Scattergood Friends School Committee

Proposed Minutes - January 25, 1997

The School Committee met on Saturday, January 25, 1997, at 9:00 am on the Scattergood Friends School campus.

The meeting opened with a period of silence. Members present included: John Neff, Jim Cottingham, Connie Clopton-Schumm, Lucy Hansen, Wid Horner, Ron Knight, Dan Treadway, Bruce Rohwer, Deb Fisch, Richard Johnson, Kay Meyer. Staff members present included: Ken Hinshaw, Nancy Ryan, Dena Miller, Karla Hanson

Jim Cottingham served as Clerk in Burt Kisling’s absence. The minutes from the November meeting were discussed and changes were suggested. A final draft is included in this mailing.

It was noted that Elaine Hansen had spoken with Ken Hinshaw about finding someone to replace her as convenor of spiritual life subcommittee. Kay Meyer offered to contact Elaine about this issue.

Kay Meyer suggested that subcommittee reports be incorporated into the discussion of the Director’s Report in order to avoid repetitiveness. It was agreed that this be tried in the current meeting. Most subcommittees were not able to meet prior to this meeting or did not have time to prepare a written report and, therefore, no written reports were available from the consultation, spiritual life, instruction or nominating subcommittees.

Ken Hinshaw presented the Director’s Report, beginning with Admissions and Enrollment. Five new students joined Scattergood at the semester - four of them are new to Scattergood, the other decided to re-enroll after taking a semester off. Four students left the school by their own choice at the end of 1st semester. Current enrollment stands at 52 students. It has been an exceptional year, considering the fact that 36 of the 52 students were new to Scattergood. Dena Miller was commended for her fine efforts in recruiting quality students. Even though it is difficult to project the number of returning students next fall, we are anticipating approximately 35 returning students. With a reasonable expectation of 20-25 new students next fall, we will likely open the 1997-98 school year with 55 to 60 students. At present, approximately 37% of the Scattergood population come from Quaker backgrounds, 27% are international students and 8% are minorities.

Staffing: Deborah Suess, the minister of the West Branch Friends Church, joined the staff to teach Bible second semester. This was the only change in personnel. The staff were asked to complete a comprehensive mid-year self assessment. This form, along with the advisor log, are included in this mailing. Ken will use these for the upcoming mid-year conferences with each staff member.

Facilities: On January 12 the facilities committee (Bob Berquist, Ron Knight, Don Laughlin, Larry Marsh) met on the Scattergood campus. The committee agreed that the second floor ceiling drywall which had been installed by staff and students needed to be reinstalled, but felt that professional drywall finishing could continue on the first floor. It was noted that the committee was not trying to be critical of the work done by staff and students. Overall, the work done has been satisfactory, but the question of having future drywall professionally installed was raised. Members of the facilities committee indicated interest in working more closely on projects at the school. The washer and dryer have been installed in the girls’ dorm, bathroom improvements were done in West Duplex and Instruction Building apartment, and bids have been received for an alternative phone system. Ken is also working on tree planting options.

Farm: On the farm, the last 145 feeder pigs were sold, the ewes have started lambing, construction projects continue and planning for the summer garden is underway. The farm committee met and agreed that the custom farming of corn with Fawcett Farms should continue for the 1997 crop year. The School Committee approved the Farm Committee’s recommendation to purchase a Ford Ranger (or similar vehicle) to be used by the farm to transport produce. The School Committee authorizes Ken Hinshaw to secure financing of up to $15,000 to purchase a farm pickup.

Finances: The budget is 51% spent at mid-year and we anticipate finishing the year within the expense budget. Ken led a discussion about the structure of the Foundation 2000 campaign, the anticipated financal shortfall due to the addition of the development function, and the payment of the original costs of the campaign. The School Committee agrees that $34,000 in capital expenditures incurred during the pre-campaign year, and falling within campaign goals, be expensed equally over the four years of the campaign. The question remains about how to pay the $66,000 incurred when the campaign started. The School Committee asked that a joint meeting be set up with the Foundation Trustees at the next School Committee Meeting to disucss these issues and the general relationship between Scattergood and the Scattergood Frieds School Foundation.

Development: Many projects have been keeping the development team busy since the last meeting. The fall newsletter was mailed - complete with ISACS survey and a request for support of the annual fund. As of December we had received $42,000 in Annual Giving, which is $17,000 over what we had budgeted for the year. A phonathon is planned for the spring. Nancy Ryan will be spending several weeks in Florida meeting with Friends, alumni, parents, and monthly meetings. A major focus recently has been the New York Times Foundation Proposal requesting $20,000 over two years for the installation of new computers and programs. The School Committee agreed that the Development Subcommittee move ahead with this grant proposal. Nancy will continue working on proposals which specifically pinpoint the current needs of the school. The development database has been upgraded to Microsoft Access and is now being maintained by Karla in the main office. Special thanks go to Nancy’s son-in-law, Walter Sparks, for the tremendous amount of work he volunteered to get this database up and running.

At approximately 2:30 the School Committee went into executive session to discuss the contract with the Director and to appoint a committee to evaluate Ken Hinshaw. The School Committee offered Ken Hinshaw the position of Director for the 1997-98 school year and Ken accepted. Lucy Hansen and Richard Johnson will meet with staff, students and parents to evaluate Ken.

The discussion on the Capital Expenditure Policy was deferred until the next School Committee meeting.

Ron Knight presented a report from the Retreat Committee, consisting of Ron, Wid Horner and Kay Meyer. It was agreed by the School Committee that the retreat will take place on the Scattergood campus on April 11 and 12. The Retreat Committee presented a draft of the two-day retreat, and the committee asked Ken and the planning group to work out the details of the scheduling.

The meeting concluded with a moment of silence.

Karla Hanson

Recording Clerk