Welcome and Call to Order

The Meeting will be called to order by the Chair.

Mission: The mission of The Museum School of Avondale Estates is to inspire students, teachers and the community to collaborate to develop strong critical thinking, interpersonal and academic skills in our students, which will prepare them for real-world success.

 

Core Values: Responsibility, Respect, Cooperation, Sustainability, Creativity, Kindness

Public Comment

Our Public Comment period is for members of the public to address the board. The board will listen, but may not directly respond to any comments. Please do not use specific student, teacher or administrator names in your comments as our meetings are open to the public and public record. As such, if your comment is about a private matter, please contact the board via email, or speak to the board chair privately.

Email Executive Director, Dr. Katherine Kelbaugh at Katherine.kelbaugh@themuseumschool.org for Zoom access to the meeting.

Public comment (no longer than one page) should be submitted via email to Katherine.kelbaugh@themuseumschool.org. Your comments must be received by 10:00 am on the day of the meeting. Only those emails received during the allotted time will be read aloud and broadcast. Emails received outside of the allotted time will be included in the Public Comments record for the next meeting.

Dr. Kelbaugh read a submitted comment from Ms. Eisel-Elder on behalf of some Second Grade students and presented an associated petition signed electronically by 98 students. All Second Grade teachers were present and acknowledged.

There were no other public comments.

Approval of Agenda

So that there is agreement between board members on the agenda, and the amount of time spent on the meeting, the board shall vote to approve an agenda for the meeting. To the best of its ability, it will follow that agenda, and allow for the chair to move the board through the agenda as specified.

Approve Previous Meeting Minutes

Approve previous meeting minutes.

Board Reflections on the Second Grade Class Comment and Petition

Mr. Janaun Ivey, Vice Chair, thanked the Second Grade Instruction staff for their efforts in the submitted statement and petition. Other Board members also recognized the staff and students. Dr. Swinks, Chair, informed the instruction staff that the Board would undertake further review before determining an appropriate response to the statement.

Principal's Report

Principal Mike Stewart noted that he had previously submitted his report to the Board and would focus on some highlights of that material. Mr. Stewart reflected on the successes of the first virtual Exhibit Night and first virtual Grandparents' Week. Mr. Stewart noted that FTE calculations for the year had been determined with TMS at 589 unique students, one over full capacity. Finally, Mr. Stewart shared schoolwide data from analysis of iReady testing results.

Finance Committee Update

TMS Treasurer Tamara Richards and Grant Gooding with the firm Aprio reviewed the School Year 2019-2020 financial audit. Mr. Gooding reviewed all major aspects of the school's financials for the past school year, noting the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan as well as the future prospect of the decrease in QBE funding from DeKalb County Schools. Ms. Richards noted that the Finance Committee had thoroughly reviewed the audit report. Ms. Richards then also reviewed the monthly financials. There was a discussion about potential steps and processes related to initiating PPP loan forgiveness.

Governance Committee Update

Governance Committee Chair Richard Piercy reported on advancement of several equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives as recommended from recent Board training.

Diversity Committee Report

Diversity Committee Chair Christina Cassidy noted that an analysis being conducted by Georgia Conservancy is nearly complete, with draft findings presented to the Diversity Committee in October. The Board will see the final results in November. This analysis will inform a variety of efforts including charter renewal, equity goals and actions, and considerations of attendance zones. Ms. Cassidy then reported on the status of TMS diversity goals.

Executive Director's Report

Executive Director Dr. Katherine Kelbaugh reviewed the timeline of virtual schooling decisions, public health data and safe operations protocols research, and parent/caregiver communications. Dr. Kelbaugh noted that TMS is currently targeting a return to 5-days/week in-person instruction on January 5, 2021, depending on various public health data and readiness of the school facilities and operations. Dr. Kelbaugh reviewed some of the data and preparation tasks that are contributing to a return to in-person instruction. She then provided an update on the charter renewal process, noting that all options are currently being considered (local authorization and commission authorization). Dr. Kelbaugh reviewed a Letter of Intent, necessary to send to the Department of Education as part of the formal charter renewal process. She completed her report with a summary of activities of TMS Foundation.

Facilities Committee Update

The update from Facilities Chair Alan Locke focused on planned upgrades that will utilize the State Department of Education Facilities Grant (total of $39,000 available for TMS). Investments from this grant will focus on upgrading HVAC filtration to merv 13 and bi-polar ionization on all HVAC. The anticipated work can be completed by the end of the year.

Board Chair Update

Governing Board Chair Dr. Kelly Swinks expressed appreciation for the Board members' efforts in their various committees.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:55 pm