Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting will be called to the order, beginning with the pledge of allegiance.

The meeting was called to order at 6:39 p.m. by Tanina Packer and the pledge of allegiance was conducted.

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting will be called to order, beginning with the pledge of allegiance.

The meeting was called to order at 6:39 p.m., a quorum was established and the pledge of allegiance was conducted.

ACTIONS:

1. Approve the agenda as submitted

Approval of Agenda

So that there is agreement between board members on the agenda, and the amount of time spent on the meeting, the board shall vote to approve an agenda for the meeting. To the best of its ability, it will follow that agenda, and allow for the chair to move the board through the agenda as specified.

Public Comment

Our Public Comment period is for members of the public to address the board. Up to three speakers may sign up in advance by contacting the Principal, no earlier than five days in advance of the meeting, and no later than 24 hours prior to the start of the meeting. The remaining slots may be filled by speakers who place their name on a sign-in sheet at the meeting one-half hour before the meeting begins. Speakers will be allotted two minutes and must stop speaking promptly when signaled. The board will listen, but may not directly respond to any comments. Our meetings are open to the public and public record. As such, if your comment is about a private matter, please contact the board via email, or speak to the board chair privately.

To allow time for the Governing Board's other business, the public comment period will end after twenty (20) minutes, or when all speakers signing up to speak have been heard, whichever occurs first

No public comment was made.

School Leader Report

@Lonnie White reported on the status of the school.

Enrollment: Leader reports that 180 have been registered, 37 turned in complete packets and 18 that need to be removed due to address, age or parent request. Plans are in place to follow up with parents once they register. Recognizes the focus is to convert students from applicants to enrollment. As an incentive, uniform voucher system has been implemented that if a parent enrolls by monthly parent meeting, they will receive free uniform voucher.

Marketing/Recruitment: All marketing pieces are being pushed through social media (instagram, twitter and Facebook). He plans on re-partnering with Allan Glimph to get in to community/youth events. Dr. White announced upcoming events that are already solidified. Two family events plus a back to school drive have been set up. All other recruitment events have been sent to the board.

School Operations: There are at least 10 items that Dr. White cannot move forward on without a procurement policy but recognizes that it is on the agenda for tonight's meeting.

Staffing/On-Boarding: 15 staff members have been identified. 10 of the 15 have other district contracts so time is of the essence and there is an urgency to provide offer letters so he does not lose them. He would like to provide an offer that includes some number. They are aware that their position is tied to numbers.

Recess Meeting

Recess meeting for public hearing on proposed annual operating budget

Public Hearing on Proposed Annual Operating Budget

7:00pm Public Hearing on Proposed Annual Operating Budget

Public Hearing was opened at 7:11 p .m.

No one from the public was present to comment on the proposed annual operating budget.

Public Hearing was closed at 7:24 p .m.

Reconvene Meeting

Reconvene meeting

Financial Policies and Procedures

Discussion and approval of Financial Policies and Procedures which include Procurement/Purchasing policies, Expenditure policies, and Inventory/Asset Management policies. All policies must include internal controls and segregation of duties. Policies must reflect appropriate governing board oversight and should not overly rely on or allow undue access for a contracted vendor.

@Deana Holiday Ingraham confirmed that the Financial Policies and Procedures have been reviewed by Board Attorney Nina Gupta.

Adoption of Annual Operating Budget

Discussion and adoption of Annual Operating Budget for 2018-2019

@Karen Womack has concern about approving annual operating budget tonight. Karen wasn't able to hear Anna on the phone whether the $90k was not an option.

Alina clarified that you cannot approve a budget that is in the negative so the $90k was necessary to add in order to approve and go to the SLAM Foundation.

Approval of Meeting Minutes

@Deana Holiday Ingraham moved this item to next Board meeting.

Facilities Update

Facilities Update, including but not limited to:

• Facility Code
• Special Use Permit
• Certificate of Occupancy
• Request for Qualifications Solicitation

@Deana Holiday Ingraham updated the board that school was assigned a facility code from state. Tanina, Lonnie and Angelia attended Ashview Hts. neighborhood association got approval recommendation there and NPUT and they recommended approval and the zoning board recommended approval. NPUT did have a few people that had concerns and rejected but they spoke with them also. The Special Use Permit should be awarded at the June 4 City Council Agenda for approval. There has been an $11k estimate of what is needed to obtain a C.O.

@Daniel McKayhan shared his opinion that he feels the $11k is expensive but based on our timeline we may have no choice. He recommends the board waits for a day to respond to get another quote from a one possibly, two other engineers that Daniel knows. Deana recommends adding this to the meeting agenda for next week to discuss.

RFQ- Daniel and Danny worked together on RFQ. Daniel thinks that it is fair though it does give charter school school development. He understands why it's there because having someone with this experience is important. He does encourage even those that don't have the experience to still apply. He recommends keeping the charter experience as a preference on the RFQ but not mandatory. Tanina is concerned that it says that all petitioners MUST have experience with charter school development in the state of Georgia. She recommends that this changed from required to preferred.



SLAM Strategy Articulation Map

Reviewed and discussed the SLAM Strategy Articulation Map from work at Board Retreat

@Tanina Packer presented on this. All information was provided to the Board and encouraged the team to let her know if anything is off. She requested feedback within a week and she will print. This is the deliverable that came from the Board retreat memorializing the strategy. She believed that we all had a great time and felt there was great attention to strategy. She said that she had previously reviewed and edited grammatical errors. She mentioned multiple times that if something needs to be edited or revised by Reggie, she will reach out to him.

Charlene questioned a timeline on financial goals.

@Eboni Chillis ensured that this information is what Dr. White needed for his own strategic plan.

CharterBoards

Discussion on CharterBoards subscription

@Deana Holiday Ingraham recommends that we use it.

There was discussion on the cost as to whether we pay monthly or yearly.

@Altrenesha Ervin also endorses the tool.

Annoucements and Adjournment

@Deana Holiday Ingraham that the board's attorney spent a lot of time preparing for the conversation with ADP surrounding the co-employmnet but the ADP matter was easily without any objections from ADP. They are working the details on the final contract. Deana is working through the documents that she received to review.

@Lonnie White asked if we are on a budget for marketing? His concern is for part time secretary and street team. Dr. White needs to add up the amount on what will be need for the upcoming weekend.

@Tanina Packer responded that we aren't calling it a budget freeze but we need to suspend further spending until the expedited committee meeting.

@Charlene Ellis requested all information from marketing and other spending needs by next week and all the spending that has taken place.

@Deana Holiday Ingraham informed the board that the reason that she didn't sign the loan for $90k is because what she was told that what was in the budget was $110k. She was told it was $110k so she wanted to bring it to the board for their approval because she didn't want incur an additional $90k.

Alina clarified that the original budget needed a $110k; however, there have been additional expenses and at the rate that the Board has been spending, there is more money required. The $90k was needed because a budget cannot be approved with a deficit.

Next meeting will be May 24. Both agenda for Finance Committee and Special Meeting. Angelia said that we are unable to post the agenda tonight without church approval. Deana instructed the agendas to be posted.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:40 p.m.

Charitable Status

Discussion of Charitable Status, including but not limited to:

• Amended Articles of Incorporation
• Form 1023 - Application for Recognition of Tax Exemption
• Form 990 - Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax
• School Lunch Program

@Tanina Packer confirms that we incorporated in February of 2017. There should be a purpose clause and dissolution clause. She says that Executive Committee has been emailing. They considered have the attorney doing. Tanina states that one of the benefits she brings to this board is over 20 years of experience with this process and 100% success rate. She does not wish to be final party responsible with what's on the form but she is one of the best in the business to prepare the form. She would turn it over to attorney and CPA for accuracy or completeness. The plan is to file 1023 for expedited service because it's minimum 180 days.

@Deana Holiday Ingraham mentioned that we will amend what we need to for the School Lunch Program once we have the documents we need. She said that she wants to expedite the update of Articles of Incorporation. Legal is handling this piece and will be filed 5/18 pending approval tonight.

Finance Review

Discussed and reviewed Cash Flow and CSP Grant Overview and Funding Options

@Deana Holiday Ingraham informed board that they are receiving May Cash Flow via e-mail. There is also information from Building Hope information and application. She said that she was not comfortable signing the $850k line of credit carrying that over a few years. Deana questioned Anna if there is a $200k cap from the SLAM Foundation.

@Pardes Sulaiman funded $110k from SLAM Foundation. As of May, they are $5k in the whole. He recommends that they request an additional $90k from the SLAM Foundation until cash flow positive with CSP grant, FTE, etc. In addition, they should pursue Building Hope.

@Charlene Ellis questioned why we are in the negative?

@Pardes Sulaiman shared the various line items that have gotten to them this point from November - May.

@Tanina Packer questions Finance Committee if the $90k will cover gap between now until first disbursement. She thought that Building Hope was being used for capital expenses.

@Eboni Chillis confirms that the Financial Committee has not met yet and reminds committee meeting date, time and minutes must be posted.

@Charlene Ellis is not comfortable confirming the $90k until the committee meets and does a bottoms-up budget.

Anna from Academica confirms that the account will go into overdraft as early as next week. Alina confirms that majority of expenses are going to come this summer which will be at least $450k because of curriculum, technology, etc. The loan is necessary for start-up expenses.

Dr. White brought up the urgency of hiring teachers again to which Deana said that when you have lemons you make lemonade and there's a board that is committed to making ice cold lemonade.

It was determined that the Financial Committee will meet at May 24 before a special meeting.

Strategic Plan and Timeline for Implementation of Curriculum and Instruction Methods

The School Leader provided an overview of the Strategic Plan and Timeline for Implementation of Curriculum and Instructional Methods

@Lonnie White expressed that this is a framework and vision for the school. It's built in academics, school culture, and talent management. He provided details under those three areas.

@Tanina Packer suggested that Dr. White reaches out to an organization she is familiar with that can help establish school culture.

@Charlene Ellis proposed two curriculum options for reading as well that she plans to forward to Lonnie. Also Kass Grey one of our MOU partnerships will be reaching out.