ORCA Board Meeting Minutes_9/28/22

Oregon CharterAcademy (ORCA)

APPROVED October 19, 2022

MINUTES OFTHE BOARD OF DIRECTORS’MEETING

Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 12:30 p.m. PT

Held at the following location: Via Zoom due to State Precautions regarding Public Health and Safety During COVID 19 Pandemic

Zoom: https://oregoncharter.zoom.us/j/91035080370

I. Call to Order

In the absence of Board President Joseph Brown, Board Secretary Marsha Moyer called the meeting to order at 12:37 p.m. when quorum was reached and all members who were present could hear each other.

II. Roll Call

Board Members present: Marsha Moyer, Bobbie Jager, Misty Galofteanu, KimThatcher

Board Members absent: Joseph Brown

Members of the Public present: None

School Staff present: Allison Galvin, Executive Director, and the following school staff; Todd Schweitzer, Lori Walter, Mary Ellen Mansfield, Laura Dillon, John Meyer, Rachel Reid

III Public Comment

None

IV Routine Business

A Approval of theAgenda

Ms Moyer asked if any changes needed to be made to the agenda

There being no changes to the proposed agenda, a motion was made and seconded as follows.

The mission of Oregon Charter Academy is to prepare all students for success in a global society through an inclusive, rigorous, academic environment where students have daily live interaction with highly qualified teachers and continuous access to curriculum Oregon Charter Academy staff partners with families in a transparent, collaborative school environment to support all students in their academic journey

Ms Galofteanu moved to approve the agenda

Ms Jager seconded the motion

RESOLVED, that the agenda for the September 28, 2022 meeting of the Board of Directors of Oregon CharterAcademy is hereby approved

The motion passed unanimously

V Oral Report

A Financial Report

1 August Financials a) School update

Ms Mansfield shared the school financial reports from July and August. She noted that the income statements show the approved budget as well as an adjusted working budget based on the school’s lower enrollment figures. She pointed out areas wherein the executive team have made updates to tighten the working budget, bringing the school’s projected budget shortfall for the year below 1.5 million dollars.Adjustments that are helping to keep the shortfall low include grant funding, renegotiation of contracts, and the fact that several of the school’s expenses are locked to enrollment, rising and falling asADM does.

Ms. Moyer asked what the column titled “total other expenses” refers to, noting that there is a difference of approximately $500,000 between the working budget and the approved budget.

Ms Mansfield noted that the original hope was to have $500,000 to put into reserves at the end of the year The lack of those funds due to the budget shortfall accounts for the difference

b) Boone building update

Ms Mansfield noted that moving forward, this will be a new report recapping finances for the school acting as the landlord at the Boone building

[Todd Schweitzer left the meeting at 1:11]

B School Leader’s Report

1 Start of the school year events

Ms Galvin celebrated the accolades that the school won in the Best of the Mid Valley awards She also described Open House, noting that it was a successful school year kick off event

Charter Academy is

prepare

students for success in

global society through

inclusive, rigorous, academic environment

students have daily

interaction with highly qualified teachers and continuous access to curriculum Oregon Charter Academy staff partners

school environment to

students in

academic journey

2 Enrollment and funding

Ms Galvin explained the current enrollment and financial situation that the school faces While in the spring the school was on track with higher ITR projections than had been seen in previous years, as the fall semester approached nearly 400 students left the school These were predominantly families who were holding their place at ORCAvia the ITR process while waiting to see what their local School District would do With this in mind, the school will be experiencing a budget shortfall, however mitigation strategies to minimize that shortfall are in place

Ms Galvin went on to present data regarding student withdrawals over the summer that provides perspective on why students are leaving ORCA The data indicates that the highest number of students who withdrew over the summer were those who had enrolled during Covid and have returned to their bricks and mortar school.The second biggest category of withdrawals has been out of state transfers, with 300 students moving out of state in the last 2 years.

Ms. Moyer affirmed the importance of being data informed and praised the work in preparing the statistics regarding student withdrawals.

VI. ConsentAgenda

Amotion was made and seconded as follows.

Ms. Galofteanu moved to approve the consent agenda as presented. Ms. Jager seconded the motion.

RESOLVED, toAPPROVE the Consent items,

of Minutes from theAugust 24,

of September Staffing

of Expenditure Summary Report

of Legal Invoice(s) September

of Bank Reconciliation

motion passed unanimously

5 KBA Public Records Request

6 KBA AR Public Records Request

Ms Galvin described a series of policies that OSBAhas updated on behalf of the board

Ms Galofteanu asked to clarify the groups to whom the board policies apply Ms Galvin clarified that board policies govern board responsibilities, but these specific updates are to several policies for which the board requires school staff compliance

Ms Galofteanu asked for further information on policy IGAI and its application

Ms Galvin noted that this is an update to the existing policy that covers how staff should handle situations related to human sexuality and instructional practices regarding this topic.The crucial statement in the policy is that “the public charter school will provide an age appropriate education” to students. She assured the Board that only age appropriate material would be covered in courses at ORCA. As an example, she shared that in Kindergarten, this education would focus on concepts such as “stranger danger” and determining what is appropriate physical interaction. Ms. Galvin also stated that while parents often ask about this topic, any parent may opt their child out of curriculum units related to sexual education.

[KimThatcher joined the meeting at 12:47 p.m.]

Ms. Moyer asked the Board if there were any questions or discussion needed. There being none, a motion was made and seconded as follows.

Ms Galofteanu moved to approve the updated board policies as presented Ms Jager seconded the motion

RESOLVED, toAPPROVE the following updated board policies as presented: GBEA, IGAI, IKF, JGAB, KBA, KBA AR

The motion passed unanimously

[John Meyer joined the meeting at 12:48]

B Review and consideration of lease amendment with CarisbrookTechnologies at the Boone Building in Wilsonville

Ms Galvin explained a proposed amendment to Carisbrook’s lease that reflects their move into a smaller unit within the Boone Building Before ORCApurchased the building, the owner of Carisbrook was a part owner of the building and occupied both the upstairs unit 202 and the downstairs until 101 They have shifted to only occupying unit 101

Ms Moyer asked the Board if there were any questions or discussion needed There being none, a motion was made and seconded as follows

Ms Galofteanu moved to approve the lease amendment Ms Jager seconded the motion

RESOLVED, toAPPROVE the lease amendment with Carisbrook as presented

The motion passed unanimously

C Review and consideration of property usage of 909 NW Santiam Blvd, Mill City, OR, 97360

Ms Galvin briefly described the property at 909 NW Santiam Blvd and noted its location within Mill City city limits and with highway frontage. In an attempt to be creative with revenue generation from the school’s properties, Ms. Galvin requested the approval to work with a representative from Macadam Forbes on a land lease for the development of that property.The goal would be to find a business that would lease the land from the school, generating revenue while giving the school first right of refusal as to what type of business neighbors the school office.

Ms. Moyer asked the Board if there were any questions or discussion needed. There being none, a motion was made and seconded as follows.

Ms. Galofteanu moved to approve the Executive Director to pursue the proposed land lease project.

Ms. Jager seconded the motion.

RESOLVED, toAPPROVE the Executive Director to work with Rhys Konrad of Macadam Forbes, Inc, including signing rights, on leasing the land at 909 NW Santiam Blvd, Mill City, OR, 97360

The motion passed unanimously

D Review and consideration of the suspension of the employer’s contribution to the 403b based on lower enrollment

Ms Galvin referenced her school leader update and described a proposal to temporarily suspend employer contributions to staff 403b accounts She noted that, in light of the projected budget shortfall, the proposed suspension would save the school approximately $300,000 this year and approximately $440,00 in the coming fiscal year She explained that the smaller figure reflects the fact that the current fiscal year is already underway Ms Galvin went on to explain that this in no way hinders an employee from making employee contributions to their 403b account and that PERS would remain unaffected The goal is to reduce the budget shortfall with a change that will have minimal immediate impact on staff

Ms Moyer asked the Board if there were any questions or discussion needed There being none, a motion was made and seconded as follows

Ms Galofteanu moved to approve the suspension of the employer’s contribution to the 403b

Ms Jager seconded the motion

RESOLVED, toAPPROVE the suspension of the employer’s contribution to the 403b

The motion passed unanimously

E Review and consideration of PowerSchool Enrollment quote

Ms. Galvin brought a quote from PowerSchool for their use as the school’s enrollment platform. She explained that ORCAcurrently contracts with Phillips for enrollment support and that they use OnBase as the platform for enrollment. However, OnBase does not communicate well with the school’s student information system, PowerSchool, and the movement of data from one platform to the other has to be done manually by office staff.Acceptance of the quote would allow the school to add the enrollment platform to their contract with PowerSchool, thereby reducing the work involved in moving data between platforms.

Ms. Moyer asked the Board if there were any questions or discussion needed. There being none, a motion was made and seconded as follows.

Ms Galofteanu moved to approve the quote

Ms Jager seconded the motion

RESOLVED, toAPPROVE the quote with PowerSchool for access to the enrollment portal

The motion passed unanimously

VIII Information Items

A Outreach and Onboarding Update

1 Efforts and analytics

Ms Dillon shared a detailed report of outreach efforts over the summer She highlighted events at which ORCAhad a booth, including Salem Saturday Market, County Fairs, Rose City Comic Con, and Lunch and Play She also shared engagement and impression data from school social media platforms, noting that the greatest growth in engagement

has been via Instagram She described virtual information sessions held over the summer, explaining that more than 50% of families who attended a virtual information session enrolled with ORCA Finally, as a new avenue for outreach, Ms Dillon noted that she has reached out to two Portland newspapers,The Portland Observer andThe Scanner, about the potential for advertising or other publicity partnerships

Ms Dillon also described onboarding opportunities for new and existing families Virtual Q &Asessions during the first week of school were well attended by families seeking assistance Similar onboarding sessions will be taking place weekly throughout the school year Ms Dillon noted that these sessions are one of the best things that the school does to retain current students

Ms. Dillon went on to detail the school’s public relations and community outreach efforts. One upcoming publicity push is to advertise that ORCA will be partnering with various pumpkin patches to sponsor a food drive at upcoming fall field trips.

B. Facilities Update

Mr. Meyer noted that annual maintenance at the Mill City facility is on schedule. However, he is waiting for substantial rain before doing brush clearing. Mr. Meyer has inspected the roof leak issue in the office and it appears to be a condensation problem.The situation will be further assessed when there is more rainfall.

Mr Meyer went on to explain that ORCAis fully occupied in the Wilsonville facility, and the video conference system will be up and running next week Staff and students are encouraged to use the new space The electrical service panel relocation has been completed, and the security system has been updated The new security service is less expensive than the previous contract and there is potential to extend that service to Mill City in the future Anetwork extension is happening now and will be complete by the end of the week Meanwhile Mr Meyer and Ms Mansfield are in the process of developing a budget for the Wilsonville facility, and a facility calendar is receiving regular updates in coordination with Ms Reid

Ms Moyer asked if the board can have a copy of the facility maintenance calendar and budget presented at the next board meeting

C Board Updates

1 Board policies posted on the ORCAwebsite

https://wwworegoncharterorg/charter board home

IX.

Ms Galvin reminded the board that all policies affecting the board can be found at the URLabove

2 Board training possible dates for 2022 23

Ms Galvin suggested the board look for dates between February and May for board training

3 Any informational items for the October meeting

Ms Galvin asked if there were any items beyond the facility maintenance calendar that the board would like to hear next month

Ms Galofteanu noted that in the future she would like to see another update from one of the special programs at the school.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned by Ms. Moyer at 1:39 p.m.

Next regular meeting date: October 19, 2022 at 12:30 p.m. PTin Zoom

The mission of Oregon

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in a

with

for

school environment to support

through

rigorous,

environment where students have

in

Oregon Charter