Welcome and Call to Order

The Meeting will be called to order by the Chair.

Mission: The mission of The Museum School of Avondale Estates is to inspire students, teachers and the community to collaborate to develop strong critical thinking, interpersonal and academic skills in our students, which will prepare them for real-world success.

 

Core Values: Responsibility, Respect, Cooperation, Sustainability, Creativity, Kindness

Public Comment

Our Public Comment period is for members of the public to address the board. The public is defined as any individual not currently serving on the Board of Directors. The board will listen, but may not directly respond to any comments. Please do not use specific student, teacher or administrator names in your comments as 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.

Email Executive Director, Dr. Katherine Kelbaugh at Katherine.kelbaugh@themuseumschool.org for Zoom access to the meeting.

Public comment (no longer than one page) should be submitted via email to Katherine.kelbaugh@themuseumschool.org. Your comments must be received between 9:00 am and 10:00 am on the day of the meeting. Only those emails received during the allotted time will be read aloud and broadcast. Emails received outside of the allotted time will be included in the Public Comments record for the next meeting.

There were no public comments.

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.

Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes

Approval of regular meeting held on August 18, 2020.

Principal's Report

Principal Mike Stewart discussed enrollment, activities and operations. Mr. Stewart noted that free and reduced lunch distributions now number 184 students, 31.9% of the student body; enrollment is at 587 with final enrollment of the one open spot underway to bring the student body to full school enrollment capacity (588). Mr. Stewart noted several upcoming events including the first virtual Exhibit Night (10/7), delivery of additional Chromebooks, and rollout of the i-Ready diagnostic tool (time period of 10/1-10/16). He reflected on past activities of the month including a very successful Boosterthon event, a successful book fair with Little Shop of Stories, and the opening of the library for contact-free library book check-out.

The Board noted their appreciation for staff and administration efforts during the first quarter so far.

Executive Director's Report

Executive Director Dr. Katherine Kelbaugh provided general updates, a reflection on considerations for 2nd quarter, and an update on TMS Foundation. Dr. Kelbaugh reiterated a point made earlier that there will be a Special Called meeting of the board sometime next week to hear a final proposal for addressing 2nd quarter academics. Not all of the research has been undertaken as the Return to School Task Force continues to learn what DeKalb County Schools will decide, among other data points that will feed into the final proposed approach to 2nd quarter. Dr. Kelbaugh stepped through an extensive planning and consideration process that school leadership and the Task Force are utilizing to reach a final second quarter academic decision. She reminded the Board that, regardless of the final academic plan for the rest of the calendar year, virtual classes will continue through October 8. (October 9 is a professional learning day.)

Finance Committee Update

Treasurer Tamara Richards reported on the school finances. Ms. Richards only had a few items of note as different than budget. She also discussed the need to update allowed signatories for TMS bank account.

Facilities Committee Report

Alan Locke, Committee Chair, discussed research the committee is undertaking related to needs potentially funded by a future Facilities Grant (estimated to be around $25,000), specifically options that might improve functioning of HVAC in regards to COVID. Mr. Locke reviewed details related to improvement of filtration within the school (following ASHRAE--the industry professional society-- recommendations to improve filtration to MERV 13 from MERV 8-10 filtration where we are now.). He reviewed diagrams of the school facilities, noting the various HVAC systems/approaches that serve various classrooms and ages of the school wings. Mr. Locke noted a critical point is the complexity of the school facilities being of different construction ages and having different air exchange conditions and equipment. Mr. Locke noted other sanitation technologies that the committee is researching, including some emerging technologies for which the CDC has neutral positions (the technology is so new and efficacy data not yet established).

Governance Committee Update

Governance Committee Chair Richard Piercy reflected on the recent Equity Diversity and Inclusion training that the board completed. Mr. Piercy thanked Tamara Shipley for creating a new on-boarding process that can be undertaken remotely and described remaining steps to complete.

Board Chair Report

Board Chair Kelly Swinks reflected on the Board and school leadership commitment to the school.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:35 pm