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.

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting will be called to the order at 6:40 pm.

Funding/Finance Review

Discussion and review of funding/finance.

Announcements

There were no announcements

Enrollment Review

Discussion and review of enrollment to date.

Deana Holiday Ingraham referred to the email that she received from SCSC and forwarded to all Board members and the Principal. The email reflects the 198 total number of registrants through Lottease that Dr. White shared at the May 24, 2018 Special Called Meeting and the SCSC expectation of a minimum of 255 students enrolled. She indicated that per SCSC and the New School Checklist, verification of enrollment is due to SCSC on June 15, 2018.

Deana Holiday Ingram said that she had had a conversation with the State via phone regarding this matter and that the State expressed their concerns regarding the schools opening for the 2018-19 school year.

Deana Holiday Ingram suggested that a motion be made to delay the school opening until the 2019-20 school year. §  This motion was not supported by the other board members present.  The other board members were surprised that this option was being considered by the Board Chair given the financial and personnel investment that had been made in preparing the school to open on August 1^st, 2018.

Dr. Chillis ask the Board Chair (Deana) if they could both call the state commission to explain how they plan on opening for the August 1^stschool year with the support of the SLAM Foundation.  Deana said no to Dr. Chillis’s request and said she would call the state herself to discuss this issue.

Dr. White shared that at the Skate Party at Cascade Skating ring, 11 packets were received and 2 additional students were enrolled that evening. An enrollment extravaganza was established as well as a home team, street team and phone team. 51 fully enrolled packets have been received to date. We must have 165 students that are required to be sent to the SCSC that accounts for 65% of the original number that was submitted in our contract of 255 students. We currently have 168 students that have ben verified as real students and we are working tirelessly to convert these packets to fully. Future enrollment efforts include West End Mall, Washington Park and the KidDazzle Pre-K centers.

SLAM Foundation

Discussion and review of SLAM Foundation partnership.

Tanina Packer voiced concerns regarding the appearance of singularity of operations between Academica and the SLAM Foundation. She indicated that she prepared a memo with a more detailed explanation of her concerns.

William Greene asked Tanina Packer to read her memo. Tanina Packer proceeded and read the following memo into the record:

Memo

To:         SLAM Academy of Atlanta Board of Directors

From:   Tanina Packer, Board Vice-Chair

Date:    June 7, 2018

RE:         SLAM Foundation, Inc. and Academica Relationships with SLAM Academy of Atlanta, Inc.

Fellow Board Members,

As you all know I have been traveling all week. I have prepared this brief memo just prior to our meeting this evening in an effort to offer my perspective on the SLAM Academy of Atlanta charter school given that both Academica and SLAM Foundation Inc. entities will be attending our meeting this evening to discuss the status of our partnerships. As the member of our board who has been most excited and fervent from the outset of this venture about establishing and maintaining a healthy yet appropriate relationship with both entities, I assure you that my perspective comes from the highest level of optimism and objectivity at this time. I am unclear of the material concerns that will be presented tonight. I asked for a preliminary conversation with Rene Ruiz of SLAM Foundation Inc., but his preference was to simply meet with the entire board.

The primary concern that I have is ultimately the singularity of operation that exists between Academica and the SLAM Foundation, and the undue influence and control over SLAM Academy of Atlanta Inc.—an autonomous governing body of the SLAM Academy of Atlanta Charter School.

On an operational basis, and to the best of my knowledge, all affairs of the SLAM Foundation pertaining to the organization that we govern are administered by Academica employees. 

Our funding source (loans) thus far has been named as SLAM Foundation, and the funds have originated from SLAM Foundation accounts, according to Regions Bank. However, the transfers into our accounts have been conducted by Academica employees.

Primary communication about the loans that we have taken out with SLAM Foundation have been with Academica employees.

Academica manages our finances on a daily basis and a great deal of our administrative affairs, inclusive of daily interaction with our Principal/Superintendent.

In my experience, when board leadership exercises its autonomy and attempts to maintain transactional boundaries with Academica, Academica seeks to find individual board members that are willing to align with its interests and this causes discord among board members. As of late they are withholding access to funding previously promised ($90,000) at a critical time threatening our very existence and knowingly compromising the economic needs of contracted and part time staff. This is unfortunate and not in the spirit of partnership.

My hope is that Academica and SLAM Foundation will reconsider the way they operate to deliver and manage the SLAM Charter School model to support our requirement to be an autonomous governing board in Georgia. I am optimistic that we can reset and accomplish this.

As a response to the letter, Rene Ruiz from the SLAM Foundation clarified for Ms. Packer that the SLAM Foundation contracts with Academica to provide administrative services much like other schools contract with Academica for accounting and financial services.

 Rene also clarified that the funding of $90,000 that is reference in the letter was never promised by the SLAM Foundation to SLAM Academy of Atlanta.  The reason for Rene’s visit with the SLAM Atlanta board tonight is to evaluate the current relationship between our two organizations and evaluate if further funding can be considered. These funds are not being held by Academica.  They have not been approved by the SLAM Foundation.

Rene Ruiz, Board Chair of the SLAM Foundation, expressed concerns regarding how SLAM Academy of Atlanta was managing its budget and the $110,000 recoverable grant that had been provided to SLAM Academy of Atlanta by the SLAM Foundation.  Rene also explained that he was concerned that SLAM Academy of Atlanta’s Board Chair and Vice Chair had excluded Academica from providing it’s support services resulting in a delay in filing their application for a 501c3, a delay in the filing of their 2017 tax returns, a delay in the implementation of employee health benefits, and a delay in procurement of all the needed supplies and equipment the school needed to open by August 1^st, 2018.

See referenced email sent by Danny Diaz from Academica outlining outstanding concerns.

From: Danny Diaz <ddiaz@academica.org>

Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 9:06 PM

To: Deana Holiday Ingraham <dhingraham@slamatlanta.com>

Cc: Ana Martinez <amartinez@academica.org>, Charlene Ellis <cellis@slamatlanta.com>, Tanina Packer <npacker@slamatlanta.com>, Pardes Sulaiman <psulaiman@slamatlanta.com>, Angelia Howell <ahowell@academica.org>, Nataly Gonzalez <ngonzalez@academica.org>, Julio Robaina <jrobaina@academica.org>, Altrenesha Ervin <aervin@slamatlanta.com>, Daniel McKayhan <dmckayhan@slamatlanta.com>, Travis Stroud <tstroud@slamatlanta.com>, Eboni Chillis <echillis@slamatlanta.com>, Bill Greene <wgreene@slamatlanta.com>, Rene Ruiz <rruiz@slamfoundation.org>, Karen Womack <kwomack@slamatlanta.com>, Kelly Pierce <kpierce@academica.org>, Vanessa Mancebo <vmancebo@academica.org>, "tmesa@slamfoundation.org" <tmesa@slamfoundation.org>

Subject: Re: SLAM Academy of Atlanta bank account balance

Dear SLAM Atlanta Board Members,

I hope you are doing well. Some of you have asked me to recount historically the funding requests that have been made to the SLAM Foundation from SLAM Academy of Atlanta to better understand the schools current funding crisis. Below I have outlined what has transpired over the last few months. I have also listed some of the outstanding issues the SLAM Foundation has asked that we address. 

Outstanding issues the SLAM Foundation has asked that we address are as follows:

• Has SLAM Academy of Atlanta applied for 501c3 status? Ms. Packer was sent the attached email on January 3rd, 2018 with a proposal from an attorney that has assisted our schools with this process. We were told that the board’s attorney would be handling the matter.
• Has SLAM Academy of Atlanta filed its 2016 tax return? Academica advised the board of the tax filing deadline on May 1st and the SLAM Foundation’s auditing firm offered to do the filing. The Executive Board replied that this filing along with the 501c3 filing were assigned to be done by the board attorney, Nina Gupta. See attached email.
• Given that enrollment targets have not been met, what can be done to assist the schools leader? Why is the proper signage not in place? Why has the school not set up a model classroom?
• At the May 24th board meeting, why was the schools Superintendent, Dr. White, told to cease all recruitment efforts, given that the school has not met its enrollment goals?
• ADP TotalSource met with the school of February 1st, 2018 (email attached) to review its services and the board subsequently approved to move forward with ADP’s services on March 24th, 2018. Why has the implementation of employee benefits not begun? This delay is costing the school $1,750 per month in COBRA payments for Dr. White. 

SLAM Budget and SLAM Foundation Funding:

• As of the March 24th, 2018 board meeting the amount that had been requested from the SLAM Foundation and was approved was $110,000. I have attached a copy of the three year budget that was presented at that board meeting for your review.
• Please note that this budget included $7,500 for board travel. The board budgeted this amount to cover an expected trip to other SLAM schools in order to better understand SLAM’s vision and mission. The actual cost for the board’s visit to Miami was $6,340.80.
• After receiving approval for the CSP grant that was prepared by Academica, the school leader in conjunction with board members, modified the budget to maximize the use of the CSP grant funds, including the planning year.
• It is important to note that all modifications to this budget were done at the direction of board members and the school leader. Academica simply facilitates this process.
• One of the modifications that was made by the Executive Board was to increase the marketing budget in order to cover the cost of board retreat. The final cost of the board retreat was $15,478.24 ($6,178.24 for the hotel rooms, meeting spaces, and food. $9,300 was paid to the Crescendo for facilitating the meeting).
• This new budget was presented at the April 28th board meeting including a $200,000 loan from the SLAM Foundation (a $90,000 increase). This loan increase was reflected in the budget in order to account for the budget modifications that were made by the school. The school can not have a budget that is operating at a loss or with insufficient funding.
• On May 1st I sent an email to the Executive Board advising them that a request to increase the loan from the SLAM Foundation needed to be made in the amount of $90,000 in order to address the projected cash deficit. I advised them to add this item to the next board meeting and asked if they wanted me to ask the SLAM Foundation for these funds. I did not get a reply on this email, so I did not contact the SLAM Foundation for the increase. See attached email.
• On May 11th I reach out to the Executive Board with an email explaining that the $90,000 increase had not been requested from the SLAM Foundation and asked if they wanted me to make this request from the foundation. I was told not to because the request needed to be approved by the board. See attached email.
• On May 17th the Board approved the current budget and also approved to request an additional $90,000 from the SLAM Foundation. The Board also scheduled a follow-up meeting for May 24th to review the budget and how the $90,000 increase would be spent.  
• At the May 24th meeting I explained to the Board that the SLAM Foundation wanted to meet with the entire board before making their decision to fund the additional loan. A date for this meeting was provided one week later on May 31st. See attached email.

I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday, June 7th, to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you,

Danny Diaz

Academica

Discussion and review of Academica Relationship. SLAM Strategic Model and Academica Services.

Daniel Diaz and Julio Robaina from Academica reiterated their commitment to helping SLAM Academy of Atlanta be successful and offered to work with the SLAM Academy of Atlanta’s Board to prepare a plan for the state that will ensure the school opens successfully on August 1^st, 2018.

Rene Ruiz from the SLAM Foundation reiterated his commitment to helping SLAM Academy of Atlanta succeed as long as he has a commitment  from the entire SLAM Academy of Atlanta board that they want to continue working with the SLAM Foundation and are willing to allow Academica to provide its’ contracted services.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:26pm