Minutes from April 19, 2012 Trustee Meeting

Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School Trustee Meeting

Minutes of Meeting Conducted on April 19, 2012 via Conference Call

(Trustee Meeting #9 of 2011-2012 School Year)

Trustees Attending Meeting via phone: Joelle Kaufman, Sharon Hartley, Roger Feigelson, Madeline Benson, Caren Neydavoud, Yaniv Bensadon, Carrie Ridge, Fran Eastman, Shawn Becker, Abbe Breitman, and Jeremy Verba.

RCWJDS Staff Attending Meeting: Barbara Gereboff and Fred Wiener.

Due to the logistics of the phone-in meeting, there was no D'var Torah.

1. Approval of March, 2012 Meeting Minutes: - All

A motion to approve minutes from the prior Trustee meeting passed unanimously.  Roger made the motion and Carrie seconded it.

1. Wornick School Administration System: - Barbara Gereboff

Barbara reported to the Board that the School’s Data Management is stored in five different places, and do not speak to each other, therefore, it is not efficient.  The financial need to store all data in one system is $60,000.  Currently, Barbara is looking into either Blackbaud or Veracross.  Concern was expressed for spending the entire $60,000 all at once and Barbara was asked to look into spreading out this expense.  There is also a $10,000 cost for ongoing maintenance of this type of a database.  The hope is to have this expense spread out over three years. Barbara expressed the imminent need of getting this in place very soon so for the next school year, the administrative staff can start fresh.  There is a 0 surplus for this Fiscal Year end.  There is an anticipated surplus for the next Fiscal Year end.  This expense should be included for the next School Year’s budget.

Barbara committed to going back to the Tech Committee to find out if anyone within that committee could negotiate a better deal as well.  Barbara would like this implemented in September and mentioned that the two companies needed answers right away.  We might have the cash for this expense in June.

Fred will look at the fiscal cycles of these companies to see if there is a financial advantage to negotiating at a different time, such as December, 2012. A vote for this expense will happen at the May Board Meeting. Jeremy Verba proposed a Motion as such:  “We, the Wornick Board, give Barbara and the school the authorization to spend up to $70,000 for this new software/data management purchase with the one caveat being that we, the Board, are doing everything we can to get the price down before the actual purchase of said software/data management system”.

This motion was seconded and then was passed.

1. Discussion of Land Purchase and Board Contributions: - All

The City of Foster City has approved the purchase of the land, and now we need to raise the money.  

Part I request from Joelle:  We need more people out there asking people.  We need more people to volunteer to do a meeting a month. Our ultimate goal is $12 million.  There has been receptivity to this type of ask.  Question from Joelle: Will you ask people to contribute meaningfully to the purchase of the land?

A list of targeted donors will be shared with those who would like to be involved with the asks.  Joelle asked who would like to participate.  The following Board Members volunteered to join Joelle and Barbara with these asks:

Jeremy

Sharon

Carrie

Shawn

Roger

Discussion ensued regarding Naming Opportunities.  Larger donors are being approached.  Deborah Pinsky has the list of naming rights/opportunities and this list will be shared by Joelle to those who would like to be part of the larger capital asks.  Jeremy asked about a brick wall with each brick being a naming opportunity/fundraising opportunity.  Barbara mentioned that we are in the ‘silent phase’ of asking our larger donors, and the smaller donation opportunities are forthcoming.  Currently Barbara is showing $250,000 naming opportunities and up.

Part II request from Joelle regarding the land purchase:

We are applying to a number of Foundations.  A requirement of the Foundation is to know how the Boards of the two organizations are supporting this land purchase.  We need 100% Board support.  Outside of the Annual Campaign, what we are needing is a minimum of $500/year minimum for the next 5 years.  Joelle needs an email (or Lindsay needs an email) from each Board Member committing that they are in to participate and at the minimum level.  We need $100,000 commitment from our Board.  Barbara will forward the document to the Board to sign up for this.

Fred: Some of the large Foundations and donors are looking to what the Board’s commitment is. 

The Board committed to getting back to Barbara within the next 5 days about this.  Joelle will send out the materials within 36 hours.

Enrollment:

Sharon asked about attrition.  Barbara is tracking the overall number of enrollments.  Calling of people who do not have their contracts in.

Lower in Kindergarten than originally predicted.  Kinder is predicted at 32.

Middle School – 6^th grade is about at 20 kids.

Sharon asked: What’s going on with Tuition Assistance? – 1^st round of appeals are done.  2^nd round of appeals are in process.  The process has been tough.  Are current students going to be turned away based on the increase of tuition assistance this year?  Fred:  We haven’t turned away anyone yet.  Haven’t received all the contracts back in yet.  Barbara:  All people are being called.  People on the cusp are being worked with.  We are still well within the Tuition Assistance budget.

It is a blind, needs-based process.

Yaniv: Is the same amount available this year as last year?  His question was answered that yes, it is the same as last year.  He voiced the concern of the Israeli community conflating Tuition Assistance with the land purchase.

The land purchase has nothing to do with the tuition assistance budget.  Tuition Assistance is completely needs based.

Yaniv mentioned that he felt the Israeli community needed clarification of how the criteria was determined and implemented.  He expressed that there is significant differentials in the criteria from year to year that needs to be explained.  There will be financial planning offered by Barbara in the fall to help alleviate these concerns. 

IV: Executive Session:- All

The Board then met in Executive Session which began at 8:25 pm.  Items were discussed and questions asked and answered.

Executive Session adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Josh Smith

RCWJDS Board Secretary 2011-2012

May 16, 2012