Archives for May 2016

Virginia Marentette said the prospect for raising $12,000 for the musical looks difficult.
•    Lisa suggested that it was possible, as last year’s musical raised $5,000 with minimal effort.
•    Lisa addressed the end of the Peter Barry Fund.  It paid for many activities over the years. The last musical it fully funded was in 2009 but the last of the fund was spent with this year’s musical.

Lisa described the Off-Budget Funds for swing space costs.  Two sources of funds for such costs are:
•    Auction Paddles Up
•    Renovation Set-Aside.  Spending of the renovation set-aside requires board approval.

She has set up a preliminary budget for next year’s board’s consideration for the following categories of items:
•    Classroom needs
•    Packing and storage
•    Beautification
•    Teacher/Staff Morale
•    Student Morale
•    Community building

Lisa Stone moved to pass the budget.  Joanna Graham seconded the motion.  The budget passed with the unanimous consent with a quorum of the membership present.

Karissa introduced the nominees for the Nominating Committee.
Pam Gallant
Sarah Benatar (chair)
Kirsten Hawkins
Manolis Priniotakis
Karissa Kovner moved to approve the HSA slate.  Martha McIntosh seconded the motion.  The motion passed with Unanimous Consent with a quorum of the membership present.

Maggie adjourned the meeting at 8:05 PM.  

1. After school programs.  Maggie reported that she and Lisa Stone met with Flex Academies along with Mr. C.  Following the meeting, Mr. C. has decided to work with Flex Academies in the Fall and have them coordinate the after school programs.  Flex Academies offers a catalog of programs, which are organized in eight week sessions and typically range in cost from $120-$220 per class per child for an eight week session.  Flex offers online registration, coordinated administration of the programs, and typically make activity listings available for parents in early August.  There appear to be a number of positives to having Flex coordinate the programs.   Lisa discussed there will be a process for teachers to go through if they want to work through Flex Academies if they want to be certified to have a for-pay offering.  Teachers will be able to apply, and Flex will review and approve through their process.  Flex has recommended that Murch work out a schedule so there could be teacher clubs (i.e., not-for-pay activities through Flex) offered on alternating days.  More information to come on after school programs.
2. LSAT Report.  Manolis noted that there was brief discussion at the most recent LSAT meeting about LEAP, but that minimal info was available.  The LSAT discussed the need for some way to evaluate the LEAP training and professional development program.  Further, it is not clear how the LEAP system will impact evaluation and retention of teachers.  Parameters of the program/system have not been fully explained yet.

1. Monthly Treasurer’s Report.  JoAnna provided the monthly report on the HSA’s financials.  [See handout materials.]   JoAnna went through the numbers from April and compared to fiscal year.  Highlights from this month include that we have now fully accounted for SOS revenue, which has totaled approximately $115k.  Revenues for the month were almost $40k and expenses were $12k.   Brief discussion ensued regarding the finances and the fact that the fiscal year ends June 30th.  The HSA is working to get all payables and receivables in hand in advance of the fiscal year end.  Working over the next six weeks to resolve outstanding payables and bring in receivables so we can wrap up fiscal year as accurately as possible.Lisa noted that with respect to the overall budget, the HSA is slightly below projections on the revenue side, but also under on expenses as well.  At this point she predicts that the HSA will bring in slightly more revenue than expenses.  Revenue and payables are still trickling in, but it looks like the year will end with slightly more revenue than expenses.
2. Personnel Report – Melissa Hawkins
   Plan for Aides. Melissa reported on personnel and plans for next year, which are still developing.  She is scheduled to meet with Mr. C in the next two weeks to discuss plan for aides.  Instead of grade specific aides, the plan for next year is that the aides in grades 1-5 will be flexible and move across the grades to work in small groups and in specific subject areas; not necessarily specific to grades.  Hoping to have the aide assignments soon; looking to have seven aides total:  five in grades 1-5 with focus on either ELA or Math, and two to be permanent subs.  Specific decisions about the aides and how they will be assigned have yet to be determined.
   IMPACT evaluations (or rather the replacement to IMPACT) will occur in June with aides to also answer questions.  Melissa has started conversation with current aides to understand needs prior to this June, before she steps down.  Seems to be in good shape in that regard.Maggie noted suggestion of assigning two aides as permanent subs was a big issue, and there was general agreement among board members that this would be a good thing.  Mr. C. requested this approach, based in part on issues in the past.  If no sub is required for a particular day, then the will be engaged in other activities and aiding classes as necessary.Brief discussion about student teachers, but that is up to the colleges and won’t know exactly when we may have student teachers or in what classes.

   Brief discussion ensued about substitutes and how the DCPS sub pool and process works.  Consensus was that a substitute teacher could just be in the pool to be available at Murch, and not be generally available to other schools.

3. Budget Report – Lisa Stone
   1. Lisa circulated a draft 2016-17 budget, including a comparison to budgets and actual revenue/expenditures for the last two years.  The HSA has always worked with a balanced budget, and the draft Lisa circulated is nearly balanced, with a bit of play in the revenue still.  Some highlights that Lisa noted:  The budget for classroom aides will increase slightly, and will still include seven aides.  After school programs, the budget line for this was slightly than the prior year, but we have not spent it all this year; wanted a bit of flexibility to make sure we covered everything this year.  With the change to Flex Academies next year, the 2016-17 budget will reduce the expenditure, but not down to zero for two reasons:  1.) Flex has built in one scholarship for every class it it offers, and the HSA is proposing to offer another scholarship slot, which will be administered by the school and HSA will not be involved; and 2.) need to retain some money for afterschool stipends like Girls on the Run, which cannot go through Flex.  HSA has supported in the past with small stipends, and assuming that continues, next year’s board will need some money in after school programs.  Not 100% sure what next year will look like, so bit of flexibility and not take to zero.
      Classroom supplies.  Board had previously discussed budgeting for classroom supplies, but for now it has not been included in the budget and we can discuss it separately.
      Student planners.  This is a new a new funding line.  Ms. Heist has been the lead contact, on these student calendar planners that have been provided to 3, 4, 5th graders.  They can be effective but need to actually be used; asking Ms. Heist to confirm that the 3rd grade teachers will actually use them.  Currently proposing to budget for all three grades.
      Teacher directed classroom enhancement.  This is down a little to bring in line with what was spent this year.  May still be high for next year, in part because we have swing space funding set aside that may cover such needs.  This line item is intended for educational materials instead of functional classroom equipment.
      Go Bags.  New budget line for the resupply of the “Go Bags.”  Proposing $500; seems to be recurring expenditures, so good to put in budget, to also remind us to do it at the beginning of the school year.  And this amount may also allow us augment the bags as well as resupply.  Also plan to collect the supplies at the end of the year so they can be inventoried and resupplied.
      Buildings and Grounds.  Buildings and grounds budget item as have been reduced to zero next year because of the renovation.
      Childcare.  Budget line for childcare during events has been increased slightly.  This past year demonstrated an increased need for such childcare.  Parents have come to rely on it and we want to encourage parents to come to events (back to school night).  The amount for 2016-17 is slightly higher than was budgeted this past year, but it’s important, and we had a few events this year without such coverage.
      Hospitality.  Lisa has suggested increasing the hospitality budget line for next year.  We have not had space for lunches and breakfasts in the past, but in the trailers we might.  Propose increasing by $1,000.
      Safety patrol.  Brief discussion ensued about whether and how to reorganize/reinvigorate the safety patrol for next year.  There potentially could be issues at the UDC site with traffic and pedestrians.  DDOT will hopefully be providing a crossing guard or two for UDC site.  Safety patrol has been zeroed out as budget item for now.  If a need arises next year, we could fund with off budget spending or from set-aside for swing space expenses.
      School productions (play/musical).   This is proposed as a revenue neutral line.  Proposing to set the line at $12,000, which is similar to amount for this year.  Next year we may request/require participant fees.  Could work through Flex Academies and run the school production as an after school activity; or with new music teacher there may be other options.  Potentially different opportunities next year, but budgeted with expense line and made it neutral with the anticipation that it be covered by participant fees and ticket sales.
      In sum, the starting point for the 2016-2017 proposed budget is about $6,000 less than current year’s budget.  In light of population contraction and the unpredictability next of the renovation next year, the intention is to remain conservative and not increase budget.  In terms of the revenue, the budget sets a target for the SOS revenue $15,000 lower than this past year, setting it closer to where the actual revenue has been.  Also reduced the expected revenue from miscellaneous fundraising as there may not be a spring event this coming year or the ability to do one of the other smaller fundraisers we’ve done in the past.  And Lisa reminded that the revenue lines are aspirational and are intended to be targets for the board to shoot for.
      Martha made a motion that the Board approve the balanced budget as it was presented and discussed by the Board tonight.  Lisa seconded the motion and the approval of the budget was passed unanimously.
      
      Maggie reminded the HSA that the next meeting on Tuesday, May 24 is a very important meeting as it is the meeting by which the HSA approves the budget and also the slate of board members for next year.  We need to make sure there is a quorum of the full HSA membership.  Encourage everyone to come and bring additional members.
   2. School supplies.  Further to the discussion at the last board meeting, Maggie has put together a list of standard school supplies such as baggies, wipes, dry erase markers, tissues, etc. that the teachers need in the classrooms.  Based on Maggie’s research, she has priced out the cost of making purchase of supplies at beginning of the year, as well as additional monthly expenditures to deliver such standard items eight times over the course of the school year.  Estimates that it would cost approximately $18,000 to cover these standard supplies in this fashion.  To be clear, these standard supplies would not replace the purchase of individual student supplies or educational items, but rather would cover the basics (a.k.a. groceries) that are a regular need for all classrooms.  After further discussion, the board discussed that it might be more realistic to estimate $15,000, as part of the high cost appeared attributable to high-cost dry erase markers.Discussed as off-budget spending, letter or email with the school supply list to note/highlight that the HSA is covering it this year b/c of storage issues.  Teachers won’t have room or ability to store next year, so HSA will cover that.  But off-budget allows flexibility to stop after the renovation years.  Good starting point and may need to be adjusted as the year goes on.
      A brief discussion ensued, including that the Board will need to approve such an expenditure as an off-budget spending, and also will need someone who will handle the ordering and the logistics for these supplies.  In addition to the initial purchase, the person handling the purchasing will need to keep up with the process and expenditures during the school year to ensure that the supplies are delivered and deal with any issues.  After further discussion, Maggie agreed to handle the initial purchasing of the supplies to begin the school year, but that someone else would need to handle the process and purchasing going forward into the school year.JoAnna made a motion that the Board approve off-budget spending up to $15,000 for the purchase of basic school supplies for the beginning of the year and for monthly classroom supplies during the 2016-2017 school year.  Alicia seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously.
   3. Swing space and renovation years.  Lisa discussed the sources of available funds and a draft budget related to swing space and the upcoming renovation years. [See handout materials.]  Acknowledging that next year will be unique, Lisa suggested a draft budget to help keep track of things that folks have flagged as potential expenditures related to swing/renovation.  This is a working document with some rough numbers and things that it might be spent on.  The primary sources of revenue are the Paddles Up campaign from the 2016 Auction ($22,000) and the Renovation Set-Aside Fund ($40,000 – requires board authorization to spend funds from this set-aside.  To date, we’ve not authorized any spending from those yet, and the current board anticipates that the incoming board will be the ones to primarily make such expenditures of those funds.  Brief discussion ensued about the sources of available funds and the fact that the Paddles Up campaign was specifically intended to help with:  1.) Packing and moving, 2.) Teacher needs while in the swing space, and 3.) preserving community during the renovation years.  The goal for the current board is to work through and discuss, so that by June we can potentially give the incoming board something to consider and implement.  The expenditure of funds on swing space and during renovation years is really an issue for the next board to implement (with the exception of the “goodbye to Murch”).As we do not currently know enough about the teachers’ needs, classroom needs, etc. for next year, it’s best to leave the Paddles Up funds for the next board.  Also noted that the incoming board could make expenditures over the summer if they identify pressing needs in the trailers prior to the school year.  Alicia noted that among the faculty there is a moving committee to facilitate staff move; a Beautification Committee; and a Party Committee.  Suggested that she coordinate with the HSA and these committees in the event that the committees have reasonable and appropriate proposals for expenditures.Lisa made a motion that the Board approve the spending of up to $2,000 from the Renovation Set-Aside Fund for community building and staff morale as we end the school and fiscal years.  Patty seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.   

      8.    Old Business.
      None.
      Maggie adjourned the meeting at 8:37 PM.