WESTERN MENNONITE SCHOOL BOARD Monday, May 22, 2017 Equipping Students for a Life of Faith and Learning Present: Kirk Jespersen, Zach Nicoli, Allen Schrock, Chad Hochstetler, Linda Dibble, Naomi Quesada, Bob Baker, Andy Kauffman Absent: Eric Martin, Cheeri Barnhart Guests: Sandi Martin, Alexis from Fresh & Local Foods Alexis gave a presentation on the potential lunch program for next school year. She also had samples. Andy intends to sign the contract with Fresh & Local and have a tasting event in August during registration. Devotion: Zach shared from Jesus Calling. The topic was dealing with challenges and mountains. How do we go about solving problems? Some people go from 0 to 100 mph and nothing has happened. We need to follow Jesus one step at a time. That’s all that is required. Don’t worry about the mountains or the cliffs that we can see off in the distance. Jesus may lead us around the mountain. If we have to go up the mountain He will help. Walk by faith not by sight. Minutes from April 24 were approved. Administration Reports: No significant questions. Andy asked about signers for bank accounts because most of our current signers will be leaving. Dave Chambers, Allen Schrock, and Naomi Quesada were mentioned. Allen and Naomi are willing to serve. Andy will ask Chambers. Moved by Linda, seconded by Bob to name Dave Chambers, Allen Schrock, and Naomi Quesada as signers on all school accounts including auction and foundation. Approved unanimously. The budget for next year is tight. Discussed expanding our classes down to kindergarten. This is worth looking into. Discussed tuition and fees. Andy is meeting with representative from AEEA, our international agency. Our international tuition is relatively high though it can be difficult to make comparisons since other schools omit some costs from their published figure. Andy is authorized to discuss lowering international tuition and fees subject to board approval.
Brief discussion of announcement regarding new board members. Andy will get it out to parents and wider WMS community this week. Brief discussion of Faith Statement. Andy asked about inserting the term “inerrancy” into the document because the faculty and staff already agree to documents that state this. A question was raised about inerrancy in relation to, for example, the story in Judges 11 where Jephthah made the vow that whatever came out of his house when he returned from battle he would sacrifice to the Lord. When he returned, the first thing that came out of his house was his daughter; therefore he had to sacrifice her because of his vow. Inerrancy would only say that this event actually happened and is accurately reported in Scripture. It would not tell us how we are to interpret the story. Also, inerrancy applies to the original documents of Scripture and in the copying that has occurred some errors have crept in. Since we have only copies, we have to make the effort to look at the different manuscripts that are available and try to determine the best text. However, the errors are rarely significant and do not affect any essential teaching of Scripture or the church. In light of this, there was unanimous consent to adding the term “inerrant” to the Faith Statement. Note: Eric Martin and Kirk Jespersen will not return for any future board meetings. Adjourned at 9:15 PM [Public minutes – may be redacted for confidentiality]