No Public Attendance

KENDRA PRESENTS EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT:

Executive Director Kendra Salvador provided an abbreviated report while the Board awaited a quorum.

Academic Update:

• End-of-year academic results are nearly complete and continue to trend positively, exceeding last year's growth.
• No significant ESL updates were reported.
• The school's Special Education Tiered Monitoring Review identified only one corrective item:
  • consistent use of the required EDA/B form.
• Overall feedback from the reviewer was very positive.

Student Support:

• Only three reportable discipline incidents occurred during the entire school year.
• Attendance remained stable.
• Enrollment is full for the upcoming school year.

Operations:

• Required sibling verification report was submitted.
• Springfield Public Schools will transition to a new food service vendor next year.
• Summer maintenance includes cleaning, pothole repairs, and continued planning regarding the parking lot project.
• Additional meetings have been held with legal counsel regarding the parking lot project.

Finance:

• Final FY2026 budget figures are expected by the end of June.
• Conservative per-pupil revenue assumptions remain in place.

Facilities:

• Three meetings have been held with the architects regarding future facilities work.
• Another meeting is scheduled for the following week.

Staffing:

Open positions remain for:

• Director of Multilingual Learner Programs (three finalists identified)
• Two Special Education teachers
• One third-grade teacher
• One fourth-grade teacher

Grants:

Kendra announced that the school had recently been awarded:

• $80,000 Davis Foundation Grant
  • Supports LETRS literacy training for teachers and administrators.
  • Includes funding to compensate teachers for certification work completed outside regular hours.
• $35,000 Cybersecurity Technology Grant
  • Will fund replacement and upgrades of aging servers.

The Board congratulated Kendra on securing $115,000 in grant funding over the previous two weeks.

Establishment of Quorum:

At 6:02 PM, Nealon successfully joined the meeting by phone, establishing a quorum. The Chair announced that formal business could now proceed.

DIANA PRESENTS ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE COMMITTEE REPORT:

Chair Diana Day Foskett reported that:

• The Academic Committee met but did not achieve a quorum.
• Preliminary literacy and benchmark data indicate strong student performance.
• Student achievement continues to improve.
• Individual student information was not discussed publicly.

Kendra noted that the Academic Committee slide deck uploaded for the Board meeting was an incorrect version and immediately replaced it with the corrected presentation.

DIANA PRESENTS FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT:

Parking Lot Project

Diana reported:

• Additional meetings were held with legal counsel regarding the significant increase in projected costs for the parking lot project.
• Discussions suggest there may be legal arguments limiting the extent of required work for the charter school.
• The Board remains committed to maintaining a collaborative relationship with the City while pursuing a cost-effective solution.

Banking

The Finance Committee identified issues with account allocations at Monson Savings Bank.

Corrections are underway and updated balances should appear in future financial reports.

HR COMMITTEE:

• The HR Committee did not meet.
• An employee handbook update remains necessary.
• Diana will coordinate a brief Zoom meeting with committee members, including Donna Carroll, to complete the review.
• Board members not serving on the committee are welcome to attend.

GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE:

DESE Board Monitoring:

Diana reported that although the school's charter renewal was approved without conditions, DESE has instituted additional monitoring of Board governance.

Monitoring will focus primarily on:

• Board bylaws
• Executive Director evaluation process

Bylaws Revision:

The Board discussed the required DESE process for revising bylaws.

Key discussion points included:

• Existing legal bylaws on file with DESE date back to 2010.
• Previous Board work completed in 2023 can serve as the foundation for revisions.
• Proposed revisions include:
  • reducing the number of standing committees;
  • simplifying Board operations;
  • improving compliance with Open Meeting Law.

Current timeline:

• July Board Retreat:
  • substantive discussion of proposed revisions.
• September:
  • review and vote on draft bylaws.
• October:
  • submit draft to DESE.
• Goal:
  • complete revised bylaws by November 1.

Executive Director Evaluation Process

Diana reviewed DESE guidance regarding Executive Director evaluations.

Discussion included:

• Future evaluations should occur annually.
• Routine performance evaluations should occur in public session rather than executive session.
• Executive session minutes from the most recent evaluation will be made public following Board approval.
• Future evaluations will rely primarily on internal academic and operational data rather than waiting for MCAS results.
• A schedule has been developed with DESE to ensure ongoing compliance.

Board Membership

Donna Carroll asked about the status of prospective board member Allison Sullivan.

Diana reported:

• Allison remains a strong candidate.
• Her appointment will be placed on the agenda for the upcoming special meeting.

Donna also indicated that another individual has expressed interest in serving on the Board.

Discussion included:

• requesting a résumé from the prospective member;
• interviewing the candidate;
• beginning the DESE approval process.

Alena advised that DESE approval typically requires approximately six weeks, meaning new members are unlikely to be formally approved before the July retreat.

Interested candidates will be encouraged to attend the retreat as non-voting participants if possible.

Annual Board Retreat

The Board discussed scheduling the annual retreat.

Tentative plan:

• Tuesday, July 28, 2026 (5:30 PM)
  • Zoom meeting to approve the Annual Report for DESE.
• Friday, July 31, 2026
  • In-person Annual Board Retreat (afternoon, tentative).

DIANA - Board Officer Elections:

Diana reminded members that elections will occur during the annual retreat.

Current vacancies include:

• Vice Chair
• Treasurer

Board members were encouraged to consider serving in these leadership roles.