Centennial Academy

Governance Committee

Regular Meeting - Friday September 15th, 2023 @12:00 PM

Meeting Minutes

Attendance Summary

Name Status Arrival Time Departure Time
Walt Higgins not present member
Howard Grant not present member
Aquaria Smith not present member
Rewa Berry not present chair
Maurice Baker not present member
Derrick Gervin not present member

Governance Committee Meeting Minutes

Centennial Academy Governance Committee Meeting Minutes September 15, 2023 @ 12:00 PM

Governance Committee Members: Maurice Baker, Rewa Berry (Chair), Howard Grant, Walt Higgins (Vice-Chair), Jessica Olowoyo (Head of School), Everyone present with Julie Denton, Marketing Strategist joining us.

Call to order @ 1:05 PM

  1. How will we conduct meeting: - Calendar, time and place

    • Maurice Baker- Can we move meetings to a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday instead of a Friday?
    • All- Agree to move Governance Committee meetings to Wednesday at 11:30AM
    • Jessica Olowoyo – offered conference room space in her office at Centennial Academy for us to met in-person
    • Rewa Berry – Due to close being our on Fall break, meeting for October is rescheduled for October 4, 2023.
    • Rewa Berry- will send update to Jasmine Spencer

  2. Strategic Plan and Updates on the state of the school from Jessica Olowoyo, Head of School

    • Charter submitted; will meet with GCSA (Greg Stevens) for further preparation of upcoming meeting where vote is taken place; ; have not received questions back from the state; Chairman Egbert Perry, Vice Chair Renee Glover, and Jessica Olowoyo is meeting on 09/22/23 to prep for upcoming meeting; vote will follow in November or December at the APS Board meeting according to Matt Underwood; will have parents and the CA community at meeting to show support.
    • School review will be revealed at next Governing Board meeting
    • Centennial Academy is currently under enrolled in Kindergarten (69 to 70 attending out of 100 slots available); Jessica Olowoyo (Head of Schools), Stephanie Hodges (Principal), Mr. Alejandro and Julie Denton will work on a creative enrollment recruitment with a completed date by May of 2024 for the Kindergarteners who are coming in next school year.
    • Looking to start Spanish, computer science in Kindergarten as well as the Summer Bridge Program.
    • There are 40 transitional scholars which is a low number compared to other years; will meet with Ms Connor (Restoration House and My Sister’s House) to see what is going on regarding the enrollment number being low.
    • Julie Denton- Handling Giving Tuesday campaign for 11/2/23; campaign will be rolling out prior to get everyone ready to give on actual day; proceeds will be used to get much needed jackets for Scholars; will have special logo and blurb for all of the Centennial Community to send awareness of Giving Tuesday info on social media; Rewa Berry asked if there is a set goal amount; Julie Denton stated that once jacket is chosen goal amount will be provided.
    • Jessica Olowoyo - asked Maurice Baker to get information about Can-a-Thon to start working on sooner than later; Maurice Baker will make contact and also get Centennial on TV (People 2 People)
    • Rewa Berry- complimented the social media page for Centennial that had teachers and scholars speaking as to why it is important to attend school; Julie Denton sends out newsletter to families to keep them informed; teachers are invested in assisting with attendance campaign; Jessica Olowoyo informed that Vincent Brewer was HERO Desk Receptionist and is now the Attendance Specialist who is keeping people hyped up to attend.
    • Julie Denton- due to tracking data on a regular basis, it is helping to analyze what needs to be done to keep everyone invested in the school.

  3. Board Engagement

    • Pay attention to required hours for training to ensure we all meet our deadlines
    • Ayanna Clarke (GCSA) will host 12/11 for Finance Training for 3 hours at Board Meeting
    • Jessica Olowoyo- Digital Training with GCSA is paid for to offer inline trainng platform to complete required hours.
    • Jessica Olowoyo -will check with Ayanna Clark about the a la carte one hour webinars she hosted last year for training.

  4. Board Giving

    • Giving Tuesday (11/2/23)
    • First PTA meeting- have solid plan for year
    • Angel Tree info will be given in October
    • Thanksgiving basket will be done again this year;
    • Rewa Berry- expressed past partnerships with Kroger and Publix to get a discount on turkeys and food needed to fill baskets for Centennial families

  5. Open floor discussion/ Q&A

    • Walt asked about vote meeting and when will Matt definitely let us know. Jessica Olowoyo will check to get date nailed down.

  6. Adjourn @ 12:58 PM

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:26 pm

Motion to adjourn

There was no notable discussion on the motion.