FRONTIER CHARTER ACADEMY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Meeting minutes from March 13, 2023 @ 6:00 p.m.

A Regular Meeting of the Board was held at the FCA office at 10653 NE 71st St., Brooks, Oregon 97305 and via videoconference

I. PRELIMINARY

A. Call To Order and Pledge of Allegiance

The meeting was called to order by Director Winning at 6:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.

B. Roll Call Directors Englehart, Gallagher, and Winning indicated that they were present.

● Travis Englehart, Secretary/Treasurer term ending June 30, 2024

● Jack Gallagher, Board Vice-Chair term ending June 30, 2025 (position appointed this meeting)

● Michael Winning, Board President, term ending June 30, 2023

● Jason Wolfer, Board Member, term ending June 30, 2026 (appointed this meeting)

Others present: Todd Schweitzer, Katie Schweitzer, Beau Neal, Melissa Wolfer, Jason Wolfer and David Bledsoe (arrived at 6:10 p.m.)

C. Approval of Previous Board Minutes (Action)

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Gallagher seconded that the Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors approves the minutes of the November 28, 2023 meeting as presented The motion carried 3-0

II. COMMUNICATIONS

A. PUBLIC COMMENTS: No individual comment shall be for more than three (3) minutes and the total time for this purpose shall not exceed fifteen (15) minutes Board Members may respond to comments however no action can be taken The Board may give direction to staff following the comment There were no public comments

B. PRESENTATIONS: 21-22 Audited Financial Statements - Auditor, David Bledsoe from Pauly Rogers David Bledsoe, lead auditor from Pauly Rogers provided a brief presentation on the 21-22 audited financial statements for FCA. Mr. Bledsoe has been the lead auditor for 2 years, but has worked with FCA 3 years.

Mr Bledsoe reported that FCA’s audit was “clean” due in part to the robust control system that FCA has implemented. This system is very good for the size of the school. The only comments he had were the same as those that go out to all education entities and included: several new government accounting standards (some do not apply to FCA), the amount of fidelity insurance coverage is lower than the cash balances, the monitoring of the financial system by the Board of Directors, and the information technology controls.

Mr. Bledsoe encouraged the Board Members to continue to monitor and ask questions regarding the finances and internal controls.

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Mr. Bledsoe also mentioned that FCA’s net position grew again similar to the prior year.

Director Winning stated that this was the most minimal audit report he has heard.

There was general discussion about the audit and the new standards.

C. BOARD CHAIR DISCUSSION AND RECOGNITION

None

D. BOARD/STAFF DISCUSSION

Reports:

1. Executive Director

Todd stated that enrollment is going up and is currently at 382 students. While this is a good trend and reflects that the marketing is working, it is not where we had hoped to be. He also gave an update on several bills currently being considered by the legislature and stated that he had given testimony on a bill that may impact how the enrollment cap is applied to districts and the process families would go through to enroll their student in a virtual school Another bill that would impact FCA has to do with eligibility for the Student Investment Account (SIA) funds In terms of student recruitment, the intent to return from families is positive for this time of year with 100 confirming that they will return next year and only a few undecided or stating they will not return Lastly, Todd reported that several staff will need to be non renewed due to budget cuts FCA is projecting an enrollment of 365 students All staff indicated that they wanted to return which is a testament to the positive climate of the school

Director Winning asked if FCA needed to hire staff to meet enrollment needs, if there would be a good pool of candidates.

Todd replied that he doesn’t think that FCA will be lacking in applicants, but we do pay a little less than districts (charter rates). In the past, we have attracted good quality teachers. If enrollment increases we will hire more staff and possibly reach out to those that were non renewed so that they could apply.

2. Financial/Business

Melissa reviewed the information on her written report and also stated that although the ending fund balance has been increasing, she expects FCA to use up a significant amount of that savings in the next fiscal year.

3 Principal Update

Beau stated that licensed staff evaluations begin in October with informal observations and end with formal evaluations in the spring The information from these evaluation sessions go into the employee’s personnel file

Katie said that state testing for students will be conducted remotely as allowed by the Oregon Department of Education and during the month of May FCA tends to get better participation with the online availability although some students still opt out

III. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS

All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered by the Board to be routine and will be approved/enacted by the Board in one motion in the form listed below. Unless specifically requested by a Board member for further discussion or removed from the agenda, there will be no discussion of these items prior to the Board voting on them. The Executive Director recommends approval of all consent agenda items.

1. New Employees:

2. Resignations / Terminations: Dunlap, Lora Griffin, Jordan Vaughn, Nicole

3 Employment Changes: 2023/24 Employee Renewal and Extensions

Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors approves the renewal of all current administrative, managers, and classified for the 2023/24 school year, extension of all non-probationary teachers and renewal of licensed probationary staff with the exception of those staff listed in resignations and terminations

4. Out of State Travel for two employees

Approve out of state travel for two employees attending a conference in San Antonio, TX between April 12-15, 2023

5. Resignation of Board Member

Accept Jelani Memory’s resignation from the FCA Board.

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Gallagher seconded to approve the consent items as listed. Motion carried 3-0.

IV. SCHEDULED FOR ACTION

A. Personnel

Action Item 2023.03.13 - 01: 2023/24 Employee Salary Schedule

More Information:

Administration is proposing all employees receive a step advancement. All employees will receive a 3% increase in the health insurance benefit CAP.

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Gallagher seconded that the Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors approve the 23/24 Salary Schedule as presented Motion carried 3-0

B. Business

Action Item 2023.03.13 - 02: 2023/24 School Calendar

More Information:

The proposed calendar is based on the current, 22/23 calendar

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Gallagher seconded that the Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors approve the 2023/24 school calendar as presented Motion carried 3-0

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Action Item 2023.03.13 - 03:

More Information:

Appoint new Board Vice-Chair

Due to Jelani Memory’s resignation, there is no vice chair to run the meetings should the chair be absent.

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Winning seconded that the Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors nominate and appoint Jack Gallagher as the new Board Vice Chair. Motion carried 3-0.

Action Item 2023.03.13 - 04: 2023/24 Budget

More Information:

The proposed budget reflects the staff reductions and revenue and aligns closely with the actual expenditures of two years ago.

Director Englehart stated that he appreciates that the staff worked to make tough decisions to bring a balanced budget to the Board

Director Winning agreed and stated that the budget looked good

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Gallagher seconded that the Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors adopt the 2023/24 Budget as presented Motion carried 3-0

Action Item 2023.03.13 -

05: 2021/22 Audited Financial Statements and Board Letter

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Gallagher seconded that the Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors accepts the 21/22 audited financial statements as presented by David Bledsoe of Pauly Rogers. Motion carried 3-0.

Action Item 2023.03.13 - 06:

More Information:

Appoint new Board Members

Jason Wolfer applied to be a Board Member. Jason is the spouse of the business manager. Staff have reviewed the bylaws and do not see any conflicts. Jason may need to declare a potential conflict of interest on any action items involving his spouse.

Director Winning agreed that there are no conflicts.

Director Englehart thanked Jason for applying and asked why he was interested in FCA.

Jason replied that he would like to have a better understanding of the school

Motion: Director Englehart moved and Director Gallagher seconded that the Frontier Charter Academy Board of Directors appoints Jason Wolfer as a board member with term ending 06/30/26 Motion carried 3-0