May 17, 2017

Time: 4:00 pm
Place: BCS/BCSF Board Room – St. Pat’s

Present: Karen Fagg, Vice Chair
Reverend Steve Zabrocki, Parish Representative
Carlos Arce
Leo O’Brien
Mary Susan Fishbaugh
Ashley Harada
Ryan Huppert
Brian McGovern
Brittney Souza
A.J. Miller
Bob Cerkovnik
Alex McCready
Shaun Harrington, BCS President
Superintendent Timothy Uhl
Kaitlin Overton, Finance Officer
Kathy Harris, Marketing Director
Shel Hanser, Principal BCCHS
Deb Hayes, Principal SFP

Opening Prayer: Brian

Approval of Minutes: Vote: Mary Susan made a motion to approve the May 3, 2017 minutes. Bob seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.

Business Committee: MONTH ENDED 4/30/2017
Statement of Financial Position:
Cash and cash equivalents change is due to many of the same factors effecting net income including excess spending for the BCCHS boiler and iPad program. Tuition, parish and bus receivables reduced in the current month by payments received. A/R BACET consists of April credit card activating and tech purchases. Other A/R is mainly due from BCCHS activities fund for credit card activity. Tuition receivables is about $132K higher than the previous year. This is mainly due to more families participating in payment plans this year and the use of Smart Tuition to facilitate direct deposits.

Accounts payable is consistent with last month; however, there are some March bills that have not been entered. We started receiving registration fees for 2017-2018 school year at the end of January. These receipts are being coded to prepaid tuition and registration fees in the current liability section.

Statement of Activities:
Tuition and registration fee revenue is about $52k over budget. Revenue before special projects is under budget mainly due to the following revenue sources being under budget, other fundraising, rental income, and preschool revenue.

Technology expenses and plant operations and supplies are over budget by $38k and $16k respectively.

Cash Flows:
Tuition revenue, registration fees and interest income received for the year is over $3.86 million. Cash paid for Dorothy Porter, Mayfair Special Project, and Gergen for the year is nearly $393k.

The cash flow from iPad repairs and the rental property for the year is negative.

Board Discussion of Financial Report:
A Board member asked what large revenue/cash sources haven’t been received yet. Kaitlin reported that the Mayfair distribution and Scrip funds would not be received until June.

The Business Committee is working on collecting unpaid debt. Tuition receivables now account for 25 percent of the BCS current assets. Those receivables are up $200,000 overall. Most payment plans are for 10 months, from August through June, but under special circumstances it can be extended to 11 or 12. The BCS cash flow would improve if the outstanding AR was collected.

The Business Committee enacted a new process where the receivables are reviewed every month. They will make every effort to handle collections in a reasonable and proper manor. There will need to be some decisions made about daycare situations and hardship cases. Leo O’Brien is concerned about the BCS cash position but a main cause is the new high school boiler which he feels was money well spent.

Vote: Leo made a motion to approve the financials as reported. Brian seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.

Foundation Update: Mayfair: Jan would like to thank our Chairs Brian and Jeanette for all their amazing effort. The event was beautiful and we have received many compliments on the décor, food, and entertainment. We don’t have final numbers on Mayfair yet, so we will report on those numbers at the next meeting.

We raised about $58,000 for special projects. Last year we raised 59,000 for technology. The schools will be moving forward on the locker project. Every person who checked out prior to the special project was asked if they wanted to participate, and we gained quite a bit of extra support.

The Mayfair Committee held 2 wrap-up meetings. At the first meeting, we met with Q-2 our media partner, and the second meeting was with the Mayfair chairs and committee members. Going forward Q-2 suggested using a professional video highlighting the school and the special project. We would show the video and then move the special project to the beginning of the auction. In addition, we would still have our cashiers ask people who have not participated if they wish to help.

These two groups came up with some great ideas to make Mayfair bigger and better than ever. We hope to start the planning process for Mayfair 2018 in July. We are considering using a survey given to past Mayfair participants and supporters to gain more ideas. Our goal is to try to engage more volunteers and younger supporters to continue to improve on this premier event.

The K-8 teachers do an outstanding job putting together the classroom baskets for Mayfair. Please let them know they are appreciated.

Marketing Enrollment Report:
Exchange Students: A dinner was shared with student exchange representatives from China. One comment made was that they do not like sending their students to California because there are a lot of people there that speak Chinese and part of the program is for the students to fluent in English. The students are here to learn the American business model and take the techniques back to China. Many of the exchange students want to stay in America after they graduate because of what is available here.

The Chinese students spend 5 days a week living in a dorm and go home on the weekends so sending their children overseas to school is not a big family structure shock. It was very hard to have the exchange students stay in American homes. They are much more comfortable in a dorm type living arrangement.

A tour was given around the school, dorm and points of interest in the area. They were impressed with the safety of the Billings community. The representatives were also pleased with the mandatory drug testing policies at BCCHS.

The next step in the process is that 3 or 4 exchange students will attend BCS in the 2017-2018 school year. The 17-18 exchange students will be homestays. All perspective exchange students will be vetted by EEG.

EEG has representation in both countries. At one time the students would have someone else do their exam giving them a high rating in English and when they arrived in America they could not speak English at all. This group interviews the students in person. The Chinese do not want to fail. They personally interview and rate the students.

During the tour, it was noted that 1/3 of the student body was participating in extracurricular activities which took them out of the building and that the school had more students than they saw in the classrooms. The fact that BCS offers the complete package of extracurricular activities impressed them along with the hands-on activities in classrooms.

The ideal exchange student population would be 6 to 7 percent of the student body. Some students want to participate in BCS for four years and go on to American colleges where others are only here for one year.

Enrollment: BCS loses students every year. Some families wait to register after they know how much it will cost and if they are getting a scholarship. A friendly call from a staff member to a family trying to decide can make a big difference. The 6th grade has gained 6 new students. Currently enrolled students that have not registered usually don’t until closer to school starting.

The “Closing of the Schools Party” will be on May 31st. SFI 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, SFP 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, SFU 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. An email and invitations will go out.

Catholic Culture Committee: Q&A with Schools: CCC met with the SFP staff and they came with questions and suggestions. Fr. Steve was there and did a great job with the staff. The dialog and conversations were very positive.

Board Term: Carlos’ term on the School Board is nearly over so there is a need for a Board member to lead/be part of CCC.

Review of CCC: CCC is starting to shed light on the good things that everyone already does. The shift from 3 schools to 1 is a good opportunity for CCC because what good things are being done in 1 school can now be easily shared with the others. That will be the primary focus of CCC starting the new year.

CCC is here to maintain and support the BCS goal to further Catholic education and support faith formation. Gathering resources to help people understand and answer questions about Catholicism is something the committee is starting to accomplish. It was suggested there be a “Buddy System” at the first Mass each year for new teachers, especially those that are not Catholic.

The Board thanks Carlos for his hard work with CCC.

President’s Report: Hiring of New Staff: Interviews have been conducted the last 2 days. Contracts were offered to 3 teachers and they are all Catholic. There will be more conversation about the candidates for Education Director.

Faculty Meeting Report: Shaun met with the K-8 faculties. They were given a timeline from now through the move to the new school. The timeline is very specific about when the storage containers will be delivered, what goes in them and the deadlines for their removal and storage. No final decisions have not been made on moving the furnishings.

SFP/SFI-Moving the Daycare and Preschool: Arrangements are being made to install fencing around the play area at SFI so we will be in compliance for licensing purposes.

The Fire Marshall advised Shaun that the last inspection would not comply with requirements for a daycare. Two departments of the city will have to be contacted first and then go back to the Fire Marshall to make sure everything is in place.

Shaun was advised today that the health inspection we have in place probably will not work and will have to be redone. Shaun is working hard to make sure everything is in place for the daycare move.

Closing of Buildings-May 31st Still in the Planning Stage: The time capsules have not all been located. If found they will be on display the 31st and then will be taken to the new school.

Graduation: High School graduation is May 28th at 6:00 pm. The Board members that wish to have seating on the floor must RSVP by the 25th.

ACE Gathering: The ACE gathering will be at Karen & Russ Fagg’s home May 23rd from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. BCS is the largest recipient of the ACE Scholarships and it is important to have representation of both Boards. Please RSVP.

WCEA Accreditation Survey for BCCHS: The link to the survey was provided to the Board. The survey is simple and only takes about 5 minutes. The survey needs to be in before Friday.

New Business: Leo: Leo had the opportunity to be at SFP and watch Mrs. Tafton’s class use a blue tooth and a telephone with 12 to 15 4-year-old students singing in unison. He was very impressed.

Leo went to BCCHS and there are 5 or 6 Chinese people, 2 of them spoke English, in a classroom and he wondered how they would all communicate. They did a great job.

If the BCS message begins with SFP and ends with BCCHS, it is not a waste of time. He is very appreciative of the work being done in this system.

Testimonial: Dr. Roscoe, who now teaches math at the U of M, graduated from BCS and attributed his love of math to 2 teachers at BCCHS. The BCS experience continues beyond our students time here.

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 5:15 pm to an executive session.
Respectfully Submitted: Shaun Harrington, Billings Catholic Schools President