Horizons K-8 School
Council Meeting Minutes
Date 2/17/22
Time 6pm
Facilitators: Lucas Ketzer, Mike Ashmore
Notetaker: Maggie Anderson
Minimum of 20 member quorum established
6:00 Introductions
6:10 Communication Agreements/Procedure/Concordance/Minutes – Peter talked about how our communication agreements are a way of being in community with each other. If you have a concern with someone, you take it directly to that person. If you need assistance, you can call on a parent or staff member to assist you. The goal is for everyone to feel and be heard.
6:15 Communication within our Community, Compassionate Communication (Giraffe Talk – Peter) – NVC founder visited Horizons 2005, Traci & Jeff Bushnell, Horizons teachers, developed “Heart Talk”, Verbal/physical violence is learned behavior, Goal is to stay in relationship, move language from Jackel to Giraffe, Importance of tuning into our own needs as well as others, “Time In”, developing a language to express feelings, Link feelings to needs, Make a request based on your needs
6:30 Committee Reports
- DAC (District Accountability Committee) – Still need representative
- DPC (District Parent Committee) – Gena Welk
- EDB (Equity, Diversity, & Belonging) – Erica Baruch – Group talked about value statements and the suggestions they would make, Lucas updated about trauma-informed practices presentation at faculty meeting last Friday. WEEAC – parents can be involved in a focus group (next Tuesday noon to one, Wednesday 6-7), Pop-up library from EDB, EDB bookclub, Mascot update, Next month they will look into making transportation opportunities for students
- HCG (Horizons Community Group) – Elizabeth Parady – building community after Covid, all Horizons pool party, Garden rally/plant sale close to Mother’s day, community swap, teacher appreciation, spirit week, partner with administration & streamline processes for mentors and liaisons
- FRC (Financial Review Committee) – Lucas Ketzer – Overall school is in great financial shape, $1.4 million in fund balance – most are for reserves, slowly draw that down over 5 years, governor’s budget will provide extra funding for next year, Adam Brink is new board treasurer
- Board Report – Mike Ashmore – Governance discussion, lawyer came to brief the board on different issues, concorded on head of school goals, discussed hiring process & Mission, Vision, Values.
6:45 Mission, Vision, Values – Last council we came to concordance (subject to wordsmithing) on Mission and Vision, Values has not been addressed as extensively, Lucas shared proposed values, Jessica Hogan: Values are behavioral (vs mission is operational and vision is aspirational), Suggestions were made by the community, MVV Review & Recommendation, Discussion about including academic excellence, teacher-led school, Lucas: teachers having collective ownership of many decision of the school (not just governance), We would not use belief statements anymore if adopting this plan/values, this would be added to student handbook, Julie Cohen: Should we add something about our communication values? (within responsibility value?), “through support of our (compassionate) communication agreement”, Lucas: should we try to get together in person to discuss these? (lots of enthusiastic nods and verbal agreement)
7:30 Role of Council Discussion – Lucas: Council has grown to a huge number (500+), do we want to reevaluate the role of council? Propose to carve out time at future council meeting to look at 8 responsibilities of council, no dissension
7:50 Open Forum – Kristen Daly: concern about mask update, Lucas to share Kim’s (counselor) resource/prompts to handle this change, Lucas/Karen have followed up on all reports of bullying due to mask behavior, Micah Schwalb: wants more info for students with 504s, etc., Lucas offered different scenarios and pointed out that it will be different for different students, Horizons community is displayed by the fact that families are reaching out wanting to support each other. Julie Layne: are teachers going to talk to students about the mask change? Julie Cohen spoke with her students and the discussion was an extremely well received, we support decisions families make, we don’t’ determine right or wrong for other people, Suzanne Tadros: thank you to teachers and staff
Adjourn: 8:01