Scattergood Friends School Committee

Approved Minutes – September 12, 1998

The School Committee met on Saturday, September 12, 1998 at 8:00 am at Scattergood Friends School.

The meeting opened with a period of silence. Members present included Bruce Rohwer, Ron Knight, Burt Kisling, Jeff Kisling, Joe Davison, Dan Treadway, Janet Lemmerman, Donnie Morehouse, Deb Fisch, Lucy Hansen, Barclay Kuhn, Ted Welch, and Richard Johnson. Staff members present included Ken Hinshaw, Kara Hartzler, Nancy Ryan, and Dena Miller.

The minutes from the July 25 meeting were read and reviewed. The wording on a sentence describing the Quaker Family Network was changed to list Kathy, Lucy, and Alice as “members of the committee,” rather than “sponsors of that network.” Deb suggested that her name be taken out of the Nominating Committee report so as to read, “The Nominating Committee recommended” rather than “Deb suggested on behalf of the Nominating Committee…” Under the section on Term Limits, Richard recommended that the wording be changed to “…as long as the Committee is ‘bold’ in dealing with members who should move on,” thus eliminating the phrase “(members) who have served numerous terms.” The section on Proposed School Committee Dates was amended to note that the AFSC event was a regional 50^th anniversary. The Instruction Committee Report was changed to clarify the two National Merit Scholar students as “candidates for the National Merit Scholar Award.” Burt read a letter from Dana Harr stating that she did not think the July minutes adequately expressed her feelings regarding the absence of “disability” in the non-discrimination statement. Ken noted that “disability” has been put into the latest draft of the non-discrimination statement in the Staff Handbook since the July meeting. The School Committee agreed to file Dana’s letter along with the minutes of the September meeting to reflect her concern on the issue.

As this was the first meeting of the 1998-99 school year, School Committee members were given a short time to introduce themselves to the group.

Nominating Committee Report: The assignments for sub-committees were handed out, along with a schedule listing the term limits of each member. The School Committee approved the Nominating Committee’s choices for sub-committees for the 1998-99 year. Deb stated that she would like to remove herself from the Nominating Committee. Burt asked Bruce and Lucy to be on the Naming Committee, which will be suggesting possible names for the Nominating Committee. Several members also reaffirmed the commitment to, while acknowledging the difficulty of, recruiting people of color to serve on the School Committee.

Orientation of New Members: Burt gave an overview of the School Committee and defined its main functions as reviewing policy issues, hiring a director, and providing support and direction for the director. He also brought attention to the school’s Mission Statement and encouraged the attendance of Scattergood staff members at School Committee meetings. Ken welcomed the new members and gave an overview of the many positive things that are currently happening at Scattergood. A draft of the phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses of the Committee members was distributed and updated.

Director’s Report: Ken read the Director’s report and asked Dena Miller to give an Enrollment update. She reported that, after the loss of our two Chinese students who were denied visas and the recent acceptances of two girls, enrollment now stands at 54 students. This includes three day students and two five-day boarding students. Dena also called attention to the school video, information packets, and business cards that are available for distribution by School Committee members. It was agreed that a copy of the video be given to each monthly meeting and the representatives from other Yearly Meetings on the school committee.

Ken gave an updated report on staffing. Because of some shifting of duties, there was not a need to hire a seventh staff member as was previously thought. This helps to slightly ease the budget crunch brought about by a drop in anticipated tuition revenue, although there are still financial challenges ahead. Due to some last minute changes regarding enrollment, the projected tuition revenue has dropped from $425,000 to $365,000, which will make it more difficult for the school to balance the budget. A proposed modified budget was presented. Burt noted that, although there is a decrease in the payroll budget, this does not reflect a salary cut for staff but rather is the result of hiring fewer part-time staff members and eliminating the seventh full-time staff position. In fact, most staff did receive raises for the 1998-99 school year. The School Committee approved the proposed amended budget with the change of Promotion to $50,000, leaving an operation deficit of $30,000. The School Committee will review the budget again at mid-year.

Ken also noted several changes in the capital investments budget. The $15,000 slated for auditorium renovations has now been removed from the capital campaign; instead, Nancy will be working with several private donor sources to raise money for the auditorium. Burt suggested that items such as the auditorium also be listed in the written report in order to keep track of such projects. Concerning the money budgeted for vans, Ken explained that the safety concerns which were previously guiding the school to purchase 12-seat passenger vans have now been implemented in the new versions of 15-passenger vans. Therefore, the school would like to invest in one new 15-passenger van as opposed to two used 12-passenger vans. Several other purchases include a new amplifier for the bell system, seven new filing cabinets for storage of records, temporary carpeting for the new Science Building classroom, and a budget increase of $500 for the student lounge renovation. The School Committee approved the changes to the 1998-99 capital investments budget.

It was also noted that the signature cards from the bank, which determine who is able to sign checks from the school’s operating account as well as the Senior Store and Student Bank, need to be filled out. The School Committee approved Jan Luchini, James O’Gorman, Ken Hinshaw, Burt Kisling, and the clerk of the Consultation Committee (George Welch) as the 1998-99 check signers.

Development Report: Bruce handed out the Development report and briefly explained the need to apply for grants for technology due to the evaporation of the expected federal funds. The School Committee directs the development office to prepare and submit grant proposals seeking funding to complete the previously approved technology purchase plan.

The School Committee adjourned at 10:30 AM to attend brunch and a brief time of introductions with the Scattergood staff. Burt commented to the staff on the following; Long Range

Planning – Your input is needed, the school committee is interested in your views and opinions. Scattergood Friends School Committee Meetings – We encourage your attendance to at least one or more committee meetings per year. We want to get to know you and to hear about your goals and results you have had. Subcommittees – We have asked Ken to appoint one staff person and one student to serve on the following school committee subcommittees: Spiritual Life, Instruction, Farm, and Facilities. We encourage you to let Ken know of your interests. The Committee reconvened at 11:30 AM.

Instruction Committee Report: Richard distributed the Instruction Committee self-evaluation.

Long Range Planning: Burt noted the importance of moving forward on Long Range Planning. Although there was not time for discussion, he urged members to direct any input to clerks of the subcommittees.

ISACS: Ken stated that Scattergood’s efforts to address the two major ISACS recommen- dations — meeting specific health and safety requirements and conducting a full audit — are well underway and nearing completion. Burt shared a copy of his letter to Dr. Boyd, President of William Penn College, and suggested that the school make more such efforts in the future to communicate with Friends colleges.

Other topics: Various committee members expressed their support for the creation of a Human Resources sub-committee to handle issues of policy and personnel at Scattergood. The School Committee approved the formation of a Human Resources sub-committee. There was discussion over who would serve on this committee as well as what to do with members who wished to serve on the committee but had already been assigned to two committees. The School Committee decided that the Nominating Committee will assign members to the Human Resources sub-committee and explore the issue of expanding the rules to allow members to serve on more than two sub-committees.

The issue of reviewing the student handbook and approving the staff handbook was addressed, although there was some confusion concerning differing drafts of the staff handbook. The School Committee approved the adoption of the new non-discrimination statement including “disability.” However, there was insufficient time to fully explore concerns raised by several members. It was agreed that the Human Resources sub-committee would be an appropriate forum to review the staff handbook.

Technology Committee: Jeff Kisling gave the report which was followed by a brief discussion on the possibility of posting updated committee information on a website.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:20 PM.

Kara Hartzler, Recording Clerk