The Anchor School

Minutes

Academic Committee Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday September 11, 2024 at 8:00 PM

Location

meet.google.com/mrr-ohup-ehi

Dial-in: (US) +1 970-614-8223

PIN: 677 616 665#


 

Committee Members Present

E. Desprez Isbell (remote), N. LeBlanc (remote)

Committee Members Absent

J. Burton

Guests Present

J. Pinto Taylor (remote), M. Felts (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

E. Desprez Isbell called a meeting of the Academic Achievement Committee of The Anchor School to order on Wednesday Sep 11, 2024 at 8:05 PM.

C.

Approve Minutes

E. Desprez Isbell made a motion to approve the minutes from Academic Committee Meeting on 08-14-24.
N. LeBlanc seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Academic Achievement

A.

Academic Data Review

  • Enrollment is currently higher than our initial enrollment projections (207 enrolled students in September)
  • We're currently pulling from the enrollment waitlist
  • We plan to revisit how we're currently presenting MAP scores in the Academic Dashboard 
    • Dr. Pinto-Taylor will have this ready by the next Academic Committee meeting in October
  • Math MAP data is still embargoed — we're waiting to see growth percentiles even if there isn't proficiency yet 
  • Still updating demographic data in the Academic Dashboard

B.

Academic Assessment Calendar

  • MAP Winter assessment will take place in January 2025 and has been added to the academic assessment calendar 

III. Additional Item from Operations Committee

A.

SCSC Monitoring (for Operations and Academic)

  • Deadline for TAS to submit monitoring documentation to the SCSC Administrative Portal on October 1, 2024
  • Dr. Pinto-Taylor and TAS leadership have already started monitoring tasks 
  • Health & Safety visit is scheduled for Tuesday, September 17, 2024 

 

Next steps 

  • Dr. Pinto-Taylor recommends that the Board puts a placeholder on the September agenda for policy revisions 
  • Policy gap analysis is expedited due to monitoring - Nicole will work with Dr. Pinto-Taylor Jasmine, and Morgan (21Cobalt) to ensure Board and TAS leadership are aligned on policy revisions and updates 
  • Nicole is planning for updated Board Agreements and Conflict of Interest Policy to be prepared by EOW 

B.

Professional Qualifications Policy

  • Academic Committee is aligned with the policy lnguage
  • Emily will create an Action Recommendation form to adopt this policy at the September board meeting 

C.

Weighted Lottery and Lottery Timeline

  • Dr. Pinto-Taylor believes the school isn't disproportionate and that TAS doesn't need a weighted lottery right now 
  • TAS is available to all families currently without a weight 
  • Academic Committee agrees with the current simplicity of our lottery 
  • Dekalb County has updated their lottery notification date to December 13, 2024 
    • It's hard for TAS to predict if aligning with this date will be helpful for the school/enrollment
    • Dr. Pinto-Taylor believes we should open our application on October 1 to align with Dekalb County — will work through TAS dates with Emily (who will create an Action form for board vote) 

IV. Other Academic Items

A.

SCSC Academic CPF and Renewal Criteria Updates

Three new criteria recommendations: 

 

  • Recommendation 1: Remove the District-Weighted Comparison Score
  • Recommendation 2: Remove the Whole School Score Calculation
  • Recommendation 3: Add a “Varied” Designation

B.

Academic Accreditation

  • Pursuing general accreditation from COGNIA — pathway will come later 
  • Accreditation process is currently on a 18-24-month timeline 
  • Emily will create an Action Item for TAS leadership to manage the accreditation process so TAS is fully accredited by FY26 

C.

TAS High School Progress

The current work to help develop the HS program is being planned:

 

  1. Curriculum Overview Document (Created)
  2. Grade Conversion Policy Draft (Created)
  3. Director of High School Position (Receiving Resumes)
  4. Facility Planning (Future Work)
  5. Staffing Model (Created)
  6. Multi-Year Projection (Created)
  7. Graduation Requirements (Created)
  8.  HS Specific Policies (Future Work)
  9. Diploma Endorsements (Created)
  10. CTAE Plan (Future Work)

D.

Standards Based Grading and Grade Conversions

  • Academic Committee is aligned - Emily will create an Action Item form for board adoption 

E.

Remedial Education Program (REP) Overview

  • TAS has aligned with the Innovate Model REP model 

F.

Drug and Alcohol Policy

  • This policy is item for information policy this month 
  • Will focus on monitoring-related policies first 

V. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 9:34 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
N. LeBlanc