Creative Center of Los Altos

“All of the members of the governing board are children or grandchildren of the founders of the creative center of los altos, the late l. Victor riches, sr. And his late spouse, gwendolyn. Dennis riches, l v riches, jr, and kathleen pickett are brothers and sisters. Laura blotter is the daughter of kathleen pickett and scott riches is the son of dennis riches.”

“The members group consists of 18 uncompensated individuals.”

“The members group has board oversight via their power to elect new governing board members.”

“Currently, the members have power to vote on two matters: 1. They may add additional board members. 2. Vote of the members is required to amend article three of the by-laws, which pertains to the memberships.”

“The board of directors established a finance committee composed of the three board members and one current parent. One of their many responsibilities is to review the form 990 in its entirety for accuracy, answers to questions, and to give input to the cpa prior to the form being filed. After their review, a final copy of the 990 is distributed to the entire governing body.”

“The conflict of interest policy is reviewed annually with board members. If there is a conflict of interest with an individual board member on a particular issue, that board member is not allowed to be a part of the discussion and must abstain as part of the voting process. If there is a conflict of interest with the majority of the board members, then the particular issue and discussion at hand is brought to the independent committee.”

“The compensation of the president and pinewood's head of school, oakwood's head of school, and the schools' key employees is approved by the board of directors. In establishing this compensation, the board takes many factors into consideration, including the roles and responsibilities of the position along with the hours spent each week. A compensation study/survey is conducted each year and as part of the survey, other salaries of individuals at similar organizations with the same or similar roles and responsibilities are compared in order to set the salaries. In addition an indepedent compensation committee was formed along with hiring a compensation consultant to determine the salary of the pinewood president and the oakwood head of school. Form 990 of other similar organizations are reviewed and compared as part of the study as well. Each individual is given a written employment contract stipulating their salary.”

“The school makes its governing documents and conflict of interest policy available to the public by request. For the school's financial statements, each year an annual summary is mailed to all current parents, current faculty, and alumni.”

“Three of the officers/directors work on a daily basis at the school as their regular job/profession. The other three directors spend significant hours on campus overseeing the physical plant and financial affairs of the school, and community outreach for the school. The directors' compensation is a combination of their salary for these services and their stipend as a member of the board of directors.”