News & Announcements

School updates, important dates, and other notices.

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes: June 9, 2016

  1. Call to Order, Roll Call and Recognition of Visitors and Board Co-Chairs
    1. Yelena Hardcopf: Present
    2. Oksana Cox: Present
    3. Natalia Kormina: Absent
    4. Elizaveta Lindman: Absent
    5. Christian Schmidt: Present
    6. Ben Wallace: Absent
    7. Alex Brusilovsky: Present
    8. Paul Kinsey, Executive Director, ex officio board member: Present
    9. Visitors in attendance: Gedaly Meerovich, Mark Eilyer community board member elect.
  2. Approval of the Agenda for this meeting
    Approval of the agenda with correction to the student count number to 126.35 from 125.5.
    Motion by: Christian Schmidt
    Second: Alex Brusilovsky
    4-0-0
  3. Read the Nasha Shkola Mission and Vision
    1. Read by the director.
  4. Open Forum for members of the public wishing to address the board
    Mr. Meerovich emphasized the need to market the school.
  5. Reports
    1. Co-Chairs Executive Report- Results of Annual Board Meeting and Elections- (Yelena Hardcopf and Oksana Cox): Teachers:
      1 Year – Christian Schmidt (40) and Nichole Larson (17)
      2 Years – Yelena Hardcopf (52)
      3 years – Elizaveta Lindman (42)
      Community:
      1 year – vacant
      2 year position – Mark Eilers (43)
      3 year position – Alex Brusilovski (44)
      Parents:
      1 year – Alexei Abyzov
      2 years – Ben Wallace
      3 year – vacant
    2. Members recognized departing board member Oksana Cox for her commitment to the board, her helpful advice during her term, and her role in governing Nasha Shkola during its foundation.

      Motion to approve results of the June 2016 Nasha Shkola Charter School board election.
      Motion by: Oksana Cox
      Second: Christian Schmidt
      4-0-0

    3. Executive Director report, Executive Director Paul Kinsley
      1. Current Enrollment: 126.35
        1. Enrolment is holding steady.
        2. The school needs to increase enrollment.
        3. The number one reason parents cite in exit interviews is transportation.
      2. Present Challenges
        1. The school’s attorney informed the board that the contract with MCA is non-negotiable.
        2. The school will be looking into inspection of the building for mold and for overall air quality.
      3. Student Achievement (Yelena Hardcopf)
        1. Staff will attend a presentation on MCA individual growth in late June.
        2. Information from presentation will be shared with the rest of the staff at LIT Meeting.
        3. NWEA is completed and results still need to be analyzed by staff.
        4. Overall student achievement has made good progress.
      4. Staff Update
        1. All staff signed employee agreements for 2016-2017 school year.
        2. The board discussed the use of support staff as subs and how the board could assist staff in gaining a short term substitute teaching license to help with subbing over the course of the school to cut substitute teaching costs and increase overall stability during teacher absences.
      5. LIT (Yelena Hardcopf)
        1. The staff will be working over the summer meeting periodically.
        2. The team is currently occupied with combining SIOP with Formative Assessments.
        3. RTI fall under this umbrella as well.
        4. School K-3 Literacy plan needs to be developed and submitted to MDE.
        5. All staff are invited to LIT meetings.
    4. Financial Report
      1. Monthly Finance Report, Lisa Haseldon, Designs for Learning
        1. Fund balance is currently $143,846.
      2. FY 16 Cash Flow Update
        1. The school is about in line with projected spending for this time in the school year.
  6. Consent Agenda
    1. Minutes of May 12, 2016 with correction to the spelling of visitor Mark Eiylers name.
    2. Financials for May 2016

      Approval of the consent agenda 6.1 and 6.2.Motion by: Christian Schmidt
      Second: Oksana Cox
      4-0-0

  7. Old Business
    1. Nasha Shkola 2016-2017 enrollment projections and programming needs-124.
      1. The school had three options for cutting costs for 2016-2017. The board could combine classes, move fourth grade into rotation model (4th grade will be taught by subject specialists), or tap into the fund balance. The board choose to move fourth grade into rotation model as being the option with least impact on students in planning for the 2016-2017 school budget.
    2. Strategic Plan of Action for five years- wait for the new board to be seated in July.
      1. Tabled.
    3. Discussions of rent w/MCA for FY 17
      1. Tabled.

        Motion to table 7.3 and 7.4 discussion.
        Motion by: Christian Schmidt
        Second: Yelena Hardcopf
        4-0-0

    4. Review of Action Items
      1. None added or discussed.
  8. New Business
    1. IQS monitoring review and paperwork.
      1. The school was given a two-year contract with IQS.
      2. The school needs to put together a plan to improve areas of concern such as student enrollment, academic performance and school model.
      3. The school was noted for strengths in governance and finance.
      4. It will take time to improve and school should aim for steady growth.
    2. Approve FY 17 budget proposal.

      Motion to approve the FY 2017 Budget.
      Motion by: Christian Schmidt
      Second: Oksana Cox
      4-0-0

    3. Title compliance response. The school submitted a plan and must live up to the promise of that plan. The school must increase parent involvement possibly by holding meetings for parents and informational nights.
    4. New Horizons pre-school for FY 17. This is on hold until a teacher candidate can be found to work the part-time schedule.
    5. Air Quality and Mold Inspection.

      Motion to approve funds in the amount of $800.00 for mold inspection and air quality.
      Motion by: Christian Schmidt
      Second: Alex Brusilovsky
      4-0-0

    6. Results of Staff and Parent Satisfaction Survey. The surveys are being processes we have about 30-40.
  9. Other
  10. Adjourn
    Christian Schmidt moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:33 PM.
    Motion by: Christian Schmidt
    Second by: Alex Brusilovsky
    4-0-0

Action items:

  1. Parents surveys must be processed the board needs to go through 30-40 surveys.

About Nasha Shkola

Nasha Shkola — Russian for Our School — is an academically rigorous K-8 charter school, providing a highly-structured learning environment for students interested in Russian language and culture.

Contact Us

    School Info

    Nasha Shkola
    6717 85th Ave North
    Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

    Phone: 763-496-5550
    Fax: 763-424-8520

    School Hours
    Monday – Friday:
    8:30 am – 4:30 pm

    Office Hours
    Monday – Friday:
    8 am – 4 pm