Odyssey School Board Agenda - March 19, 2025

Board Agenda and Minutes
Written By

Date: 3/19/2025
Time: 5:30 pm
Location: In Person

  1. Centering: Lindsey

  2. Next Meeting Date: 3/19/2025

  3. Approval of Meeting Minutes

  4. Public Comment - Lauren
    1. Rules for public comment:
      1. 3 minutes.

      2. Not the time for complaints about individual staff or board members.

      3. The Board listens to each comment, but generally will not respond to public comment in the moment.

      4. Members of the public are encouraged to reach out directly to staff and board members.

  5. Head of School Report - Anne and Peter
    1. RACI Chart - Brian - first reading (see below)

  6. Finance and Budget Report - Jen
    1. New Draft Financial Aid Policy and Process Update

Net Tuition & NCSEAA 2024/25 Projected 2025/26 Projected Increase over 2024/25
Net Tuition $1,458,976.00 $1,746,000.00 $287,024.00
NCSEAA Funds $425,547.00 $535,000.00 $109,453.00
% of Net Tuition 29.17% 30.64% 1.47%

*Please note that numbers for 2025/26 are guesstimates at this time. We don’t yet have the final Tier award amounts for 2025/26 from NCSEAA. I am using 2024/25 Tier rates, so these will change once we get the final amounts. I don’t anticipate a large increase in Tier amounts. 

For 2024/25, $67,321.99 was received as "excess tuition" -- the amount Odyssey was able to retain which didn't "pay off" tuition (i.e., folks who donated). UPDATE: on 3/18 we had a late request for refund of excess tuition paid ($6,722). So our new donation amount is $60,599.99.

NCSEAA Funds Timing:

Opportunity Scholarships and ESA+ grants will be released to the school in mid-late September/October, which could cause a cash flow issue in the future if we do not have enough annual or bi-annual tuition payments. (We have enough for next year). We will essentially be three payments “deep” when the NCSEAA funds are deposited (Tuition Deposit/August/ September). We will use prepaid tuition in our cash flow until NCSEAA funds are deposited. Then the remaining prepaid tuition will be moved to our secondary checking account which will be drawn from monthly.

Cash Flow Projection:

Cash flow is currently projected through December 2025. We are showing a negative balance in July of approximately $30k. Once we have final totals from the Odyssey in Bloom fundraiser and silent auction, we may have a need for some additional fundraising efforts before mid-summer. 

  1. Admissions and Enrollment - Anne

We have 114 students who are eligible for re-enrollment

**93 re-enrollments (81.5% of our total)

**21 not re-enrolled

**16 for known reasons  

**5 undecided

UPDATED TABLE THAT IS LINKED TO A GOOGLE SHEET. PLEASE DO NOT EDIT IT.

Class Re Enrollment Submitted New Applications Submitted New Students Enrolled* Re Enrolled and New Students* TargetCapacity Percent Capacity for 25-26 24-25 Enrollment as of 2.23.25
PreK 5 13 12 17 17 100% 16
K 10 10 6 16 16 100% 9
1st-2nd 16 4 0 16 22 73% 18
3rd-4th 13 4 1 14 22 64% 22
5th-6th 21 7 2 23 20 115% 18
7th-8th 14 1 0 14 20 70% 21
High School 14 4 2 16 40 40% 22
TOTALS PreK-12 93 43 23 116 157 74% 126

UPDATED TABLE THAT IS LINKED TO A GOOGLE SHEET. PLEASE DO NOT EDIT IT.

* These values are being updated as new students are being accepted. We will have the most up-to-date numbers at the board meeting.

  1. Marketing and Fundraising - Leila and Lindsey
    1. Odyssey in Bloom / Tix / Auction / Matching

    2. Current / Future Fundraising Plans

    3. Report on engaging with external firm

    4. https://38house.com/articles/independent-schools-marketing-communications-what-missing

    5. NAIS - Market View

  2. Human Resources - Peter
    1. Teacher Retention Strategies

    2. Training and Professional Development

    3. Staffing/Budget Changes

  3. Building and Facility - Clay and Peter
    1. Summer Floor Project - still waiting on final quote from Brad @ WNCBuilt 

    2. E-rate and Internet

    3. Pool House Remodel - (Clay) I recommend a few people; Admin, Board Members and staff get ideas for what we want to add or renovate specifically.  After we formulate ideas and maybe rough sketches I can begin getting contractor quotes.  Do we have a budget yet on this project? 

  4. Summer Camp - Liz

  1. Old Business

  2. New Business
    1. Board Committees
      1. Fundraising

      2. Grounds

      3. Curriculum
        1. Math
          • Investigate new curriculum K-4

          • Professional development

          • Number talks

          • Math night - Winter 2026

        2. PE/Health
          • Historic hurdles with this position at Odyssey

          • Move health into science classes?

          • Focus on personal goal setting

          • Consider reconfiguring position

        3. Future Topics
          • Language program

  3. Future Agenda Items
    1. Calendar

    2. Board Webpage

    3. Comparison of Odyssey salaries to North Carolina Public Schools

    4. Teacher salary discussion

  1. Announcements

  2. Adjournment

  3. Closed Session Items
    1. Staffing and Budget

Notes:

Odyssey School Board Contact Information:

  • Chairperson: Lauren Milling

  • Co-Chair : Rush Battle

  • Secretary: Erin Bowman

Attachments:

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