22,742 and none yet from operational fund sources. Things had changed greatly from plans. Instructional expenses had been budgeted at $74,266; the realistic figure given now is $66,316 for 2017
Browne's fiscal 2018 drafted budget shows carryover cash (not totaled) from private grants, SB-9, instructional materials and an unspecified amount for Title II. Revenues, including carryover, for the FY17 budget were $488,558 and given as $598,219 in realistic figures, going into the new school year, from local, state and federal funds.
The fiscal 2018 draft budget from operational funds shows $360,810 from carry-forward funds in the PED portion, and $1,769,672 in SEG, for a total of $2,130,492. The other 2018 draft budget showed the same carryover but a $1,862,529 figure for SEG and $30,000 more in activity fees and other sources. Going with Browne's PED figures, he stuck to a figure of $2,130,482 for next year's expenses. Capital Outlay was left blank, pending more information from the State on the WNMU plan.
After three hours of steady work, the board began passing the action items. On the list were the Electronic Information Services, Student User Agreement, the 2017-2018 Salary Schedule, The Personal Time Off Donation Policy, the Title II Program Bar, the Youth Business Incubator Bar, the transfer to PED of the $31,000 within the Operational Fund, the conditional approval of the Lease Agreement with WNMU; and the Lease Extension with Investments West. Browne said three more BARs had just come in, but they would be processed and presented at the June meeting.
At 8:30 the open meeting was ended and the Governing Council remained to discuss limited personnel matters. The next meeting is scheduled for the second Thursday of June, starting at 5:30.