ASalerno - When are the committee meeting dates posted?

DHerrera walked through where they are posted on the RVCS website.

ASalerno - Is there going to be an opportunity for families to comment on the report cards, conference changes, or calendar?

DHerrera - Some of these things are management. KKuse can consider the feedback. Hearing that she is thinking about these things might be important for the community to hear. 

DHerrera and KKuse show gratitude for Alison's comment.

DHerrera would like to see the above foundation rates for each sending district. CWhitford is confident that it is in the $200-300 range difference between districts.

Grounds have been quite frustating. The Community Preservation Act group deliberations were a few weeks ago and we were offered $150K to take our playground public. For 11 of the projects, the votes were unanimous to support funding. Only 3 people were willing to fund the RVCS project. Is the 150K worth it? A public playground ups liability and maintenance. 

Conservation Commission has a lot of demands. They want the field. 

Derek - How long does the easement last and what does it do to the value of the property? DHererra - Will clarify if it can be written that the easement will expire upon sale of the property.

NDurkee - Can we get financial help with the maintenance? KKuse - No. And we need to agree to lots of scheduled maintenance.

CWhitford - Is all of this only for the funds? KKuse - Some is, some isn't. At this point, the city is involved in the project. 

KKuse - We are going to try to permit the whole project and then do it in phases.

ATing - What were the outcomes of the Conservation Committee meeting? KKuse - It was a hearing. We are all set with the City of Newburyport. The biggest problem is the back parking, it's an encroachment on wetlands. They also want us to get rid of the phragmytes in an approved manner. We can't use salt to melt snow.

ATing - This is very typical of wetlands. There are other options, like swaps for other areas.

KKuse - In the last 24 hours, we have reworked the parking spots. 

DHererra - At the next meeting, could we have a list that shows the contingencies for ConCom and CPA, etc?

NDurkee - Could we show a good faith effort to go forward with them? Agreeing to seed mix and sand vs. salt.

CGetz - What does Lisa Mead say about this?

KKuse - The submittal to ConCom is 5/8 for a 5/15 hearing. We will start to put together a bid package for the summer construction. Has a playground company that she would like to use for install. 

TMurdy - Why are they so interested in the fields? DHererra - They are looking for more public playground and field space in the area of town.

ESimone. The response rate to the caregiver survey was higher than normal. It paid off to truncate the survey. There were no major surprises overall. The overall results were positive. Main concerns included playground and math instruction. 

There were over 20 written responses about early release. It has been flagged as a concern.

A lot of strong responses from children on IEP and/or other surveys. They were emotional. Concerns were raised about communication between classroom about students. Some specific classes were mentioned. E2 was where most of the concerns were. A lot of respondents wanted foreign language earlier.

ERankin - Will the school address these concerns? DHererra - That is the plan. 

KKuse - Will be proposing 5 early release Fridays at noon. 

ERankin - What professional development has happened during the early release? KKuse - Listed a few programs. DHererra- I don't think that the school needs to report out on that. ERankin - This could be viewed as an opportunity for communication.

BMacQuade -The middle school would like more time with the students. Having half day on Friday, I predict that families will take kids out. 

ESimone - Did anything come up about the start of the school year? KKuse - The earlier we get students back to school, the sooner they settle into the routine. 

Winter Assessments - Looked at data focused on E1 and E2. This is an easy way to see inconistencies between classrooms. The lower performing classes did track with classes with more IEPs. 

DHerrera wants to see what MCPSA shares as to what a dashboard could/should look like.

At the end of the retreat, we all had take away goals and tasks.

COT has not missed that it never comes up in committee agendas.

JNickerson did a lot of work to list dashboard topics along with coordinating SMART goals. This could be a list for committees to pick some of these for each committee. We can then explore where the data is accessible. 

Board Retreat - After speaking to the facilitator, we feel that it would be useful to have KKuse's company. In order to include her, we are asking for the retreat to happen on Saturday, May 31st from 9-2.

Update on board recruitment, have had some interest. 

Dhererra pointed out the files to access information about the Open Meeting Law and Open Meeting Law webinar. 

She then reviewed the Open Meeting Law as it applies to Massachusetts Charter Schools. 

Chair requests better visibility of meeting postings on the website.

Please double check that the website is set up for screen readers.

ERankin: Should we be voting to accept the Director's Report? DHererra - I will look into that.

Readathon is going well. It has raised $18.5K. More kids are participating and more minutes are being logged. 

Jabberwocky is giving a $25 gift to each classroom. 

The Committee plans to reconnect with the annual fund and how to generate more revenue for that. 

It would be helpful to speak with KKuse to find out what we need each year. 

TMurdy gave an overview of the Parents' Alliance's upcoming activities. 

In the excell files, we are running at about a 200K surplues. Caveat being: this is timing based with expenses. We are in a good position.

DESE released projections at positive 4.5%, but we are going to look at a budget with +3%.

All of this is subject to change depending on federal and state governments.

CWhitford left meeting at 8:57.

ESimone left at 9:02.

DHererra reviewed upcoming dates, including Celebrations of Learning and the Middle School graduation. 

The next meeting will finalize policy work. There will be some voting on policies coming up to update them for the new director.

If anyone has any ideas on what the next board education topic could be, please be in touch. 

Upcoming MCPSA workshop:

New Board Member Roles and Responsibilities.