Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence

Minutes

Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting

Date and Time

Tuesday April 15, 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
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Meeting ID: 810 6248 5195
Passcode: 422412

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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), Diana Foskett (remote), Donna Carroll (remote), James Lightfoot (remote), Teremar Rodriguez-Vazquez (remote)

Trustees Absent

Darren James, Denise Pagan-Vega, Jennifer Wallace-Johnson, Kiyota Garcia

Guests Present

Kendra Salvador (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

Teremar Rodriguez-Vazquez called a meeting of the board of trustees of Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence to order on Tuesday Apr 15, 2025 at 5:35 PM.

C.

Approve Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes from Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting on 03-18-25.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

D.

Welcome Guests

Sherard Johnson and Nealon Lewis joined the meeting to demonstrate interest in joining the board and spoke about their background in our community.

II. Executive Director's Report to the Board

A.

Executive Director's Report to the Board

Kendra discussed the challenges faced by students during the MCAS test, particularly in typing their answers. She noted that some students ran out of time or struggled to transfer their handwritten responses to the computer.  It was asked whether technology class is given to the students which we are not currently but there have been talks about bringing it back to the class. 

 

MCAS prep is going - Kendra also shared that while students are making progress academically, there are still significant gaps, particularly in math. The team is working to accelerate this progress without overwhelming students or teachers. 

 

Lastly, Kendra mentioned the need for additional strategies to address chronic absenteeism among students. We are no longer to do make up academy for absenteeism. 

 

III. Committee Updates

A.

Academic Excellence

James provided a summary of the improvements that have happened every 6 weeks. K-5 where there has been a decrease in progress was 4th grade but that is being worked on currently. The outcome of the interventions is giving a good opportunity to correct or provide more support in less amount of time. Also looking forward to the outcome for quarter 4 for ESL students. Overall, new curriculum is proving great support for students learning and we are seeing the outcomes.

B.

Finance Committee

Biggest project right now is looking into getting the money invested. Met with Monson Savings - very impressed how they can invest the money and how we can get good return for the school.

 

There was a discussion about FY 2025 budget but it will be in the vote and discussion for next year. Teremar asked about the elimination of leadership roles and wants to know the downstream effect of that. Rationale is that there is a lot ofttimes where it feels like too many cooks in the kitchen and not enough work to go around. Kendra was conversation with her budgeting. 

C.

HR Committee

No updates.

IV. Board Chair Updates

A.

Updates

Teremar expressed her gratitude for the guests attending. 

V. Other Business

A.

Discussion of Remote Board Issues

Catch all for now.  No issues at the time. 

VI. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 6:30 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Teremar Rodriguez-Vazquez