Present:
Tracey Kaplan
Ben Mayer
Janet Young
Josh Safdie
Kathryn Rosenberg
Paul Robinson
Michael Baran
Erick Wirch
Gillien Todd
Kristin Blum

1.       Director’s report

Tracey reported that she submitted the permanent loan application to Winter Hill Bank. We are going through the approval process for a short extension and the permanent loan at the same time.  The bank has the audited statements (08-09), which showed a profit of $91k (half of which is an asset rather than cash).  The bank is comfortable with how the building looks, how its going, and how our finances look. The loan app should be easy.  MassDevelopment has approved their piece and Winter Hill is working with them.
Hiring Committee – Tracey  made an offer to an applicant who said no.  She had taken another position. The position has been reposted and Tracey has some good applications. If anyone knows someone good, they should refer them to Tracey. FYI we have actually hired an OG teacher, April Kierstad, who seems great. She has lots of experience from another local coop & got very well recommended.
Tracey went to licensing renewal meeting – Tracey needs to start the licensing process in late July.  In preparation for that Tracey needs to go through every child’s file to make sure all of the necessary paper work is in there. Tracey may need administrative help with that. Whenever anyone is available they should come in and do that.
The health inspector was here today . She said the current building is falling apart. But raised no serious issues.  Tracey asked her how deep we need to dig in new building to remove soil for it to be safe.  She’s going to find out and get that info to Tracey.
Starting next fall, Agassiz is going to adopt the Somerville school calendar.  Sept 7 will be a professional training day, and Sept 8 is first day.  We won’t follow the early release schedule – there will be no early releases.  Board voted to approve the shift.
Schedule items:  Graduation will be held 6/16 at 6:00pm;  Ice cream social and tile painting party  – July 14th at 6:00pm
Cleaners – Tracey has decided to let the current cleaner go. She is ok, but  not brilliant. One big issue has been that she doesn’t speak any English at all. Tracey needs someone she can communicate with better regarding cleaning products and expectations at the new building.
2.       Staff report

Paul reported that things are going well. Photos were this week. Fun was had by all.  Paul’s last day is June 23rd.
3.       Group Reports

YG – Janet indicated things are going well.  The only special activity planned is a quick field trip to the firehouse.  Three children from the YG will not be returning next year..
MG – Nothing to report. Everything is going well.  The MG may try to have a meeting before the end of the  year.
OG- Graduation is Wednesday, June 16th at 6:00pm . Everyone is welcome.
4.       New building

Josh gave a report on the status of the new building. The recent work weekend was good, and very well attended.  Ben, Joel and Josh created a schedule that they gave to the contractor. They are on track in next 3 weeks to get all of current subs to finish up – electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and get rough inspections.  During the third week June, the contractor will be on vacation, so school would like to hire Joel to work and also have parents come in and do some very picky carpentry work done before Insulation and drywall.
Upcoming work:
Alumni and pro weekend – June 27th
Insulation – week of June 28th, followed by Drywall
Painting – July 10and 11
Josh reported that they pulled trigger today on replacing the siding. He feels confident that there’s enough money to do the siding.  The “Pros” will strip all of the trim, except  the gingerbread details.  The new siding will be Hardiplank with Azek trim. It will be  prepainted. These are  composite materials and shouldn’t need to be painted frequently. The entrance door will be “fire engine red”.
Josh thinks we have enough funds to get in the building and then some.  After that, the school can then decide about the yard work and some other items.
He thinks the building is looking great.  For the alum workday there are 7-8 volunteers lined up, many of which are real “Pros”.   We will also have opportunities for rising families.
Ben indicated that there’s still a lot to do, and some important decision-making for the school.
Some important unknowns  pricing-wise are the fire alarm, the insulation (mixture of open and closed cell),  interior finishes and furnishings.  Finishes can go 50k either direction, depending on what materials are selected. One new Agassiz family is an architect who will help out with planning the kitchen.
Construction budget – as of 5/1 – have spent $130k of construction budget and had $250k to pay out. Several big chunks are committed but have not yet been invoiced.  Budgets for Plumbing-  30k fire protection – 45k;  heat – 22k, electrical – 30k.
5.       Capital Campaign

Gillien reported on the Capital Campaign. There are several capital campaign efforts are underway:
·         Run – $5k in pledges and donations, hoping for $8k
·         Tiles – Hoping for $3- 5k.  Tiles for businesses. – a letter is ready to bring to businesses in the area.  The campaign is looking for volunteers to take letters around to businesses
·         They are looking for 20 people to give $1,000 each, and are thinking it could be a  “word of mouth” campaign:  “4 people signed up, will you?.
·         Contemplating an event –perhaps a  celebration in honor of Richard.  The committee is trying to think of an item that can bring in $30k, and an event is one possibility.
·         Lesley – Tracey reminded the board that Lesley offered “in kind help.”   We have to give Lesley some suggestions. Tracey asked for help from their facilities folks for the landscape work but they use a contractor for that kind of work.  Tracey has requested we think of suggestions of things to ask Lesley for.

Total raised to date: $50,000.  The campaign needs to raise $80 more to pay down the bridge.
6.        New Business –

One question that has come up is how are we getting rid of bottled water of snack.  The plan is for the new building to have a building water filter so bottled water will not be needed.
Kristin asked about the capital needs assessment that she obtained a proposal for.   Tracey and Eric indicated this should be postponed until the fall.
Paul gave a great speech on his time at Agassiz and the opportunity it was for him. He wants Agassiz to continue working with Lesley’s Threshold program.
Kathryn gave an update on the new task force that was created on financial controls, board fiduciary responsibilities,  Board tenure and continuity.  The group is looking at whether the terms are  appropriate — should they be longer for continuity purposes.  The committee is made up of Kathryn, Kristin, Danielle Jankovich, and Jay Rudolph. The committee has met ounce, and outlined some clarifying questions.  They are looking at financial controls, and what are we doing now, and what we should be doing, so its not Tracey all of the time. Perhaps an administrative person, the treasurer, a teacher etc. could be enlisted to help with certain duties so that there is segregation of duties.  Another board Jay is on has goals documents for each position, so there’s clarity for everyone on what are they doing, and what are expected to do and achieve.  The committee is talking to other preschools, and looking at other non profits, and at regulations, to find out what non profit board reporting/could  and should look at. More info on their work will be presented at the next meeting.
Election s -
The board discussed elections of new board officers. Tracey indicated she would post a sign where potential board chairs and co-chairs could be nominated.

5-3-10

Attending:

Tracey Kaplan
Ann Holloway
Ben Mayer
Josh Safdie
Michael Baran
Kathryn Rosenberg
Kristin Blum
Janet Young
Joel Bennett

1. 1. Director’s Report

Tracey reported that she met with the licensor at the new building. She likes it and is supportive.

Hiring – The hiring committee has been active.  Six of seven interviews have been set up for the lead teacher position.  They interviewed current substitute teacher Jason as an assistant (after extensively going over the applications). He interviewed very well.  Tracey reported that the hiring committee and all the staff unanimously voted to hire him, and she was now seeking board approval. Jason is excited about the job and about working with kids. He will be taking a couple more classes and will then be lead teacher certified so he can sub. He is excited to learn from Ann and  Richard.  He is working on a BA in anthropology from UMass Amherst. He also has years and years of nannying experience, which is what he’s been doing full time while finishing his  coursework.  He also has experience doing sports mentoring with 10+age kids.   He should be finished with his  BA by end of summer.  He has offered to take early childhood classes. The board voted unanimously to hire Jason.

Enrollment – Tracey reported that the school is still getting applicants from Cambridge. Tracey think its important to continue to have kids from the Agassiz neighborhood.

The last day of school is June 23 rather than the 22^nd because there was a snow day.

1. 2. Staff Report

Paul would like to be notified if anyone but the parents are picking up the kids, and what time.   The teachers are banning Croc’s, and Flip Flops because they do not provide enough support, and are slippery. Also  children coming in rain boots should, please bring regular shoes to put on when they arrive. Parents should  check cubbies and make sure they are updated with properly sized clothes appropriate for the weather.  Bring sunscreen.  if it would be easier to have more kids using the same brand of sunscreen, Kristin wants to recommend a few brands (no wheat or nuts)  that could be purchased for everyone. She will check with people to see if they are ok with the particular brands.

Graduation is June 16^th.  There may be a breakfast on the last day of school.

1. 3. Group Reports

YG -  had a spring trip to Codman Farm that was great, and a potluck dinner.  YG is planning an end of year meeting to discuss transitions to summer and MG.  Ann reported that she doing a farm curriculum, and will then introduce the kids to artists and painting. They will paint with Annika’s grandmother, work with color wheels, and paint self portraits.

MG – is taking a field trip to the Museum of Natural History tomorrow.  They will be walking there.  There is no meeting currently planned,  but they will try to do that before the end of year.

OG – is doing great. They had a good field trip to the big apple circus.  No meetings are planned.

4. Treasurers report

Erick was not here, so Tracey provided a verbal report.  She indicated that Erick has been really helpful.  He has taken over tuition billing, writing letters to parents who are behind, and alums who are behind.   He is reviewing monthly reports, etc, and the budget.  Tracey reported that the books look good.   She also reported that there is a significant surplus in the operating budget , from savings on utilities, mortgage, and interest (b/c budgeted for expenses as if in new building).  The biggest savings resulted from how the construction loan interested was budgeted, because they assumed interest on the full loan during the project, but the loan hasn’t been fully drawn.  This is resulted in a significant surplus.  Tracey would like to use the surplus at the new building.  Kristin and Kathryn are interested in looking over the budget to actual report for the year to better understand the size of the surplus and how it resulted.

Tracey reported that the audit is happening now for end of last fiscal year (08-09).

5.   Capital campaign – see Kathy Hart’s summary for more details (attached).

Updates on various capital campaign activities:

Fundraising support from the current Agassiz community. There are three efforts underway. 1) team Agassiz –  18 parents are signed up signed up for the 5k run in late June and they have fundraising goals.  This is allowing them to raise money for contacts we wouldn’t otherwise reach.  Twelve are signed up to fundraise and to date have pledges of $2,640. 2) current Agassiz family giving through the monthly Tuition check off. This is underway.

Tile Campaign –  kicking off this week.

Musician CD and Concert – Scheduled for morning of June 5^th The planning committee is meeting. The CD will be released at same time. [UPDATE: the concert and cd release have been rescheduled for September]

On Line Network/constant contact updates. Caroline is upgrading and sending the constant contact update.

Major Donors – One more major donation from an anonymous source was received. They are planning a thank you party on 5/25for those who have given $500 or more. There will be a tour of the new building and a party at the Thompson Brenner house.

Alumni Networks. The Facebook group is growing. There are regular updates, thanks to Lisa Mayer.  It needs more non-child alumni focused content.

Overall, the capital  campaign is about half way there. A payment was made recently on the NFF bridge loan ($54,000).

The Board thought the committee is doing a good job, and liked the diversity of ideas.  They need to make sure that the committee is evenly distributing the work.

6.   New Building

Josh is tracking estimates, door schedules, window proposals, etc. and setting up a system to track the construction budget, what we’ve been billed for, and  what Winter Hill has reimbursed us for.

He reported on the construction budget, indicating that some lines are over budget and some lines are under, but he’s been working to get the prices down to offset where they are over.  Overall, Josh feels like we are on track.   Two-thirds of the work has been bid out.   Finishes (ie floording) have not been bid yet. There are a couple of big items that they are holding off on, such as the siding, which is likely a $30k item.  He wants to make sure first that everything we need for a certificate of occupancy is done.  There are a couple of items that were missing from the original budget, such as the handrails and stair rails, which are a  $15K.  The yard is not in the current construction scope.  The siding decision was delayed to August until we can better see where we are on the budget.

Biggest variables right now include interior finishes, electrical, fire protection, and  understanding better where are with professional fees (Joel has added $15k to what the architects may bill us for)  siding, deck and porch.  The board requested more information on what various contingencies there are in the operating and construction budget.

Timeline:  the contractor has completed a schedule now.  The completion date is projected to be the end of July.  Josh thinks this is doable but tight. The timing depends on a few factors, such as the work weekends,  and how pricing works out for some items.

Yard – The soil tests are back. There is lead in the soil that will have to be dealt with.  We will also need to also build a retaining wall.  Several parents raised concerns about the potential to be in the building without the yard.  Josh would like another group of parents to take on working on the yard, including  planning and  budgeting, etc.  It can’t be done by the fall. There is a potential for a pro bono landscape architect who can work on a plan for the yard.

Next meeting Mon June 7 at 7pm. All welcome!