September Meeting Minutes

NCA Parent Faculty Association
Meeting Agenda
September 24, 2009 7:00pm

Location: United Methodist Church 5420 Southside Blvd. Nampa, ID
(Directions: From 12th Ave heading toward Melba turn left on Greenhurst Rd then turn right on Southside Blvd the church will be on the left side of the street.)

* Please note daycare will be available and donations will be accepted. We want to provide this service at all PFA meetings and if we offer an incentive (money) to students, they will continue to provide this service.

Called to Order 7:10pm

Welcome & Thank You’s-Amber Gunnell-

Presidency Reports:

President-Amber Gunnell- Meet and greet was a success, items(t-shirts, decals, memberships) still for sale tonight, last night to get shirts at $10.00, will be $11.00 after tonight due to a change to 100% cotton shirts. Board wants us to decide where we want the money to go, that the PFA brings in. Idaho Press Tribune and Bank of the West promotion.


Secretary-JoLynn Morriss- Read July Minutes- $70.84 presented to PFA from JoLynn Morriss and Shawna Schneiderman for Pampered Chef Party that was booked during Rummage Sale in June. Shawna had agreed to donate 100% of her proceeds to the PFA for parties booked at that time.

Treasurer- Julie Gilster- Meet and Greet night sales are as followed: $592.50 t-shirt , $170 decal , $190 dues, $42 water sales, $200 ice creams sales, currently $1720.02 in bank account. Items still need to be paid such as t-shirts and decal invoices.

Parent Rep-Holle McRae- Report from BOD meeting 9/21/09. Informed 547 student enrolled and 5 registered, construction update 50 foot flag pole end of month, playground in the works, Oct 5th bus training, Oct 16th picture day in formal uniforms, three contracts approved Idaho Billing Service for 3 years, Nerd Line Inc. for IT services, and Boise Office Equipment, donated a high speed copier, Copies Plus did great helping out teachers and staff for all copies. Policy for dual enrollment accepted. Sports/clubs policy was addressed, PFA asked to have a snack day. PT Title 1 math and PT Title 1 reading teachers were approved to be hired. It was asked to have more portables to help with room. Two new board members, Corey Freeman and Bryan Merrill. Kym Slater resigned, but will work on uniform committee. Recycling bin(green) has been placed on the back of the property to earn money. Anything can be put in it and money will go to NCA.

PFA Council Reports:

Fundraisers-Christine Plummer- Boise’s Best fundraiser, kick off Tuesday, order forms turned in Oct 6th, and orders will be filled Oct 20th, parents have to pick up at the school between 3:45pm to 6pm. No door to door. Some inserts did not have Boise Premier Card covered, this item not for sale, 40% goes to PFA, option for donation for student/parents who did not want to participate and sell. Meridian Corn Maze at Farmsted, coupon for $1 off and then the PFA gets that $1 comes back, looking into having an NCA day, where students can go together to spend time with family and friends.

Social Committee-Pam Kruck- PFA to show appreciation by doing muffins for staff. Staff appreciation will be done every month, an email was sent out and lots of people volunteered. Thank you to all who are helping or will help.

Box Tops/Campbell’s Soup Labels- Michelle Rollins (you may bring them to the meeting if you have been storing them)- Sign up at www.btfe.com, What do we need to be saving? Just the little box, One can just rip it off the top. Headmaster said he will be getting academy set up soon. Lots of things that we can do once registered, such as free box tops and giveaways. Coupons are available on the website as well. Campbell soup labels, has to have complete UPC and the little guy, all numbers have to included. If you donate food, you can do it twice per, school can get points, each person can register on their own, and can get promotions everyday, promotion through labels, classroom full of books, Catalina’s at Albertsons, we are signed up on label site, through NCA. board wants us to decide where we want the money to go, Idaho Press Tribune and Bank of the West promotion, only twice a year we can submit

Capri Suns- Piper Skoglund- not in attendance

Uniform Swap-ideas and possible swapping/selling (bring your items)- Kristine Hendrickson will be heading this up, she has items set in place. Bring your items to each PFA meeting and exchange for something your child may need.

Old Business:

Meet & Greet-Amber Gunnell- see above information


New Business:

* Vote on Bylaws, Standing Rules, and 2009-1010 Budget-Amber Gunnell- (Budget) Income is not updated, numbers don’t match. Items are an estimate based on previous experience. If donations for childcare are substantial then we can put that money to something else. Heritage celebration, there will be a dinner, reenactments, Tonya Freeman will be over this project. Special projects-items may not be known until requested, can be last minute, teacher appreciation, conferences, faculty gifts , or something special in the office. Money for teacher grants will be opened once money is available. It was asked why no carnivals. There are a lot of start up costs and lots of man power. Carnivals don’t meet the vision unless there is a theme along the vision of the academy. Academy can request funds from us on what they need. Voting on expenditures only, voting is unanimous to accept budget as written.

Standing rules and bylaws, item of concern is how it is written for President being voted in. April Lyons Article 7 item 2 that the presidency only votes the president in, this is not the case with our academy and feel like all members should be able to vote on the president. Michelle Martinez sometimes it seems like legalism, but the presidency knows the people. Christine Plummer-maybe have a stipulation, Isaac Moffett- It costs months to get thing done because people don’t have the know or the understanding of how things are to function and work, you cant always trust people to make the right vote> We, the PFA, will feel it very quickly if the wrong person is put in as President. BOD vote the Chairman in. People need to know, we have to carry the original intent and keep it pure. If we don’t keep this, then within 2 generations we can loose it, make sure the vision and mission are the fore front at all times. Open discussion, have it similar to the BOD, base president position on how the person has been involved. Maybe have it that the nomination of President comes from the presidency and confirmation vote by the people. Myabe have certain stipulations that nominated President/s would need to have. Item is tabled, work session and be voted in next month.

Update on States Action-Isaac Moffett- Mr. Moffett addressed the parents and stated that he could not answer what NCA is doing in regards to the lawsuit. Most of the information was withheld from minutes. Items that we can share with parents are that we need to fight for what we want. If you placed your children at NCA because of the right to use the curriculum originally intended, then you need to fight for your rights for curriculum choice. Many charters schools have the right to choose their curriculum but NCA is not. We have been given a state list to choose our curriculum from. This fight is about our rights and we are loosing them. Next year is a voting year for your Senators, Representatives, and other Government officials. It important that we contact them on a regular basis and let them know we want them to take note of what is happening to NCA and they need to take a stand. If we as parents, who have the right to vote, make them be accountable, we can be a deciding factor whether they get into office or not. For example, Steven Kren has said that he wants to do the work for the people, so he does not have time to talk to NCA. Are we not the people? The Coalition for Charter School Families will not help NCA in this fight. Link are on the PFA website with the contact information to our people in office.

One thing that we can do to help in this endeavor is to send information to ncapfa@gmail.com of any known textbooks, library books, or curriculum of any religious text being used at any public school. This is for any religion. When sending information please include your name and contact information incase more information is needed. There is a gentleman named Sheldon, who has a petition (needs 58,000 signatures)going around about getting the bible back in the schools. There has been a post from a parent on the PFA Blog regarding this information. Please refer to this post for more information.

Finally, if you believe in what our academy is doing, please let the board members know. They need encouragement and to know that we, as parents, are behind them.

Tiffany Bement-Veterans Memorial can donate extra flags as needed.

Adjourned 8:59 pm

* Items requiring votes, in order to vote on items one must be a member of the PFA.