WESTERN MENNONITE SCHOOL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Equipping Students for a Life of Faith & Learning Tuesday, May 26, 2015 Present: Bob Baker, Cheeri Barnhart, Linda Dibble, Chad Hochstetler, Jerry Roth, Allen Schrock, Stan Oyer Foundation Board Representative: Zach Nicoli Staff:
Zig Derochowski, Robby Gilliam, Paul Schultz, Chad Rush
Absent:
Eric Martin, Del Zook
Opening: Linda Dibble A. General Session 1. Devotions: Jerry Roth read Mark 4:35-41 and then read today’s devotional from Our Daily Bread entitled Calming the Storm. 2. Zachary Nicoli was introduced to the Board. 3. Consent Agenda: Minutes accepted as presented. 4. Head of School Report: Paul Schultz Paul asked for any questions regarding his written report. Michael and Marlene Bogard have not been to the campus yet, but they were at Paul’s home last week. They are looking forward to being part of the Western Mennonite community. 5. Principal Report: Zig Derochowski Zig highlighted his report about how the community came together for the musical. Zig, Paul, Chad and Robby are learning to work together and have goals for next year and are hoping to implement new strategies. Zig explained how he plans to maximize teacher knowledge and how to manage class sessions for next year, as well as promoting character building for students. The school has joined ACSI this year and they provide opportunities for teacher education. Zig is also planning to have professional development at faculty meetings. When asked about how it was to have faculty meetings in the afternoon this year, Zig responded that it didn’t go very well and they are going back to morning meetings next year. 6. Dean of Students: Chad Rush Chad shared that awards will be given to seniors interspersed during the spring concert this year instead of at the end of the concert. 7. Director of Advancement & Finance: Robby Gilliam $130,000 has come in from the auction and auction bills are being paid. Everence called to say they have a surplus and gave us a rebate of $87,000. The asbestos abatement preparation is complete and abatement will begin on June 1. The gym will be closed for graduation so we are having graduation on the lawn. Hopefully the gym will be finished by the beginning of August. A donor has stepped up with money to go toward the abatement.
122
The financial audit by Wilcox/Arredondo is in process and the board can expect a full report in the near future. Because of one detail that came up in the audit we have put new checks and balances in place. Policies need to be changed to reflect these changes. Other items brought up have already been addressed. Chad, Zig and Robby have spent several hours visiting other Christian schools (Salem Academy and Santiam Christian) recently to see how they operate and found it to be very informative and enlightening. They are all shocked at our fundraising amount. These schools do not feel they are competing with us. The only thing we offer that they don’t is more chapel/small group time. Their tuition is much lower than ours. Last Monday the Foundation Board met with some of the Finance Committee to discuss some of the implications from what they observed at the other schools. The other schools suggested a name change for us as it is something we always have to explain and makes it hard to market the school. Praise report: The loan payment to Everence was larger than the finance charge. We are still $150,000 below what the fundraising should be at this time of the year. If we have another budget year like this one, we may not make it through. Expenses are under budget as corners have been cut as much as we can without cutting programs. Admission projections: It is possible we will reach 225 this year. Middle school enrollment is up and it is possible we will have enough to split the 6th grade class. There was discussion about ways of combining grades and how it has not worked out well in the past. More than 22 students in one classroom are too many. Zig shared some activities we have done with other schools that have created excitement about students coming here. The capacity for middle school is about 120. High school capacity is about 170. The board affirmed that changes need to be made and we need to figure out what they are. Appreciation was expressed to Robby for his reporting. 8. Board Development: Tabled until July. 9. Strategic Planning Report: Eric is still on pain medication from his accident and is not able to be here. The committee met and confirmed that they will have a Mission & Visioning meeting with Rich Gerig and others on October 16 and 17 at Albany Mennonite Church. There will be a cost for food. The cost for this retreat will be around $4,500. 10. ISM Recommendation – Robby Gilliam Stability markers #1 and #6 Robby shared how our school meets or misses the markers. There is no formula or policy for selecting board members currently. ISM recommends very specific requirements. Robby distributed a survey from ISM to each board member and asked for them to be returned as soon as possible, preferably by June 6. 11. Action Items: a. Perrydale has asked to co-op with us in boys’ soccer since their school is too small to field a team. Those students pay a fee to play here. There was a move and a second to approve the co-op with Perrydale and it passed unanimously. b. Paul asked for information about how to determine who owns the school. Robby found documentation that shows that the land was donated to PNMC from the Fred Gingerich estate. Check with the Historical Society or with Polk County and Secretary of State for records. 123
c. Board membership: Paul requested that board membership be extended to non-Mennonites. There was discussion about having a broader group of Western supporters help make this decision. This is something that may need to be discussed at the October meeting. Paul shared that if changes are not made immediately he is not sure that we will be able to be functioning in November. It was recommended that the policy committee meet together to see if a policy could be written regarding board membership. Concern was expressed that this idea has been talked about since September and still nothing has been done in this regard. Robby shared that none of us would set up a business model having to fundraise as much money as we do and expect to have a successful business. Mennonites are not sending students to the school, so the Mennonite culture is not very well understood. The October meeting will consist of around 30 people from different groups (alum, parents, donors, etc.). There was discussion about steps that need to be taken to start making changes. A strategic plan needs to be made. After discussion it was suggested that there be a meeting in July with a larger body to start the discussion in the community. There was affirmation for this. Linda, Zig and Robby will come up with a communication to start this process. Zach Nicoli shared how his business functions and how impetus is needed for everyone to get on the same page. Change is hard, but progress needs to be made. 8:08 Staff dismissed B. Executive Session
Next board meeting: Monday, June 22, 2015 Dora Ivanitsky, Recording Secretary
124