Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence
Minutes
Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday March 18, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Location
Board Of Trustees is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Board Of Trustees' Monthly Meeting
Time: Jan 21, 2025 05:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Every month on the Third Tue, until Jul 15, 2025, 7 occurrence(s)
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Monthly: https://mlkcs-org.zoom.us/meeting/tZUtceuspj4rE9EDOb1Jb9cCQnlV6cB4xnsU/ics?icsToken=DJg3TlA-lP3MTwL-RAAALAAAALtkhqUJuIdSD2TC0FFQDNrxO54voBrhE0rGost3OL_O-FTjFMSLn9mjXej4pWBwWPmEgr1A5b8VBl76-zAwMDAwMQ&meetingMasterEventId=eppMBExJSECSI11CdolQ9Q
Join Zoom Meeting
https://mlkcs-org.zoom.us/j/81062485195?pwd=DKrpa7OhazdCK8mmnDJ1C0fLlgoVVy.1
Meeting ID: 810 6248 5195
Passcode: 422412
---
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,81062485195#,,,,*422412# US (New York)
+13017158592,,81062485195#,,,,*422412# US (Washington DC)
---
Dial by your location
• +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
• +1 360 209 5623 US
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
• +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US
Meeting ID: 810 6248 5195
Passcode: 422412
Find your local number: https://mlkcs-org.zoom.us/u/kezWTFztIm
Trustees Present
Alton Jones (remote), Bertha Wecher (remote), Denise Pagan-Vega (remote), Diana Foskett (remote), Donna Carroll (remote), James Lightfoot (remote), Kiyota Garcia (remote), Teremar Rodriguez-Vazquez (remote)
Trustees Absent
Darren James, Jennifer Wallace-Johnson
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve Minutes
D.
Welcome Guests
II. Executive Director's Report to the Board
A.
Executive Director's Report to the Board
Teremar shared he town hall experience - it was so organized and awards were encouraging for the students. Discussed open house and how successful it was and how it will not be an annual event. Craft fair is a new event - it's a fun thing to build community. Intent to return forms for current staff were sent. Donna asked about AIC and the staffing and mentorship offerings. Drafted budget will be sent to vote and discuss at next meeting.
III. Committee Updates
A.
Academic Excellence
Kiyota reported that assessment are being reported. Results for the student social emotional learning surveys are coming in - 86.6% of students feel that their teachers really care about them most (if not all) of the time and make an effort to get to know them. Looking for people to join our committee. Teremar asked whether we take the weakest indicators on those surveys and make a plan - Kendra indicated that they do like last year the weakest indicator was belonging, so they created groups, they let students take art of townhalls to improve. Denise asked whether we share with families - Kendra indicated that they do not but it is a good idea to share.
B.
Finance Committee
Made good progress - numbers look good. School needs to invest their cash returns to maximize our money. Having an investment advisor is a reasonable option to look at our numbers and investments- figuring out an RFP. Budget is being worked on.
C.
HR Committee
Kendra has been working with the staff in anti-racism work - a question has resurfaced about benefits accrual and PTO policy. Staff wants to get all of their PTO upfront. Board discussed about concerns around payouts if we decided to give all PTO up front and the liability that comes with that. Negative balances or PTO were also discussed for emergency situations. Talked about updating the handbook - 90 day probationary period to get pto. We want to consider it, and we want to meet the staff halfway. 10 days of sick time - next year they will get 111 days with the floating holiday, and they are able to carry 5 days. Another idea is they will keep track of the balance, it can pro-rate it. Any change we want to make will be effective for next school year.
D.
Governance Committee
Discussing recruitment for the board. We had two more interviews and we are looking for individuals with finance background.
IV. Board Chair Updates
A.
Updates
Continue to assess the board's needs, Teremar is asking for a clerk in order to provide support to the chair.
V. Other Business
A.
Discussion of Remote Board Issues
Mass legislators wanted to extend the ability to meet remotely to 2027. Bill was being pulled and it has a lot of support. Keeping an eye just in case.
VI. Executive Session
A.
Executive Session
Joined executive session at 6:30 and returned at 7:00pm
No guests