Welcome and Call to Order

A quorum was established, and the meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. by Jennifer Fine.

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 the 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. Each member of the public may sign up to comment at the meeting, and will be allotted two minutes. 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.

No one signed up for public comment

Principal's Report

The school leader reports on the status of the school.

Principal Parker provided a brief update:

• Teachers and administrators returned to school on 7/23/18. Board President, Jennifer Fine, attended their welcome back eventmand provided a welcome and a brief overview of Board priorities for the upcoming year.
• Staff started their 3-day training -7 Habits of Highly Effective Leaders.
• Kindergarten Open House will be Saturday, July 28. Other grades will be throughout the day on Monday, July 30.

Faculty Report

Jessica Monti provided a brief update since staff have only been back for two days:

• Morale is high.
• Thank you to the Board for providing breakfast and lunch
• Thank you to Board President Jennifer Fine for attending and providing a welcome and encouraging remarks.

Finance Committee Report

This report is submitted by the Treasurer.

• FY18 YTD Financials
• TRS Update
• Facility Improvements Update
• FY2019 Budget Presentation

Virginia Smith, School Director of Operations provided an update on the YTD financials and recent expenses. The rest of the Report was dedicated to presenting the FY2019 Budget.

Virginia prefaced by stating that two public hearings were held to present the budget and to hear and questions/comments. Board members reviewed the budget provided to them while Virginia explained FY2018 Actuals and FY2019 Proposed Revenues and Expenses, paying particular attention to any deviations and significant changes. TMSA has taken a conservative approach with respect to spending, and has focused the majority of of expenditures on staff - salary increases and benefits costs and improvements to the school facility. The school is on sound financial footing and additional funding in FY2019 has been allocated to three primary areas of focus for the Board:

• additional building improvements
• professional development for teachers and administration
• Communications Strategy and Implementation

Erin Rodgers, a member of the Finance Committee, asked a few clarifying questions to ensure that questions and recommendations made at the last Finance Committee meeting were incorporated into the budget. Virginia identified where those updates had been made.

Tha Vin, Communications Officer asked questions specific to funding allocations to implement the Communications Strategy. Virginia identified where those updates had been made.

There being no further questions, a motion was made to approve the FY2019 Budget.

Communications Report

This report is submitted by the Communications Chair.

• Update on new consultant partner, Flylight Creative
• Updating and consolidation of school policies
• Creation of school handbook

Tha Vin, Communications Officer, provided a detailed update on recent Communications Committee meetings and work being done with our new consultant, Flylight Creative:

• Interview Guides have been completed
• Randomly select teachers from all grades
• A survey tool will be deployed next week to engage stakeholders and provide valuable feedback
• Survey will include administrative staff
• A follow-up survey will go out after Open House
• Training has gone well. The Committee is creating templates for staff to use when responding to the public. These will help unify TMSA messaging and better ensure that we are speaking one voice
• Communications Committee is also working on policy to better address and gauge successful compliance and resolution
• What is the best way to message policy?
• They are reviewing content to migrate into the new Communications platform, including the new messaging app.

Tha then mentioned that there are several upcoming volunteer opportunities for Board members as we ramp up for opening day:

• Manning a Governing Board table at the upcoming Open Houses
• Three Board members are needed each day from August 1-August 3 to greet parents and students in Car Line
• On August 2 from 7:00a.m.-7:00p.m. a photographer will be at school to take head shoots of the Administration and Board

Jennifer also gave an overview of our new Communications program for the benefit of the two new Board members, Heather Wells and Bridgett Bell, and other attendees.

Tha asked that everyone funnel Communications ideas through the Committee. Flylight Creative/Ariana is a consultant to the Board and inquiries/suggestions should first go through the Board, then to the consultant.

Governance Committee Report

Governance Committee updates and action items provided by the Governance Committee chair.

• Mandatory Board training dates
• Recruitment of new members
• Committee membership

Committee Chair, Rebecca Dearolph, provided information binders to all Board members and explained the documents within. Name tags have been ordered for new members. She requested that all Board members complete and submit their Annual Code of Ethics. She then explained that all members must complete a back ground check, which can be done online. Cost is $25. Results must be provided to Rebecca who will then submit to GA Charter Schools Association.

Mandatory Board training has been scheduled for August 25 and January 19.

There being no further updates, the agenda moved to voting of officers.

Academic & School Performance Committee Report

This report is submitted by the ASPC Chair.

• LKES training updates

Jennifer congratulated Dr. Laurie Jackson-Lee on being named Chair. Since this Committee hasn't met in a while, she took a roll call to ensure that current membership was accurate. Dr. Kelly Johnson is rolling off to focus on leading the Resource Development effort. Current membership is as follows:

• Dr. Jackson-Lee
• Champale Brown
• Principal Parker
• Dr. Tempro
• Dr. Ellison
• DeMarco Mitchell
• Jennifer Fine

President’s Report

Governing Board President Jennifer Fine provided a brief update and overview of Board priorities as we head into the new school year. She enjoyed speaking with staff during their welcome back breakfast. There seemed to be good enthusiasm and camaraderie among longtime and new staff.

Fundamentally, the Board is committed to providing resources as best we can, to advance the performance and quality of experience for our students, teachers and administration. We will be expending considerable time and resources on improving communications across all aspects of TMSA - Board/Staff/Parents/Students/Community - to be more effective, consistent, and transparent.

In the next 1-2 weeks, a few members of the Board, most likely President, VP and Academic and School Performance Chair will reach out to the Executive Administrative Team (including Principal, APs, Director Student Services, etc) to schedule one-on-one meetings to discuss expectations, goals, metrics, and reporting.

Future Business

This is to add new business to next month’s agenda.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:16 pm