As almost an afterthought to a quick meeting of Audubon Charter School’s F.A.M.E. board this past Saturday, it was announced that the permit for the disputed Broadway contract had been picked up by a contractor and cleared for continuation. An old custodial house on Audubon’s 428 Broadway campus had been mostly dismantled, but a civil complaint by the Upper Audubon Neighborhood Association had kept the structure from being moved and renovated. Construction is now scheduled to begin immediately.

Prior to this news, the board voted unanimously to invest most of Audubon’s 2.25 million dollar surplus in two new ways. The school will place 1.25 million dollars in a CDARS program (First NBC) with a staggered term, to mature at six months. At 24 months, the CDs would be cashed in. The school will also place a million dollars with the Blackrock Capital (ML) fund, a flexible account consisting of one-third corporate equities, one-third US government bonds and one-third in mortgage-backed securities. The remaining $500,000 will be retained to pay the school’s bills for the remaining school year.

Chair person Cornelius Tilton wanted it to be known that the bonds would not be traded: “We plan to just buy them, hold onto them, then sell them.” Tilton explained, “We have had that 2.5 million dollars for years. It’s been sitting there doing nothing, not working for us. We have no anticipated need at all for the rest of the money, so we want to put it into solvent, quickly liquidateable fund where, in the meantime, it’s earning money.”

Audubon’s French school on Carrollton reported it will start a correspondence with Jean Cocteua Middle School in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France. The Montessori school has begun implementing the state-initiated Compass teacher evaluation program. Teachers planning to work for Audubon’s Montessori Middle School (which is coming closer to accreditation), have also been going through rigorous out-of-state training sessions.

At the board meeting were Chairperson Cornelius Tilton, secretary Jolyn King and representative Ben Hicks, board members Derek Bardell, Jacqueline Smith, Claire McDaniel, Eva Alito, Greg Thompson, plus Principal Janice Dupuy, Yvonne Locke, Alisa Dupre, Lynette Brice, Sofia Griffies and Dennis Smith. Absent were Vice Chairperson Timothy Jackson, representative Sean Barney, representative Jean Claude Brunet, and Robert Sloan.