Mountain View Academy

45 S. Moss ◊ Lowell, Oregon 97452 ◊ (541)735-1709

Board of Director’s Meeting

March 15^th, 2022

6:00pm – Executive Session

7:00pm – Public Session

Members of the public may listen to the meeting live by using the following ZOOM meeting information: Meeting ID: 967 1867 1133
Passcode: 031522

The public may submit written comments by email to mvaboardsecretary@mtviewacademy.org. Clearly label the subject line as: “Public Comment: March Board meeting”. The deadline to receive public comment for the Board to review, prior to the board meeting, is noon on March 15^th, 2022. The Mountain View Academy Board is committed to the public comment process and considers all comments from our community as valuable feedback.

The Mountain View Academy School Board encourages public input.  Persons wishing to address the Board on school related issues, are invited to do so, either when the item is presented on the agenda, or under the “Public Comments” section.  In the interest of time and order, presentations from the public are limited to three (3) minutes per person, and the total time for individual agenda items shall not exceed (21) minutes.  An individual speaker’s allotted time may not be increased by a donation of time from members of the public in attendance.  If you wish to speak under Public Comments, please complete a Public Comment Form and turn it in to Rita Fischer.  The Board requests complaints or charges against an employee be held in Executive Session.  Individuals who require disability-related accommodations or modifications to participate in the Board meeting should contact the Administrator in writing prior to the meeting.

AGENDA

1.0 EXECUTIVE SESSION – Called to order at 6:03pm

1.1 Pursuant to ORS 192.660(2)(i) To review and evaluate the employment-related performance of the chief executive officer of any public body, a public officer, employee or staff member who does not request an open hearing.

1.2 Pursuant to ORS 192.660(2)(f) To consider information or records that are exempt by law from public inspection.

Executive session adjourned at 6:54pm

2.0 OPENING OF PUBLIC SESSION –

            2.1 Public Session Call to Order: 7:01pm public session called to order

            2.2 Attendance: 

Julie Valencia, Board President

Beau Garner, Board Vice President 

Rita Fisher, Board Member 

Stacey Kelso, Board Member (absent)

Stephanie Johnson, Board Member

Jessica Cardwell, Director

Laurie Cardwell, Director

2.2.1 Guests: no guests virtually or in person

2.3 Approval of Agenda: Agenda approved as written.

            2.4 Approval of Minutes: February minutes approved as written

            2.5 Schedule Next Meeting: April 26, 2022, executive session at 6:30pm. Public session    at 7pm.

2.6 Budget: State school funding increase has not been added to our budget as of 2-28-22. The new rate will add approximately $35,000 to our 2021-22 budget.

– New, staff computers have been purchased.

– SIA grant money update, and ESSER III grant money update.

2.7 Financial Report: The board has received and reviewed their financial packets.

3.0 PUBLIC COMMENT – Opportunity for Citizens to address items not on the agenda. Persons wishing to address the Board on any school related issue not listed elsewhere on the agenda are invited to do so now.  Audience time is not intended as a forum for public debate. Questions raised may require further investigation. Normally, the board will wait until its next meeting before responding to concerns raised. 

4.0 ACTION DISCUSSION

4.1 Charter Renewal Update – Four topics that need addressed

• Handbook will be updated by Jessica this summer. It has not been updated since before the pandemic.

• IEP 504 wording on the student application needs addressed.  We are in compliance with what our charter contract asks us to have on our application. Once we renew the charter contract, we will work with the district to make any changes necessary.

• Preferences – once again, we are following our contract but depending on what the ODE says, we may need to adjust the lottery preferences in our next contract.

•Pre-Kinder admittance into kindergarten.  To remedy the situation that has occurred, Jessica is requesting a student specific MOU with the Lowell School District to raise the cap in Kinder to 18 – to present at the Lowell School District board meeting on March 28, 2022.

Beau Garner motions to approve the MOU between Mountain View Academy and the Lowell School District raising the 2022 – 2023 cap to 18 for one specific cohort. Rita Fischer seconds the motion.  Hearing no further discussion, the motion has unanimously passed.

4.2 Approve staff contracts for 2022 – 2023 – Not all staff contracts have been signed. Jessica requests that this topic be moved to the April board meeting.

5.0 INFORMATION AND STUDY

5.1 Board Chair report – Julie shared that Stephanie Johnson is up for renewal in June of 2022. She also provided the board with their 2021, Accuity audit packets and discussed the OSBA board conference in July to see if that was being offered in-person in July.  

5.2 Administrator’s Report – staff update, COVID protocol update, field trips, Ford Family Foundation grant, and state testing trainings.

5.3 Board Comments – Rita asked what the next step is with the Charter Renewal. Jessica explained that at the next district board meeting, on March 28^th, Kristin Miles will present her recommendation. The Lowell School Board will be voting to renew the charter. From there, the district and MVA have 90 days to finalize a contract – if a contract cannot be completed by then – the previous contract will stay in place. At this time, we have not heard from Kristen Miles regarding what MVA will need to do at the March 28^th board meeting.  

6.0 ADJOURNMENT – 

Public Session Call to Close: 7:45pm

Any documents that are public records and are provided attachments to public session items on this agenda are accessible to the public on the school’s website, with the exception of documents provided at the time of the meeting.  Documents that are public records and are provided at the time of the meeting to a majority of the Board regarding a public session item, will be made available for public inspection upon request to the Administrator’s Assistant.

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Mountain View Academy

45 S. Moss ◊ Lowell, Oregon 97452 ◊ (541)735-1709

Board of Director’s Meeting

7:00pm – Executive Session

7:20 pm – Public Session

Members of the public may listen to the meeting live by using the following ZOOM link: https://zoom.us/j/4646076264?pwd=WWsvamVJVlpua0pJN25uT0tSMFhwdz09 and passcode 011822. The public may submit written comments by email to MVAboardsecretary@mtviewacademy.org. Clearly label the subject line as: “Public Comment: January Board meeting”. The deadline to receive public comment for the Board to review, prior to the board meeting, is noon on January 18^th, 2022. The Mountain View Academy Board is committed to the public comment process and considers all comments from our community as valuable feedback.

The Mountain View Academy School Board encourages public input.  Persons wishing to address the Board on school related issues, are invited to do so, either when the item is presented on the agenda, or under the “Public Comments” section.  In the interest of time and order, presentations from the public are limited to three (3) minutes per person, and the total time for individual agenda items shall not exceed (21) minutes.  An individual speaker’s allotted time may not be increased by a donation of time from members of the public in attendance.  If you wish to speak under Public Comments, please complete a Public Comment Form and turn it in to the Rita Fischer.  The Board requests complaints or charges against an employee be held in Executive Session.  Individuals who require disability-related accommodations or modifications to participate in the Board meeting should contact the Administrator in writing prior to the meeting.

AGENDA

1.0 EXECUTIVE SESSION –

            1.1 Pursuant to ORS 192.660(2)(i) Director review discussion

            1.2 Pursuant to ORS 192.660(2)(f) Classified Staff

2.0 OPENING OF PUBLIC SESSION – 7:24pm

            2.1 Public Session Call to Order: 

            2.2 Attendance: 

Julie Valencia, Board President

Beau Garner, Board Vice President 

Rita Fisher, Board Member 

Stacey Kelso, Board Member via Zoom

Stephanie Johnson, Board Member

Jessica Cardwell, Director

Laurie Cardwell, Director

2.2.1 Guests: none

2.3 Approval of Agenda: Adding Executive session to the beginning of the agenda. 

             2.4 Approval of Minutes: Minutes approved as written. 

             2.5 Schedule Next Meeting: Next meeting scheduled for February 22, 2022 with an executive session at 6:00pm. 

2.6 Budget: Current numbers don’t reflect Grant reimbursements. Jessica will be working with Maureen on reimbursements later this month. Beau asked if there was a way to disseminate between expenses that will be reimbursed with grant money vs bottom line spending in the future?

2.7 Financial Report: The Board has received and reviewed their financial statements. 

3.0 PUBLIC COMMENT – Opportunity for Citizens to address items not on the agenda. Persons wishing to address the Board on any school related issue not listed elsewhere on the agenda are invited to do so now.  Audience time is not intended as a forum for public debate. Questions raised may require further investigation. Normally, the board will wait until its next meeting before responding to concerns raised. 

4.0 ACTION DISCUSSION

4.1 2022 – 2023 budget discussion – Initial proposed budget was discussed. Errors and questions were asked/found.  Items will be addressed and brought back to our February meeting. 

4.2 Approve the calendar for the 2022 – 2023 school year. – The proposed calendar we discussed last month was brought to the Staff for their input.  Jessica made adjustments based on staff input. The current calendar is a reflection of thoughtful planning and input.  Rita makes a motion to approve the 2022-2023 school calendar.  Stephanie seconded the motion. Hearing no further discussion, the motion unanimously passed. 

5.0 INFORMATION AND STUDY

5.1 Board Chair report – Secret Santa was a success, Director’s review has been sent out to staff and board members. 

5.2 Administrator’s Report :

• Enrollment update – 142 and 17 PreK students.

• Advertising – In January we began our advertising campaign for the 2022 – 2023 school year. I have ads in the Bridge, the Oregon Family magazine, and on Facebook. With only two available K – 8 spots and a PreK that typically fills up with siblings, we don’t have much to advertise for.

• Enrollment for 22 – 23 is coming up – Enrollment opens on February 1^st and runs through the 15^th. We are sending a family pack of applications home on February 1^st, for all our current students.

• “Tours” begin this month – We are not doing tours through our classrooms, but we are scheduling in-person meetings between families and directors.

• COVID impact – We have seen an increase in cases, since returning from break. Our families continue to do a fantastic job screening their students before coming to campus, keeping kids home when they are sick, and communicating with us if there is illness at home.  We have taken a very logical approach to everything COVID and doing everything we can to keep kids in class.

• Updated covid guidelines – RSSL guidelines were updated on December 13^th. CDC made isolation/quarantine updates (5 days) afterwards, so we should see another round of RSSL guidance being released soon.

• Charter renewal update – We have a virtual site visit on February 2^nd. OSBA is leading the renewal process and there are quite a few steps before we begin working on the contract with Lowell. The representative from OSBA is trying to gain a comprehensive view of who MVA is and therefore, she wants to “attend” a staff meeting, talk with board members, and she may reach out to parents. She then presents to the district who MVA is, how we navigated COVID, the programs we offer, etc.

• Formal Evaluations – In February & March we will be doing formal evaluations for our teachers. This was something that we waived last year. 

5.3 Board Comments – 

Rita: Is the middle school coast trip still on the calendar? Yes – 6th, 7th, 8th grade will be invited if current Covid conditions allow.  

Stephanie: Asked for clarification regarding the sports kids that have been exposed to Covid and how getting homework to these kids is handled.

Stacey: Thank you to the staff for the Board Appreciation recognition.

6.0 ADJOURNMENT – 

Public Session Call to Close: 7:59pm

Any documents that are public records and are provided attachments to public session items on this agenda are accessible to the public on the school’s website, with the exception of documents provided at the time of the meeting.  Documents that are public records and are provided at the time of the meeting to a majority of the Board regarding a public session item, will be made available for public inspection upon request to the Administrator’s Assistant.

Learn More

Mountain View Academy

45 S. Moss ◊ Lowell, Oregon 97452 ◊ (541)735-1709

Board of Director’s Meeting

October 26, 2021

7:00 pm – Public Session

The Mountain View Academy School Board encourages public input.  Persons wishing to address the Board on school related issues, are invited to do so, either when the item is presented on the agenda, or under the “Public Comments” section.  In the interest of time and order, presentations from the public are limited to three (3) minutes per person, and the total time for individual agenda items shall not exceed (21) minutes.  An individual speaker’s allotted time may not be increased by a donation of time from members of the public in attendance.  If you wish to speak under Public Comments, please complete a Public Comment Form and turn it in to the Rita Fischer.  The Board requests complaints or charges against an employee be held in Executive Session.  Individuals who require disability-related accommodations or modifications to participate in the Board meeting should contact the Administrator in writing prior to the meeting.

AGENDA

1.0 OPENING OF PUBLIC SESSION –

            1.1 Public Session Call to Order: 7:07pm meeting called to order.

            1.2 Attendance:

Julie Valencia, Board President

Beau Garner, Board Vice President

Rita Fisher, Board Member (via ZOOM)

Stacey Kelso, Board Member (via (ZOOM)

Stephanie Johnson, Board Member

Jessica Cardwell, Director

Laurie Cardwell, Director

                        1.2.1 Guests:

1.3 Approval of Agenda: Approve the agenda as written

            1.4 Approval of Minutes: Approve the prior months minutes

            1.5 Schedule Next Meeting: November 30, 2021 at 7pm.

1.6 Budget: Beau brought up the idea of switching the wording on the budget from, “revised” to “updated” or something similar. Board approved the updated budget. Discussed the reason that we went further into deficit spending.

1.7 Financial Report: The board has received and reviewed their financial packet.

2.0 PUBLIC COMMENT – Opportunity for Citizens to address items not on the Agenda. Persons wishing to address the Board on any school related issue not listed elsewhere on the agenda are invited to do so now.  Audience time is not intended as a forum for public debate. Questions raised may require further investigation. Normally, the board will wait until its next meeting before responding to concerns raised.

3.0 ACTION DISCUSSION

3.1 Approve the purchase of 10 staff computers – Current staff computers are six years old and are gradually slowing down.  Jessica and Laurie would like to purchase 10, new, Apple computers to replace the current computers before there is a crash and teachers are left without a computer.

Rita motions to approve the purchase of 10 Apple computers for staff. Stephanie seconds the motion. Hearing no further discussion, the motion unanimously passed.

3.2 Approve the transfer of funds from the Future Focus Fund – MVA has been diligently building the FFF for specific needs.  One of those needs has been making provisions for future technology purchases.

Rita makes a motion to approve the transfer of $25,000 from the Future Focus Fund to the technology line item of the budget. Stacey seconds the motion. Hearing no further discussion, the motion unanimously passed.

3.2 Approve the audit findings for 2020 – 2021 – The board went through the 43 items found by the 2020 – 2021 school year. Julie shared the praise that the auditors had for Maureen and her bookkeeping.

Stephanie Johnson motions to approve the audit findings for the 2020 – 2021 school year. Beau Garner seconds the motion. Hearing no further discussion, the motion unanimously passed.

4.0 INFORMATION AND STUDY

4.1 Summer School Board Conference recap – Stephanie Johnson  

Stephanie Johnson attended the OSBA Summer School Board Conference. She shared what she learned, the house/senate bills that had passed, and best practices for boards.

4.2 Board Chair report

• ORS 192.670 & House Bill 2560
• Bonus line item was discussed

4.3 Administrator’s Report

• Update on grants – 1^st quarter journaling completed.

• Staff Update

• Emergency Teaching Certification – The Teachers Standards and Practice Commission changed the standards to be a substitute teacher. We have certified 4 of our educational assistants to be subs for us.

• COVID Impact – 16% of our student body has been impacted by COVID exposures. Teachers are working extra hard to make sure that students have everything they need to be successful while learning from home.

• Charter renewal update – We are working to find a time to meet with Johnie on the Charter renewal. The district has been busy navigating the Vaccine requirement and 2020 -2021 audit. As things calm down, we are going to begin working on this.

• Field Trips – November (movie night cancelled). December (We are sharing Christmas Traditions with the students.)

5.0 ADJOURNMENT

Public Session Call to Close: Meeting called to close at 8:41pm.

Any documents that are public records and are provided attachments to public session items on this agenda are accessible to the public on the school’s website, with the exception of documents provided at the time of the meeting.  Documents that are public records and are provided at the time of the meeting to a majority of the Board regarding a public session item, will be made available for public inspection upon request to the Administrator’s Assistant.

Learn More