Minutes of Meeting Conducted April 27, 2010

Trustee Meeting #9 of 2009-2010 School Year

Trustees Attending Meeting: Maury Alcheck, Joelle Kaufman, Josh Smith, Jodi Chall, Sharon Blau Hartley, Aliya Gordon, Paul Lipman, Fran Lent, Madeline Benson, Don Newman, Kathryn Karp, Alisa Spivak, Irwin Bear, Rabbi Dennis Eisner, Mark Abelson, and Gina Rosenfeld.

RCWJDS Staff Attending Meeting: Susan Weintrob and Barbara Gereboff.

Guests Attending Meeting: Lily Avida

Meeting Minutes:

Alisa Spivak delivered the D’var Torah.

Joelle announced that she would like to conduct the board retreat as early as possible and that she would be circulating potential dates to everyone.

Joelle announced that the first board meeting next year will be on Thursday, September 16, 2010.

A motion to approve the consent agenda was seconded and unanimously approved.

A motion to approve asking Rabbi Dan Feder to join the Board was seconded and unanimously approved.

Barbara Gereboff announced that the School was designating a teacher to be focused on special needs education.  She also announced that the School was going to hire a teacher to focus on education for gifted students. 

Barbara gave an update re: enrollment as of today:

• 99 contracts have been executed and returned;
• 73 contracts are “pending” but expected to be returned;
• 31 contracts are “pending” and involve tuition assistance issues;
• 13 students have yet to make their intentions known; and
• 17 students are not returning.

Barbara said that, net-net, she is expecting the school to have an enrollment of approximately 216 students next year, but that figure is subject to change.

Madeline gave an update about the budget: the latest projections indicate that the budget this year is approximately $30,000 worse than projected.

A motion to pay off a note payable to the North Peninsula Campus in the amount of $59,000 was seconded and approved unanimously.

A motion to approve the 2010-2011 budget based upon an enrollment of 217 students was seconded and approved unanimously.

Joelle asked each Trustee to identify at least one (1) person for Deena to talk to about supporting the School.

Joelle led a lively and animated discussion about whether or not to include a member of the faculty on the Board.  No conclusion was reached.

Joelle led a discussion about Wornick’s 25^th anniversary year (2010-2011).  Several interesting ideas were discussed.

A motion to transfer all School credit cards from Susan to Barbara was seconded and approved unanimously.

Several Trustees thanks Susan for her service to the School (this being her last Board meeting).   Susan expressed her gratitude and wished the school well.

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 9:14PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Josh Smith

RCWJDS Board Secretary 2009-2010

May 7, 2010

Minutes of Meeting Conducted on March 24, 2010

(Trustee Meeting #8 of the 2009-2010 school year)

Trustees Attending Meeting: Maury Alcheck, Joelle Kaufman, Josh Smith, Jodi Chall, Dana Spanger, Sharon Blau Hartley, Aliya Gordon, Paul Lipman, Fran Lent, Madeline Benson, Don Newman, Marty Izenson, Ilan Jude, Kathryn Karp, Alisa Spivak, and Kathy Williams.

RCWJDS Staff Attending Meeting: Susan Weintrob and Barbara Gereboff.

Meeting Minutes:

Josh Smith delivered the D’var Torah.

Three 8^th Grade students made a presentation to the Board about their recent trip to Israel and talked about how special and moving the trip was for each of them.

Sharon Blau Hartley introduced the subject of special needs education and differentiated instruction.  Following Sharon’s introduction, Robin Raphael-Simke and Flora Kuperman of the Bureau of Jewish Education made presentations to the board about special needs instruction in general and special instruction needs at the Day School in particular.  Among other things, there was a recognition amongst the board members that such programs are time consuming, expensive and critically important. 

Marty gave a presentation about the school’s technology and the various needs associated therewith.  Marty then introduced a motion authorizing up to $12,000 to be spent on various technology items.  The motion passed unanimously.

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 9:22PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Josh Smith

RCWJDS Board Secretary 2009-2010

April 26, 2010

Minutes of Meeting Conducted on February 23, 2010

Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School Trustee Meeting

Minutes of Meeting Conducted on February 23, 2010

(Trustee Meeting #7 of 2009-2010 School Year)

Trustees Attending Meeting: Irwin Bear, Maury Alcheck, Joelle Kaufman, Josh Smith, Jodi Chall, Dana Spanger, Sharon Blau Hartley, Aliya Gordon, Paul Lipman, Fran Lent, Madeline Benson, Andy Fradkin, Don Newman, Marty Izenson, Ilan Jude, Kathryn Karp, Marc Abelson, Alisa Spivak, and Dana Spanger.

RCWJDS Staff Attending Meeting: Susan Weintrob , Barbara Gereboff and Bill Post.

Guest (for first portion of the meeting): Stacie Fradkin, Roger Feigelson, Roxanne Cohen

Meeting Minutes:

Susan delivered the D’var Torah.

Several 7^th Grade students made a presentation to the Board about their Tzedakah project.  Each student explained their project to the Board and told the Board why they thought it was important.  The students then appealed to the Board for financial support of their projects.  Last year, the 7^th grade raised approximately $33,000 for their Tzedakah project and this year’s 7^th graders are hoping to exceed that amount.

Roger Feigelson (Wornick parent and co-chair of the Jewish Community Federation’s Campaign for the North Peninsula) and Roxanne Cohen (Wornick parent and Director of the Jewish Federation’s North Peninsula office) informed the Board that last year, the JCF of San Francisco gave the Wornick School approximately $295,000.  With this in mind, as well as all of the other charitable activities that the JCF in engaged in (both locally and abroad), Roger and Roxanne “made the case” for the Wornick community in general and the Wornick board members in particular to include the JCF in their charitable giving. 

Paul Lipman made a presentation regarding Wornick’s fund raising activities.  Paul said that fund raising at Wornick is going fairly well but that the school still has a long way to go.  Paul also let the Board know that an anonymous donor has agreed to donate $1,000 for each class that has every member of the class make a donation to the school.  Kathryn Karp reminded the Board that the School will host a desert reception at 7PM on May 23^rd and that San Mateo Marriott that will honor Wornick’s teachers.

Sharon Blau Hartley made presentation to the Board re: the criteria the Board should use to select future trustees of the School.  A motion was made and unanimously passed to use the criteria that were presented at the Board retreat held on December 6^th, 2009 and recorded in the minutes from the Board retreat.  Sharon told the Board that several members of the community have been approached and have expressed an interest in serving on the Board, but that she would welcome suggestions re: other potential candidates as well.

Madeline Benson and Bill Post made a presentation regarding the school’s financial situation.  Bill informed the Board that as of today, the School is within approximately $10,000 of the budget.

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

The meeting adjourned at 9:30PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Josh Smith

RCWJDS Board Secretary 2009-2010

March 16, 2010



Minutes of Board, January 26, 2010

Wornick Board Meeting – 1/26/10

Attending: Joelle Kaufman, Maury Alchek, Andy  Fradkin, Madeleine Benson, Bill Post, Aliya Gordon, Dennis Eisner, Marty Izenson, Don Newman, Ilan Jude, Dana Spanger, Paul Lipman, Kathryn Karp, Susan Weintrob, Mark Abelson, Kathy Williams, Alisa Spivak, Jodi Chall, Brian Lipson (member of Finance Committee, not on Board)

Late: Gina Rosenfield, Sharon Hartley, Josh Smith, Katya Girgas (chair of Marketing Committee)

• Debi Seligman discussed the CAIS/WASC accreditation visit, the objectives and detailed schedule for the meetings 1/31 – 2/3, types of questions that will be asked, output recommendation and potential outcome (our expectation is for a 6-year accreditation with a 3-year progress report)
• Joelle gave a Dvar Torah on the week’s parsha
• The minutes from the last Board meeting were ratified
• Madeleine Benson introduced Clair Thomas of Armanino McKenna, our outside accountant
• Clair reviewed a presentation on the school’s financial position (year ending 6/30/09), required communications and benchmarking against peer schools
• It was noted that the cash held by the campus was not factored into the benchmarks – which would materially impact certain of the benchmark metrics
• It was noted that the school is highly efficient in terms of fundraising expenses as a % of fundraising revenues
• Clair noted concern about the school’s deficits going forward, especially given the school’s impact on the overall campus’s ability to meet its’ bond covenants
• Madeline Benson reported back on a meeting that she and Bill attended to review the combined financial statements for the campus.  The campus has real concerns that we will be unable to renew our line of credit in 18 months due to an inability to meet our covenants.  The campus requested that the school generate a plan to break even after debt service.  Discussion ensued on this topic
• Bill reviewed the December financials.  It was noted by Joelle that the amount of campaign contributions in the report was inconsistent with what is being reported in our development reports from Joanna Hafter.  Bill noted that we are approximately $30k over budget through 12/31/09 – before debt service obligations.  Discussion ensued on this topic
• Bill led a discussion on tuition levels for next academic year
  • It was noted that the model is highly sensitive to the number of students enrolled in the school
  • Discussion ensued regarding a number of the enrollment assumptions by grade. Bill noted that we need to set tuition, and then work to maximize enrollment
  • Madeleine noted a number of expense assumptions including a 3% raise for the faculty (there was no increase last year, in addition to reduction of certain staff benefits), discontinuation of 403(b) contributions and re-structuring of the business office
  • Brian Lipson asked whether we have any information on price sensitivity to tuition levels – the data here is anecdotal.  Bill noted that we are in the middle of the range for peer schools
  • Bill also noted that we give more tuition assistance than we raise in contributions.  Bill noted that 107 out of 217 students receive tuition assistance.  Discussion ensued on this topic
  • The Finance committee proposed tuition of $17,500 for grades K-5 and $19,800 for grades 6-8.  The proposal for tuition assistance was $927,000 ($885,800 of scholarships and $41,200 of professional discounts)
  • Discussion ensued regarding tuition levels, tuition assistance – and options for balancing the two under various scenarios
  • The proposed tuition increase was agreed by the Board
  • Maury Alcheck proposed a motion to cap scholarships at $800,000.  The motion was passed
  • It was decided to delay passing the overall budget until a later Board meeting
• Katy Girgas led a discussion of the results of the parent survey.  Some of the observations covered included:
  
  • Overall the school is doing well in terms of satisfaction
  • It is not possible to cut for 8^th grade in the “likely to return” question
  • Families who have been here for more than 5 years with 2+ children are an “at risk” group from a retention perspective
  • We have a large % of “satisfied” parents – and we need to move them up to “very satisfied” to positively impact retention
  • Various tactical ideas were discussed to improve parent satisfaction
  • The executive summary of the survey will be shared with the parent community in early February 

• Andy asked a question about the school tour statistics in Susan’s Head of School report.  Susan said that the differences in time periods were not material – we are seeing significant increase in all key areas of interest in the school 

• Joelle noted that Ron Wornick has increased his minimum gift to the school, and established an un-capped Rashi Challenge – matching all new Rashi gifts

• The Board moved to Executive Session at 8.40pm
• The meeting was adjourned at 9.20pm



Minutes of Board Retreat Dec. 6, 2009

Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School Trustee Meeting/Retreat

Minutes of Meeting/Retreat Conducted on December 6, 2009

(Trustee Meeting #5 of 2009-2010 School Year)

Trustees Attending Meeting: Maury Alcheck, Joelle Kaufman, Josh Smith, Jodi Chall, Dana Spanger, Sharon Blau Hartley, Aliya Gordon, Kathy Williams, Paul Lipman, , Fran Lent, Madeline Benson, Andy Fradkin, Don Newman, Gina Rosenfeild, Marty Izenson, Ilan Jude, .

RCWJDS Staff Attending Meeting: Susan Weintrob

Retreat Facilitator: Nate Levine

Meeting Minutes:

Susan delivered an eloquent D’var Torah.

Sharon introduced Nate Levine, who moderated and let the board retreat. Nate raised many points and led several discussions around a variety of issues that the Board faces.  Two key questions Nate posed are:

• Why are people passionate about Wornick?
• How does each trustee contribute to the success of Wornick?

Nate suggested that the Board has a role in governing the school as well as being an entity that supports the organization that supports the school. 

Nate led a discussion about the most critical components of an effective board.  The group agreed that the following components were critical to the Wornick Board being successful:

• Engage in strategic planning;
• Discuss substantive issues with healthy debate;
• Engage in responsible financial planning;
• Be ethical in treatment of staff, students, parents and fellow board members;
• Value transparency;
• Respect confidentiality;
• Be friendly;
• Have honest and candid self-assessments;
• Arrive at decisions via consensus;
• Introduce new board members to the board and make clear to them what expectations are (both financial and otherwise);

Nate then led a healthy discussion re: Overall Board Responsibilities.  The participants agreed that the following items should be included in a list of board responsibilities:

1. Shape and approve mission (purpose, values, vision and primary goals) and strategic direction;
2. Ensure effective organizational planning and engage in policy decisions;
3. Review and evaluate success of the school’s educational and extra-curricular programs;
4. Select, support and annually review the Head of School’s performance;
5. Take responsibility for financial stability and future organization including approving and monitoring budgets;
6. Exercise fiduciary oversight to ensure risk management and proper use and investment of resources including preservation of capital assets and/or endowment;
7. Enhance the school’s public standing and reputation;
8. Ensure a fundraising plan and adequate financial resources are in place;
9. To partner with and support the school’s administration to ensure there is a safe environment (including an emergency plan) for staff and students;
10. Ensure fiscal, legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability;
11. Organize the board, its committees and functions to support effective board performance;
12. Review and maintain appropriate bylaws that conform to legal requirements and makes certain the Board operates in compliance with those bylaws; and
13. Ensure that there is effective communication amongst the board as well as between the board and the Wornick community.

Nate then led a healthy discussion re: Individual Board Member Responsibilities.  The participants agreed that the following itimes should be included in a list of Responsibilities of Individual Board Members:

1. Demonstrate a passion for and commitment to all aspects of the school’s mission;
2. Serve as an informed and articulate ambassador.
3. Make Wornick a top volunteer priority: prepare for, regularly attend and actively participate in board and committee activities;
4. Assist Wornick in achieving its fundraising goals by actively participating in some of the fundraising activities of the school including cultivating funding opportunities, soliciting financial support for the school, hosting events, facilitating introductions, signing letters, etc.
5. Provide professional expertise, support, and advice to the Head of School (or her/his designate) and staff by serving as a thought partner;
6. Work collaboratively and respectfully with other board members and staff;
7. Stay informed about the school and its financial health;
8. Review board information prior to board meetings;
9. Meet duty of care, loyalty and obedience standards of conduct and adhere to conflict-of-interest and confidentiality policies; and
10. Attend all Board meetings.

Nate also led a healthy discussion re: roles and responsibilities of the Board, Head of School, Staff, and the Board’s Executive Committee.  The categories of Curriculum, Mission and Strategy, Programming, Finances, Personnel, Fundraising, Policy, and Communications were all discussed in terms of levels of involvement, accountability and decision-making.

Nate then led a workshop on fundraising that stressed broad-based participation in all fundraising efforts.  Nate stressed that for any fundraising effort to be successful, there must be widespread participation from, the board, the parents, and the staff (in terms of soliciting funds).

While there was not ample time to discuss the Criteria for Board Recruitment (both Personal Characteristics and Skills and Experience), Nate passed out a checklist that included the following characteristic to consider prior to asking someone to join the Board.  Note: several of these characteristics may not be essential for any individual trustee to possess.

Personal Characteristics:

1)     Meets standards of conduct regarding duty of care, loyalty and obedience;

2)     Supports the values, mission, vision and strategic direction of the school;

3)     Prioritizes school needs over personal agenda;

4)     Communicates openly and effectively, listens well;

5)     Thinks critically and strategically;

6)     Is receptive to and provides feedback, including through periodic board self-evaluation;

7)     Is willing and able to participate effectively in deliberations, welcomes and helps resolve divergent views to create the best solutions (sometimes with a needed sense of humor);

8)     Works well with people individually and in a group;

9)     Possesses entrepreneurial spirit and is interested in strengthening the school;

10)Commands the respect of colleagues, possesses personal integrity and is of good moral character;

11)Has the necessary time to dedicate to active board service, and is responsive to trustees and staff; and

12)Has desire and commitment to bring resources, expertise and relationships to bear for RCWJDS.

Skills and Experience:

1)     Jewish community involvement;

2)     Non-sectarian community involvement;

3)     Jewish education and knowledge;

4)     Business/Finance/Investment expertise;

5)     Legal expertise;

6)     Marketing expertise;

7)     Governance expertise;

8)     Likelihood of making a substantial gift;

9)     Ability to be helpful in fundraising;

10)Advocacy; and

11)Demographic: Geography, Gender, Age, Other.

Andy introduced the concept of a donor subsidized voucher program whereby families are asked (but are NOT obligated to) make a contribution to the School in an amount equal to a voucher they may receive that would entitle them to a discounted tuition.  There were a few questions about the concept and Andy asked that the Board approve a motion to explore the idea, which the board did.

Andy also introduced a motion to modify Wornick’s 403(b) retirement program to be fifteen percent (15%) as of January 1, 2010.  The motion passed unanimously.   

The meeting adjourned at 1:45PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Josh Smith

RCWJDS Board Secretary 2009-2010

January 24, 2010