Board Expectations appear for all Trustees to review at all Board of Trustee meetings.

DHerrera had asked ESimone for summary of what he's sending to DESE.

She read the summary he responded with aloud to the group. Some of this was not discussed in the Accountability Meeting. This will be sent along to with the minutes of the Accoountability meeting to DESE. 

Chronic absenteeism is a challenge for our school and on our radar. It is also a statewide issue.

Once the minutes are corrected they will be shared and voted on at the next meeting.

The Director's Report appears in the Board Packet. Time was allowed in the meeting for questions. 

MConnerton, will there be a communication to caregivers about MCAS scores beyond what comes from DESE? KKuse, I don't think so. It is likely too late and while there is buzz, there are still many who are not concerned and we don't want to start concern. ERankin, did it come with a letter from the school? KKuse, yes, we've discussed it coming with more information. 

DHerrera, any thoughts now that it is not a graduation issue? BMacQuade, it didn't bother me either way. NDurkee, it felt confusing to have it be a measure for graduating while we've been telling kids all along that it's a way to evaluate the school. BMacQuade, while we don't teach to the test, we still feel a lot of pressure because we know that people will be upset if students don't do well.

DHerrera, perhaps we make it more public that these discussions are happening at the Accountability Committee and Board meetings so people can come and take advantage of them. 

Donation for grounds redesign. TMurdy, when will we have a communication about grounds redesign? KKuse, as soon as we know more. But there has been ongoing communication in The Current. 

DHerrera, this is an interim year, so we aren't trying to make a lot of major changes. The focus is on Goals 1 and 2.

Discussion on metrics and measurements of accomplishment toward goals. These metrics are shifted for middle school as the learning style starts preparing the students for more traditional learning.

DHerrera welcomes help for forming metrics for attainable goals.

DHerrera shared what was done last year for information.

The template is for Board and faculty. It is not necessarily right or wrong, it is just what has been done in the past. It has previously been done at the end of the year. It could be good to be done in the middle of the year so course corrections can be made. There are also suggestions from Board on Track.

EBradley and NDurkee recommend changing wording of 360 review to something less intimidating like "holistic," at least for people who are new to the director position.

We will not be reviewing the interim director. This is being done in preparation for the new director.

Vote will not happen tonight. This is not something that needs to be revised in a rushed manner. 

People reached out and many felt grounded in the Mission Statement as it stands. It deserves time for reflection and before making a decision about changes.

TMurdy, the effort to change the mission statement stems from "public" not being in it, which is helpful in grant writing. EBradley, perhaps an intro to the Mission Statement could be the solution to that. ERankin, we would be better served if everyone was on board with the change. BMacQuade, being on the group who came up with it, some were married to it, some were not. 

JNickerson, so when will we tackle this? EBradley, it seems like the time would be when another major event would be happening. 

ATing, we strive to be a working board. I appreciate Jon's goal to have a target to move toward.. The real question is how do we be mindful of all of the topics that deserve discussion.

DMitchell, what I'm hearing is that we if we time bind this, we may be doing ourselves a disservice on this particular subject.

Please fill out the tool that ATing emailed. Participation is required by December 4, 2024. It is anonymous.

This is an event for the faculty and staff hosted by the board. It will be on December 18th from 4-7. There is a link for sign ups.

The board meeting will be moved. 

The Search Committee has had interviews with potential candidates and narrowed them down. There will be a second round of interviews the week of December 1st. At that point, there will be more information about a recommendation for a permanent director.

DMitchell, if you aren't on the committee, do you have any say on the candidates?

ATing, the second interviews are open to the public. You can't participate, but you can sit in.

EBradley, are they posted and minutes taken? ATing, yes.

Final decision is up to the Board of Trustees.

JPatterson and KKuse put together a slideshow for the Board to learn more about the MCAS and how they help us understand trends within RVCS. Please refer to board documents for the presentation.

DMitchell, how are we interpreting this and using this? BMacQuade, you're looking at 2-4 hours out of a child's year. We're looking at 32 kids in a grade. we're looking at kids with different learning styles. As a math teacher, we get data on a student by student, question by question basis. We don't teach to the test, but we can use that data to revisit things.  

NDurkee, there is a lot of nuance in what to MCAS means in a school like this. 

CGetz, in the beginning, we also used Terra Nova at the beginning and end of the year. just as a diagnostic. 

DMitchell is interested in bringing this into a higher level discussion of a stance of the school as to how it stands on the MCAS. TMurdy, communication is key. We need to set expectations. 

DMitchell would love to hear from the staff ideas for metrics and testing.

Next Accountability meeting will have MCAS follow up and Parent/Caregiver Survey follow up.

Next meeting will cover policy updates and midyear director feedback.

There was no November meeting.

The big item for the next meeting will be quarterly review.

The committee is compiling by-law change suggestions. There were more than expected.

Asks the committee chairs for updates on their dashboards and how they are coming along.

The Annual Fund kick off was last week. This year's campaign is community driven. Personal notes are being written and will go out in early December.

Read-a-thon update: The committee is now looking for sponsors for the Read-a-thon and is hoping for at least 10. It is also hoping for more participation from middle schoolers.

Knowing that we are in this together is an important sentiment with fund raising. Participation from the board is important.