Board Meeting Minutes – 10.19.22

By Lake Country Classical Academy | October 19, 2022

 Lake Country Classical Academy Board Meeting 

October 19, 2022 – 6PM 

Meeting Minutes 

Open Meeting: 

I.) Call to Order: 

  • • Board President Kristina Vourax called the meeting to order at 6:01 PM. All Board members were present – Tim Peterson participated via phone link. 

II.) Approval of Agenda: 

  • • Tom Gehl moved approval of the meeting agenda – motion passed. 

III.) Citizen’s Forum: 

  • • Lisa McCloskey spoke about concerns regarding Human Growth and Development curriculum and asked a few questions about it. 

IV.) Consent Agenda: 

  • • Brian Hastings moved approval of the minutes from the September 21 board meeting and the October 12 Closed Session of the Board. 
  • • Motion was approved, with noting two “typo” errors in the Minutes from the September 21 meeting that will be corrected. 

A.) Discussion Items: 

I.) Introduction of New Board Member: 

  • • Kristina Vourax introduced Tom Branigan as our newest Board member and presented a brief bio. 

II.) Leadership Report: 

  • • Head Principal Margaret Daigneau presented her report and a copy is attached to the minutes. 
  • • Controller Lori Kaari presented the financial report (included in the Principal report). 

III.) New Committees – Structure and Staffing: 

  • • Tom Gehl presented the new committee structure and explained the purpose and functions of committees. 
  • • His report contained a listing of the four committees and their chairpersons: 
    • Finance: Brian Hastings – Chair 
    • Facilities: Dan Fuhrman – Chair 
    • Policy and Curriculum: Tom Gehl – Chair 
    • Fund Raising and Communication: Kristina Vourax – Chair 

IV.) Authorizer Update: 

  • • Kristina Vourax provided an update on LCCA’s authorizer situation. LCCA will continue operating under its current charter agreement with current authorizer, the LCO Ojibwe University, until the end of June 2023. We are grateful to the LCOOU for their foundational support of LCCA. We will be transitioning to a new authorizer for a 5-year contract beginning July 1, 2023. We are in discussions with the University of Wisconsin System Office of Educational Opportunity, and the Waukesha County Executive, which are both independent (2r) authorizers. We hope to have further information on the new charter agreement by early December. Vanessa Moran, Director of the UW System OEO, attended the board meeting via Zoom to let the board know how impressed she was when she toured LCCA last spring and offered words of encouragement to both the board and school leadership. Ms. Moran also stated that she is working with the LCCA Board to process our official application for the LCCA charter renewal for the UW System OEO’s administrative review and approval. 
  • • As a part of the citizen’s form, Ms. Andrea Hayse spoke after discussion and posed some concerns and questions as to securing another authorizer. 

B.) Action Items: 

I.) User Fees: 

  • • Principal Daigneau presented an increase in per student fees from $100 per student for the current year, to $125 per student for the next school year of 2023-24. 
  • • After a brief discussion, Dan Fuhrman moved to approve this increase. 
  • • Motion passed 

II.) Excel Engineering Agreement: 

  • • Dan Fuhrman presented 
  • • He explained the cost of $15,510 for the development of a plan to build out a K-12 school for a single location facility, with a targeted enrollment of 885. 
  • • Tim Peterson moved approval of this charge. 
  • • Motion passed 

C.) Treasurer’s Report: 

  • • Presented by Brian Hastings 
  • • He explained that we cannot close on the Term Loan from Waukesha State Bank because the term of the loan exceeds the timeline of our current Charter Authorization. 
  • • He further explained that despite this, the school’s finances would be OK for this year. 

D.) Committee Reports: 

Facilities and Finance: 

  • • Tim Peterson presented what will be the last report of this committee. 
  • • He indicated that all of the relevant information to report had already been covered by Principal Daigneau’s Leadership Report and offered his thanks and appreciation for everyone who worked so hard to complete the installation of the mobile classrooms at LCCA East. 

Fund Raising and Communications: 

  • • Kristina Vourax presented. 
  • • She explained and specified the hiring of a professional event planner for the 2023 Liberty Gala. Details on 2023 Liberty Gala planning committee and other TLC fundraising initiatives are included in the Oct. 10 Fundraising & Communications Committee meeting minutes, which are posted on the LCCA website. 

E.) President’s Report: 

  • • Kristina emphasized the Board’s commitment to and work towards obtaining a new Charter. 

F.) ANNUAL MEETING: 

• Tom Gehl explained the State of Wisconsin’s statutory requirements for public schools to hold Annual Meetings, as well as the content that is prescribed for such meetings by the Statute. 

• In the case of LCCA, the only relevant content is the approval of a final budget. 

• The board had approved a preliminary budget in prior meetings, but a final budget is not approved until enrollment is confirmed by the Third Friday count every September. 

• Controller Lori Kaari presented the changes to the budget and there followed a long discussion during which board members posed questions and concerns. 

• Tom Gehl moved approval of the budget as submitted, with the requirement of a Reconciliation Report to be provided at the November meeting that would explain and itemize any differences between this budget and preliminary budget approved in July 2022, with the focus of the report to be the cost side of the budget. 

• A copy of the approved final budget will be included with November’s minutes. 

Motion to Adjourn: 

  • Tom Gehl moved to adjourn – motion passed. 
  • Meeting adjourned. 
  • The meeting was adjourned at 8:23 PM. 
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