River Valley Charter School
Minutes
RVCS Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday October 18, 2023 at 7:00 PM
Location
2 Perry Way
Newburyport, MA
Trustees Present
A. Fields, A. Ting, C. Getz, C. Martin (remote), C. Whitford, D. Herrera, E. Bradley, E. Rankin, E. Seaton, K. Jackman, M. Connerton, N. Durkee, T. Murdy
Trustees Absent
E. Simone
Ex Officio Members Present
J. Evans
Non Voting Members Present
J. Evans
Guests Present
Gaurdians and students from Montessori Minutes, Rebekah Waterson
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance
C.
Montessori Minutes
D.
Public Comment
E.
Approve Minutes
DH made correction comments
II. Director Report
A.
Director's Report
Director’s Goals for 2022/2023 year- to review and file
Director’s Goals for 2023/2024 Year
CW 1st motion
Discussion—
DH—Read out goals to encourage discussion (see October board packet for goals)
ER—Ask re: midyear review
DH- In January
EBI—Lofty goals, agreed and it
DH- Agreed large scope of goals, JLE will work to lean on her staff
ER—Repeatable?
DH- The will turn over and new goals will be inserted unless the goal needs to carry over
MC- Are the goals for the staff this formal
JLE- They are stated but not as formal
JLE—Focus groups will be during school hours to look at staff goals
DH- Remember that we are governance and not management so how she manages staff or plays out their goals that is not on the BOT.
JLE- Is there an expectation that there is accountability across classroom fall to JLE only
ES—In the classroom experience or in the student outcome that we are looking to equalize.
Clarification— JLE was asking about tangible classroom experiences, no subjective equalization
MG—Framework for equality would be expected, right?
TM- is there any concrete framework that exists now?
JLE- Not formally
DH—triaging this to accountability as this would make the most sense to have that committee look into ways they can support this goal
2nd Motion DH
VOTE
Denise Herrera
Ken Jackman
Tanya Murdy
Meg Connerton
Elizabeth Rankin
Erin Bradley-Irose
Chris Getz
Albert Ting
Catherine Martin
Chris Whiteford
Nancy Durkee
Erin Seaton
No:
None
Abstain:
None
Director presented Report
Director’s report
EBI-- JLE—updates/things she would like to highlight
JLE provided these--
“Practice drills” collaboration w/ local schools to ensure safety/transportation in the setting of emergency. Invisible to students but occurred Monday- Wednesday
Renewal visit – 6:20 – 6:30 on Monday
Visited ever classroom, meet with a focus group.
KJ- are there areas of enrollment that we are concerned about, specifically if there were a withdrawal at certain grade would it compromise enrollment numbers.
JLE- Waitlist is robust, but it is light is the middle school
ND- clarification re: backfilling in the past
JLE- Laws have changed
CW—asked about the updates re land around school
DH—Gave over overview of what the land not being protected wetlands means
III. Development
A.
Development Update
25th years of Montessori Made Public
Letter shared and plan on several strategic ways to ask over the next year outlined
IV. Accountability
A.
Update
8th grade across the board outperform sending district in all topics
DH—Accountability goal being discussed-- how to present accountable info in a dashboard way
AT- Remembering what KJ said at our last meeting- let’s celebrate this—our graduates are consistently coming full circle in education and outperforming sending district students, over the last 4 years
V. Finance
A.
Review & Vote on Audit
VOTE Accept results of 2023 Financial Audit
1st motion DH
Discussion
430,000 surplus
JLE—Due November 1st, assume central source will submit.
DH- This new process/Using Daniel Denis (v. AAF) was smooth and less stressful.
The only thing missing- comparison of other Charter’s audit and how we compared to other Montessori schools
2nd motion CW
VOTE Accept results of 2023 Financial Audit
YES
Denise Herrera
Ken Jackman
Tanya Murdy
Meg Connerton
Elizabeth Rankin
Erin Bradley-Irose
Chris Getz
Albert Ting
Catherine Martin
Chris Whiteford
Nancy Durkee
Erin Seaton
No:
None
Abstain:
Clarification CW—Set rate on our loan at 3.7% 2033 Rockland trust
VI. Committee on Trustees
A.
CoT Update
Midyear directors review in January, will be presented to the BOT February
Recruiting process, how to do better and let us start this earlier w/ idea that our board has historically functioned best wit 14 – 16 members
Board and Community event-- Nov 16, 17 and 5.
Times would be quick meal together between 5-6 and then the project until 8.
VII. Other Business
A.
Vote for Board On Track
Discussion opened
DH—would need to an added budget line items for finance $11,000
CW—Confirmed Finance committee would support this
KJ- Discussed when we wanted our contract to be up here may be helpful to have it align with when we accept all tuition reimbursement to be in and avlaible from a business/finance perspective.
Denise Herrera Ken Jackman
Tanya Murdy
Meg Connerton
Elizabeth Rankin
Erin Bradley-Irose
Chris Getz
Albert Ting
Catherine Martin
Chris Whiteford
Nancy Durkee
Erin Seaton
B.
Change in Policy for FAMPFF -Allergy Policy
Open discussion
ES- Requested to clarify what “two ind.” Are checking food
Several BOT members—clarified that this intentionally vague language and was consisted w/ language required by DESE
AT—No precipitate vent lead to edit of policy
EBI- 2nd motion
YES
Denise Herrera
Ken Jackman
Tanya Murdy
Meg Connerton
Elizabeth Rankin
Erin Bradley-Irose
Chris Getz
Albert Ting
Catherine Martin
Chris Whiteford
Nancy Durkee
Erin Seaton
No:
None
Abstain:
VIII. Closing Items
A.
Public Comment
Rebakah Waterson Grateful to have been here tonight, would like an extra effort to be made to invite the public to the BOT meetings as it was very helpful for her to see the process. Referred to letter she submitted to the board earlier in the week, was taken aback it was sent to all BOT members but appreciated the hopefully response. Hopes to attend more BOT meetings in the future.
7:10 Montessori Minute—Grace and Courtesy Overview from E2 classroom- Ali Fields and 4 E2 students