Springside Chestnut Hill Academy

“Honorary and emerita members do not vote.”

“Frank p. Steel, jr., head of school, and james m. Talbot, board member, have a family relationship.”

“The form 990 is initially reviewed by the chief financial officer, the president, and the chair of the governance committee. An electronic version is then provided to the voting members of the board of trustees for their review before the return is filed with the internal revenue service.”

“The board of directors, officers, and key employees complete a conflict of interest disclosure statement to disclose any potential conflicts of interests on a yearly basis. Family and business relationships are expressly mentioned in the statement. The statements are collected, reviewed and retained by the chief financial officer. Any potential or actual conflicts will be reviewed by the board. Interested parties to the conflict abstain from any discussions or decisions involving the conflict.”

“The governance committee of the board of trustees is responsible for overseeing the implementation and execution of all human resources policies, including compensation. The compensation committee of the board of trustees reviews the compensation for officers using comparable compensation data to ensure all officers' compensation is within fair market range for the industry. The compensation committee then makes recommendations to the governance committee with respect to officers' compensation. During the current year, the compensation and governance committees reviewed the compensation for officers and, as part of the process, reviewed comparable compensation data for schools in springside's peer group (including local schools and schools in the mid-atlantic region). The governance committee made determinations based on this review. In addition, the president uses local, regional and national organization comparatives to determine key employees' salaries. These organizations include, but are not limited to, paisboa, nais and nboa. All discussions are documented in committee minutes.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available upon request.”

“In 2013-2014, springside chestnut hill academy (sch) launched its venture incubator, an elective course for students in grades 4-12 who are interested in bringing an idea to life. Under the umbrella of the center for entrepreneurial leadership, the venture incubator (cel vi) gives students practice in analyzing the viability of an idea, whether it is a commercial product, service, event, or other innovation. Students are guided through a process in which they consider their idea from financial, marketing, and production/cost perspectives. The goal of the course is to help students bring their ideas to fruition. Sch launched the public phase of phase ii of its capital campaign-construction of a new lower school building for its boys' and girls' lower schools. The new building will advance the school's mission on several fronts: (1) the building's proximity to wissahickon valley park and its trails will enable lower school faculty to incorporate outdoor learning and the study of this native habitat to an even greater degree into the curriculum; (2) the building will advance the school's commitment to sustainability through its environmentally sensitive design, including use of natural light and materials; and (3) the building will offer a dynamic mix of active learning and quiet retreat spaces, and of flexible as well as specialized learning spaces, which advances the school's commitment to support best teaching practice through optimally designed learning environments.”

“Last year the school introduced additional spaces in the two lower schools for creative play, building, and collaboration which advances our commitment to project-based, self-directed learning. In the lower school for boys, we dedicated a much larger space for our existing imagineering lab, enabling a wider inventory of construction materials and space for building. In the girls' lower school, a new space similar in function to the imagineering lab and called the maker spot was added to complement the girls' existing physics and engineering lab. A new, enlarged space for the center for entrepreneurial leadership was also opened in 2014. The space provides room for group study, collaboration, and presentation. The space is available for classes and activities related to cel and the venture incubator, as well as other class projects requiring creative space. The renovation of sch academy's henry library, thanks to a grant from the william b. Dietrich foundation, has created not only an accurately restored historic space but a light and airy environment for reading, working, and reflecting. The renovation work encompassed cleaning and repairing the library's extensive woodwork, stone window casings, and wonderful stone carved fireplace; installing new lighting and wiring; repairing and cleaning the leaded windows; and removing the wall-to-wall carpeting to reveal the original hardwood floor. Comfortable seating, area rugs, and stickley-style chairs will soon replace the eclectic furniture accrued over the years.”

“Net gain on interest swap agreement -241,478. Gain on beneficial interest in perpetual trust 388,779. Change in value of split-interest arrangements 44,039. Amortization of discount on split-interest arrangements 15,333. Gain on beneficial interest in chartible trust 50,398.”

“The endowment rollforward doesn't appear to be correct from the ending balance of june 30, 2013 to the beginning balance of july 1, 2013. Note that the endowments of both the former chestnut hill academy and springside school were combined when the two schools merged. Although the ending and beginning balances don't appear reconciled, the presentation is correct given the merger of the two schools into one educational institution.”