Board_Minutes_2012-03-13

Trustees OPEN Meeting INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF KRAKOW 5:30p.m. March 13, 2012 Present: Chairman Allen Greenberg, Max Dudhia, John Lynch, Barbara Myrczek, Joerg von Weiler, Allen Haberberg, Eric van der Steen.

Ex Officio: Brett Elkei, Eric Lutley, Mamie Heard, Piotr Buczkowicz, Malgorzata GonetMroczka, and Barbara Kotarba (note taker) Absent: Anne Braghetta, Elysa Sicard Visitors: Teacher Representative Katarzyna Kuźniar VOTING: The Chairman motioned to accept the agenda as written. John Lynch seconded the motion, all were in favor, motion passed.

The Chairman informed the Board that the Governance Committee met on March 8 and discussed many topis pertaining to school’s sustainability.

VOTING: The Chairman motioned to accept January Board minutes as written, Jorg von Weiler seconded the motion, all were in favor; motion passed DIRECTOR’S REPORT TO THE BOARD, 13 MARCH 2012 --Another outstanding newsletter, ISK Voice, available on the school website, highlights the many activities taking place for our students: Brick by Brick Project, basketball tournaments, drama presentations, and curriculum focused activities in Early Childhood, Elementary and Middle School. A huge thank you goes to David Prouse, Jacek Guzik, and the ISK students responsible for this publication.

--An upper school assembly was held to celebrate the many achievements of our students who participated in the CEESA Events (High School Knowledge Bowl at ISK, Music Festival in Warsaw, Math Counts in Vilnius), Ski Camp in Italy, and also to acknowledge the success of Literacy Week with awards for student written poetry and prose.

--The American International School of Vienna will be visiting Krakow this weekend with 50 students and 12 teachers. Mike Glenn and Kasia Tymczak, Social Studies teacher, has collaborated with this school to organize enrichment and networking opportunities for ISK students and other international students from around the world.

--With regards to staffing, contracts have been issued and accepted for Grade 0 and Grade 4 positions. The only pending positions are for an Early Childhood classroom teacher and intern position. The goal is to have a native English speaker in each classroom in our Early Childhood Center.

--The SLT is in the process of developing the schedule for next year, reviewing room allocations, and closely tracking admission data. A special thank you goes to Piotr Buczkowicz for his work on salary statements for ISK employees.

Marketing plans are well underway. Marketing Committee will now be the Director’s Office like in other schools.

--The Spring Gala Committee has emailed the information to businesses and parents with information on the largest fund raising and community awareness event for our school. The event is to be held at the Stary Hotel on April 21st. Tickets are on sale through the School Office and parents.

--The Scholarship brochures have been distributed throughout the community. Special thank you goes to John Lynch for printing these brochures at no cost to the school.

--Scholarship brochures and new publications were distributed at the PTA meeting and parents were asked to make individual contacts both for admissions and the Scholarship Program.

--PTA has a designated Welcome to ISK Team to contact prospective parents with information on ISK. Board members have also volunteered to reach out to our prospective parents.

--Design for two billboards is in process.

--Sarah Wadiak is again directing the Summer Language Institute for students with the dates now available on our website. As soon as more detailed information is available, this will be posted on the website and distributed to our contacts.

--Summer Fun Camp, Windsurfing Camp, and a newly organized Adventure Camp are in the initial planning stages. As plans for these camps are completed, detailed information will be sent to parents, posted on the website, and made available here at school.

--Special thanks to faculty and parents for their support with preparation and distribution of marketing materials. A special thank you to U.S. Consulate General for their contribution to sending invitations for the Spring Gala.

--Mr. Paweł Ciećko, Director of the Government Environment al Protection Agency for Małopolska air quality for this area sent the monitoring equipment to measure air quality on our campus during the week of February 29 – March. A report will be made available within the next two weeks.

Students --University applications completed for UK, Canadian, European, and US colleges and universities. Conditional offers are in from St. Andrews and Kent Universities in the UK. --Enrollment: Malgosia Gonet-Mroczka, Director of Admissions, updated the Board with the admissions information with the number of nine graders increased considerably. Grade four is also a concern, if more students sign up, two classes may have to be formed.

--Homework Policy for Middle and High School: With emphasis on respect and responsibility in our school philosophy, faculty met with students at the beginning of the semester to review essential agreements on the expectations for submission of homework. This new homework policy has been communicated via email to parents.

Facilities --Mr. Charles Stukes, School Facilities Manager for Arlington Public Schools, Virginia, USA will be on our campus from March 31st to April 6th to complete an evaluation of our school facilities. David Cramer from Office of Overseas Schools has provided the funds for the airline ticket and consultant fee. Allen Haberberg has generously agreed to provide the hotel accommodations.

Curriculum --Implementation of International Baccalaureate Program: IB Steering Committee continues to work on the Application for Candidacy due on April 1st and implementation timeline. CAS

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(Creativity, Action, and Service) Coordinator designate is Susan Oswald. Six teachers have been registered for Category One subject area online workshops. Director and IB Coordinator attended the required new school administrator and Diploma Coordinator designate workshops in Brussels March 2-4. Academic Honesty and Assessment Policies for Early Childhood – Grade 12 are being written by faculty. Revised template for curriculum maps on Atlas Rubicon has been developed.

--Social Studies Curriculum Committee has ordered sample resources for implementation of revised curriculum for Elementary School.

--Director and 5 faculty members will attend the CEESA Annual Conference in Warsaw on March 15 – 18.

--Erik Lutley (MAP Coordinator) and Lisa Lucas (Literacy Coordinator) will attend the CEESA sponsored MAP Workshop in Warsaw on March 19th.

The Director informed the Board that teachers are preparing to IB teaching curriculum, they are involved in necessary training.

The Board was asked to book calendars on June 3 at 1:00p.m.,Sarah Wadiak is preparing students to perform at the Philharmonic.

FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE BOARD The report of a meeting held on March 7 was presented by Jorg von Weiler.

A discussion was held on the possibility of parent use of sports facilities. The Board asked Brett Elkei to send a message to parents to see how many will be interested in using the sports field.

Piotr was asked to check on the insurance issue.

The Board asked the Director to contact PTA on the date for the ISK Summer jamboree because of the beginning of exam week schedule in the upper school on the following Monday.

PTA REPORT TO THE BOARD PTA representative was not present at the meeting, the PTA report had been sent to the Board for information, included below. ************************************ PTA General Meeting Minutes, March 6, 2012 In Attendance: Mamie Heard, Malgosia Gonet-Mroczka, Malin Blomqvist, Magda Figas-Brzeski, Heidi Difazzo, BJ Kent, Lilianna Lutley, Erik Lutley, Anita Strachota, Ida Novotna, Carin Halling, Taija Nykanen, Alena Jenikova, Liz Ausdenmoore, Vickie Etoga, Basia (from US Consulate), Marketa Le Bries, Monika Zaraska, Jolanta Paluch Next PTA Steering Committee Meeting: To Be Determined Next General PTA Meeting: Tuesday, April 17, 8:45 am, ISK MRP GENERAL UPDATES: 1. Meeting began with a short social with coffee, cake, muffins and donuts.

Usunięto: Hedge exchange rate risks teachers. DECISION: The following proposition will be made to the board.¶ The teachers shall be offered a 50/50 split between PLN and or € or $. This offer is temporary for next school year, for the year after a comprehensive package including a revised pay scale will be proposed October 2012.¶ Sports facility: School Administration will gather information on the potential additional cost of security, insurance, cleaning and heating.

The price should cover additional cost, the benchmark lies between 80-250PLN/hour. I would like to suggest 100PLN/h during the week and 200PLN/h for the week end.¶ Tuition refund policy for monthly payers: nothing to be done here, in the light of the very few problem-cases (3-4 in 8 years) the additional fee of 10% covers the risk.¶ Use of private cars: Those who use their private cars for ISK shall get a fair reimbursement of their cost. Allen kindly offered to ask his accountant for the Polish standard rule accepted by the tax authorities, PB will do some research too. The insurance issue (car/person) should be dealt with too.¶ Other¶ - PB is asked to prepare a consolidated P&L forecast before the board-meeting.¶ - The accountants do the entries already but this is based on bank statements only. They need to be provided with copies of the documents (mainly invoices).¶ Usunięto: will Usunięto: deciding

2. Magda opened meeting. Stated she wants to create a sense of community with General PTA meetings. She presented the agenda and mentioned that the flowers on the table were going to be raffled at the end of the meeting.

3. Directors report, Mamie Heard: a. Thanked Steering Committee for flowers and refreshments for PTA meeting. b. New calendar is out. Brochure with calendar was presented. It is also used as a marketing tool. c. Merit scholarships: 4 for grade 9 and 4 for grade 10 (1 full and three partial tuitions). ISK School Board has approved. IB diploma will be helpful to attract HS students. d. Thanks to PTA for help regarding knowledge bowl. e. Working on IB diploma program. A conference in Belgium was attended. There are 8 teachers involved in training and training over summer for rest of teachers. It has implications for languages, math and research skills taught. Academic honesty must be reviewed, even as low as 3 and 4 year olds. f. During Directors report, Malgosia gave a report regarding admissions. Admissions for 2012/2013: 167 students currently– 7 students will be moving on, 160 for next year – 34 inquires already. Admissions will definitely increase for next year. High school numbers are increasing. It looks very promising. g. Social studies curriculum is being re-evaluated. h. Offered positions to 4 new teachers to fill vacancies for 2012/2013 school year; 3 have already accepted. i. ISK Spring Gala – April 21st. Social setting to raise funds for library and ES playground equipment. Tickets are printed and being sold for 250 zloty each. Space is limited.

4. Lilianna Lutley invited everyone to a speech therapy workshop for parents on Monday, March 26 at 14:15. We can invite individuals who are not part of the school community, but are interested in this topic.

5. PTA Presidents’s Report: Magda Figas-Brzeski – a. Taija Nykanen is considering coordinating rest of bake sales for the year (only two left).

Regarding bake sales, we will keep to calendar for the rest of the year. b. Thanks to PTA SC for cleaning PTA storage room. c. Thanks to PTA SC for assistance with CEESA Knowledge Bowl event.

6. PTA Secretary’s Report - BJ Kent– a. Passed out volunteer sign up sheets for bake sales, Mother’s Day flower sale, and Summer Jamboree. b. If we have a conflict with a date regarding other events, please let PTA Steering Committee know. c. Discussed dates for Summer Jamboree between May 26 and June 16. We are leaning toward weekend of May 26 – 27. It is usually on a Sunday. Biggest event for PTA. Co-team leaders are Malin Blomqvist and Vicky Etoga. d. Mother’s Day flower sale Team Leader, Vicky Etoga. Presale the flowers and then Friday, May 25 flowers are given. e. The idea of a formal opening and closing ceremony was brought up. f. BJ also stated how important a teacher appreciation lunch is. Could have a pot luck lunch, or catered lunch. Need to pick a date.

7. Sunday June 3 – ISK chorus singing with Philharmonic in Krakow 1 pm.

8. Flowers were presented to raffle winners.

TAKE AWAY TASKS / “TO DO LIST”

Please note: this is a continuous running “to do list”. Items will continue from previous minutes if they still have an “Open” status.Task Responsible Party Completion Date Status Bake Sales Taiji thinking about coordinating for rest of year Open, Mother’s Day, Flower Sale, Vicky Open, Summer Jamboree Malin and Vicky Open Staff Appreciation Lunch, BJ Open Minutes created by Anita Strachota – March 9, 2012 ****************************************************************************** Teacher Representative Ms. Kuzniar presented the below report to the Board.

ISK TEACHER REPORT – March 2012 At the teachers' meeting at the beginning of March, teachers expressed their thoughts in reference to ZUS, COLA, ISK Finances & Marketing. ● Teachers requested monthly printouts of ZUS payments for Polish employees to be done automatically. This form is needed to receive public health care. ● North American teachers requested more specific details on COLA payments and requirements, e.g. need for receipts, currency & exchange details, when & how to claim. ● Teacher Reps asked teachers for help in providing details of pay scales of other schools, to assist Mamie in her appraisal of current ISK pay scale. This information will be gathered and passed on to Mamie, as requested by her. Generally felt that any information provided will support the case for the ISK payscale to be upgraded. ● There was discussion of ISK's current financial situation and what part teachers can play in helping the school develop. Enrollment is seen as crucial. It was generally expressed that teachers are keen to help and support Mamie in her task. Teachers had a variety of suggestions regarding marketing and promotion of the school, and are just waiting to be asked! Some specific examples: Do we have a marketing committee and are we making full use of our teacher and parent resources and skills? Personal experience has shown that our brochures are not visible enough in the local community, and offers were made to help distribute these. Do we have/are we looking for sponsorship to pay for our scholarship students? There was also a general hope that decisions made by the school are fully thought through. There have been several examples of decisions which were made quickly and, with hindsight, could have been handled better.

These include accreditation, building works, the football field, Powerschool and Rubicon Atlas.

It is hoped that now the school has more stability, we are in a better position to make accurate judgments. ******************************************************************************************* The Board discussed the letter and will make every effort to accommodate teachers insights in creating a better and well planned developments. Erik van der Steen led the discussion of the problem of understanding and information flow between the Administration, the Staff and the Board and emphasized the need for transparency. Ms. Kuzniar assured the Board that teachers have many opportunities at various meetings to voice their concerns, if there are any.

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The Director explained task of the marketing would become a part of the Director’s office and therefore, there was no need for a Marketing Committee on the Board. The Board’s by-laws will have to be amended. The Chairman will send out by-aws for amendment and deletion of marketing committee as a standing one. First reading of the by-law will be done at the next meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 6:30p.m.

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