Stakeholder Meeting

Welcome

Agenda

• Upcoming Elections: Candidates• Survey-Early Results• Future Plans• Current information about PACT– Finances– Authorizer– Transportation– Staff Changes– Technology– Facilities

Elections 2014

• All elected terms are for 2 years. • Terms are staggered to provide stability• Members appointed midterm must stand

for elections for the remainder of a term

Personnel Committee

• Comprised of 5-7 elected parents, the Executive Director, and the HR Specialist (4 open)– Becky Fisher– Carrie Hemp– Jack Hudson– Renee Volk

Budget and FinanceCommittee

• Comprised of 6 elected parents and the Board Treasurer, the Executive Director and the HR/Finance Manager (2 open)

– Kevin Lee– Patti Olson– Scott Smith

Board of Directors

• Comprised of 10 directors:– 4 elected parents (including the Board Treasurer), – 5 elected teachers– 1 elected community member– Executive Director, ex-officio non-voting member

Candidates

• Parent Candidates– Joe Field– Josh Pangier– Dan Podoll

• Board Treasurer Candidate– Brad Bozich

Candidates

Three open teacher seats: 1 Elementary, 1 Secondary, 1 At-Large– Kaye Barry (Elementary Art)– Josh Coleman (Secondary Science)– Rob Ledo (Secondary Social Studies)– Mary Levy (K-12 Special Ed)– Marcy Tipton (Elementary Classroom Grades 1-2)

PACT Survey Results

Jan 28-Feb 18, 2014

Stakeholder Survey

• Purpose: – To gather feedback from the PACT community

regarding future programming options and possible expansion

• Method:– Survey Monkey– 11 questions sent to all PACT parents– Distributed 1/28/2013– Initial analysis on data collected as of 2/17/2013

Results: Questions 10-11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 170

5

10

15

20

25

30

Years at PACT

Freq

uenc

y

n = 127 (3 skipped)

Percentage72% 28% 54%

Elementary Both Secondary

Results: Questions 1-3

1. What keeps you at PACT? (n=130)

Small class sizes 86%Small school 75%Emphasis on character 75%

2. Items most important (n=129)

Small class size 35% 26% 17%Emphasis on character 26% 24% 21%Teaching staff 24% 21% 15%Special ed. services 24% 12% 24%

3. If you considered leaving, what would keep you? (n=67)

More academic options (e.g. CIS, AP, STEM) 42%

Results: Questions 4-6

1. Support for expansion at PACT (n = 130)

– ~50% support (in some form)– ~25% oppose

2. Would you enroll your student in an online school? (n=129)

3. Why go PSEO? (n=83)

Save $$ 60%More Course Options 16%To get a head start on college/AA 12%Other (e.g. GPA, class rank) 12%

Yes

No30%

70%

Results: Questions 7-9

7. All-day vs. half-day Kindergarten (n=75): ~50/50 split8. Support for college-level courses (n=127)

Support OpposeCIS 72% 5%AP 78% 6%STEP Electives 61% 3%

9. Likely to take advantage of options (n=125)

Likely UnlikelyCIS 84% 16%AP 80% 20%STEP Electives 68% 32%

The Future of PACT Charter School

—Why Consider Expansion?

• Secondary Class sizes are too small to allow us to offer many options for electives or for higher level coursework.

• Expanding could help us to increase our academic offerings at secondary, possibly including programs such as College in the Schools (CIS), Advanced Placement (AP), Internet shared classes, or more support for College Level Examination Programs (CLEP).

• With our current small size we cannot absorb the loss of students that occurs in secondary and must continue to add new students even in 11th grade. – When new students are introduced in the higher

grades, it can be more difficult for them to be successful and it affects cohesiveness of the class as well as test scores.

• It is increasingly difficult to provide for long-term income and career growth for our teachers and staff. – Disparity between what PACT can afford to pay

and what our teachers could make elsewhere increases with time. This is a problem that will only be solved by increasing our funding.

• Large waiting list– This represents potential income to others in the

charter school business. This could bring competition from larger Charter School organizations.

• Shortage of space for Phy. Ed., Title program, music, and drama programs – Title teachers meet in the commons area in

cubicles– Elementary music and art are on a cart

We have been very creative in how we have expanded within our building, but we are running out of options and it is a problem for learning.

• Desire to decrease class sizes at elementary. By adding one class at each grade level in elementary, we could reduces class sizes across the board. – One possibility would be 3 classes at each level:

K 18 students each1st-2nd 20-22 students each3rd-6th 22-24 students each

Okay, but these have been issues for a while, why now?

• PACT was recently designated a Highly Qualified Charter School by the Minnesota Department of Education.

• They have made money available for charter school expansion, as much as $225,000/year for 3 years.

• Opportunity at Northgate Church– Willing to work with us to build an addition to

their building that would meet our needs. Size would be approximately equal to half of our current classroom space.

– It would be irresponsible to ignore this possibility. We must explore the options.

What would expansion look like?

It needs to look like PACT: Anything changes must be consistent with our mission and our vision.

The Mission of PACT Charter School is to:• Prepare students for college and life-long

learning;• Promote positive character development; and• Pursue a community atmosphere of mutual

respect.

The Vision of PACT Charter School is to partner together as parents, students, and teachers in providing an innovative model of educational excellence for all students.

What are our options?

An Online Academy has been proposed as a stand-alone addition to PACT to provide a hybrid model of online education with teacher contact days 1-2 times per week.

To increase number of students at Secondary, expand at Secondary only, leaving Elementary as it is.

Expand at Elementary and reduce or eliminate the need to add students in the higher grades.

Lead time to plan for expansionTo build the addition to Northgate will take about 1.5 years. To expand by fall of 2016, we would need to make a decision and come to an agreement with Northgate by March of 2015.

• Current Status of PACT Charter School:– Finances—Brad Bozich– Authorizer– Transportation– Staff Changes– Technology– Facilities

Finances-History– Expense and spending behavior often a result of revenue stream

funding receivables. – Charter School funding was not aligned with budget spending.

• Funding holdback now is 10% previously 16%+• Funding payments were scheduled at 16 periods now 24.

– Absent strategy or reserve funding for handling capital expenses, such as a new roof or replacement of expensive items such as heating/cooling systems.

– Budget planning that had expenses higher than revenues showing a budget deficit. Some budget items we knew would likely not materialize.

– Unknown benefit (medical) costs increases for school staff.

Resulted in very conservative cash flow management:– Delayed planning for large purchases, including technology– Delayed purchases approaching summer out of school

months– 3 year wage freeze for staff– End of year budget surpluses that BRT worked to

redistribute and balance

Today and What we have done:– Refinanced our bonds resulting in:

• Large savings due to lower interest rates.• Did not increase term of debt. 20 years.• Able to maximize facility lease aid from state.

– With bond refinancing we created a $400K capital expense fund set aside for major needs, planned and unexpected.

– Tightened the difference in budget revenue and expenses. – Review and redistribute budget in 4Q of fiscal year instead of waiting for

BRT.– PSEO agreement with Anoka Ramsey to generate more revenue.

Current Financial Outlook: Cash flow is strong, consistent funding Fund balance strong and will allow school to give raises and still provide

necessary 20%+ state requirement. Target 29-32% Financial projections already include expanding to extra space Capital Reserve Fund Established Benefit costs are projected to stabilize Transportation expected savings and more consistent cost structure with

vendor We need more people involved with BFC and the direction of school

program investment and spending

Authorizer Contract• PACT Charter School operates under a Charter

authorized by Bethel University• Renewal every 5 years• Current contract expires in summer of 2014• We will be meeting with Bethel Rep in February

Transportation• There will be a survey done near the end of

March to assess the new provider• Communication—added a repeater for radio

communication with busses

Changes in Staff• Mr. Nyquist is making the transition to Interim

Secondary Director • Mr. McMorrow has taken over for Mr. Nyquist

as a long term sub in the social studies department• Mrs. Erendu is making the transition to Interim

Curriculum Accountability Coordinator• Ms. Hermann has taken over as a long term sub

for Mrs. Erendu in the 5th grade

Technology One-Year Bridge Plan:1. Three-year plan implemented by May 2014—

Including bringing in consultant to assist in the creation of a long-term tech plan. Be able to present plan to Steering in May and Board in June 2014. ON TRACK

2. Examine use of tech/online learning platforms to support diverse learning needs–Currently using PLATO in Math for

remediation. –Accelerated Reader online option is being

implemented.–Moodle is still being used for online

delivery in 7/8 computer, 9/10 social studies and 11/12 language

3. Communicate Tech improvements at least quarterly through Pilot NewsletterON TRACK, Also communicating with staff through “Tech Talk” emails.

4. Plan and implement at least 2 Professional Development Opportunities directly related to the use of technology for instruction.ON TRACK--Training has been provided on Excel, Moodle, Googledocs, Gmail, GoogleCalendar, Kahoot, Still need training on Interactive White Boards, etc.

5 Technology Goals:• More technology in the staff and student

hands, specifically:– Chromebooks• Purchased 300, currently formatting and

distributing them to classrooms– Interactive White Boards (IWB) • Purchased and installed in 12 classrooms

• Update Website: create an RFP and add a budget item to make this happen sooner than later. Many good companies out there to update our website design. Done by March 1, 2014 .

• This in not a realistic goal any longer- Now planning to do this over the summer of 2014

• Increase the number of access points to the number that was in the original proposal (32). An outside vendor will pull wires after hours & the Tech department will install. This should all be done before January 6, 2014 .

COMPLETE!

• Server - We have the server in house and waiting to be implemented. This should be ASAP and incorporate the design that was discussed last year with active directory and other important updates or technology programs. Done by December 1, 2013 . –Not done-extended to July 2014

Training - The staff is asking for more training on technology for use in the classroom. Extra money has been set aside for this in the FY14 budget

Technology Budget:In 2013-14 spend about $200,000 on new infrastructure and hardware

In 2014-15 an additional $160,000 is budgeted

Facilities--Recent Improvements:• Access to Northgate church building for our drama and

music programs• Approval by MDE to use Northgate space for choir,

band, and drama classes during 2014-15, freeing up space in our building• Cafetorium floor• New Volunteer Coordinator office just inside the front

door to the left• Additional conference room across from staff lounge

Facilities--Challenges remaining:• Elementary Art and Spanish and sometimes Music on a

cart• Shortage of space for Phy. Ed. and Health• Shortage of space for Title

Thank you for coming!

Please direct questions or feedback to:Jill Lundstrom, Board Chair

j.lundstrom.brd@pactcharter.org