"In case you missed it": The latest business meeting of the Board was held on April 10th as the State of the School address. For those unable to attend, here are some highlights: The Board provided an update on the Head of School Search and received a recommendation from that committee on the top candidate.The Board also introduced the framework for key performance indicators developed to improve transparency in board activities. This new system focuses on five areas: Learning Environment, Quality of Instruction, Community Relations, Finances, and Governance. The Board also approved the 2013-2014 Budget in the District Format, approved the allocation of fundraising dollars to resurface the soccer field, and approved the election committee charter and that committee’s budget. In addition, the Accountability committee provided a summary of the TCAP results from last year, an overview of community and staff satisfaction survey results, and provided recommendations from those surveys to the Board. The presentation from the State of the School will be available on the Governance website.

Head of School Search Committee:

The Head of School Search (HOS) Committee was created to begin the process of identifying the next permanent HOS. The committee included representatives of the entire Stargate community. Specifically, 2 parent/board members, 6 teachers representing each teacher “team”, 2 non-teacher staff members and the school’s Business Manager.

The HOS Search Committee has been working extremely hard over the past 5 months posting the position, establishing objective evaluation criteria, reviewing applications, and conducting personal interviews. Specifically, they reviewed 54 applicants and narrowed down the candidates to 8 finalists (2 of which ultimately removed themselves from consideration). They then conducted 6 personal interviews.

Based on those interviews the HOS Search Committee has made a recommendation to Stargate’s Board of Directors which was announced at the State of the School meeting on April 10th. The recommendation of the HOS Search Committee is that Josh Cochran be the candidate to be considered for the Head of School position. On Wednesday, April 24th, at 5:30 PM, a town hall meeting will be held at the school during which Mr. Cochran will have an opportunity to speak with the community and for questions and comments to be heard. After the town hall meeting there will be a meeting of the Board of Directors which will include an Executive Session for purposes of discussing Mr. Cochran's candidacy.

Upcoming Board Meetings:

April 24th: Interactive Town Hall for parents, teachers, staff and students to speak with Mr. Cochran and for questions and comments to be heard. After the Town Hall, the Board will enter an executive session to discuss Mr. Cochran’s candidacy (per C.R.S. 24-6-402(f) [personnel matters]).

May 1st: Special Board Business Meeting at 6:00 PM at Stargate: executive session to finalize discussion on Mr. Cochran’s candidacy for the HOS position (per C.R.S. 24-6-402(f)[personnel matters]) with a motion following the session.

May 8th: Business Meeting at 6:00 PM at Stargate

Stargate Governance 101:

When can the Board call an executive session? The Colorado Open Meeting Law allows for executive, or closed, sessions for governing boards in order to protect areas of confidentiality. These reasons include: buying or selling property, legal advice, confidential matters required by State or Federal Law, security issues, contract negotiations and strategies, personnel matters, considerations of documents protected from disclosure under the Open Records Act, and discussion of students. While discussions can be held during these closed sessions, decisions can only be made in an open forum.

If you have a question for the board, please send an email to governance@stargateschool.org.

Spring Elections: 2 Board Seats Open

Interested in doing more for Stargate? Interested in being more involved? Lend your skills to Stargate! Run for an elected position!

Nominations are now open for the Spring 2013 Election!

Dates:

• Nominations Open: April 10, 2013
• Nominations Close: May 1, 2013 @ 11:59pm MT
• Election Starts: May 8, 2013 @ 12:00am MT
• Election Ends: May 15, 2013 @ 4:00pm MT

Open Positions
The following positions will be filled with the Spring 2013 Election:

• 2 Positions on the Stargate School Board of Directors

Nominations
If you would like to apply for nomination for any of the open positions for our upcoming election, please download and complete the Board or Committee Candidate Application Form from the Recruiting and Elections Folder of Forms and Files page on our Governance Website(charter.stargateschool.org) and email it to recruiting@stargateschool.org by the indicated deadline(s).

Election Policy and Procedures
The Stargate School Board has defined a set of Election Policies and Procedures. You can find a copy of these Policies and Procedures in the Recruiting and Elections Folder of Forms and Files page on our Governance Website.

Look for voting instructions in your Monday Folders on May 6, 2013!