At each Constituency Meeting-Show
(“CM-S”), SAA passes out the "minutes" from the prior year’s CM-S, the agenda for the current year’s CM-S, and starting only 2 years ago at long last, the slides from the Principal’s Report. To be clear, only the approved delegates receive these documents. If you are not one of “The Chosen”, then you are denied the folder containing the “classified documents” – even if there are dozens of extra folders left over for scores of CM-S delegates who are AWOL (absent without official leave).
SAA never publishes the materials from its annual CM-S. It’s not emailed out to the tithe-paying and/or tuition-paying parents. It’s not posted anywhere on the website either.
Why is that? Maybe the document files are too large for SAA’s outgoing email message capacity limits. Or maybe SAA is running out of space on its website cloud storage. Or could it be that the less the paying customers and outside world know about SAA’s governance, the better for SAA’s white-knuckle grip on information? Things that make you go “hmmmm” .
But since SAA never “declassified” the documents from its 2023 CM-S, Eyes on SAA is doing so. Attached you will find the documents that SAA does not want anyone besides CM-S Delegates to have access to.
These documents speak for themselves and do not require much interpretation. We have also summarized the verbal Financial Report and the verbal Home & School Association Report, for which there were slides presented, but no handouts provided - even to the Delegates.
What you won’t ever find in the CM-S documents is any coverage of the most interesting part of every CM-S – the Question and Answer (or Non-Answer) portion of the evening. But not to worry, Eyes on SAA will be bringing you that in another post.
So, as SAA prepares for its 2024 Constituency Meeting Show today, May 6 at 7:00 p.m., in the school building’s location that should be re-named the “Jane Lanning Auditorium”, Eyes on SAA brings you the declassified documents from last year’s CM-S.
Agenda:
2022 Minutes:
(For detailed coverage of the Delegate/Non-Delegate Q&A, read our post "This is not a courtroom. This is not a trial")
Principal’s Report Slides:
Principal Bowerman’s remarks did not deviate from the script of her slides, consisting of general information with a view from 5,000 feet up in the air.
Eyes on SAA’s Comments on the Principal’s Report Slides:
1. SAA did not lose any of its staff between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. This can either be a good thing for stability and continuity of instruction and school administration – assuming competence – or a bad thing for those remaining personnel who are mediocre or sub-par. The fact is that some deserve to stay, others need to go. Either way though, a zero staff-turnover year is an aberration and outlier for SAA over the past decade, and a far cry from recent years, particularly the hemorrhaging of Spring/Summer 2021.
2. The Anatomy & Physiology course was saved from cancellation – hooray! Mrs. Melissa Reinhardt, a medical professional, team-taught the subject with Mr. Hess who appeared remotely from Michigan. In point of fact though, the jeopardy of canceling the course arose when Mr. Hess himself belatedly decided to resign from SAA during the Summer of 2022 – not good. Remote instruction is far less than ideal, but at least the students weren't totally shafted.
Financial Report – by Walt Fennell, Chair of Finance Committee
(No slides provided to CM-S Delegates, therefore some figures are not exact)
A. SAA is annually audited by the General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS) which reviewed and green-lighted SAA’s Financial Statement (no modifications), Internal Controls (no material weaknesses and no significant deficiencies), and Compliance (no issues). All good news, and credit to SAA’s Business Manager, Mrs. Brittany Thorp.
B. SAA has a strong Balance Sheet of assets ($1,720,477) allowing it to ensure unexpected happenings and occurrences from time to time, to take on new projects and program investments.
C. Budgetary Receipts:
$5,345,377 (Tuition and Fees from Families)
$ 847,725 (Chesapeake Conference)
$ 170,000 (Spencerville SDA Church)
$ 392,138 (Other)
$6,782,240 (Total)
D. Use of Funds: 69% for Payroll of Staff (~$4,606,400)
17% for Non-Payroll Expenses (~$1,071,742)
8% for Scholarships (~$549,750)
7% for Plant Operation (~$500,000)
E. 2022 Capital Acquisitions were ~$450,000 (technology hardware, HVAC replacements, etc.) which are necessary for a $20 million building that is 10+ years old.
F. SAA Scholarships did not exist decades ago, but were developed to help students obtain an Adventist Education and to increase tuition receipts overall to help fund more educational programming. Scholarships currently are “need-based” for all students, or “church-matching” and/or “general merit-based scholarships” for high school students. 27% of the student body (109 students total) receive financial aid to attend SAA, but almost never more than 50% of any one student’s tuition charges is covered by financial aid. For 2022-23, families received a total of ~$366,000 in need-based scholarships, and then turned around and paid $1,046,644 into the tuition/fees base. So scholarships end up increasing tuition receipts, which in turn benefits the entire school with more spending power. No athletic scholarships are offered, in part due to restrictions of the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC).
G. There will be a Tuition Increase of 4.5% for 2023-24. This follows a 3.5% tuition increase in 2022-23, a 0% increase from 2021-22, and a 3% increase in 2020-21. These tuition increases were made necessary because the Chesapeake Conference increased teacher salaries by 4.5% in 2022-23, and by another 5% for 2023-24.
Home & School Association Report – By Melissa Reinhardt, President
(No slides provided to CM-S Delegates, therefore some figures are not exact)
HSA Funds Balance (?) $69,769.42
2022-23 Income generated by fund-raising: $4,060.68 (5K Race, Panera vouchers, Scholastic Book Fair, Fall Festival, etc.)
2022-23 HSA programming expenses: $2,814.83
Over the years, HSA has given back $14,519 to SAA for teachers or for equipment/improvements
[END of CM-S PRESENTATIONS]
Okay, that was the routine stuff. But in an upcoming post, Eyes on SAA will bring you the most interesting part of every CM-S – the Question and Answer (or Non-Answer) portion of the evening. So stay tuned for that…
-Lillian Hepburn-Richmond
(A Cohort of Concerned Parents)
Shining Light. Breaking Silence. Holding Accountable.
We’ve got Eyes On SAA.
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