The Arbor School

“Nathan stedham kristen stedham board chair board member family relationship”

“The draft 990 is reviewed by the board and executive director. Once all questions have been addressed and corrections made, the 990 is e-filed. The final copy of the 990 is distributed to the board after it has been filed and accepted by the irs.”

“If the board has reasonable cause to believe that an insider of the arbor school has failed to disclose actual or possible conflicts of interest, including those arising from a transaction with a related interested person, it shall inform such insider of the basis of this belief and afford the insider an opportunity to explain the alleged failure to disclose. If, after hearing the insider's response and making further investigation as was warranted by the circumstances, the board determines that the insider has failed to disclose an actual or possible conflict of interest, the board shall take the appropriate disciplinary and corrective action. For this policy, an "insider" is a member of the board, the school director, chief financial officer, executive director, or any person with the responsibilities of these positions, or a key employee.”

“The arbor school regularly reviews salaries for its main employees against national and local averages. Merit increases are also given, taking into consideration both performance and accountability measures.”

“Governing documents are made available upon request.”

“Form 990, part iii, page 2 as a result of this commitment to our students, the arbor's student body is extremely neurologically diverse and physically involved. Children at the arbor present a wide range of disabilities including autistic-spectrum disorders, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and a variety of other neurological and seizure disorders. The arbor works to assist these students in developing their motor, social, communication and problem-solving skills. We aim to enable each child to reach their highest level of personal success. The arbor uses carolina and ablls curriculum to assess and set goals for each of our students, tailoring them specifically to each student's abilities. The intensive program offered by the arbor requires a strict student-to-teacher ratio and as a result, our classrooms never exceed a 2:1 ratio. All student goals are very detailed and concrete so that progress can be measured daily, providing teachers and parents with a clear understanding of the child's progress. Parents are provided with copies of these goals on a regular basis; as quickly as a new goal is mastered, another is added. Each student's definition of success will look drastically different from that of his or her peers. For one student it may be crawling, where another will be self-feeding so successfully that they no longer remain dependent on a feeding tube. No matter the milestone achieved, each mastered goal is worthy of celebration and creates a huge difference in the lives of the student and their family. Covid-19 certainly had its impacts on the arbor and its operations. Most notably, shutting down all our events and outreach efforts as they related to fundraising. However, the strong community support received provided the safety net necessary to stay open, provide more scholarship support for our families than ever and make sure that our doors remained open for our families during a time where many schools found themselves closed. The arbor's board of trustees met and affirmed the arbor's program as an essential business for the community and as of june 1, 2020 we were open and operating with a full program. Unlike the traditional learner, our students who face serious and complex developmental delays are unable to do virtual learning and we were committed to keeping their progress moving forward. The arbor saw a strong uptick in enrollment of students who had been displaced and moved to a virtual learning environment.”

“The members of our board are all volunteers. Due to covid-19 and restrictions on visitors to the school, there were no volunteers outside of the board. Normally, volunteers would assist in the classrooms with our students, assist the school with making campus improvements to the facility, helping with special projects that the school does, and assisting at our events.”

“Book / tax depreciation difference -1”