Chattahoochee Hills Charter School

Governing Board

Regular Meeting - Monday March 12th, 2018 @7:00 PM

Meeting Minutes

Attendance Summary

Name Status Arrival Time Departure Time
Dr. Warren Edwards present On Time At Adjournment
Abigail Corbett, J.D. not present
April Ledom present On Time At Adjournment
Shadeed Abdul-Salaam present 10 Minutes Late At Adjournment
Dr. Knox Phillips present On Time At Adjournment
LaChauna Edwards, Esq. present On Time At Adjournment
Dominique Love not present
Peter Vantine present On Time At Adjournment
Jessica Pressley-Willis present On Time At Adjournment
Kapinga Mukenge present On Time At Adjournment
Chester Asher present On Time At Adjournment

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting will be called to the order, beginning with the pledge of allegiance.

Approve Agenda as submitted

By: April Ledom Seconded by: LaChauna Edwards, Esq.

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approval of Minutes from Feb 12, 2018

Approve the minutes as submitted

By: Dr. Warren Edwards Seconded by: Jessica Pressley-Willis

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Public Comment

Public Member Mr. Johnson- great to see Asher at GCSA conference this past week. Has always wanted there to be a summer camp. While at the GCSA he ran into a member from National Inventors Hall of Fame. A turn key solution for the school because the company provides an all-inclusive program including  teacher stipends. 


-Wanted to speak about community outreach and having the presence shown. Asks who in the community the board would like to have contacted. 

Foundation Board - This week she sent out an email for the Lovett Building fund. We need financing to furnish the building. Anyone who donates at least $100 gets a car magnet. Would like 100% participation from he board and the parents. 

PTO-  The last Friday of this month there will be a block party to kick off before spring break. March 30th. Will send out information this week. Did not have the Mardi Gras Ball due to a lack of ticket sales. She has been talking about an app to track volunteer emails, it was sent out on the 5 things to know earlier today. However, she is not volunteering to be in the individual in charge of running the app. Next meeting for PTO is tomorrow at 6pm. However, parents have expressed issues with attending back to back meetings. Next month the PTO meetings will not be the day after board meetings.  


Approval of Meeting Agenda

Approve the Meeting Agenda as Submitted

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

School Leader Report

  • 97% attendance - total of 10 suspensions for the year. 
  • 0 dismissals or terminations from staff
  • Last month a staff interest survey was sent out to get to know staff a little better, with a goal of being able to cater to staff interests 
  • Concluded principal search and was very pleased with the process. - Had international and national candidates. Arrived at 83 applications and looked at the qualifications and experiences and reduced the list to 27. From 27 the candidates were turned over to the stakeholders, including a parent committee. 2 different board members had phone interviews. At each stage of the process, depending on what people said they wanted he considered their suggestions. The candidate he will recommend was originally at his #5 and at the bottom of a board candidate but he was the #1 candidate for parents. By having such an extensive crew of people to vet the candidate the candidate was pushed through the process. There was a total of 5 rounds for the process. There were Skype interviews first. Students, parents, teachers all met and interviewed the final 6 candidates. The top 2 candidates met with the board and community stakeholders and selected Patrick Muhammed. Monthly Chatt newsletter will give some background about Mr. Muhammed. Background check was completed and spoke with prior supervisors. Everyone contacted stated he was a very strong candidate. 
  • Parent Teacher Satisfaction surveys were compelled
  • Parent teacher conferences were just completed - will have data next month. 
  • Trimester 2 was completed about 3 weeks ago. 
  • Interim Graphs shows the progress. 3 of the grades saw improvement in Math which has been a sore area for the school historically. This is the best guess at how the students will perform on the milestones. -Mastery Connect assessment thats linked to GA milestones. We are in a great place because there has been significant increase in all grades when comparing to last year's scores. 
  • @April Ledom asked why some scores went down from 2nd trimester and 1st semester. The assessment wasn't the same assessment in both 
  • 4th grade concerns because there was a drop in ELA. 4th grade had some challenges with staff this year. However, the admin has instituted STEP program and targeted guiding reading groups which include Saturday academy for scholars who are showing areas of growth. 
  • @Dr. Knox Phillips asked if looking at the previous grade is a better indicator when looking at the progress for each grade. For example, 3rd grade 2017 milestone scores can be compared to the 4th grade assessments in the graph for this year. 
  • @Dr. Knox Phillips asked if the teachers are working on defecits. @Chester Asher stated that the assessment looks at what the individual student needs to perform better on specific areas. 
  • @Chester Asher stated that one of the Saturday academy teachers has noticed that some students have not logged into the take home work that has been assigned. There is a plan to speak with those parent. 
  • Science is only taken in 5th and 8th grade 
  • As part of the charter we are required to engage in expedentiary learning-- Came up with the Rainbow project. Scholars will have until mid May to work on the project and present it at the end of may. The focus is on habitats. @LaChauna Edwards, Esq.  asks if the projects are exclusive to certain grades. @Chester Asher said that K-8 will participate
  • @Dr. Knox Phillips asked if the project is confined to a single school year. @Chester Asher asks that when summer planing begins is to ask scholars what they're interested in learning. The continuance will depend on scholars interest. The requirements/components will remain the same for each project. The components are developed from expedentiary learning curriculum
  • Checklist - Board Trainings still needed
  • Grants - Event on 22nd to help with Lovett funding. 
  • as of last Thursday there is one more building permit needed. However, the contractors have not been required to 
  • @chaz has spoke with a parent who has given sod and gravel and a discounted rate
  • Next week is a STEAM conference at GA Tech 
  • Meeting with TFA to support recruitment efforts @Chester Asher stated that he was TFA teacher 15 years ago. 
  • Would like to start a STEAM camp @April Ledom asked if the camp is for this year or next year. @Chester Asher stated there are some legal implications to work through before there can be a final answer. @Dr. Warren Edwards asked if the school will bring the CHCS staff. @Chester Asher stated that the program comes with their own staff but there will be a need to hire CHCS staff if the teachers are open to it.  @Shadeed Abdul-Salaam asked if there can be a one week student orientation for new students/families to look at CHCS culture. @Chester Asher said the staff have discussed the idea. 
  • @Dr. Knox Phillips asked if the camp is open to only CHCS students. @Chester Asher said that there will be a preference for CHCS students but some seats will be open for other FCS students. 

Finance Committee Report

  • @Dr. Knox Phillips let the public know that all documents are available online for public viewing. 
  • @chaz said that the school lunch program has secured more revenue than expected and has saw more participation. 
  • Around $700 over for consumable supplies. To date we are doing well we just need to make sure we are securing funds as far as reimbursements and the like
  • School is finally making sure that all wire transfers are going out timely, for new facilities.  
  • Outstanding reimbursements - $24k and $5k from Amana academy. The academy received their funds and should be issuing CHCS a check soon. Roughly there is 
  • RFP process will beed to be discussed for landscape, facilites/maintenance, and possibly nutrition. @Dr. Knox Phillips asked if the nutrition RFP expired. @chaz stated that the RFP is only for one year. The facilities and maintenance were multi year but has now expired. @Dr. Warren Edwards asked if we could look at recyclable materials and waste of food. 
  • GBI audit for background check - School is 100% prepared for the audit. @Dr. Knox Phillips asked if the audit is exclusive to staff. @Chaz said that he received a list and it was only staff. 
  • Preliminary Budget Planning - Goal of increasing staff salaries. There is a spreadsheet being created with the budget to see if we have the capacity to provide raises for next year. Next year there will be an increase in Teacher Retirement System. Meeting with FCS on the 22nd to look at the budget. 
  • Training by Chaz - Quickbooks certified and is also a part of the financial management certification at UGA. 
  • @Dr. Knox Phillips asked if CHCS follow FCS safe schools plans. @Chester Asher said there have been 3 lockdown drills. 
  • @Dr. Warren Edwards asked about the net numbers. 

Approve the Monthly Financial Statements as Submitted

By: April Ledom Seconded by: Dr. Warren Edwards

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approve Principal Recommendation - Mr. Patrick Muhammad

By: LaChauna Edwards, Esq. Seconded by: Shadeed Abdul-Salaam

@Shadeed Abdul-Salaam commented on the process. He saw notes from all stakeholders and was very appreciative that there was a lot of collaboration from all the stakeholders. 

Academic Excellence Committee Report

Committee Report --@Chester Asher stated that committee went through a backwards process looking at what a CHCS graduate looked like including characteristics and what would be required at the school to meet those goals. 

Governance Committee Report

Committee Report @Dr. Knox Phillips

Bylaws Revisions --looking to make sure bylaws are up to date and congruent with where we are as a board today. Will circulate the revised bylaws for 30 days to allow for public feedback. 

Board Committee Interest Form ...Last board meeting we took the parent interest list. In the next board retreat the committees will be developed and the core work will include how to get the committee structures fully developed. 

Chaz created a list of the parents who are interested in the committees. The subcommittees will received the list and reach out to the parents. 


Approve the First Read of the Proposed Board Bylaws for Public Review and Comment

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

External Affairs and Communications Committee Report

No report this evening. 

Facilities Committee Report

Building Permit was approved this evening. 


@April Ledom asked if the furniture has been identified. @Chester Asher said packages have been created and the total is around $150k. 


Strategic Planning Committee Report

Committee Report  - presented by @Dr. Knox Phillips


CHCS met with Andrea Gatewood and Stanley Wayfield from FCS to discuss the vision for the charter renewal. We are now entering renewal period. 

A letter of intent was drafted and signed by @Dr. Knox Phillips to being the charter renewal process. 

GADOE has created a timeline to complete the charter renewal. Application is due the 3rd Friday in September. GADOE will likely create a new application in June. 

Governing board is interviewed between September and November. 

FCS will approve petition around mid November. 

Between December and mid March 2019 the GA DOE will issue a decision. 

Will talk at the retreat about succession planning for the board. 

Have the option of a proposal writer to help with the planning/renewal application. 


Executive Session

To discuss a personnel, student, or real estate matter.

Enter Executive Session

By: Dr. Warren Edwards Seconded by: LaChauna Edwards, Esq.

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Exit Executive Session

By: Shadeed Abdul-Salaam Seconded by: Abigail Corbett, J.D.

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:25 pm

Motion to adjourn

By: Dr. Knox Phillips Seconded by: LaChauna Edwards, Esq.

There was no notable discussion on the motion.