News & Announcements

School updates, important dates, and other notices.

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes: August 20, 2019

  1. Call to Order, Roll Call and Recognition of Visitors and Board Co-Chairs
    • Alekej Abyzov: Present
    • Mark Eilers: Present
    • Ivanna Gradinar: Present
    • Julia Ishanova: Absent
    • Yelena Kurdyumova: Present
    • Elizaveta Lindman: Absent
    • Christian Schmidt: Present
    • Andrew Wood: Present
    • Yelena Hardcopf, Executive Director, ex officio board member.
    • Visitors in attendance: Sergey Porada
  2. Approval of the Agenda for this meeting
    Motion to approve agenda as written.
    Motion by: Alexej Abyzov
    Seconded by Yelena Kurdyumova
    6-0-0
  3. Read the Nasha Shkola Mission and Vision
    Vision:
    To be an academically rigorous school preparing students for continued success as motivated learners and global citizens.
    Mission: Nasha Shkola aspires to be a multi-cultural charter school committed to exceptional education in all areas of academic inquiry with an emphasis on Russian Language and Culture, providing structured and responsive learning environment based upon educational best practices for all students and their families.
  4. Open Forum for members of the public wishing to address the board
    • No public comments.
  5. Installation of New Board Members
    Marina Condratiuc (Parent) 2019-2020 term
    Elizaveta Lindman (Teacher) 2019-2022 term
    Andrew Wood (Teacher) 2019-2021 term
  6. Reports

    1. Executive Director report
      1. Enrollment 127 students in grades k-8.
        • Kindergarten=23 students, First Grade= 11 students, Second Grade= 20 students, Third Grade= 12 students, Fourth Grade= 13 students, fifth Grade= 21 students, 6th grade=10 students, 7th grade=10 students 8th grade= 7 students.
      2. Employment/staff update
        • The school has a new third grade teacher, Crosley Schultz. The school also added a Phy-Ed teacher, Yelena Durnev, for two days a week of instruction in physical education for grades k-8. A new Sped teacher has been added to the staff, Nicole Wahl, who will split time between teaching special education and working as para providing Sped services.
      3. Student Achievement and School Improvement (Yelena Hardcopf)
        • The board examined scores that have yet to be made public from the MCA in math and reading. Our school is doing well in math and is improving in reading. The school increased our reading proficiency by 15.6% to 65%.
        • The board heard about areas of concern such as fifth grade proficiency in math not increasing. We heard about an increase in reading proficiency for grades 3, 4, and 5. We heard about how to move forward with SMART goals. We will look into different ways to increase academic language. We do formative assessment; we have a LIT team.
      4. Other reports
        Russian Language Assessment and Middle School Biliteracy Attainment
        Award (World Language Proficiency Certificate)

        • Russian Language Assessment and Middle School Biliteracy Attainment. Yelena met with World Language and English Learner Specialist at MDE. NS will introduce Russian Language proficiency assessments to students in grades 6,7,8 in February. By the end of the eighth-grade, upon achievement of intermediate low language proficiency, students will be awarded a special certificate from MDE. Kids will be able to use it to count as a foreign language credit in high school. A certificate of biliteracy is a next step and will be at the high school level.
    2. Financial Report
      • General Fund 01 has balance of $51, 678.00
      • Fund 02 deficit balance of $1,087 for lunches. Seven snow days this year effected the cost.
      • Cash balance of $31, 699.00 in accounts receivable.
      • Fund balance of $25, 753.00.
      • This is based on 110 students ADM
      • Paul Kinsley has been paid for back wages forgone when he was director. Gedaly Meerovich will be fully paid off by October, 2019.
        Motion to approve a transfer of funds totaling $1,154.08 from General Fund 01 to Fund 02 to eliminate the previous year’s negative balance.

        Motion by: Alexej Abyzov
        Seconded by Andrew Wood
        6-0-0

  7. Consent Agenda
    1. Minutes of June 18, 2019 Board meeting
    2. Financials May 2019
    3. Approval of new Teacher Work Agreements:
      Crosley Schultz 1.0 FTE (3rd grade teacher)
      Yelena Durnev .25 FTE PhyEd Teacher K-8
      Nicole Wahl .5 FTE SPED Teacher and .5 FTE SPED Para
      Motion to approve of minutes from the June 18, 2019 meeting, financial reports from May 2019, and employee agreements for the new staff listed above.

      Motion by: Alexej Abyzov
      Seconded by Yelena Kurdyumova
      6-0-0

  8. New Business
    1. Review and appoint board committees, their representatives and appoint board officers.
      • The board discussed jobs for board members. Andrew agreed to be secretary after mentoring from previous secretary Christian.

        Motion to appoint Andrew as secretary for the upcoming year all other board positions will remain the same with Julia as treasurer.
        Motion by: Alexej Abyzov
        Seconded by Yelena Kurdyumova
        6-0-0

    2. Board activity calendar 2019-2020 & Board training requirements
      • The board examined the activity calendar for 2019-2020.

        Motion to approve of the Board Activity Calendar for 2019-2020.
        Motion by Yelena Kurdyumova
        Seconded by: Alexej Abyzov
        6-0-0

    3. Strategic Plan: setting annual goals
      -School development
      -Strategies for increasing enrollment

      • The board discussed the strategic plan and agreed that enrollment must be our school’s number one priority. The board also agreed that we should seriously think about changing the name of our school to attract a more diverse group of students.
      • The board talked about how costly transportation is and how we can find ways to lower our transportation costs. The board also agreed that there should be a strategic planning meeting about once a month. The board members brainstormed names for the school.
    4. Schoolwide Improvement Plan 2019-2020 – approval
      Motion to approve of the schoolwide improvement plan 2019-2020.
      Motion by Yelena Kurdyumova
      Seconded by Andrew Wood
      6-0-0

       

    5. K-3 Literacy Plan 2019-2020- approval
      Motion to approve the K-3 Literacy Plan for 2019-2020.
      Motion by Andrew Wood
      Seconded by Yelena Kurdyumova
      6-0-0
  9. Monthly contribution toward health insurance premium (Closed Meeting)
    Motion to enter a closed meeting at 8:15pm to discuss NS contribution to staff health insurance premiums.
    Motion by Christian Schmidt
    Seconded by: Alexej Abyzov
    6-0-0

    Motion to open the meeting at 8:29pm.
    Motion by Christian Schmidt
    Seconded by: Alexej Abyzov
    6-0-0

    • The board discussed health insurance rules from the government. According to these rules we must pay 50% percent of a health insurance premium for any staff. The board discussed how to make sure both older employees and younger employees benefit equally.

      Motion to adopt a $250 credit to all employee health insurance premiums until premiums reach $500 dollars at which time the school pay the cost of ½ of the premium.

      Motion by Alexej Abyzov
      Seconded by Yelena Kurdyumova
      6-0-0

  10. Other
  11. Adjourn
    Motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:36pm.
    Motion by Christian Schmidt
    Seconded by Yelena Kurdyumova
    6-0-0

ACTION ITEMS!!

  1. Schedule meetings for strategic planning.

The Nasha Shkola Board meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 6:30PM. 
The Finance Committee meets at 5:30 prior to the board meeting.

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