Le Monde Immersion
Board Meeting Minutes
Tonkon Torp LLP, 1600 Pioneer Tower
888 SW 5th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
5:45-8 pm
Board Members Present – Dory Hobbs, Jarod Hobbs, Ben Melix-Stanciu, Shouka Rezvani (nonvoting), Karen Kitchen
Board Members Absent with Approved Absences: Nicole Aas-Rouxparis and Jeff Scott Other members of public present.
- Approved May minutes, and approved and ratified adoption of MindUp curriculum, Division lease signing, and health insurance renewal.
- A parent has formally requested allowing 5th grade students to be admitted. Current policy only allows new enrollment for up to second grade.. Discussion: if we are to have a late entry we have to have a public lottery process. Teachers have expressed concern in the past about being able to get a non-French speaker up to
speed given that we cannot screen for French knowledge–so it is possible an incoming student would have no prior French knowledge and would be far behind his or her peers. Shouka noted that the program is just starting to stabilize, and teachers do not yet have adequate supports to be able to assist incoming students
in upper grades without prior French. Dory proposed admitting 3 children to 5th grade: tabled until next year. To be revisited for next year. - Intern committee report. We will have 8 interns. Need an 8th host family. Request that our LM family community notify their friends and contacts of need for host families. Report from host family end-of-year wrap up: last year was a challenge because interns arrived at different times. This appears to be issue on the side of the recruiting agency that we can’t control, and hopefully will not be a problem this year. Ideally we would like to have interns show up at the end of August to benefit from the 2nd week of professional development for the whole staff. Suggestion that other families who don’t have a room can contribute to the program by giving scrip grocery gift cards to host families—must consider tax impact, and should not exceed
the $25 gift limitation for public employees. - Equity and Inclusivity Committee – The Committee completed a lot of activities this year. Nancy Ellis has agreed to again Chair the committee next year, and organize a start of the year meeting in September..
- Facility Discussion – We did get a second facility! Already has E occupancy. Shouka prepared a revised budget reflecting new facility–reviewed and approved. Board agrees to provide 15 minutes of free AFCA and BECA to families traveling between the two locations, so that with planning they will have almost half an hour to
travel between the two locations (average travel time is closer to 7 minutes). - Mandarin to Different Third Language. Mandarin has not received a positive response from students, teachers, and parents thus far. Part of the problem seems to be a limited pool of available mandarin teachers who are familiar working with elementary aged students locally. Discussion of possibility of switching to Spanish or ASL. Board voted to open that decision to a parent survey.
- Year-end financials. Draft Q4 Financials (balance sheet and profit and loss statement) were presented. These were not in final and Shouka has not had a chance to review them since receipt from the bookkeeper that day.. She will review them and then send to full board via email. Appears to be a positive net result compared to budget. Board discussed the failure of the bill to increase charter school funding. LM fundraising was exceptional this year. Most people who ran events this year agreed to do it next year again. It is possible we may be eligible for additional large federal grant opportunities in upcoming year, in which case we should again consider engaging a grant writer. Board members must provide annual audit statements to directly auditors.
- Parent Sara Childers addressed the board. She was concerned by the email regarding facilities some weeks ago that raised the possibility of using the gym to house K students next year. Board discussed the desire to be transparent without raising concerns prematurely.. Sara and the other parents in attendance spoke with
other families for background about facilities and also met with Shouka. They had suggested, and Shouka agreed, to host more Q and A and meet and greet opportunities next year like the beginning of the year facilities discussion she hosted this year. The Parent Association is looking for a location to host meetings, and the pros and cons of using the school were discussed. Sara had questions regarding facilities—is there a long term plan? Discussion of funding challenges for facilities, and the fact that a group of people is constantly looking for a long term facility. Parents would like to help with approaching PPS and legislature for more money, and they are requesting some talking points that could be used. - The board reviewed and approved a sexual harassment policy.
- LMP LLC financials to date were reviewed but we are pending final billings, which are late as end of year collections are still occurring. Summer camp is up and running.