Branson-Hutchison stated that she prefers financial reports be submitted to board members earlier to allow more time for more careful review. This feedback will, and has been, provided to the financial agency partner, CIES.

Habayeb stated that the School is awaiting money from the IPS pass through.

Habayeb went over the following items from the Final Audit. There are two important aspects of this audit.

• Government Auditing Standards
  • No material weaknesses were found.
  • No deficiencies were found
• State Board of Accounts
  • A strong first year, especially compared to other first year schools
  • The School was determined to be Above Average among cohort schools
  • Average Findings are 8
  • The School's findings were 1: This was a gap in the cashing of checks during the pandemic and has since been rectified by purchasing a check cashing machine for the School site.  
    • A small discrepancy of our 1099 reporting occurred when there was a delay in reimbursement from IPS based on grant funding. This is typical for similar Cohort schools.

Whitley stated that the school has completed mid-year assessments through Clearsight, labeled "interim" on the data sheet, which is a platform aligned with the state ILEARN test. The test assesses students' proficiency on grade level Indiana-specific standards. NWEA is a tool that is a national test that is focused on growth.

Whitley went through the attached Academic Report focusing on the following:

• The following data sets are considered "Approaching" based upon the pre-determined standards in the Board goals
  • K-2 DIBELS proficiency
  • 3-5 ELA Clearsight proficiency
  • 3-5 Math Clearsight proficiency
  • 6-8 ELA Clearsight proficiency
• The following data sets are "off-track" compared to pre-determined goals:
  • K-2 NWEA proficiency in Math
  • 6-8 Math Clearsight proficiency
  • K-8 Average daily attendance

While the School isn't posting the growth that was originally hoped, compared to similarly situated schools, it is performing above average compared to other publicly released data. There are additional challenges of closing learning gaps as students are older and have more years of unfinished teaching/learning to close, thereby resulting in lower middle school proficiency.

One important context from Rangel: Clearsight tests students on the entire year's standards, even before students have covered that content by January when MOY Clearsight is completed.

Rangel clarified that the goal setting for Clearsight is based on the proficiency on ILEARN from Spring 2021 compared with the latest MOY data.

Unfinished Learning Plan

• Teachers have been tasked to assess which standards/lessons are the "core content" that need to be focused on prior to May (as opposed to moving it to the end of the year)
• Use of ILT, Individual Learning Time, that students are assigned content during that time to work on completing gaps digitally.
• After-school tutoring that focuses on key math/ELA gaps in grades 3-5.

No update.

Board Recruitment

• There has been a discussion with one promising candidate. 
• Rooney shared a list of local south side leaders to connect with as well.

Skill Matrix

• All skill matrices should be completed by Friday, February 18th.

OEI Recruitment Fair

• March 16th
• All board members have submitted their resumes and a bio and Burcope is requesting them to share at the fair.

Board Retreat

• All board members submitted dates, but there was no common dates. Board members agreed.
• The preference is still to do the meeting in-person, if possible with as many board members present as possible.
• Kainrath will send out a finalized list of options for times.

Committee Meetings

• Board meetings must be recorded on Board on Track in line with Indiana’s Open Door Law.
• Branson-Hutchison asked about adding additional committee members to ensure that the committee structure is still functioning effectively. Kainrath stated that committee expectations will be revisited at the board retreat.
• Branson-Hutchison asked to confirm the requirement for committee meeting frequency. Kainrath stated that they should occur at least every other month.

OEI Reporting Requirements

• Board-approved January minutes and testing schedules for student standardized tests K-8 must be uploaded by the March deadline.

Family Feedback Survey

Here were highlights from the latest round of data.

• How satisfied have you been with EDEMS?
  • Fall/Winter 2021 - 4.38%
  • Spring 2021 - 4.16%
  • Fall 2020 - 3.75%
• How much do you agree with the following statement: "The teachers do their best to help my child learn."
  • 83% of families agreed or strongly agreed

Staten asked what percentage of respondents represent families who are new? new to this year? returning from last year? etc. Habayeb stated that the Director of Technology will parse that data out for end of year analysis in preparation for next year.

School Calendar SY22-23

• The School is required to have 180 days of instruction and it is important to remain as aligned with IPS next year to avoid confusion with transportation and for families.
• The School is proposing to add professional development days for SY22-23 and is fully-aligned with IPS except for one day.
• Staten asked about Family Conference days. They are October 21st and March 24th.
• Staten also asked to clarify "Signed Progress Reports", which is the deadline for families to return sign and return their child's quarterly progress report (report card).

The School's new Community and Engagement Director, Leah Kuruzar, is spearheading a committee of families to advise the leadership of the school. She is combing through school survey data, as well as families who are frequently in-touch with the school, both critical and supportive, to identify those families.

The Family Advisory Council would meet monthly with the first meetings occurring in April.

Kainrath asked if council meetings will be public and can be attended by board members. Rangel confirmed that board members could attend and council members would be especially encouraged, as all parents are, to attend board meetings as well.

Academic Intervention Conferences presented by Ms. Randle

• Currently, 85% of families have had a mid-year family conference via phone/Zoom to discuss students' grades, academic progress, attendance percentages, and overall promotional status.
• To close the gap with the final 15% of students, the leadership team is completing home visits.
• The goal is to create specific action steps for kids, families, and the school to support the child moving forward, beginning with the strengths of the students.

Burcope asked to characterize the level of engagement from families during the conferences. Families are looking for strategies to support at home and partnering up to brainstorm solutions to challenges the child and family may be facing.

Staten asked who participates in the conferences. Randle stated that it is a parent, one staff member of the school (could be teacher, leader, dean, etc.), and hopefully the child. 

Staten also asked what data is used to discuss academic growth. Rangel pointed out that AIC data includes Semester 1 grades, Fall to Winter NWEA growth separated in both Math and ELA, and attendance.

Burcope asked about the number of students currently involved in tutoring programs. Currently, 38 students consistently stay after-school for intense tutoring, coordinated by Leah Kuruzar. 

No closing items.