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OCN > 2306 > MA School Board, May 11, 25 – MA addresses gender issues, budgets

MA School Board, May 11, 25 – MA addresses gender issues, budgets

By Jackie Burhans

At its May 11 regular meeting, the Monument Academy board heard from its community about a gender restroom issue and heard committee highlights. At a special meeting on May 25, the board approved budgets, including changes to job descriptions and organizational structures.

MA addresses gender issues again

During citizen comments, mother and daughter Jenn and Avery Brady spoke out on an interaction between the daughter and a transgender girl who used a restroom. Jenn Brady said her daughter had started a petition to secure privacy and safety in the restroom. She said she was proud of MA’s previous proclamation on gender issues but that it must close the loop to protect all students. The current solution for a student who feels unsafe is to use a unisex restroom or one by the nurse, which she felt discriminated against the majority, causing students to lose passing time—the time between classes when students must pass from one room to another. The solution, while costly, she said, was for MA to overhaul its restrooms. She felt confident parents would rally and said the ball was in MA’s court.

Avery reminded the board that its proclamation supported natural law and moral truth and said it would protect the innocence, well-being, privacy, and safety of every one of MA’s students. Recently, she said, a “biological male” [sic] has been seen entering the girls’ restroom. She said she understood that MA had to follow state law and allow “biological males” identifying as females access to the girls’ restroom. However, the board proclamation mentions the overall privacy of every student. She said MA was protecting “his” privacy but what about hers and that of all the other girls? She said that MA proclaimed it would protect every student, which means her as well.

MA’s proclamation against gender identity protection can be found on its website at bit.ly/ma-proclamation. Read more information about that proclamation at www.ocn.me/v22n3.htm#ma.

Later in the agenda, the board discussed a proposed Town Hall meeting with legal counsel on navigating gender issues at MA. President Ryan Graham said that there had been an incident at MA’s East Campus that caused a significant number of parents to reach out to the board regarding gender issues and the use of restrooms. He encouraged parents to familiarize themselves with two bills mentioned in MA’s proclamation: SB08-200, which expands discrimination protection to a person’s sexual orientation, and HB21-1108, which clarifies that protected class includes “gender identity” and “gender expression.” He noted that MA and every charter school must comply or be subject to legal action. The proclamation is an official announcement but does not constitute a violation of the law.

The intent of the Town Hall is to ask questions and hear directly from legal counsel what they can do as parents and what MA can do as a school while still being in accordance with the law. The meeting will be open to the community, and at least three board members will be in attendance. The Town Hall will be held on June 27 at 6 p.m. at MA’s East Campus.

Budgets approved

At the May 11 regular meeting, interim COO Kim McClelland reported on the FY23-24 budget in the absence of interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Gary Gustafson. This met the state requirement that the budget be presented to the board before May 31.

At a special meeting on May 25, Gustafson returned to request approval of a supplemental budget for FY22-23, explaining that, while school districts and charters can amend budgets throughout the year, after Jan. 1 the only mechanism to do so was via a supplemental budget for which an entity must have additional revenues or resources. MA needed to do so to clean up different accounts and accommodate expenditures for the year, he said, noting that it was a violation of state statutes for expenditures to exceed appropriations and that approving the supplemental budget would bring MA back into alignment.

He reminded the board that in the previous year, the auditor had commented that MA had exceeded its total appropriations and it was important not to do so a second time. The revised appropriation showed a total increase of $2.3 million, primarily to the foundation fund, which accommodates the debt service for the East Campus building. He noted that MA’s original forecast was for 1,150 students, but they had only certified 1107.5 students, which resulted in $300,000 less in program funding. The board unanimously approved the FY22-23 supplemental budget.

Gustafson then discussed the proposed FY23-24 budget, starting by thanking the staff and interim COO for their work. He said he welcomed the board adopting the budget documents but that it had until June 30 to approve it. He started with budget assumptions which included increasing enrollment by just over 100 students to a total enrollment of 1219.5, noting that this is a plan and that numbers can be amended later. He noted the budget plans for 676.5 students in elementary and breaks out middle school at 402 from high school at an enrollment of 141. The 2023 school finance act set the per-pupil funding at $10,034, and he expects the per-pupil mill levy override (MLO) funding to be slightly decreased, although due to increased enrollment, the total will be higher. The budget assumptions also include revenues from instructional material fees for the first time and will include MA’s expenses such as contributions to insurance, the Public Employee Retirement Account (PERA), and Medicare.

The board packet included the appropriation resolution, which sets the maximum MA can spend by fund, including $17.4 million in the general fund, $500,000 in the preschool fund, and set amounts in the facilities, foundation, and pupil activity fund. By approving the resolution, the board would be approving the budget. Another required document is the fund balance resolution that would disclose any fund draw-down activity but is set to zero at this time. The inter-fund borrowing resolution is required by the state and applies to MA, which pools its cash into a single account. The statute requires MA to pay back any inter-fund borrowing within 60 days and to balance the accounts by June 30 each year. The preschool fund is kept separately, and MA has no anticipation of a preschool grant this year. The budgeted revenue is based on preschool fees but is very uncertain given the rollout of Colorado’s Universal Preschool program (UPK), in which MA is not participating.

Gustafson also noted that the Facilities Corporation fund and the Foundation fund are used to transfer money to pay principal, interest, and trustee management fees for the West Campus and East Campus buildings, respectively. This is a significant part of the budget, he said, informing the board that preliminary conversations have begun on how to refund the 2019 bonds for the East Campus. He said MA needed to continue to hope that interest rates would come down. Gustafson said that accurate accounting by school was a requirement of MA’s bond covenants.

The middle school is basically subsidizing the high school, he said, which is common until enrollment gets larger and the high school can cover more of the central overhead facility costs. He said he would create a unique accounting system where anything that could be directly charged to the middle or high school would be, but the central common area costs would be allocated on a per-pupil basis. This would transfer $2.3 million of common area costs to the middle school.

Finally, Gustafson noted that he was thrilled to have a balanced budget that cleaned up deficits, included all staff, and was not dependent on fundraising for operational needs. The budget, he said, is resourcing for the board’s strategic plan. It’s a tight budget without much flexibility, he said, and MA will need to continue with budget discipline next year. He explained that MA would pool all its financial resources into its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software so that schools, department heads, and principals could look at their budgets at any time in addition to receiving monthly reports. New processes would be implemented to require a budget transfer request if there was a budget overrun, and a full-time equivalent (FTE) authorization form would need approval before an additional employee could be hired.

McClelland noted that following these procedures would be one of the principals’ goals. Board member Craig Carle suggested that since the budget did not include fundraising, perhaps any fundraising could furnish contingency funds. Gustafson said that since MA did get donations, the budget does have $100,000 total in fundraising for both campuses. He said any money from a fundraising effort such as the gala could be used for specific targeted purposes like an athletic field.

The board voted unanimously to approve the FY23-24 budget.

Updated job descriptions and org chart

As part of the budget discussion, McClelland reviewed changes to the organization chart and updates to job descriptions. The organization chart reflects what is in the budget, she said, and approving the budget would approve the positions but not necessarily the structure. McClelland said she added the students to the top of the organization chart as they are the most important part. To foster the goal of “one MA” she has added the PTO to the chart to show how they support the overall organization. The organization chart is split into Operations and Finance, Academic, and Student Support. Some positions overlap the areas, and each section has categories showing the reporting structure.

She discussed changing the position name from COO to executive director, saying she felt strongly that it reflected that the position covered academics as well as operations. The chart was color coded with dark blue representing the executive director and support systems such as finance, marketing, facilities, athletics, and operations manager, which is the new title for Jake Dicus, whose title of manager of Development and Mission Engagement was incorrect. The position is responsible for day-to-day operations under the executive director and has no one reporting to it. Human Resources is a change in nomenclature from People Operations, and there is an added position of school culture and assessment coordinator that will be posted. This role will cover all grade levels and help support the principals in behavioral matters through discipline, proactive programs, and family engagement, as well as working with contractor Jennifer Strawbridge in data collection and reporting via dashboards.

Gustafson said they had discussed the feasibility of hiring a finance director but that, given the progress made in the past five months, he was reluctant to turn the work back over. In fact, he said the turnover in finance over the past four to five years had hindered the financial integrity of the school. Knowing the budget is tight, he will continue to fill in on a part-time basis as a contract employee, with existing staff picking up the day-to-day activities. He plans to grow the capabilities of the finance staff and turn over things like payroll and bank reconciliation so he can focus on big projects like debt financing for the parking lot, refinancing the 2019 bonds, and preparing for the audit. Gustafson said he could build a more sustainable structure for the long term if he stays another year. He confirmed that, for the next six months, he would still be attending Finance Committee and board meetings while working to bring purchasing and payroll back in-house. MA is paying Netchex $3,600 per month to do payroll, and he hopes to save that money and be in great shape by January 2024.

Board member Emily Belisle asked about the name change to teacher assistant from para; McClelland explained that the term para usually was used for special education. She also clarified that the two women who had shared the registrar position would be full-time employees, each responsible for a separate campus. The position of athletics manager is another nomenclature change as director positions usually have a master’s degree or at least a principal’s license. She said she was working with Michael Svendsen on an alternative administrative degree. She also confirmed that MA’s Director of Academics, Tina Leone, is still part-time and would be assisted by the person they hire in the new instructional coach role.

Finally, Belisle asked to understand the Special Education (SPED) department and why the positions of school psychologist, social worker, and counselor were necessary. McClellan said that she had reviewed MA’s charter contract with the district and was surprised to see it was on a fully insured model where every employee would be approved or provided by the school district. This is not how things work now, she said, and she would be seeking an amendment to the charter contract to better define roles and revenue related to SPED. Once she has that, she will be better able to walk through it with the board, but in the meantime, these roles are placeholders in the organization chart.

Board member Joe Bukowski asked about budgeting for school resource officers (SROs) and the collectability of instructional fees. McClelland explained that a second SRO was in the budget under safety and security as a contracted position from the Monument Police Department, along with additional sensors to detect propped doors. She said that principals recently went through the list of outstanding fees and contacted parents, some of whom had not reviewed their Infinite Campus accounts. There will be a more proactive process going forward, she said, noting that MA could limit privileges such as checking out a library book or walking at graduation for students with outstanding fees.

Highlights

Board meeting highlights include:

Above: Monument Academy (MA) board Vice President Lindsay Clinton presents a certificate of appreciation to Amanda Peters, a parent, for her event planning and other support for MA’s gala fundraiser event: Boot, Scoot & Bid held on April 20 at the Spruce Mountain Ranch. The event raised $129,000 to support teacher compensation, safety, and security. Photo by Jackie Burhans.

  • Board Vice President Lindsay Clinton spotlighted Amanda Peters, a parent, for bringing her event-planning skills to MA’s Boot, Scoot, and Bid fundraiser. Dicus reported that the event was a great success, raising over $129,000, which would impact salaries, contributions toward benefits, and a second school resource officer.

  • The board unanimously approved changes to MA’s bylaws specifying that the board may not include MA employees or their immediate family and declaring that a director shall be deemed to have resigned in the event they have two unexcused absences.

  • The board set its summer retreat date for 9 a.m. July 13 ahead of its regular meeting.

  • Clinton said that Board Café chats would resume in August.

  • Graham said the first preconstruction meeting for the recirculation road around the West Campus was held on the morning of May 11 at the Wilson & Co offices. They will be mobilizing equipment on May 22 and breaking ground shortly.

  • Graham thanked the MA West Campus Parent-Teacher Organization for reaching out about a shade structure. He spoke with contractors at a pre-construction meeting about doing this work at the same time.

  • Board member Michael Geers reported on the School Accountability and Advisory Committee (SAAC) West end-of-year survey, which recommended the school put out a video on how to use the carline and hopes to see PTO events better promoted.

  • Board member Emily Belisle reported that the SAAC East end-of-year survey had 39 responses, whose greatest concern was mid-year teacher turnover. The committee recommends that the board remain dedicated to staff pay and retention, aligning curriculum, expanding extracurricular activities, and developing school spirit and meaningful traditions.

  • After the adjournment of the May 11 board meeting, Calvin Yuen, a student, spoke against the board’s cancelation of an eSport event, saying the club was trying to make money for something students are passionate about.

  • After the executive session following the special meeting on May 25, the board reported that member Danny O’Brien has resigned from the board.

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The MA School Board meets at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. The next regular board meeting will be on Thursday, June 8, at 6 p.m. at the East Campus. See more information at https://bit.ly/ma-boe.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

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