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: Present (7:45pm)
   4. Elizaveta Lindman: Present
   5. Christian Schmidt: Present
   6. Ben Wallace: Present
   7. Alex Brusilovsky: Absent
   8. Paul Kinsey, Executive Director, ex officio board member.: Present
   9. Visitors in attendance: Gedaly Meerovich, PBlanca Sanchez of Minnetonka Christian Academy, and Lisa Hasladen of Designs for Learning.
2. Approval of the Agenda for this meeting
   Approval of the agenda with the addition of an address to the board from Blanca Sanchez regarding building facilities and a correction to the enrollment numbers in the executive report from 128.39 to 127.39.
   Motion by: Ben Wallace
   Second: Elizaveta Lindman
   5-0-0
3. Read the Nasha Shkola Mission and Vision
4. Open Forum for members of the public wishing to address the board
   No comments from public.
5. Reports
   1. Co-Chairs Executive Report- Yelena Hardcopf
   2. Executive Director report, Executive Director Paul Kinsley
      1. Current Enrollment: 127.39
      2. Present Challenges
         1. The school has received a line of credit from the bank.
         2. The school building was visited by an organization interested in sub-leasing a school during the 2017-2018 school year.
         3. To reduce costs our school could partner with the organization during the 2016-2017 school year.
      3. Student Achievement
         1. Our school recently completed the second round of parent teacher conferences.
         2. The second round of NWEA testing is nearing completing with only a few kids remaining to be tested.
         3. Our school recently completed a title services audit that the administration reported to be a good experience.
         4. Our school is beginning the process of doing reading benchmarking for students in grades K-8.
         5. The school needs to reschedule the astronomy presentation from meteorologist Mike Lynch.
         6. The school should hold a meeting for parents of middle school students regarding the decision to forgoes the creation of a high school for the upcoming school year.
      4. Staff Update
         1. Kristine Aritt-Montgomery was hired as our school’s new ESL teacher.
         2. Melanie Loso has agreed to teach 4th grade.
         3. Natalie Hansen has agreed to work as the school’s special education teacher.
         4. The above changes for 4th grade and special education will take place on February 22nd.
         5. Due to the above changes in 4th grade and special education our school has an opening for a special education para position.
      5. LIT (Yelena Hardcopf)
         1. The team is continuing to implement learning targets and to work on peer coaching.
         2. The school recently had SIOP training and as this is implemented it should be blended with the current implementations of the LIT team.
   3. Financial Report
      1. Monthly Finance Report, Lisa Haseldon, Designs for Learning
         1. The school has received 46% of adopted revenue or $689,951.
         2. The school has spent 49% of adopted expense funds or $694,040.
         3. The school had about $7,000 in deficit spending for January as expenses exceeded revenue.
      2. FY 16 Cash Flow Update
         1. The school has a fund balance of 178,367 of cash on hand.
6. Consent Agenda
   1. Minutes of January 14th, 2016 board meeting.
   2. Financials for January 2016.
   3. Approve work agreement for Kristine Aritt-Montgomery-ESL 1.0 FTE
      Approval of the consent agenda for the meeting including minutes for the January 14, 2016 meeting, financials for January 2016, and a work agreement for Kristine Aritt-Montgomery as ESL 1.0 FTE.
      Motion by: Christian Schmidt
      Second:Ben Wallace
      4-0-0
7. Old Business
   1. Nasha Shkola 2016-2017 enrollment projections and programming needs.
      1. The school’s student enrollment is steady and appears to have reached a plateau.
      2. The school needs to find a way to implement curriculum arcos the school.
      3. The budget for FYE 2017 is due in June.
      4. The board will need to think creatively with regards to staffing for the upcoming school year to in order to meet the needs of students, staff, and parents.
      5. The board discussed looking into acquiring more Russian language speakers preferably recent college grades living overseas looking for the experience of teaching in an American school.
      6. The school needs to start searching for a Reaching Corps replacement for next year.
      7. The board discussed the need to look into Ros Sotevolnichestovo for possible Russian speaking candidates for employment.
      8. The board discussed the need to look into connections with the U of M Slavic Studies department.
      9. The board discussed the need to follow up with Amity.
   2. Contract signed with Kevin Peck to look for new building and sub-leaser for MCA. Kevin Peck is currently searching for potential organizations interested in sub leasing our current building.
   3. Develop strategic plan of action 5 years- tentative meeting 2/29/2016 at 7pm. The board discussed the scheduling for the meeting and decided to keep the date for now. The board will have finance training prior to the next meeting on March 10 at 5:30pm The board discussed the need to determine the time of the annual meeting, who wants to be on the ballot for election and how to get replacement candidates. The board discussed the need to recruit candidates among parents, teachers, and the community. Send a letter to the 8th grade parents about the
   4. Review of Action items
      1.  Finance training for board members around the time for planning the budget in March.
      2.  Plan annual meeting and recruit more candidates to run for the school board
      3. Post the enrollment information on the website.
      4. Allow teacher to petition the board for PTO compensation beyond the current seven days.
      5.  The board needs to re-read MACS policy section five.
      6. Vote on TSES must be on the website.
      7. Student services must be added to the website.
      8. Inform 8th grade parents of the board decision on not expanding to 9th grade next year.
8. New Business
   1. Report from Blanca Sanchez on upcoming maintenance to the school building.
      1. The report was presented to the board describing the projects currently underway, soon to be completed, and project for the summer.
      2. The board suggested looking into maintenance or repairs focused on air quality, tiles, filters, doors, and pest control.
   2. Approval of MACS Chapter 5 policies.
      1. The board discussed the policies.
      2. The board talked about the attendance and excused absences and possible changes to the language of the policy.
      3. The board also talked about the weapons policy and possible change to the language of the policy.

         Approval of Chapter 5 of the MACS policies with changes made to weapons policy to allow for the exception in case of tools used by workers at school for maintenance or food preparation and with change to the attendance and excused absences policy to accommodate students going on family vacations or other events with the expectation that students missing school must not be struggling academically and must complete all class work missed.

         Motion by Ben Wallace Second: Christian Schmidt 6-0-0

   3. MDE Title Audit Nothing discussed as this was discussed earlier in the reports.
   4. Approve of the revised budget for the FYE 16 school year.
      1.  The board discussed the revised budget and decided to table approval.
      2. The board needs to review the revised budget.
   5. Develop FY 2017 calendar
      1. The schools need more scheduled time for staff development.
      2. Annual meeting should occur at 9am in conjunction with services for the last day of school.
      3. Schedule an open house information night.
      4. The board discussed scheduling.
   6. . Director evaluation.
9. Adjourn
   Christian Schmidt moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:10 and move into a closed session for the evaluation of the executive director.
   Motion by: Christian Schmidt
   Second by: Ben Wallace.
   6-0-0
   

Action items:

1. The board needs to create a survey for parents about the school.
2. Invite parents to the talent show.
3. The board needs to schedule a parent’s night sometime in March.
4. The board may pair this parent’s night with the stargazing astronomy presentation from Mike Lynch.
5. The board needs to make sure to take attendance for the parent’s nights.
6. The board needs to add more staff development days to the calendar for 2017.
7. The school needs to send a letter to 8th grade parents about the school’s decision not open a 9th grade next year.
8.  The board needs to recruit parents, community members and teachers to run for open board positions.
9. The board needs to follow up with Amity.
10. The board should look into connections with U of M Slavic Studies program.
11. Start the search for the reading core replacement.
12.  Look into Ros Sotevolnichestvo for recruiting Russian speaking staff.
13.  The board needs to revise the improvement plan for the spring.
14. Potential for partnering with the organization that toured the school.
15.  The school has a line of credit.