1. Call to Order, Roll Call and Recognition of Visitors and Board Co-Chairs
   • Alekej Abyzov: Present
   • Mark Eilers: Present
   • Ivanna Gradinar: Absent
   • Julia Ishanova: Absent
   • Paul Kinsley: Present by phone until 6:47
   • Yelena Kurdyumova: Absent
   • Elizaveta Lindman: Present
   • Christian Schmidt: Present
   • Andrew Wood: Present
   • Yelena Hardcopf, Executive Director, ex officio board member.
   • Visitors in attendance: Nicole Nelson of IQS authorizer representative.
2. Approval of the Agenda for this meeting
   Motion to accept the agenda as written.
   Motion by Andrew Wood
   Seconded by: Christian Schmidt
   5-0-0
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. Reports
   
   1. Director report
      1. 105.3 students
         • Our school gained one student one week ago and lost one student.
      2. Student achievement
         • Quarter two is over. Access testing has begun. Testing will be done at the end of February.
         • Our teachers and administrators are worried about missed school and how this will impact student achievement.
      3. Other reports:
         • The due date to submit paperwork for audit findings is coming up.
         • A group of students took part in a community project. The students took part in a program called Russian soul on February 9th. Students danced and played historical games.
   2. Financial Report
      1. Monthly Finance Report
         • Deficit of $17,575.00 in Fund 01.
         • Deficit of $3,265.00 in Fund 02
         • The school has $12, 165.00 in accounts receivable.
         • We borrowed $15,000 dollars in order to make payroll for February 16 payroll date. Teachers would have had to wait until the 19th to be paid if we had not done this.
         • As of February 19th, the school had a total cash balance of $9,0072.
      2. Line of credit transfer
         • Mentioned above in about money borrowed to make payroll.
6. Consent Agenda
   1. Minutes of January 15, 2019 Board meeting
   2. Financials January 2019
      Motion to approve the consent agenda with minutes for the January 15, 2019 board meeting with the highlighted corrections and the Financials for January 2019.
      Motion by: Alexej Abyzov
      Seconded by: Christian Schmidt
      5-0-0
7. Old Business
   1. School development
      1. Saturday enrichment program
         • School Saturday enrichment was delayed because we did not get enough students to run the programs at a break-even cost. In addition, a teacher previously committed dropped out of teaching Saturday classes.
      2. Preschool program
         • IQS and the preschool application. We set a time 2-21-2019 for meeting about preschool and the program was denied. The idea of paid program was briefly discussed.
         • The school needs to have planning for preschool and volunteers committed to shepherd this to completion
         • A question about why we did not get approval. Milo will talk to Yelena on Thursday about the findings to learn why we did not get approval.
         • There is an affidavit and our school would like to see the document so we could help.
         • Our side of the document to get a preschool was well reviewed. We want to know why we were rejected.
8. New Business
   1. Next school year enrollment projections and programming needs
      • Twelve students have signed up for kindergarten for next year. We may end up with 120 kids’ total grades K-8. We will create a budget based on 115 to be safe. We may need to add or subtract from our current staffing.
      • Books for fifth graders was discussed as the incoming class is over 20 students and our current supplies will not accommodate such a large number.
      • The school will meet with church representatives about rent and our enrollment. We had projected to have more at this point.
      • We have had fewer complaints about buses, but our school day is now quite long. Teachers are often here from 8am to 4:30pm sometimes 5pm. There was some discussion about starting early and finishing around 2-2:30pm. There was some discussion about simply not changing too much as it seems each time
        we make a big change we lose families.
   2. School policies review
      NS Wellness Policy: update
      Policy 2.5 Open and Closed meetings
      Policy 2.6 Acceptance and Administration of Gifts
      Policy 2.7 Executive Director Hiring Supervision and Evaluation
      Policy 2.8 Tort Liability
      Policy 2.9 Nepotism
      • The board discussed the above policies. There was a question about how a journal available to the pubic with all of the school board’s meeting minutes available for review by interested members of the public. It was determined that since our school posts all minutes on line that we meet this obligation.Motion to adopt updated polices 2.5 to 2.9.
        Elizaveta Lindman
        Andrew Wood
        5-0-0
   3. School calendar: snow days
      • The board discussed the large amount of school days missed because of snow and how this has impacted learning. The governor of Minnesota has forgiven some of the days missed but this does not help with our students’ overall performance. A board member asked if we have a policy on school closings. The board discussed the many factors that go into closing the school. One factor is that our students come from many miles away. If we fail to close school some kids will be on buses for two or more hours. If we close school early we have to close around 11:30AM to accommodate the bus company’s schedule and this results in little actual learning. There was some discussion about implementing E-learning days or giving kids extra homework in anticipation of school closures. The board agreed that we need to add some days to the school year to make up for lost days. This would likely be some Friday’s previously scheduled as being days off. The board discussed removing some study hall in middle school and replacing them with extra math, ELA, science, and social studies. The board gave the following advice to the director about making up missed school days. The board advises that some Friday’s should be added, and study halls should be replaced by extra instruction in core subjects.
9. Other
   1. Planning for March meeting: Director Evaluation
      • Personal committee needs to put a form on survey monkey in March or April.
   2. Planning for March meeting: Draft of next year’s budget
      • This will be based on 115 students.
   3. Planning for annual meeting: Board development committee
      • Alexej, Mark and Christian volunteered to be a part of the board development committee.
   4. Lease renegotiation/adjustment
      • The director will meet with the church to discuss our enrollment and rent increases.
   5. Personnel (Closed session)
      Motion to close the meeting at 7:53 to discuss personnel issues.

      Motion by Christian Schmidt
      Seconded by Alexej Abyzov
      5-0-0

      Motion to open the meeting at 8:15pm.
      Motion by Christian Schmidt
      Seconded by Alexej Abyzov
      5-0-0

10. Adjourn
    Motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:16pm.
    Motion by Christian Schmidt
    Seconded by: Alexej Abyzov
    5-0-0

ACTION ITEMS:

1. Planning for evaluation of the director
2. Draft next year’s budget
3. Begin a Board Development Committee
4. Lease negotiation and adjustment.

Next Board Meeting: March 19, 2019 – Nasha Shkola School
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.