Ross Montessori School Board of Directors Minutes April 25, 2016 Location: RMS New School Building - 109 Lewies Lane, Carbondale, CO 81623 Present: Robin Cole, President, Mark Kavasch, Vice President, Yuani Ruiz, Board Member, Sarah Oates, Board Member, Carolyn Williams, Board Member Mark Gotfredson, Board Member, attended via conference call. Also present: Sonya Hemmen, Head of School, Tricia Williams, Director of Development & Enrollment, Greg Mohl, Foundation Board President, Janice Forbes Kindergarten Teacher, Amanda Benis, PTO Treasurer, Ashly Ditlow, PTO President Call to order at 6:00 p.m. Public Comment: No guests were in attendance for Public Comment PTO presentation Ashly Ditlow and Amanda Benis presented PTO goals. Ashly expressed their desire to share their perspective so the School Board and PTO can work together on goals and objectives. The PTO sent a letter to new parents regarding their purpose and goals that included their purpose and goals: The purpose of our PTO is to aid the students and staff by providing support for educational and recreational needs; to promote open communication between administration, teachers and parents and to encourage RMS school spirit and pride. The PTO uses its resources, both manpower and monetary, to support all the efforts of the staff of our school. The Goal of our PTO is to build a strong feeling of community in our school. Fundraising was never the main focus of the PTO. Their goal was to build a strong sense of community between the local community, parents, teachers, staff and students, and to support the school and what it needs. Robin Cole shared that she and Sonya Hemmen met with Amanda and Ashly regarding how all the constituent groups work together and communicate to fulfill roles in the school. Robin learned the PTO had never really planned to do a fundraiser but there was a volunteer who approached the PTO for a fundraising event. Next year we’ll consider the potential of an event and how it is planned with PTO, Development, etc. Ashly confirmed that they look forward to working together and having open communication and representing PTO at Board meetings so we are all on the same page. Robin included that a PTO member attend each board meeting for representation as well as a board representative will attend PTO meetings. The role of the PTO is important to establish community at the school. Sonya shared there was an amazing turnout

at the recent new parent orientation meeting and it was a great opportunity to share the vision of our community and what we are doing moving forward. We know we can create an opportunity for teachers, families and board members to work together through the PTO. The PTO event, Ross Rocks the 80’s on April 2, 2016, was a huge success. They raised almost $19,000. The party helped to build community. Some prospective parents attended. Current parents were given the opportunity to spend time together and get to know one another. Sponsorship paid for everything. The $19,000 revenue is split between silent auction revenue and ticket sales. There were a lot of people critical to the success of the party. Those people are looking forward to doing it again. Robin shared that the meeting she and Sonya had with Amanda and Ashly resulted in the decision to start early on to decide what the party will fund so that it is clear how the proceeds benefit the school. This will be important in clearing up any confusion between the Annual Fund, Capital Campaign and special event proceeds. Events often round out a healthy fundraising program and can be a great way to broaden the community reach. One of the things suggested to us by a fundraising consultant when the Annual Fund was established is that if you plan to do an event in the spring, you should also plan to wrap up the Annual Fund by February so that the event doesn’t jeopardize the Annual Fund. The annual fund, a capital campaign and an event need to all be planned out and messaging should be done thoughtfully so all can be successful. The next PTO meeting is May 10 at 5:30 p.m. Board will try to have someone attend that meeting to represent the Board. Greg Mohl asked, what are we going to do with the money raised? The PTO bought new bookshelves for library. The PTO is working with Sonya to determine where the need is for this funding. The PTO sent request forms to teachers. Anyone can request and put forth a proposal, even a student. The Board could put forth a proposal as well. The PTO considers that anyone who has a student at Ross is a member of the PTO. They can attend meetings and vote on these proposals. Robin shared that the Board will discuss how to request from the PTO and what they feel would be the best request to make for these funds. Approval of March 14, 2016 Minutes Sonya shared that it is exciting that parents are taking the time to read our minutes. It is a great way to stay in touch if you can’t attend the meetings. Yuani Ruiz motioned to approve the minutes. Sarah Oates seconded the motion. The March 14, 2016 minutes were approved unanimously. Head of School Update PARCC testing:

Out of 140 enrolled students in grades 3-8, 91 students were exempted from PARCC testing. So, 65% did not take the test and 25% did take this test. We plan to have 100% take our NWEA interim tests, which are scheduled the first week of May and will measure students in grades 28 Reading, Language, Math and Science. Families received information about not having their students participate in PARCC testing through our newsletter and another email. Teachers also sent it out in their classroom newsletters. This amount of communication was more than was originally planned. Carolyn and Sonya agreed that our data wouldn’t be that different from other schools. We appreciate the kids taking the test that did. The test’s structure makes it a huge amount of time for our students. It does take less time for fewer students to take it. Students who were not taking the test weren’t going to miss any class time. We’ll have to communicate this more thoroughly in the future. We are still aiming to get a waiver from state testing so we can focus on the NWEA. Across the state there is huge exemption rate. We now are allowed to only use NWEA data in our UIP. Enrollment There are 305 students enrolled for next year. The full time equivalent will be 280 (to be used for the PPOR calculation). Indications are that PPOR is increasing per student next year. There are 29 students for each Upper Elementary class. The school will grow from three to four Upper Elementary classrooms for the 2017/18 school year. There are small amounts for each grade on the waitlist for next year. There were about seven students on the waitlist initially and they were brought into enrollment. It is exciting to be adding a 5th section of Lower Elementary. This is not what was expected. We have interviews set up for Kinder and Lower El teachers. Carbondale Community School had 11 spaces open in their kinder this year. Mark asked if the class sizes would change teacher assistants. Sonya shared that she will look at adding more hours for assistants during the budgeting process. Middle School is currently 28 students. Middle school will get a part time assistant for the coming year with 38 students. The budgeting process begins tomorrow. Sonya will be attending a CSI meeting next month in Eagle. Tricia Williams will attend a CDE meeting in Grand Junction in May that has sessions on grant writing. Lee Thompson is coming on as Maintenance/Facilities Manager. His start date is Tuesday, May 3. At a recent parent orientation evening the 30-year plan, mission and vision were shared. There was also a discussion on funding and Montessori curriculum. It is important to keep parents educated on these topics. New and current parents attended.

This summer will include professional development. Eight staff will participate in the Orton Gillingham training with Carmen. It is important that we offer the same support through each level. Our school site will be used for an active shooter training this summer. There are end of years fire drills scheduled. There are updates to the events and happenings calendar after our inaugural year of this document. The new calendar includes PTO meetings. It is very visual and includes themes and events. We will split it up quarterly and share a smaller version more often. We are beginning to share our space with others. First the orchestra began having their practices here. River Bridge will offer an event on preventing child sexual abuse on May 10. We are planning Janice Forbes’ retirement Open House for Wednesday, May 18 and will publicize everywhere. Our orchestra will perform.

The Board reviewed the 2015-16 school calendar. We changed the parent conferences to two full days in the fall and spring. Sonya asks Board to approve calendar with this change. Yuani motioned to approve the calendar with the above-mentioned change. Sarah seconded the motion. The calendar was approved. Irrigation and fence: Last week we heard from a neighbor who wanted to discuss the fence line on our property to the south. Sonya met with the neighbor who had many concerns regarding the irrigation and fence line. Sonya had not heard any of these concerns previously. Our FCI contact reached out to him Sunday morning to turn off the head gate because our irrigation was flooding. The neighbor was concerned about damage to his wire fence due to our snow removal this winter. Sonya let him know she would talk with the Board this evening and we would discuss the idea of putting up a fence. Board discussed contacting an attorney regarding rights-of-way and access issues for clarification. Finance Committee: Review of February Financials, Brief Summary from Yuani Yuani walked through the total revenues and we are essentially right on. You will see a lot more variation on expenses. We have overages in some categories so there is some cushion to move things around. With new facilities staff we may need to acquire some tools/equipment. Field trips line item is OK. Robin shared that the question regarding a surplus has come up a few times. It is good to educate parents and constituents about the need for various reserve funds to be fiscally healthy and how those funds will grow over time. This will help people understand how the school works. The CDE recommends six months of operating expenses be available in a reserve

fund. That is $1M for our school. The USDA requires 10% in reserve over ten years so we can get to a point where we have one full year of debt service on reserve. The new building will also require a maintenance fund. Building reserves will also be part of the budget process annually as we continue to grow. We are fiscally responsible, budgeting within our means, but it doesn’t mean we do not need more funding to enhance programs. We fall short on funding as compared to district schools. The amount is about 20% less than district schools. Our strategic plan includes a discussion to forecast the financial plans for the future. There are also years when the PPOR changes drastically in the middle of the school year, e.g. 2009 when CDE cut the PPOR drastically mid-year. This resulted in staff lay-offs mid year and a major cash-flow crisis because there was no reserve to fall back on. By building reserves we are avoiding this type of situation. We need to be fiscally responsible, in compliance with CDE and prepared. Sonya asked to postpone the discussion regarding increases/changes to new budget until the budget committee can bring together more information. Two teachers are going to inventory all science materials, build cabinets, and properly stock all of the science materials. We’ll be able to apply dollars to the wish lists teachers created so we can make good decisions on ordering supplies. It was asked if we have enough support and staff to support our growth this year? Sonya shared that we can look at this at the next board meeting when we have better numbers and can have the time to go into executive session. The strategic planning committee is looking at these questions as well. We are working to clear up the message about wish lists, PTO and annual fund. Robin, Sonya and Tricia have been meeting about the message and how best to clarify everything and why it is all needed. This information should be coming out fairly soon. Development Update Tricia and Amanda are working to determine what percentage of parents has supported all of the different “campaigns” to determine who hasn’t given to anything. Tricia shared the current state of the Annual Fund and Shaping Our Future campaign. Board Elections Robin answered the question regarding elected vs. appointed board members which was brought up at the last board meeting. The board reviewed the currently board list and terms. At this point there are more appointed members because in 2012/13 there were several board members who resigned and their replacements were appointed. The bylaws state that if a board member resigns, the board may appoint new members to fill the empty seats. Sarah, Carolyn and Yuani were appointed at that time. Also according to bylaws you can function without replacements until it is determined how you will reappoint members in order to manage business effectively.

Mark Gotfredson has said he would step down from the board once his replacement comes aboard. After Mark G leaves, we are a board of seven and we can be up to nine. There are currently two open seats. The board decided to run an election for two new board members. After that we would have 4 elected members and 5 appointed members. We would like to get to a better balance of elected vs. appointed board members in the next election however we are not out of compliance. We have followed the bylaws. Anna Cole and Sara Berry have agreed to run for the open seats. We postponed our schedule because we didn’t have the applicants when we originally planned. We’ll run the election now. Bios and photos will be posted Friday, April 29. Each family gets two ballots to vote. Bylaws state you can change the election schedule to suit the needs of the school. We need to vote on a new schedule: Post Friday, April 29 Ballots due May 12/13 (go home folders May 9) Results announced May 16 Yuani motioned to approve the new dates for the election schedule this year. Carolyn seconded the motion and all present approved the new dates for the election schedule this year. The board will have to think about officers for next year as well. The board will discuss officers at the June meeting. There will be training for new board members. Robin would like to make the modules mandatory for new board members. We will create an annual training session for new and returning board members. Sonya suggested the July meeting be used for this training. It was agreed that the July meeting is a good time for this as the agenda is usually pretty small. New business: Mark K asked about upcoming draw requests for the building. We could have contingency funds that have not yet been spent. Mark suggested another item to add to the wish list for Middle School could be a woodshop to create more works. Sonya shared that merchandising will also be added as work. Filmmaking will also be added for the coming year for the middle school. The wish list needs to be prioritized. Sonya shared that the summer is a perfect time to prioritize and organize the materials we need at school. We will be able to move forward and get all that we need in a way that benefits the whole school. Robin suggested that because the USDA loan was specifically for capital improvements, that putting extra money toward infrastructure, and other things such as a reserve for the loan payments might be a good way to go. We can put into reserves and create a seed fund for phase 2 (such as the beginning of a BEST match, or funds for architects and planning). Such

important seed money is difficult to fundraise for, rather than using the money for “program” enhancements, which are easier to fundraise for through grants and other funds. Ashly asked about building a gymnasium, would that be something to fund with the surplus? The Phase 2 plan with gym and performance stage, cafeteria, library and 4 more classrooms is a $4-5 million project as planned through our architects. Mark explained that the building committee has looked at an alternative gym option – a fabric gym that would cost about $250k. These buildings are similar to what CDOT has over Vail pass. The building committee has decided against this idea for now with staff and faculty input. The committee was concerned about the aesthetics and possibly difficulty with town approval, neighbors etc. Robin stated that the strategic planning committee is tasked with this question of growth and how it looks in terms of staff, program, buildings, etc. The committee will be doing a thorough analysis of the feasibility of a $4-5 million project and a timeline. The fabric gym could be a good option, but it is tabled until the committee has a complete long-term strategic plan. Wrap Up Next meeting May 23 - Mark G will attend via phone at the next meeting and two new members will attend as well. 7:50 adjourned