Report from Marlo Hartsuyker, VCOE Director of Charter School Support and Oversite
FYI
Marlo Hartsuyker
2 m
B.
Report from PAC
FYI
Kelly Simon
5 m
PAC President, Abby Cluster, will join the Board to share updates from our PAC.
C.
Reports from the Directors
FYI
Kelly Simon
7 m
Executive Director
WASC Mid-Cycle Visit is December 11th
Board Committees
Legislative changes for short term Independent Study: We intend to collect ADA for 1-15 days of excused absences for students who makeup classwork within 7 days of the excused absence.
Director of Daily Operations
Director of Student Support
Bullying Awareness Month
Friends Friday
III.
Public Comments
Persons wishing to address the Board may do so at this time upon recognition from the President, or when the President requests comments from the Public as the Board is considering the item. Please state your name, community or organization you represent, and the topic you wish to share with the Board. You will be given 3 minutes to make your presentation. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the Board cannot enter into formal discussion with individuals making public comments to the Board. The Board cannot take action on any issues raised during public comments that are not on the meeting agenda. Individual members may respond to public comments during the individual Board Members section.
IV.
Governing Board
V.
Reports
6:36 PM
A.
Update from BSA
FYI
Rudy Calasin
5 m
Rudy Calasin will join the board to share an updated timeline for reviewing Charter contracts as well as recent developments from VCBSA's board.
VI.
Consent Items
6:41 PM
A.
Consent Items
Vote
Katerina Yevmenkina
2 m
Consent Items: Items proposed for the consent calendar are noted on the posted agenda and are considered by the Director to be of a routine nature. Any item may be removed from the consent calendar at the request of any Board member and placed under the appropriate action category. A vote will be taken for the consent calendar so that any items requiring a vote can be properly addressed. It is recommended that all consent items be approved.
We have had our employee handbook reviewed again by Procopio. Recommended changes are in red. Significant changes are related to the leave options available to our employees as well as our social media policy. This handbook also includes updates relative to the Workplace Violence Protection Plan per California Labor Code.
Dr. Simon will present a draft of goals for the board's review. Input will be invited.
D.
Bridges Charter School 2023-2024 Unaudited Actuals
Vote
Rudy Calasin
10 m
Rudy will present the unaudited actuals following the close of the 2023-2024 school year. Bridges closed the year realizing a much less significant budget deficit than originally estimated.
Ms. McGivern moved to California from Minnesota within a week of her hire to fill a suddenly vacant position. Bridges offered a stipend to expedite her move so that she could attend professional development with our teachers and be present for the first day of school.
For auditing purposes, we request the board's support in approving this stipend.
Bridges was named as the recipient of the $10,000 grant to support our outdoor classroom program and farm to table program. The grant proposal is attached for the Boards review.
Accept $200,000 Grant from California Department of Food and Agriculture
Vote
Kelly Simon
5 m
Bridges was awarded a two year grant from CDFA in the amount of $200,000 to fund the continued development of a farm to table program that supports healthy living for Bridges students and our local community. The grant funding compliments the National School Lunch Program and will fund salaries for several employees, the construction of organic, sustainable gardens, an outdoor kitchen, a farm stand, educational programming, and community outreach while also supporting our local farmers.
The grant proposal is attached for the Board's review. Approval of this item is recommended.
We have worked with our attorney to meet all of the new federal requirements as well as the related California law requirements so that we have one comprehensive policy for sex-based discrimination. In addition we have updated our language on our website to reflect the most current changes as well as in our handbooks to align with the new regulations. We have have trained our staff and prepared to integrate lessons for our students at the appropriate age level in our SEL lessons. We have included the information in our annual updates for our families and will be sure to include more information during our parent education during the year.
Charters are required to have anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, anti-intimidation, and anti-bullying policies, as well as anti-cyberbullying procedures to include information about social media bullying. We worked with our attorney to be sure our policy comprehensively addresses all these requirements. We also removed the Title IX policy language from this policy, since the Title IX policy itself now covers this material in a separate format. As a reminder, complaints of unlawful harassment, discrimination, intimidation or bullying based on a protected characteristic would be addressed by Title IX or UCP (as applicable).
BP 1312 Uniform Complaint Policy and Retire 1312.1 Grievances and Complaints
Vote
Cindy McCarthy
5 m
The Uniform Complaint Policy, UCP annual notice, and UCP complaint form. will now be all inclusive of BP 1312.1 Grievances and Complaints. It is our intent to retire BP 1312.1 with the approval of the action item. We updated this policy to meet compliance with CDE’s FPM instrument/applicable law and for clarity. Our policy did not previously include all the programs under the scope of the UCP, including two new ones added by recent laws last fall and this summer (i.e., unlawful discrimination relating to “book banning” and instructional material). Another major change worth noting is that complainants have 30 days (not 15 days as under old law) to appeal to CDE.
