Wornick Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes - January 16, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014 at 6:11AM Wornick Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes – January 16, 2014
Attendees: Roger Feigelson, Barbara Gereboff, Joelle Kaufman, Michele Stafford, Anne Steirman, Michael Berger, Jeremy Verba, Caren Neydavoud, Karen Wolff, Ken Meyer, Amy Sosnick Fred Weiner, Shaun Steingold, Karen Alexander, Carrie Ridge, Lara Druyan, James Dunn, Rabbi Corey Helfand
D’Var Torah: – Presented by Anne Steirman – Jethro – Yitro
Jethro gets his own chapter. Packed parashat. 3 chapters. Has 10 commandments in it.
Jethro sees Moses with a long line in front of them. He is mediating the disputes. Jethro says to Moses you are going to burn out.
He will set up committees, judges of hundreds, thousands.
Message: We don’t have to take on everything ourselves.
Minutes: - Carrie
Karen motioned. Jeremy seconded. Minutes unanimously approved.
Development Update: Lara Druyan presented
Chai Excellence Fund: We are still striving for 100% Board participation.
FYM: $4,800 left to hit our budget. Lara is asking for help.
Lara needs each trustee to sell tickets. We have sold 45 tickets so far.
Lara posted on Facebook. She got people purchasing tickets right after that. We have 3 weeks left to sell sponsorships. There are 2 weeks left to sell tickets.
Lara extended thanks to Shaun for selling a Maccabi sports sponsorship and thanks to Ken Meyer for personally sponsoring.
Admissions Update: Karen Alexander presented
Karen is satisfied with the conversion rate of turning visitors into applicants. She needs more visitors. 8 students have been accepted since school started this year. A handout was passed out for reference.
Amy wanted to know more about the kids who transferred here mid year.
Karen said she feels 5 out of the 6 applications for incoming 6th graders are solid.
She is convinced that the more people see the school the more they like it.
Karen was asked what two areas she is most focused on and what her concerns are. She said her greatest concern is getting more people in the door.
Kindergarten Parlor meeting – not one person rsvp’d for this. Invites went to PJCC parents. No one comes in the evenings. People are too busy.
Preschool Academy has been very successful. Fun, free and social. Happens on Sundays. Next one is on 1/26. Jeremy offered his help in any way.
Challenge: There is not a permanent director at the PJCC
PTS: Also a challenge at their preschool. Nannies, not parents, are dropping off their kids.
Finance Update: Presented by Fred Weiner
Would like to reiterate that in order for us to meet our numbers, enrollment and fundraising are the keys. Projected surplus per year is $100,000.
We all need to market the school.
Finance committee will be meeting in a few weeks. We are trending well and on budget. Looks like we will meet those numbers. Expenses are following suit.
Improvement for the kitchen doors will happen. A manual, not electronic, roll-up door is planned.
The Board approved the bond refinancing project and is working with the bank. Formal resolution needs a vote and approval.
Resolution to allow for the final authorization for the bonds when they are refinanced.
Motion: Roger motioned. Joelle seconded. Motion passes unanimously.
HOS Report: Presented by Barbara Gereboff
Parents surveyed 1 ½ weeks ago. 65 responses. Started looking at the data. Parents are not clear what teachers expect of them. Barbara wants to go through all the open ended questions. It is too premature to present about the data.
Accountability chart: Spoke to Charlene. Have to wait until report cards are completed.
Rosh Pina: Just got notes from Alana. Barbara is getting together with her in the next month. We need to work with the Hebrew/Judaic staff with regards to differentiation. Some rooms are over cluttered and over stimulating for children. Work plan will be done by March and then shared with the board. Those were all about meeting students’ needs.
Proud of goal of bringing in 3 new Rashi donors. 2 at $10,000, 1 at $30,000!
Received a generous donation of $7,500 to help with the Israel program. Also another $500/month is being donated to help with the Israel program.
Amy brought up that there may be a loophole with donations that go to the library. She is aware of a lapse of 5 months to get a thank you. Barbara said she would look into that.
Transitional K – 0 applications so far. Deadline is in another month. Informational meeting on 2/2 in the am for TK. It will be from 8:30 am – 1:00 pm. Goal is 6-8 students. 6 can make the program viable. There are clear cut standards from the state of CA for TK.
Strategic Differentiation: Presented by Joelle Kaufman
19 responses received for the survey.
Joelle did not participate in the survey since she is the analyst.
Wornick Differentiation Presentation:
What makes Wornick different?
We are talking about Karen’s challenge, not what current parents are talking about.
What is the strategic direction? STEM is one of many possibilities.
We are going to select 3 directions to focus on as group tests. We are creating a survey that will be sent broadly. We will have survey data and focus groups. This will be data driven and will take a few months.
How are we going to measure how we are uniquely different?
Focus group compilation: Jewish people, perspective parents, parents of older kids
We need to understand why people didn’t choose Wornick. Parents who are pursuing public school are our greatest population potential.
Top 5 Valuable differentiators:
Critical thinking started very young
Teacher quality and credentials
Education towards a greater personal purpose
Leadership
Asking questions and encouraging debate
Having strong academics is a table stake.
Least 5 in rank order – Top 5 least differentiators
Israel permeates the school
Jewish content
Second language
Public speaking
Havurot
The Board then engaged in a directed exercise – proving the differentiator
What constitutes proof of the differentiator?
Joelle asked that we all think about how we can prove the differentiator
Board members broke out into groups of three to prove what they were tasked with
Anne Steirman presented: Her group’s topic: Asking Questions and encouraging debate – Proof: history is taught from different perspectives, court of all times, Tzedakah project, ranking organizations, science fair, testable questions, happens in Jewish studies
Karen Wolff presented: Her group’s topic: Critical thinking started very young - non rote assignments, mission debate, encouraging students to make connections – Even in math there is more than one way to solve the problem, describing the process – Kindergarten did the city – what happens if one of those is missing, like the police? Writing – writing for a different audience promotes critical thinking skills - Bloom’s Taxonomy – starts with knowledge, comprehension, verbs that teachers should be using to push this along.
Lara Druyan presented: – Her group’s topic: Teacher Quality and credentials - Objective measures: Training degrees, educational accomplishments, ongoing professional development, extracurricular professional activity, external activity, accomplishments, and acknowledgements.
Barbara Gereboff presented: - Her group’s topic: Education towards a greater personal purpose Tzedakah project – youth philanthropy, service learning by grade (Havurot), buddy program, environmental awareness – interested in outcomes, graduates that engage in outside giving, tikkun olam, measuring social and political activism of our graduates
Ken Meyer presented: His group’s topic: Leadership - Tzedakah Project, Havurot, Peacemakers, Listening skills, service projects, social service, T’Filah
Joelle will take all the sheets and will test 3 things.
Strategic Direction Possibilities
Individualized Education where students discover their purpose.
STEM
Multi Lingual School
Physical activity oriented curriculum
Single Sex classrooms in some subjects
Create opportunities for a group of kids to do amazing things, i.e. Chess club, Science Club, Odyssey of the mind – these opportunities would happen DURING class time, not AFTER school.
We need to identify what we aren’t doing, that we can do, that people CARE about. Things that stand out.
Any additions to other Strategic Directions:
Feeding the mind, nurturing the soul, encouraging community (important things about growing up where you can get all three) – Jeremy
Barbara: Expedition/Experiential learning – project based learning
Michele: Trying to get the kids to understand the ‘why’ vs. just memorizing facts and testing well
Ken: Experiential, things leading up to the Tawonga experience – Tawonga is the best in project based learning
Michael – We are marketing to parents not kids.
Another Survey Monkey will come out from Joelle asking us to choose the 3.
Joelle will report back in February.
Land summary update: Roger Feigelson presented
There have been long discussions between the PJCC and the school. Roger updated the board in great detail with regards to where the land updates stand.
Board agrees to seek a 3rd party appraiser for the value of the parking lot.
Good and Welfare: Barbara Gereboff presented
We now have Board Member nametags and they will be kept in the office.
Lara is being honored by Harvard Business School – Northern CA – selected 100 local alums that are making a difference in their community. January 27th she will be recognized. Congratulations Lara!
Attrition Report Review is tabled for the February Board Meeting
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