Scattergood
Friends School Committee
Approved
Minutes
November 18,
1995
The
School Committee met on Saturday, November 18, 1995, at 9:00 a.m. on the
Scattergood Friends School Campus in West Branch, Iowa.
The
meeting opened with a period of silence.
Members present: Burt Kisling,
Alberta Kisling, Clarence Perisho, Barb Garlinghouse, Kay Meyer, Nancy
Peterson, Bruce Rohwer, George Welch, Ron Knight, Dana Harr, Dan Treadway, Paul
Buckley, Connie Clapton-Schumm, Jim Cottingham. Staff: Ken Hinshaw,
Ardith Tjossem, James O’Gorman, Dena Miller, Jan Luchini, Karla Hanson.
Minutes: Karla Hanson read the minutes from the September 16 meeting. Several changes were noted and a corrected
copy has been attached to the November minutes mailing.
The
agenda was changed to include:
1. Possible
tuition increase
2. A
special request for a tuition reimbursement for a student who left the school
Director’s Report: The Director’s Report was read by Kay
Meyer. Overall, Ken is feeling that
things are going well. The new
discipline system created increased pressure at the beginning of the year, but
things are relaxing on the day-to-day.
Current enrollment is 42, two of which are day students. One student is at the Monte Verde community
in Costa Rica until the 5th block.
Ken
also noted greater academic expectations this year. In the past a student could take as few as one academic class at
a time. This year students are taking
as many as five classes per week.
Language and math are now year-round classes.
Tuition Refund: Ken described the situation of a student who began the school
year and then abruptly left. According
to the parents, the reason she left was because of dissatisfaction with the
school. As a full-pay student,
$6,000.00 was paid at the time of enrollment.
The parents are pushing for a full refund. The school’s policy, as stated on the tuition agreement, is that
the first semester is not refunded, but the second semester may be.
The
School Committee approved a special 50% reimbursement ($3,000.00) based on the
unusual health and financial hardship the family is facing. Before the check is issued, the school’s
lawyer will first draw up legal documents to protect the school from any
further action or responsibility. It
was suggested that a parent handbook be created to explain all policies and
responsibilities of student’s parents.
Such a handbook was started by Robert Griswold, but has not yet been
completed.
Admissions: Dena Miller reported that
three new female students (two freshman from Minnesota and a sophomore from The
Gambia) have enrolled for second semester.
Dena
has been working hard to market the school.
A Scattergood display was set-up at a recent secondary school night, a
group of Iowa City students will visit in January, and Scattergood Weekend
produced one prospective. Scattergood
Weekend will be used as a marketing tool again next year. The school still suffers from
misunderstanding in our own area. Hopefully, more contact with the community at
large will change this.
Dena
has asked all community members for names of prospectives. Currently, 30% of the students come from
Quaker families, which is about the same as last year.
Financial Report: The Consultation Committee met on November 16 to discuss the
1994-95 audit report and the current budget.
Overall, the budget is right on target, although the school is
over-budget in some areas and under in others.
Over-budget items included auto insurance and food.
Notes
payable for the school is now at $136,000.00.
Even though $40,000.00 will come from the campaign, there will still be
a debt of around $100,000.00. The
primary goal of the annual budget to decrease or maintain that amount. Jan pointed out that $30,000.00 came from
capital expenses the last 3-4 years.
Ken
talked about the $75,000 anticipated cost of the campaign. He is now able to spend more time
fundraising as he is settled more in his position as director. The Capital campaign will be officially
complete in March.
Tuition Increase: When Ken became director, he set three major goals for
himself. They were:
1. Get
the school up and running.
2. Support
the campaign goals and go out and ask for contributions.
3. Achieve
consistent full enrollment and higher tuition revenue.
Ken
distributed Comparative Tuition Tables and lead the discussion of different
tuition income scenarios based on full enrollment. Approximately $400,000 tuition revenue is possible each year if
we achieve a goal of 60 boarding students and 6 day students.
Dena
prepared a list of other Friends’ boarding school tuitions and Scattergood has
the lowest. There is some worry that
people will not take the school seriously at such a low price. It is not outrightly apparent that the
student crews greatly minimizes the cost of running the school. Ken recommended raising the tuition to
$14,000.00 per year, which still keeps Scattergood on the low side. Dana Harr
emphasized that people need to be made aware that even though the tuition is
$14,000, not all students need to pay this amount. The group felt that no Quaker child should be denied admission on
the basis of financial resources. The
Committee agreed to turn this issue
over to the consultation committee and the director. The consultation committee shall make recommendations to the School Committee at the next scheduled
meeting.
Jan
Luchini, business manager, discussed the possibility of including fees in the
tuition. Presently students are charged
on an individual, per project basis.
Students from financially strained families cannot always take all the
projects available. The school
committee decided not to change the project billing procedures at this
time.
Kay
Meyer read the 36 points about Scattergood which Ken presented during
Scattergood Day, listing what Scattergood provides students and the challenges
faced by the school.
Birdie
Kisling outlined the Long Range Plan which was done during the last
retreat. Issues included: support for staff, students, and programs;
student housing; administration. Full
enrollment of 60 students was the vision of a well-functioning school. Presently, Dan, Ken and Birdie are the only
ones on this committee. We should keep
record of what progressed or regressed since the committee made
recommendations. A Retreat Committee
was established to make plans for March.
Committee members include Barb Garlinghouse, Nancy Peterson, Dan
Treadway, and Connie Clopton-Schumm.
INSTRUCTION
COMMITTEE: Dana, George and Connie met
to learn about what has been happening at the school and to set priorities for
the rest of the year. Items included how to serve international students
better, more effective teaching styles, and the library. Future topics include
policies for graduation requirements and how to deal with grading procedures.
FACILITIES
COMMITTEE: The most pressing
facilities issue is the boy’s dorm addition.
Staff housing needs improvement.
This committee will look into available Quaker architects.
FARM
COMMITTEE: Bruce Rohwer presented the
farm report. The corn yield was low
this year due to the weather. Next
year we will try to make better seed selections with help from the local
extension service. Increased hay
acreage was suggested. The feeder pigs
are doing great and getting top prices.
New Pioneer Co-op & SFS have a great relationship, but they want
about four times what we have been producing.
We need to decide what to sell and what is needed for the school. The greenhouse needs to be finished. Fruit trees are getting closer to production
with a few apples for the first time this year.
NOMINATING
COMMITTEE: Kay Meyer reported that
there has been no activity.
DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE: The School Committee
reaffirmed the need to hire a Director of Development to begin in May, 1996, as
recommended by the Development Committee.
The
School Committee agreed to accept shares of stock from the PQ Corporation,
authorizing Burt Kisling to sign the necessary documents.
The
School Committee adjourned at 2:15 p.m.
Karla
Hanson
Recording
Clerk