ACSA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Teleconference
April 3, 2015 – 1:30 PM
APPROVED
ACTION ITEMS
I. Routine
A. Establish Quorum
President Jennifer Schmitz called the meeting to order at 1:30 PM.
Members present: Jennifer Schmitz, Carol Boatman, Todd Poage, Michael Johnson, Steve Atwater,
Mary McMahon, Mario Gatto, Mark Vink
A quorum was established.
Staff present: Lisa Skiles Parady, Laurie Miller, Kelly Tonsmeire, John Pile, Denise
Greene-Wilkinson, Amy Lujan
B. Approval of Agenda
Action
Mario Gatto moved and Mary McMahon seconded to approve the agenda as presented with the
understanding the New Business Item A may be moved to the front of the agenda based on when
John Sedor joins the teleconference.
Motion passed unanimously.
C. Approval of Minutes
Action
Steve Atwater moved and Todd Poage seconded to approve the November 5, 2014 minutes as
presented.
Motion passed unanimously.
II. Old Business
A. Budget Update
Action
The financial report was provided to the board. The report reflects final amounts for 2014 and actual
amounts through February 28, 2015. No budget revisions were requested.
The 2014 ACSA financial audit was conducted March 9 – 13, 2015. No adjustments or findings were
reported.
2014 Final Closeout
Revenue:
 AAESP Dues – $4,878 more than budgeted
 Indirect Revenue – $8,807 less than budgeted. Indirect is a correlation of actual grant
amounts spent. Carry over funds from 2014 will be spent in 2015
 ASDN Membership - $2,500 more than budgeted
 ASDN DE & School Year program transfer - $52,646 less than budgeted. This is due
to lower than anticipated enrollment in classes
 Transfers from other Funds - $51,425 more than budgeted. The majority of this
transfer is from RTI and a small portion from the Principals Conference.
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Expenses:
 Legal fees - $2,175 more than budgeted
 Audit services - $3,865 more than budgeted – due to IRS 990 audit review that was
inaccurate
 Travel & Per Diem - $5,229 more than budgeted
 Mortgage Principal – No amount is show here because the expense is moved to the
balance sheet for audit reporting purposes. The total amount of mortgage principal
paid in 2014 was $16,372
 Conference Expenses - $5,311 more than budgeted
 Office supplies - $4,375 more than budgeted due to ASDN staff moving to Gold Street
building
 New Superintendent Transition Program - $2,000 more than budgeted – Please note
this was a new program at the end of the year of which sponsorships were obtained to
cover the cost.
 ASA Dues Expense - $4,677 less than budgeted
 Transfer to savings - $18,823 was added to unrestricted net assets (fund balance)
2015 Actual amounts from January 1, 2015 to February 28, 2015
The provided report included the actual amounts for 2015 to February 28, 2015. No budget
revision was requested.
Carol Boatman moved and Mary McMahon seconded to approve the 2014 budget update.
Motion was approved unanimously.
B.
ACSA Strategic Plan Reflection
ACSA has begun a new strategic planning process. Members of each affiliate group worked
together for a day with Erica Olsen and Kim Perkins of OnStrategy to identify key strengths and
threats and develop a new path to the future. The mission statement we came up with is simple and
echo’s our historic role in education across Alaska: “Our mission is to create a common voice,
advocating for public education by shaping policy and growing leadership capacity across the
State.” Our mission answers the question of why we exist as an organization. As to where we
are going, the best answer stems from our vision statement: “We envision ASCA as the premier
organization that brings great educational leaders together to raise our collective voice for the
success of all Alaska’s students.” Underneath the strategic umbrella of this mission and vision, we
created a series of goals, objectives and actions so that we can measure our progress and keep
ourselves on track.
The draft plan was reviewed and the board agreed to include the strategic plan as a focus item on
the May board meeting agenda.
III. New Business
A. KGB Lawsuit
Action
John Sedor joined the Board for a discussion regarding the KGB v. State lawsuit. John Sedor and
Saul Friedman have offered to file a joint Amicus brief at a reduced rate of $10,000 on behalf of
ACSA and AASB who would share the cost equally. The board was asked to formally support the
filing. A discussion followed.
Steve Atwater moved and Mary McMahon seconded that the ACSA board support the drafting of
an amicus brief by Sedor and Friedman in partnership with the Association of Alaska School
Boards (AASB) to oppose the KGB lawsuit.
Motion was approved unanimously.
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B. Legislative Update and Discussion
Information
Dr. Parady provided a review of current legislation. The board was encouraged to continue its
advocacy by contacting their legislators and testifying during these final weeks of the session. Dr.
Parady also suggested sending out an ACSA press release regarding the education budget cuts.
Dr. Parady will write up a draft and send it to the board for review.
Todd Poage, ASA President, briefly discussed a letter from ASA to legislators regarding public
education funding committed to Alaska family children education. The letter was signed by more
than 40 Superintendents and delivered to all legislators.
C. Affiliate Organization Reports
Information
AAESP- President Jennifer Schmitz presented the AAESP report. Highlights included:
 Attended the National Leaders Conference in D.C. and met with Senators Murkowski &
Sullivan.
 Excited about the prospect of a joint conference with NASSP in the near future.
 John Pothast ran for Zone 7 Director and while he did not get that seat, it put Alaska out
there and we had a number of great conversations as a result.
 2015 Principals’ Conference planning is underway.
 Thanks to Laurie Miller for her support of AAESP and its business.
AASSP- President Elect Mary McMahon presented the AASSP report. Highlights included:
 AASSP is entering a transition phase as the current Executive Director will not be renewing
her contract as of June 30th.
 The Executive Board will be traveling to D.C. in June for advocacy training.
 The 2015 Principals conference is in the works and looks to be the best one yet. The
conference theme is The Passionate Present Principal and we are designing a program
that targets building school leaders.
ALASBO- Executive Director Amy Lujan presented the ALASBO report. Highlights included:
 Attended the ASBO Leadership Conference in February.
 Held the ALASBO Fly In in March, and we feel that we made some headway.
 We are currently running our certification group
 Our July Leadership Meeting will be held in Wasilla this summer.
ASA- President Todd Poage presented the ASA report. Highlights included:
 ASA members are focused on lobbying efforts right now
 We held our Legislative Fly In last month and were able to meet with the Governor as well
as a large number of legislators
 Attended the National AASA Conference in February where Dave Herbert was honored as
Alaska Superintendent of the Year and Deena Paramo received her National
Superintendent Certification.
 Thank you to all educators for your efforts this session, advocating for Alaska’s kids.
D. ASDN Annual Report
Information
ASDN Director Kelly Tonsmeire presented the ASDN report. Highlights included:
 The RTI Conference took place in January and we had over 1100 attendees from 35
districts
 We have two grants projects underway in the Bering Straits and Lower Kuskokwim School
Districts
 The 2015 Alaska School Leadership Institute will take place in Anchorage, May 26-29
 We have a great series of webinars we are offering with presenters like Melissa Linton, Steve
Edwards and Anita Archer.
E. ACSA Executive Director Report


Information
ASA will be hosting the ASE Summer meeting this year, July 14-17 at the Alyeska
Resort in Girdwood.
ASDN will be fully incorporated under ACSA.
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
Pursuant to board direction, ACSA will be renewing its contract with SERRC, our
accounting provider, for one year.
F. Announcements
Information
1. ACSA Office Manager hiring update- We have received a number of qualified applicants
are in the process of interviewing.
2. ACSA Education Bulletin deadline- The April Bulletin has not gone out, so the board was
encouraged to submit any additional articles and pictures as soon as possible.
G. Board Member Comments
Information
 Thanks to Lisa for the legislative updates and for putting together the strategic planning
retreat.
 Continue your advocacy efforts. They make a difference.
 Appreciate the board and its work.
H. Staff Comments
Information
None at this time
I.
IV.
Upcoming Events
Information
April:
Alaska Legislature Adjourns – April 19
May:
ACSA Board Meeting – Dr. Parady will send out a doodle poll
June:
State Board Meeting – Fairbanks, June 3-5
AAESP National Conference – Long Beach, CA, June 30-July 2
July:
ALASBO Summer Leadership – Wasilla, July 24-26, 2015
ASA/EED Summer Meeting – Juneau, July 26-27
Adjournment
Action
President Schmitz adjourned the meeting at 3:00 PM without objection.
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