Common Ground Board Meeting Agenda for March 25, 2024

This Meeting will be held in person

March 25th 5:30pm

In person at Common Ground – Hilltop 109

Welcome 

Public Comment (5:30) (two minutes per person for a total time limit of 30 minutes, or by email; see instructions below) Sign up for Public Participation HERE

Business Requiring Approval (6:00)

Minutes of the February 26th Board Meeting

Healthy Food Certification Required Motions 

Motion 1: Pursuant to C.G.S. Section 10-215f, the Common Ground Board of Directors certifies that all food items offered for sale to students in the schools under its jurisdiction, and not exempted from the Connecticut Nutrition Standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education, will comply with the Connecticut Nutrition Standards during the period of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. This certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimbursable meals at all times and from all sources, including but not limited to school stores, vending machines, school cafeterias, culinary programs, and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organizations and groups.

Motion 2: The Common Ground Board of Directors will allow the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut Nutrition Standards provided that the following conditions are met: 1) the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend; 2) the sale is at the location of the event; and 3) the food items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. An “event” is an occurrence that involves more than just a regularly scheduled practice, meeting, or extracurricular activity. For example, soccer games, school plays, and interscholastic debates are events but soccer practices, play rehearsals, and debate team meetings are not. The “regular school day” is the period from midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day. “Location” means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food sales.

Invoices Needing Approval

Thurston Foods- $13,700.06 for 2/23-3/13 bills

ABM – $8,038.24 (March $7464.08 and Jan/Feb Retro $574.16)- New Contract was approved at Feb. Board Meeting

Elm Shakespeare Company- $12,000 for Fall Elective and the Core 10 Residency

Executive Director Report (6:05) (Monica)

Committee Reports (6:20)

Minutes for all Committee Meetings will be Posted on the Board of Directors Webpage by the end of each month

Audit Committee 

The Audit Committee will not meet again until November or December 2024 to review the FY 24 audit.

Finance and Development Committee Report (Jeff)

The Finance and Development committee met on March 21st  to review Budget vs Actuals as of 2/28 and Invoices for approval. The committee discussed concerns about spending at CGHS and the uncertainty of meeting our ambitious goal of raising $550,000 from individual donors. The Finance Committee Resolved to implement a spending freeze at CGHS  in the areas of instructional and program expenses, transportation and supplies until further notice except for grant-funded and required instructional expenses which must be approved by Cherry and aligned to a specific funding source by the business office before being spent.The Finance and Development Committee will next meet on Tuesday, April 23rd at 4pm.  For more info contact Jeff Carter. Minutes from the Finance Committee Meeting can be found HERE

Governance Committee Report (Shelly)

The Governance Committee met on March 18th to  and will share meeting updates at the full board meeting.  Please contact Shelly.Hicks@nhep.com with any questions. 

Minutes from the Governance Committee Meeting can be found HERE

Personnel Committee Report (Monique)

The Personnel Committee did not meet in March. Please contact Monique.Frasier@nhep.com with any questions. 

School Committee Report (Brian) 

The School Committee met on March 20th with a curriculum subcommittee meeting on March 11th. and will share a synopsis of their meeting with the full board.  The next meeting date is April 24th.  For more information contact Liz.Cox@nhep.com 

Minutes from the School Committee Meeting can be found HERE

New Business (6:45)

Executive Session (6:50)

Adjourn (7:30)

Next Meeting: April 29th by Zoom 

Public Comment: 

In order to comply with Connecticut Open Meeting laws, any member of the public wishing to participate in the meeting must sign up on the Public Participation Sign-up Document. Sign-ups for Public Participation will open at 5 pm on the last business day before the meeting (Friday, March 22nd and will close at 5:00 pm on the day of the meeting (Monday, March 25th) Public Participation is limited to 2 minutes per person up to 30 total minutes. Anyone wishing to make a statement to the board can also submit testimony in writing to Alexis.Smith@nhep.com  by 5:00 pm on the day of the meeting. All submitted documents will be included in the publicly shared meeting minutes.

2024-03-22T14:43:14-04:00

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