Minutes from December 16th, 2010 Trustee Meeting

Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School Trustee Meeting

Minutes of Meeting Conducted on December 16, 2010

(Trustee Meeting #3 of 2010-2011 School Year)

Trustees Attending Meeting: Jodi Chall, Joelle Kaufman, Aliya Gordon, Carrie Ridge, Eyal Ofek, Josh Smith, Kathryn Karp, Madeline Benson, Roger Feigelson, Maury Alcheck, Larry Lustig, Kevin Tabb, Paul Lipman, Sharon Hartley, Dennis Eisner, Brian Lipson, Abbe Braitman, Dana Spanger, Dan Feder Marina Milshtein and Adrienne Weil.

RCWJDS Staff Attending Meeting: Barbara Gereboff and Fred Weiner.

Meeting Minutes:

The D’var Torah as a video of a speech given by Jeff Swartz, President of the MIMO Jewish Day School in Newton.  The speech was entitled “Show the People the Light”.

Roger read aloud the proposed final version of the mission statement.  It was unanimously approved.

Joelle reminded everyone that there will be a “State of the School” presentation on January 5^th, 2011 at the School.

Fred Weiner made a presentation to the Board re: the recommendation of the Finance Committee re: Tuition and Tuition Assistance for 2011-2012.  Fred explained that there are only a few variables that comprise the schools budget are subject to adjustment, as many expenditures (such as the School’s share of the mortgage, utilities, insurance, and teacher salaries), are, for the most part, fixed.  As such, the key variables are: total enrollment, tuition, and tuition assistance.  Fred further explained that the Finance Committee spent an exhaustive amount of time and energy researching what other private schools charge for tuition and how much tuition assistance is available.  Based on the exhaustive research and sensitivity analysis that the Finance Committee completed, the Finance Committee recommends that:

• Ø  Tuition increase at each grade level by $1,200 (or $100 per month).  Grades K-5 would increase to $18,700 from $17,500; and grades 6-8 would increase to $21,000 from $19,800.
• Ø  Tuition Assistance (based on need evaluation) would increase from $926,308 to $1,126,308 for the 2011-2012 year.

There was a lively exchange of views amongst the Trustees re: the proposals made by the Finance Committee.  A motion was made and ultimately passed to adopt the recommendations of the Finance Committee provided that Tuition Assistance is awarded in a manner to allow every child who would like to attend the RCWJDS to do so provided the Tuition Assistance committee approves every application for financial assistance. 

All trustees voted in favor of the motion other than Joelle Kaufman, Maury Alcheck and Katherine Karp who voted against the motion.

The Board then met in Executive Session and all non-trustees left the meeting.   Joelle led the discussion.  Questions were asked and discussion ensued.

The meeting adjourned at 9:01PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Josh Smith

RCWJDS Board Secretary 2010-2011

February 16, 2011