Scholarship Prep
Minutes
Regular Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday December 14, 2023 at 2:00 PM
Location
1010 West 17th Street
Santa Ana, CA 92706
Zoom Meeting Information:
Meeting ID: 847 7579 6164
Passcode: 212359
Scholarship Prep Orange County (17th Street) - 1010 West 17th Street, Santa Ana, CA 92706
Counseling Center, Room 101
Scholarship Prep Orange County (Grand Ave) - 1821 N Grand Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92705
Admin Office
Scholarship Prep Oceanside - 4070 Mission Avenue, Oceanside, CA 92057
Admin Office
Scholarship Prep South Bay- 24910 S. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744
First-floor Kindergarten Classroom
Pete Watson, Board Member, Two-way Teleconference Location - 22 Conjoe Circle, Palm Desert, CA 92260
The meeting will be accessible via teleconference using the information listed above and at the campus locations above.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
The public attending the teleconference are invited to address the Board during the meeting using the teleconference information above. The public in attendance at any of the teleconference locations are also invited to address the Board for comments. Alternatively, public comments can also be submitted via email to comments@scholarshipschools.org with “Public Comment for Board Meeting (on date of the Board Meeting)” in the subject line. The comment should include the name of the commenter, the Agenda Item number, and the topic that is to be discussed. Comments must be received by 12:30pm of the day before the scheduled Board Meeting and will be read during the meeting based upon time limitations. If the statement is not read online due to time limitations, the comments will be provided to the board members.
Testimony shall be limited in content to matters pertaining to Scholarship Prep. The Board may not take any action on matters discussed during the public testimony period that are not listed on the agenda.
Directors Present
B. George, C. Friedrichs, J. Ing, M. Toan, P. Watson (remote)
Directors Absent
None
Directors who left before the meeting adjourned
B. George
Guests Present
C. Nichols
I. Opening Items
A.
Quorum Check
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Pledge of Allegiance
D.
Reading of the Scholarship Prep Mission Statement
E.
Approval of the Agenda
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, confirmed that there was no discussion on this item before the vote was taken.
F.
Invitation to Address the Board on Items on the Agenda
G.
Invitation to Address the Board on Items Not on the Agenda
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, confirmed with each school site to see if there was anyone present who wanted to address the board. South Bay was absent when Charles initially checked at 2:29 pm. Allison Vann was present at 2:49 pm and confirmed that no one was present at the site to address the board.
II. Information Section
A.
Clifton, Larson, Allen Audit Presentation
Marlen Gomez, the engagement leader, started by introducing herself and Robert. Marlen is in charge of reviewing and signing the audit while Robert is the auditor in charge. Robert discussed some key highlights about the overall audit process timing throughout the year, key highlights from State compliance and from financial testing, and the governance communication.
Charles Friedrichs asked Robert about significant versus insignificant findings in the report. Charles specifically asked if there were any insignificant findings to which Robert said no there were not.
Board member, Pete Watson, asked if the procedures that we, Scholarship Prep, have in place for handling money are part of CLA's review process. Marlen said it is, however, Scholarship Prep does not handle a lot of cash and CLA needs to look at volume and how much the dollar amount is. There is not a lot of the cash that is being handled at the school sites, so it is material.
Pete Watson also asked if the Oceanside site was notified when the site did not meet the test for the P2 period when CLA audited the ratios of the classes. Marlen said that the school was notified immediately.
B.
Orange County Grand Campus Update
Principal of the OC Grand School Site, Chantel Van Pool, along with some students presented the OC Grand Campus Update. The video shared discussed the new mural at the campus that features Martin Luther King Jr., Frida Kahlo, and Malala Yousafzai and serves as an inspiration to all students. The video also showed clips of the RedBoy production shows at each school site that occurred during Native American Heritage month. Lastly, they shared about how the students celebrated world kindness day where the students read a book about kindness and made a kindness quilt as a school.
C.
Organization Update
Jason Watts shared an organization update. The following items were discussed: the mural at the Grand site, the health services that we bring to our students and families, Jazz Empowers performances and band components, the Oceanside campus playground updates, RedBoy Productions at each school site, Homeless Innovative Program Grant (HIP), and the Student Services assistant staff highlight.
D.
2023-24 First Interim Presentation from Charter Impact
Jason Sitomer provided the First Interim Presentation from Charter Impact. This includes the first 4 months of actuals reported to the State along with our year end projection of the remaining 8 months of the year. Jason Sitomer stated he provides a monthly update as well as meet every week with Jason Watts, Sarah Schoenfeld-Nakamoto, and the leadership team. He also stated that the school does a very good job of monitoring the expenses, making sure that everything's on track.
III. Consent Calendar
A.
November 16th, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes
B.
November 6th, 2023 Special Meeting Minutes Revision
Edits were made to the language of the closed session section from the November 6th, 2023 Special Meeting Minutes.
C.
October Financials and Check Register
D.
2023-24 Compliance Monitoring and Certification of Board Compliance Review
E.
Scholarship Prep - Orange County and Project Hope Alliance Memorandum of Agreement
F.
Approval of Consent Calendar
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, confirmed with the other board members that there were no questions or amendments regarding any item on the consent calendar before taking a vote to approve.
IV. Action Items
A.
Scholarship Prep - Oceanside 2023-24 First Interim Report
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, confirmed that there was no discussion on this item before the vote was taken.
B.
Scholarship Prep - Orange County 2023-24 First Interim Report
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, confirmed that there was no discussion on this item before the vote was taken.
C.
Scholarship Prep - South Bay 2023-24 First Interim Report
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, confirmed that there was no discussion on this item before the vote was taken.
D.
2022-23 Fiscal Audit
Charles Friedrichs asked Jason Watts how much an impact the issue with the TK ratios will have on Scholarship Prep. Jason stated that Marlon did a great job at explaining that it will have a minimal effect from a financial perspective. This is more a matter of shoring up our protocols.
Charles also asked if this would put up any red flags anywhere down the line. Jason Watts believes that we need to look at the level of severity of the finding. He does not believe that this is a red flag.
Pete Watson added that the only time a red flag would come up anywhere is if there were multiple findings over multiple years. We've had really a clean bill of health here. And this is a a just a small blip on the screen.
Pete also asked about the pre enrollment at 20, that Marlen mentioned, asking if we have that? Sarah Schoenfeld-Nakamoto confirmed with Andrew Crowe that we do not.
V. Closed Session
A.
Public Employee Performance Evaluation (Gov. Code § 54957) Title: Executive Director
Charles Friedrichs stated that the board entered closed session at 2:55 pm.
B.
Report Out of Closed Session
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, reported out of close session at 3:53pm. There was nothing to report out of closed session.
Board Chair, Charles Friedrichs, confirmed with each school site to see if there was anyone present who wanted to address the board. South Bay was absent when Charles initially checked at 2:29 pm. Allison Vann was present at 2:49 pm and confirmed that no one was present at the site to address the board.