Pinnacle Board Meeting Minutes
December 18th, 2025
Attendees: Michelle Strasburger, Kurt Simione, Katie Sullivan, Erin Neuhart, Kelly Cunningham, Pam Kaplan, Kathleen Reardon and Beth Marquis.
Absentees: Bonnie Balsamo & Monica Sava
Agenda Items:
Introductions:
Introductions were made. Michelle has two boys in the school system, Pam has a financial background, Kathleen has a background in capital raising, Kurt has been in IT for 30 years, Katie and Erin worked together on Project Kitty Hawk (helping people between 25-45 get their degrees online and Beth has three children that go to Colebrook School.
Board Composition & Votes on New Members:
New members Beth and Kurt were voted in by Michelle. All agreed.
There are two boards to fill; NCQE, the Northern Collaborative for Quality Education (the founding non-profit), which will stay in place as a fundraising non-profit. The other board is the Pinnacle Charter School Board, which will be responsible for helping get everything set up, hire a director, hire teachers, put policies in place and find a building. The split provides dedicated leadership for school operations and fundraising, while also meeting the state requirement of at least two parent members on the school board.
The following board members and positions were voted on, and all were in favor:
The NCQE members are:
Kathleen Reardon-Chairperson
Catie Sullivan-Secretary
Erin Neuhart
Carrie Cook-possibly (treasurer?)
Bonnie Balsamo
The Pinnacle Charter School Board members are:
Michelle Strasburger-Chairperson
Pam Kaplan-Treasurer
Beth Marquis- Secretary
Kelly Cunningham
Kurt Simione
Monica Sava
NCQE Finance Update:
The $1.5M grant was approved. Pam asked Casey Silva, a Grant Administrator, for some contacts for a bookkeeping firm, an auditing firm and an accounting firm. Once we have approval on the LLC from the Secretary of State, a bank account will be set up. The grant will be through Pinnacle, not NCQE. The function of NCQE is to raise money for the school. There will be an orientation on the GMS system, which is used for the grant reimbursement process. We have about $6500 saved right now. We need to secure a line of credit. There was discussion about getting a loan and which bank we may use. There’s also the option of applying for a direct loan from the NH Health and Education Facilities Authority.
Building Status:
The Sentinel building has 3,800 square feet, and we can build up and out. It affords us the ability to start small, and we can lease it so we don’t have to get a mortgage. The owner is very flexible with the lease terms. We believe this building will fit our needs and the bus is able to go into the Municipal Parking Lot, so the students will enter from the back of the building, which is safer than the street side. There will be five classrooms for the kids, an AI lab, Executive Directors Office, Nurses Office, bathrooms, a kitchen and a quiet room. We can expand up if we need more space, pending confirmation from an engineer. We discussed having a capacity of 50 students. Michelle has been talking to Mooch to try to get access to the Tillotson Center for school events. The new Rec Center could potentially be used for a gym and athletics. All voted and agreed on using this building and to have Michelle negotiate and sign the lease pending the building passes the lead and asbestos testing.
Executive Director Search:
Kelly and Michelle have narrowed their search to four candidates:
Katie Sullivan
Mohammed Sabrine
Brian Edney
?
There was discussion about how to integrate the Executive Director into the community. We’re looking for a candidate that fosters the culture of a love for learning and builds the culture of competence. A smaller group of board members will conduct the next round of interviews. Finalists will present their vision to a group of parents and community members.
Meeting with Tal Summary:
Tal gave Michelle a long checklist of all the tasks that need to be done before we open. There is an account that has been made by Michelle on Monday.com for task management. She has put all the tasks Tal identified there; plus all the ones we must for the contract with the state. Everyone will be able to see tasks that need to be done and ones that have been completed.
We learned the tuition from Vermont and Maine children will come from the parents, not the state. New Hampshire pays $9200. A tuition amount for Maine and Vermont will be decided. A lottery date will be scheduled. An early lottery could secure tuition paying out-of-state students before the 50-student capacity is reached.
Schedule Tracking:
Kelly gave everyone his email (kellycunningham1021@gmail.com) and wants everyone to email him their email address and phone number. This will make it easier for when the two boards start having separate meetings. The meeting schedules have also been sent out.
Other Business:
Kathleen went over all her ideas for fundraising projects, including a donation page, monthly giving, with a QR code, a sponsorship packet with a pledge form and an In-kind Wish List. She wants to organize two large fundraising events, possibly at local area restaurants. Sponsorship packets were discussed, as well as Month of Giving Grants. Title 1, 11, 111 and 1V grants were discussed. Michelle will be sending out letters to local businesses to raise funds. Another fundraiser idea is playing games inside the stores on Main Street. The players would have a passport, and it would get punched as they go into each store. Every passport would go into some sort of raffle and there will be a prize at the end to ensure every store gets visited. Amazon Smile and Box Tops are also something we’ll be looking into. We could also create a “founding families” wall to recognize early donors.
Next Meeting:
Thursday, January 8th at 5:30.