The Chair announced that the meeting is being recorded and that the Board will go into executive session after the open meeting to discuss strategies regarding negotiations with represented personnel, as doing so in open session would be detrimental to the process. The Board will not reconvene.

Dwayne Stanley was not able to attend the meeting so Maura spoke on behalf of a parent, who wanted to know what measures are being taken to address the general decreasing level of education and what AMSA can do to succeed.

Lisa responded that her Entry Plan mentioned that many parents are concerned that the top tier colleges do not recognize AMSA students as having a quality education. She plans to address this matter at the next board meeting. AMSA only collects information on college acceptance and what college/university they attend, not where students apply. She will report out on the MCAS scores at the October board meeting.

She will reach out to the parent who has the concern.

Bela Gorman added that colleges are changing the way they look at education.

See attached slides of the construction project progress.

The windows have been installed. They are big and beautiful. The drywall is in. The Science lab gas and water piping has been installed.

The only issue is the transformer pad.  National Grid have transformer on backorder.

There will be an extra cost of 22K to bring power into the white building.

They are waiting for the final numbers for the retainer wall.

The paving is being covered by the contingency money and will not have additional monetary impact.

The Board did not require further discussion on the construction budget updates.

See attached ED Report.

Dr. Mobley read a letter os support from Marlborough City Counselor Trey Fuccillo. He is looking forward to partnering with AMSA.  Trey is an AMSA graduate!

Dr. Mobley was happy to report efforts to increase family engagement have been successful. 160 families signed up for the open door day and Ice cream social.  598 people attended!

AMSA hired 5 new staff members.  

The teachers and staff will appreciated the long Labor Day weekend.

Dr. Mobley is requesting an amendment to our charter to increase our maximum enrollment from 966 to 1000 students. AMSA has a long history of fostering academic success. DESE suggested we ask for 1000 to give us flexibility.

With expansion, more sections will be needed. We will need a Lower School Math teacher and a Lower School History teacher. Classrooms would have no more than 26 students.

Due to the Marlborough Net Spending Cap this year, we had to limit the number of Marlborough students to 25. Hudson is also approaching cap. 

Many of the faculty were concerned about resources if we expand enrollment. However, if DESE approves the amendment, tuition and grant money will be increased to help us. We are in a good position. We could received up to 500K in two years.

Faculty Representative Greg Theos said he has had many conversations with teachers about the expansion and will now be able to provide them with reassuring information. The additional revenue is not insignificant and would be helpful. He sees that this will benefit the students and is excited. He will encourage teachers to meet with Lisa and ask questions.

The updates to the Handbook were vetted by our school attorney Michael Joyce.. The language was modified to reflect changes to the laws pertaining to workplace non-discrimination and harassment.

The AMSA Teachers Union Settlement Agreement has been signed by all parties and is being presented to the board for a vote.

The Campaign Update on the agenda will be renamed the Fundraising Update.

Marcy Eckel provided the Fundraising Update.

The 5th Annual Golf Tournament was on August 6 and was sold out. 

The First Annual Sept 14 Eagles Run will be held on September 14.

The Fun Run will be held on October 30.

Mark Vital has been bury recruiting more business Partners, such as Avida and St. Mary's Credit Union.

Stem Soaring Eagles raffle has sold over 50 tickets..

The Brick campaigned sold 188 bricks and they will be installed maybe in October.

There is a Brick for the alumni and the PTO.

Marcy was asked if there will there be another change to order bricks and she said there is a possibility. There are other areas where bricks could be installed.

AMSA's 20th anniversary is coming up soon.

The Development Committee is brainstorming on ideas.

Maybe a Gala event or something else.

Christine asked if there are materials she could share to spread the word.

ACTION: Marcy sent this link to access resources to Sara to add to BoardOnTrack agenda.

https://www.amsacs.org/community/support-amsa/business-partners

Faculty Representative Greg Theos reported that the first week of school was exhausting for everyone. However, he has not heard much from the faculty but this year's opening was easier than last year.

Greg did not have a chance to have his usual meeting with Lisa this month.

The beloved Lighthouse tool that was developed by a staff member was discontinued due to conflict of interest laws and regulations.

Everyone is missing the tool, but we are unable to purchase the product.

Lighthouse was built over the years and it was custom made for AMSA, but there were lots of security issues.  What PowerSchool offers that Lighthouse could not, is being able to work with our mandated SIMS and EPIMS reporting. 

There is no parent report other than the one comment that was shared during Public Comment.

See attached presentation provided by Dr. Mobley. earlier in the meeting.

Evan Przyborowski, Christine Tridente, and Jim Carter volunteered to serve on the negotiation committee. Dr. Mobley will be in touch with them soon.

Former board members and negotiation committee members (Raul, Jill, Sowmini, and Roger) would be happy to answer questions and provide advice. Bela Gorman would be a good member to ask for help too.

Evan Przyborowski is the new Development Chair and will stay on the Education Committee to help with the family and staff surveys.

Christine Tridente is the new Education Chair.

Development committee is now under Evan Przyborowski. They will be meeting soon to develop and restructure the committee.

Bela Gorman reported that they will be meeting on September. 17 and has nothing more to report beyond what was reported under the construction budget update.

The August meeting was cancelled, but Governance will meet on September 11. They will be reviewing and discussing the need for policy and bylaw revisions.

Evan Przyborowski reported that the Education Committee did not meet in August but they will be meeting soon.

All action items have been completed.

No new action items.

At 7:25, the Chair announced that the board would go into executive session to discuss strategies regarding negotiations with represented personnel, as doing so in open session would be detrimental to the process. The Board will not reconvene in open session.

Greg Theos recused himself from executive session.

Invited guest: Lisa Mobley