• Nicole King (EC) presented on the first six weeks of school 
  • Focus on guiding principles, one per week, with intentional community-building
  • Student community work underway: students sharing stories and backgrounds
  • Faculty community-building began during preplanning; Veleta and Nicole prioritizing culture and collaboration
  • Curriculum Night on August 26: two classroom sessions plus auditorium overview
  • Conference window shortened this year; new set schedule for teachers
  • Literacy professional development session coming in September
  • Big celebration: ANCS is first in the district to have all kindergarten immunization records submitted (credit to the school nurse)
  • Shoutout to principal partner Veleta Greer on a strong first two months together
• Mark Sanders (MC) presented on middle campus updates 
  • Relationship-building underway in advisories; social-emotional learning and current events discussions
  • Ice cream social held last Friday; MAP testing this week (math Wednesday, reading Friday)
  • Student profile talks next Thursday and Friday: students discuss learning profiles with adults, connected to enrichment/extension work and the opportunity gap
  • Meet the School Family Night: Thursday, September 3 on the recess field; teachers create videos for the curricular piece, in-person event for face-to-face connection
  • Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations across advisory and morning meeting
  • Picture day and ANCS Music Fest at end of September

ED Report (Alastair Pullen)

• First board meeting of the new five-year charter term, noted as a momentous milestone
• Enrollment: fully enrolled and at capacity; expect to hit 628 students 
  • One pending offer out for fourth grade
  • Grade 3 was briefly overenrolled by one (grade-skipped student) 
  • Waitlist is healthy, consistent with prior years
• Retention: 98% retention rate, one of the highest in recent years 
  • 15 students left (excluding eighth-grade graduates); most due to moving or change of circumstances; three were from one family
• Milestones math data just released (ELA still embargoed; expected October/November) 
  • Math continues to be a focus area
  • Trend: increase in students scoring at level two from level one, but decrease from level three to level two
  • Changes this year: associate teacher added to every classroom at the MC
  • MAP data now being collected; will look for trends against spring results
• Enrichment and extension: ~150 students identified from last year’s work; second phase now executing differentiation plans under Ms. Zelsky
• AI working group to be assembled 
  • Goal: develop not just policies and procedures, but a school philosophy on AI
  • Framed around ANCS’s constructivist and IB approach: value of critical thinking, community, and the art of asking questions
  • Aim to be a leader in this space in addition to what APS produces
  • No other charter schools (Kindezi, Wesley) have issued formal statements yet
• Aftercare tutoring added this year at the EC 
  • Free for all students who qualify for free and reduced lunch
  • Staffed by employees and select teachers
  • Driven by end-of-year survey data showing tutoring access was disproportionately benefiting families who could pay for outside tutoring
  • No cost increase; working on introducing equivalent support at the MC
• PTCA: strong start to the year; affinity groups up and running with five groups 
  • Black Dads group has 20+ members and growing
• Board feedback: language around “differentiated instruction for economically disadvantaged students” flagged as potentially conflating economic status with academic need; acknowledged and will be revised

• first meeting September 10 at 8:30 AM; draft agendas for all meetings will be shared with the full board so non-members can audit topics of interest

all meetings on Mondays at noon; October 19 date moved to October 20

• in “advancement/foundation” mode; first Friday coffee on September 4; meetings Fridays at 8:30 AM; sponsorship spreadsheet being sent out to board members to identify business prospects

committee formed with one community member; scheduling TBD; will work on board nominations task force, board limits, and board terms with Emily