HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-24-20 BOT MinMINUTES OF THEWESTLAKE ACADEMY BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
August 24, 2020
In accordance with Order of the Office of the Governor issued March 16, 2020 and March 19, 2020,
the Board of Trustees of Westlake Academy conducted a virtual meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Monday,
August 24, 2020 by video and telephone conference in order to advance the public health goal of
limiting face-to-face meetings (also called "social distancing") to slow the spread of the Coronavirus
(COVID-19). There was no public access to the physical location described above. A recording of the
telephonic meeting was made and is available to the public.
PRESENT: President Laura Wheat and Trustees: Carol Langdon, Greg Goble, Alesa
Belvedere, and Rajiv Trivedi.
ABSENT: Rick Rennhack.
OTHERS PRESENT: Superintendent Amanda DeGan, Deputy Town Manager Noah
Simon, Assistant Town Manager Jarrod Greenwood, School
Attorney Janet Bubert, Town Attorney Stan Lowry, Executive
Director Dr. Mechelle Bryson, Town Secretary Todd Wood, Director
of Information Technology Jason Power, Director of Finance Debbie
Piper, Director of Facilities & Public Works Troy Meyer, Director of
Communications Ginger Awtry, Athletic Director Alan Burt,
Communications Manager John Sasser, Building Official Pat Cooke,
Business Manager Marlene Rutledge, Budget & Financial Analyst
Kelsey Wong, PYP Principal Rod Harding, and Registrar Kimberly
Gardner.
Regular Session
1. CALL TO ORDER
President Wheat called the Regular Session to order at 5:05 p.m.
2. CITIZEN COMMENTS
President Wheat provided a brief summary of instructions to the public for citizen comments.
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No one addressed the Board of Trustees.
3. CONSENT AGENDA: All items listed below are considered routine by the Board of
Trustees and will be enacted with one motion. There will be no separate discussion of items
unless a Board Member or citizen so requests, in which event the item will be removed from
the general order of business and considered in its normal sequence.
a. Consider approval of the minutes from the meeting on June 8, 2020.
b. Consider approval of Resolution 20-10, Awarding the bid for property/casualty
insurance products and services to Box Insurance Agency for FY 2020-2021, and
further authorize the Superintendent or designee to execute this agreement.
MOTION: Trustee Langdon made a motion to approve the consent agenda.
Trustee Goble seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote
of 4-0.
4. DISCUSSION ITEMS:
a. Presentation and discussion of Resolution 20-11 to; (1) ratify the attestations
concerning our ability to meet TEA's threshold requirements for remote synchronous
instruction to Academy Students in grades 3-12; and (2) approve a plan for remote
asynchronous instruction for grades K-2 and for any other grades/courses for which the
Academy cannot meet the threshold requirements for synchronous instruction to ensure
funding.
Superintendent Amanda DeGan presented this item. She stated that as a part of the
Back -to -School Plan, additional requirements and deadlines have been recently issued
from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) regarding remote synchronous and
asynchronous instruction. She explained that synchronous instruction is live instruction,
whereas asynchronous instruction is not with a live instructor and assignments may be
accessed and completed independently. Mrs. DeGan indicated that Dr. Bryson has
completed the attestation for synchronous instruction that will need to be ratified by the
Board of Trustees and submitted to TEA by September 7tn
Mrs. DeGan then explained the second component of this process, which involves
submittal of an asynchronous instruction plan. Prior to this submittal of this plan,
Westlake Academy is required to submit a letter of intent to provide asynchronous
instruction to TEA. She indicated that this letter of intent has been completed and
submitted. The asynchronous learning plan may be developed using a template
provided by TEA, and schools are given conditional approval at the beginning of the
school year prior to receiving formal approval. Mrs. DeGan stated that once this plan is
finished, staff would request that the Superintendent be given the authority to submit
the plan to TEA on behalf of the Board of Trustees.
Dr. Mechelle Bryson stated that the team would spend the next several weeks
developing the asynchronous learning plan using the TEA template along with existing
plans that were developed over the summer. This plan would be submitted by October
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1 St
MOTION: Trustee Langdon made a motion to approve Resolution 20-11.
Trustee Belvedere seconded the motion. The motion carried by a
vote of 4-0.
S. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
None.
6. BOARD RECAP / STAFF DIRECTION
None.
7. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the Board of Trustees, President Wheat asked for
a motion to adjourn the meeting.
MOTION: Trustee Goble made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Trivedi
seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 4-0.
President Wheat adjourned the meeting at 5:11 p.m.
ANY ITEM ON THIS POSTED AGENDA COULD BE DISCUSSED IN EXECUTIVE SESSION
AS LONG AS IT IS WITHIN ONE OF THE PERMITTED CATEGORIES UNDER SECTIONS
551.071 THROUGH 551.076 AND SECTION 551.087 OF THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT
CODE.
APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES ON OCTOBER 26, 2020.
ATTEST:
Laura Wheat, President
Tod Wood, Town Secretary
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