Westside Atlanta Charter School

Governing Board

Regular Meeting - Thursday January 10th, 2019 @7:00 PM

Meeting Minutes

Attendance Summary

Name Status Arrival Time Departure Time
Julius Farrington present secretary On Time At Adjournment
Donovan Potter present member On Time At Adjournment
Hannah Heck present vice-chair On Time At Adjournment
Kim Day present member On Time At Adjournment
Chuck Johnston not present member
Monica Allen present member On Time At Adjournment
Tyler Skelton present member On Time At Adjournment
Katrina Mitchell present member 20 Minutes Late At Adjournment
John Phelps present member 10 Minutes Late At Adjournment
Terrell Gilbert present chair On Time At Adjournment
Peter Pettit not present Treasurer

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting will be called to the order.

Call Meeting to Order

By: Terrell Gilbert Seconded by: Donovan Potter

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

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.

Approve the agenda as submitted

By: Terrell Gilbert Seconded by: Tyler Skelton

Motion to approve the agenda with the addition of calling out the motion to approve a new Board member under the governance committee report.

Approval of Minutes from Oct 18, 2018

Approve the minutes as submitted

By: Terrell Gilbert Seconded by: Tyler Skelton

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

School Leader Report

The school leader reports on the status of the school.

  • January Dashboard
  • Westside Beat the Odds for 2018
  • MAP results to be presented in February
  • Captured some students that should've been on FRL that weren't being recognized, but the numbers still seem to be low based on prior years. Investigation to take place with the administration team.
  • 1st Semester Highlights
  • 1st semester awards, 21 students received perfect attendance up from last year.
  • Staff assessment on the Glows and Grows for the Year
  • Glows for the Year
  • Eureka Math
  • Guided Study
  • Teachers feel supported by curriculum coaches
  • Grows for the Year
  • Report Cards (How do we get to the best balance of meaningful report outs for families w/o making them extremely difficult for teachers to complete)
  • School-wide Internal Communication given the larger space
  • PBIS - Restorative Practices System - Second Semester Reboot to take place
  • Education Sub Committee
  • Discussion on getting bid for consultancy work on education programming and how we are aligning to our mission and vision
  • 2nd Semester and 2019-20 Positions
  • Review of position updates, both open and recently filled




Adopt the proposed 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 Calendars

By: Terrell Gilbert Seconded by: Katrina Mitchell

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Community Council Report

  • Successful Book Fair
  • $400 in books given to students in need
  • Holiday gifts given to teachers
  • Community Council Meeting - Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 7:00 PM
  • Kimere Corthell will talk about stress in children, and how parents can help their kids deal with stress.
  • Terrell Gilbert will discuss the status of land acquisition and building plans for the future of Westside, followed by Q&A. Parent Appreciation Party - Thursday, February 28, 2019
  • Held at the home of Will & Sundarkia Hill in West Highlands
  • All parents, staff, and board members invited for an evening of socializing Fun Run - Saturday, March 23, 2019
  • Fun Run was postponed until the spring due to scheduling conflicts
  • Will be held at the school, not in West Highlands

Finance Committee Report

  • We finished above budget expectations by 24K and 55K MTD and YTD respectively. 
  • Preliminary budgets show positive balance of $200k for end of 2019; in addition to our $800k in reserves






Development Committee Report

Chick-fil-A made a $10k donation - Thank You!!

Adding 2 new development committee members


Governance Committee Update

  • Schedule change with February meeting date; moved to the morning of Tuesday Feb 12th at 7am
  • Discussion around adding a new Board Member

To add Douglas Mcrae to the Board of Directors

By: Hannah Heck Seconded by: Tyler Skelton

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Motion to adjust our bylaws to increase our Board to 12 members.

By: Hannah Heck Seconded by: John Phelps

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Public Comment

The WACS Board would like to welcome students, parents, staff and community members.  In order to facilitate an efficient meeting, if you would like to offer comments please limit your remarks to the public comment period of the agenda.  


Parent John Beeler. - Brought forth comments that several parents are exploring the option of starting a High School.

Executive Session

Executive session to discuss land negotiations.

Enter Executive Session for the purpose of discussing land negotiations

By: Terrell Gilbert Seconded by: Monica Allen

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Exit Executive Session

By: Terrell Gilbert Seconded by: Monica Allen

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:21 pm

Motion to adjourn

By: Terrell Gilbert Seconded by: Monica Allen

There was no notable discussion on the motion.