A giant thank you to all of you who worked the workday on the weekend. It was so fabulous to be at the new school & see the camaraderie, good energy & hard work. The building is looking stunning & it’s so fun to see how you all are putting in your mark. It really is a community effort & your hard work & time sacrifice is paying off big time! And our amazing organizers have gone beyond all expectations! It is so exciting & we are extremely grateful.

Here are some great photos of our work in progress:

Here are some shots of the sculptures:

Present:

Directors Report

Enrollment – Tracey reported received a lot of applications for next year, including from some neighbors of the new building. There have been many inquiries about the open house on February 6.

Licensing – The state licensor came out visited the new building a while back. She thought there was plenty of space for increasing the number of kids if needed. For the initial move we will be keeping the same # and configuration. The licensor is excited and supportive of our move. Tracey will be taking her back again and will get familiar with the full process to license the new building.

Backup/financing info – Tracey is still working on recreating the financial data that were lost in the break-in.  She may want help down the road but is working on it herself at the moment. Kathryn reported that she knows QuickBooks and can help. Questions were raised about internal control processes (division of responsibilities for fraud and accountability purposes), and there was a discussion of the increased importance of financial management and oversight now that the school has taken on loans and increased its financial risks. In the meantime, Tracey is doing manual back ups of the data, and will sign up for Quick Books back ups or another on line back up system once the data is complete. Eric indicated he can set up the off site back up for Tracey.

This would include more regular back ups of the financial and school data (which can be done on line but should also be backed up and perhaps retained by a parent job). Tracey raised concern about increasing responsibilities of parents. Josh recommended that more jobs have written job descriptions so its clear what people should be doing.

The board decided to create a new committee to review and work on creating formal processes and policies and board structure to create a longer term commitment for the Treasurer and other Executive Committee members.   Kathryn, Michael, Eric and Kristin volunteered but this will be opened up to the community as well.  Tasks will include looking at board structure and continuity, review of financial policies and procedures, and making recommendations to the board on necessary changes.

Tracy is looking over all of the current job assignments and what people are doing because of the urgency of the work on the new building, to get more people working on that.  A “New Building Committee” has been established which includes Joel, Josh, Jeff Levine, Ben Mayer, Dana Colley, Stephanie Hirsch (working on time tracking, accountability and neighborhood relations) and Shona who as current Community Developer will help arrange child care.

Staff Reports

OG – Katie reported that everything is “functioning”  and that the kids are wonderful. Her current group is a group of funny, engaged kids, asking questions, excited about ice skating field trip, getting ready for graduation, and are all excited about Katie’s birthday the following week.

YG – Ann reported that everything is fabulous. The kids are developing goo d friendships, and playing, and singing.  Evaluations are underway.

X-Day – Ann told the board about the Winter Olympics underway in extended day. The kids all get prizes for trying the various event, and they are enjoying themselves.

Group Reports

YG Coordinator couldn’t make the meeting, so Ann reported that there will be a group meeting in February.  Jackie’s birthday is Valentine’s Day.

MG – MG is having a meeting soon. They are going to discuss ways to amuse the kids during break. Things are super in the MG

Treasurer’s Report

The bridge loan ($131,000) from Nonprofit Finance Fund is due 4/2011 and will be repaid from fundraising.  The school has raised a portion of this so far. The fundraising proceeds should be going directly to NFF& are..

No budget or financial information was presented.

Capital Campaign

Heather reported that the Capital Campaign committee’s goal is to have raised the money needed to repay the loan by October, by the end of their term. They think this achievable. The general fundraising the school has done the past has been successful. Over the past  three years the school has brought in $150,000. The December appeal this year was also successful, raising $41,500. She handed out an update and the ways they plan to raise the remaining amounts and over what time frame.

The committee will be tracking how they are doing and will come back and report on progress and adjust if necessary.

They are currently making an effort  to find kids had gone to Agassiz and their families. They are working on getting names, and creating facebook group. Then they will make a fundraising effort for these people who haven’t been tapped before.

Kathryn has heard from some alum families that they have been asked a lot, they have given a lot and they haven’t seen anything happen (we haven’t moved). She is worried about donor fatigue.

The group discussed other fundraising opportunities:

-        Josh offered to take donors through the space for tours.

-        Patrick is working on applying for grants. Kristin offered to pass along the name of a friend who is a fundraiser for the Elizabeth Peabody House who may be able to give some tips.

-        100 Red Balloons to be sold closer to the move for a parade to the new building. There should be higher prices for business sponsors (some possible bigger sponsors are the school’s bank Cambridge Trust and lenders MassDevelopment and Winter Hill Bank.

-        Tile campaign and possibilities for this.

-        Targeting universities which may make small grants

Overall, about $65,000 has been raised, including $24,000 the tile campaign and $41,500 from the December appeal (which included two large donations totaling $35,000). Josh was encouraged by the progress. Kristin recommended that an e-mail gets posted to Agassiz-General with an update on the annual appeal and overall capital campaign so that the whole school gets updated on the progress.

Website

Lisa reported that there have been just under 2,000 visits to the website since October, with over 900 unique visitors. About 16 people visit per day, half new, half returning.  Average time spent is 2.5 minutes, which Lisa thought was good. Popular places to visit are the pages on tuition, program options, and parent directory.  Forty percent of the traffic is driven directly by our URL, 41% from search engines and 16% from links referring to our site, such as Live Journal and community mom’s blogs.

Joel  asked that a list of board members, board minutes and parent job assignments get posted on the website. Lisa plans to also post teacher bios and more photos.  Parent help substitutes and contact info will also be posted. Many parents were interested in automatic reminders for parent help and snack, but so far this has not been figured out.

Lisa mentioned that there needs to be a discussion of continuity of web administration after Harry leaves the school.

There was also a discussion about the teachers “Chalkboard” postings. Those who are getting them reported that they like them. But Lisa reported that there are only 37 subscribers and she’s not sure its worth it if there aren’t more.  Some people who are subscribed thought they might not be getting the chalkboard postings. Lisa is going to look into this. People who are subscribed but aren’t getting postings should notify her.

Ongoing issues at the old Agassiz

Staffing:  Paul is leaving at the end of June. He is getting married and moving to the Cape.  Katie is leaving at the end of summer. Tracey indicated that there are two subs who have expressed interest in Paul’s position.  For Katie’s position, she has been talking to a candidate familiar to some Agassiz families who may be interested in returning. Those who knew her spoke highly of her. Josh recommended putting together a hiring committee.  Michael Baran, Katie, and Ann volunteered. Eric volunteered his wife Jane.  Joel recommended that this committee also look talk to current teachers about whether they are returning and conduct evaluations. Tracey said that is her job and that she meets with the teachers regularly.

Lease/Occupancy of Church

Tracey indicated that the current lease has been extended verbally but she hasn’t seen it on paper yet. She reported that our lawyer Ed got a call from Lesley asking that we help pay the heat over the winter months because the bills have been high ($1,400 per month). Tracey told Ed that we don’t know what monies we have available right now and she needs time to figure it out and talk to the board.  Mary Lou Batt is coming to see her on Friday. Tracey then went over the history with Lesley, and past discussions for the newer families.   The board’s decision was to hold off on payment until the financial impact can be analyzed (and we need the financial data to do that)

Plan and Schedule to move from church to new building

Construction update:  Josh reported that a condition in the field has held up the project for more than a month, related to fire rating the new stair, and unknown conditions of the old field stone foundation.  As a result the stair can’t be built as the architect and engineer anticipated. There are budget implications (though not quantified at the meeting) for the solution, so its taken a while to find a less costly solution.  Once the engineer’s plan is approved, then the steel pieces for the stair will be ordered. Also from there, the builder will be able to give a detailed construction schedule for the duration of the job.  Josh reported that Ed (the contractor) thinks that construction can be complete in June sufficient for a temporary certificate of occupancy, which would allow for an August move date. Joel indicated that he’s not comfortable with the schedule. Kristin indicated that it was worth having a contingency plan should the move not be able to occur before school begins in the fall, given the pace so far and the unpredictable nature of construction.

Josh reported that the construction budget is tight (though no budgets were handed out at the meeting). The drawings show the minimum scope to allow us to operate as a school in the new building. And there are places we can scale back if needed.

A decision was made by the board to table the discussion around the move schedule until a full schedule was available from the contractor.

Jeff Levine is working on a survey of parents about skills, interests, and availability to work in the new building. This will go out after the schedule is available.  The expectation is that everyone needs to pitch in and have some role (construction, child care, packing, etc.) Joel envisions large workdays and also having opportunities for those interested to come and work other times. Seth indicated there needs to be a more social process to get people connected to the school, create a human connection.

There also needs to be a plan for transition of the construction planning and coordination, as Josh and Joel’s kids are leaving. There needs to be a way to pass these important roles on. Tracey will be identifying leaders to fill this role.

Packing and Moving

A separate committee will be made to cover packing and moving.

The board settled on three committees, and that everyone should have a role on a committee:  New building construction, packing and moving, fundraising.  These will be announced at the General Meeting the following week and everyone will have an opportunity to choose a committee.

Other business

Michael raised the question of February vacation camp with parent volunteers. Tracey thought it would be a liability concern without staff present.

Action items

• Tracey to learn more about licensing the new building and will begin the process soon.
• Convening of new committee on financial policies and board continuity (Kathryn, Eric, Michael, Kristin)
• Set up off site back up of full school data (Eric)
• Agassiz-general e-mail with capital campaign update (Tracey or Cap Camp Committee)
• Web additions: board list, board minutes, job assignments, etc.
• Plan for continuity of website management
• Trouble shooting Chalkboard problem (some subscribers may not be getting) and decision on whether to keep the chalkboard if there aren’t more subscribers
• Convening of hiring committee/posting of available jobs
• Decision regarding if/how much to pay Lesley for heat.
• Survey of parents (Jeff ) ?? are we still doing this?
• Transition plan for construction/new building coordination/leadership.

We had a discussion in Ex day on Tuesday about what we would do after the Olympics in March. Cooking was the general consensus.

In the YG we have been focusing on our Child of the Week.. This week it is Henry. We have also been secretly making Valentine surprises…

For those parents who can join us, our Valentines day potluck breakfast is this Friday the 12th.  Come be a kid again for an hour, make valentines day cards and play to your heart’s content…

It’s been a quiet couple weeks on the job site, but behind the scenes there has been plenty of activity.

Last week, the Massachusetts State Plumbing Board and Elevator Board finally approved variance requests that we had made earlier in this winter.  These variances were mainly procedural, necessitated by specific conditions in our old building, but they have now paved the way for new work to begin:  ordering and installing the lift, finalizing plumbing bids, etc.

Meanwhile, I have been working daily with our architect, our builder, and the city’s office of Inspectional Services to revise and finalize a strategy for the construction of the new fire stair adjacent to the driveway.  These revisions were necessitated by unexpected conditions at the existing, 150-year-old fieldstone foundation that we discovered during excavation for the new foundation.  Since the questions involve the building code and life safety, we wanted to make sure we got it right!  The final plans have been reviewed once with Inspectional Services, and we expect that the head building inspector assigned to the project will be signing off on them this morning.  After that, framing can begin again for the rest of the exterior, and activity will pick up again at the site.

Meanwhile, a newly-energized Building Committee is holding a meeting this Saturday at 9:30 at the site, to figure out just how we are going to put you all to work!  We have a tentative schedule for spring and summer work weekends, which will be finalized and distributed after the meeting.

As usual, feel free to email with any questions or bright ideas….

Cheers,

Josh

High Five Oldest Group!

• Director’s Report
• Staff Report
• Group Reports
• Relocation
• Financial Report
• Capital Campaign
• New Business
• Action/Follow Up Items

Present:

• Michael Baran
• Josh Safdie
• Jenise Aminoff
• Eric Wirch
• Evren Celimli
• Peter Kochansky
• Kristin Blum
• Tracey Kaplan
• Joel Bennet

Director’s  Report

Tracey reported that there was a break in at the school over the weekend and the lap top and a small amount of cash was stolen.  The biggest loss was the Quickbooks financial info which had not been backed up recently.  Tracey has to re-enter everything manually, which will be a lot of work.  She’s in looking into an ongoing back up offsite or will make regular back ups the job of Treasurer or some other parent job.  Several people have offered to help enter the data and the board encouraged Tracey to take advantage of that.  Filing of taxes will be delayed a bit as a result of the missing financial info.

Some good news – an alum family (Wheelers) are excited about the school finding a new building and are willing to help financially. Tracey will be taking them for a visit after the holidays.

Tracey reported that a new YG family will be starting in January to replace Keanu.

Staff report

Tracey reported that “everything is  great”  from the staff perspective and the kids are doing well.

There is now a “chalkboard blog” on the Web, which families can subscribe to. Tracey and staff can post updates, short tweet-type posts.  Josh can post construction updates.  There is a question about whether staff can keep up on it. Tracey wants teachers to post at least once per week.   Parents can e-mail posts to lisa@mit.edu to post items on the blog.

Everyone agreed that Lisa is doing a good job on the website.

Jenise is updating the constant contact list and will be putting out a capital campaign e-mail.

Group Reports

YG had a meeting recently, which the families appreciated.

MG report – They also had a recent meeting. Tracey couldn’t go but heard it was good. Everyone seems happy. It’s a huge class of rambunctious boys, but they are all calm, chilled and involved.

OG – Josh and Michael reported that things are going well.  They had a meeting prior to the board meeting.

Holiday gifts. Each group coordinator should collect gifts.  Coordinators will indicate the suggested donation is $20, but people should pay what they are comfortable with.  The money gets pooled and evenly split between the teachers.

Relocation

Josh reported that work at the building is moving along. The framers have done much of the structural work, including beams, columns, and steel. They just finished adding the 3^rd floor in existing building. Next up is the excavator coming in for foundation for extension, then they will build the stair and lift. Next week they will start the interior partitions.  The GC is there every day. Plumbing and Elevator variances are in process.

There may be another work day this weekend but currently there are no tools and no temporary  power (the city disconnected the temp power). Once there’s power there will be a lock box at the site for tools, so it will be easier to set up “catch as catch can” work days to take care of little things.  This weekend’s job will be tearing up a wood floor.

Josh and Joel indicated they want to find out what people can volunteer  (time  and skills).  Once they know more about what people can and are able to do, it will be easier to assign work and set up work days. Donna and Seth are going to organize people who are interested. Jeff Levine will (with Joel’s help) prepare a survey for people on their interests and availability.

Josh had the first meeting with Ed (GC) about the construction budget. So far the work has been done within the budget.  The GC now has proposals from subcontractors and trades for the next set of work.  The drawings were prepared showing everything we wanted so Josh has to go through and delete some items we can live without  to stay within the budget.  There will no cuts of critical items.

Financial Report

Tracey reported that  revenue and expenses are in line with budget (for school operations).

Capital Campaign –

Jenise reported that last week send a letter to everyone on Agassiz’s mailing lists. The responses are starting to come in. They will be recruiting current families to mail letters to others they may know (families or friends) who may be interested in donating.  There will be an effort to contact adult alumni who may be interested in donating or seeing the current space before we move out. The committee is putting together a reunion for Agassiz alumni.  Finding them will be hard, but they will use the internet, the Cambridge Chronicle, and other press and newsletters in order to get the word out.  There will also be a press campaign early next year to help find alumni, report that the school is moving and to help raise money for the move.   Closer to the actual move will be the 100 Red Balloons campaign of a parade of balloons from here to there.  It will be set up something like 100 balloons at $1000 each for individuals or groups of people to get together and buy balloons or tiles.  They will try to have the alumni classes get together to make tiles for the tile campaign.  They have also been using Facebook causes, and other internet based fundraising.  There are other fundraising websites that so that when a certain task bar is used   a portion of proceeds from online shopping from certain sites will go to Agassiz. There is also a search engine that will give the school a $.01 per search. (more details on this need to be circulated, or I missed them)

One committee member will be reaching out to past large donors. The Committee meets every week.  They are looking for press contacts and possible donors.

The responsibility for sending thank you letters s needs to be assigned, but donors will be thanked.

Joel recommended that the school create a wish list of construction items people could donate used or salvaged (or info people could provide on where to get salvaged items cheaper).

New business –

Joel reported that he loves the idea of the petition, but thought there should be a process for discussing/approving things like this that are coming from the school . The board concurred that people should not  speak for the school without it coming to Tracey or the board.

Tracey reported that the tree sale is going well.   Michael designed new tree stands that are working well.   Michael R. and Gillian are doing a great job .

Michael said there’s not enough social/community development  stuff happening at the school this year, and that there should be more of the past nights out, coffees, and other events.  Michael expressed interest in spring vacation week camp at the school.

Next meeting:  all family meeting in January. Tuesday the 19^th.

Action/Follow Up Items

Last Thursday was the little known event, “Sausage Roll.” Many athletes have tried and failed at this – it involves extreme rolliness capabilities. Some kids put an extra twist on the event, they were MEATBALLS instead of sausages – what a daring technique!

Tuesday’s event was the “Ball Toss” and Thursday was the ever-so- popular “How far can you kick” event. Ball toss involves standing in front of three boxes and seeing which one you can get a ball into. How far can you kick, well that one is kinda self explanatory…

Each kid gets a prize for trying. They’ve collected bookmarks, a small toy, and a small treat so far. Stay tuned for more results!