Refer to attendance information stated above.

B.Lopez, Chief External Officer, publicly acknowledged the donation made by S.Dikbas, Board Member, to Magnolia Science Academy-San Diego in which his donation was matched. G.Serce, Principal at MSA-San Diego, thanked S.Dikbas for his donation and thanked the San Diego community in aiding in the efforts to reach their donation goal to upgrade their water fountain stations.

A.Rubalcava, CEO & Superintendent, wished everyone an early happy holidays. He turned it over to B.Lopez, Chief External Officer, in which she informed the Board that MPS was awarded the MTSS Phase 3 Funding and Grant. She thanked school Principals, department leads and I.Soto, Senior Director of Development & Communications, for their work on this front. 

D.Yilmaz, Chief Accountability Officer, and O.Polat, Director of State & Federal Programs, presented the educator effectiveness block grant plans for all Magnolia Public Schools. The state of California is providing these funds to LEAs to provide professional learning and to promote educator equity, quality and effectiveness. MPS schools will be receiving about $835,000. The Board will approve the plans at the next Board Meeting once feedback is received. MPS will be reporting by every September 30th an annual expenditure report detailing how these funds are being used. The funds would have to be used by 5 years, ending in September 30, 2026. This is one-time funding. O.Polat, explained the 10 areas of use of this grant. The Principals and Deans of Academics met to discuss the use of these funds. A few Principals went over their plans in detail. All schools plans are available to the public. S.Covarrubias, requested to have the Board be informed of feedback from the teachers once the funds are being put into use.

D.Yilmaz, Chief Accountability Officer, informed the Board that schools were visited by their authorizers last year. The scores received from LAUSD were presented in April of 2021 where a discussion was held given LAUSD's feedback on how MPS can improve. Most recent reports were from San Diego Unified School District and Los Angeles County of Education. Areas of improvement and implementation that were highlighted on the oversight reports was discussed in which staff has already implemented some of those areas and others are still being worked on by staff as systems of improvement. G.Serce, Principal at MSA-San Diego, and S.Budhraja, Chief Financial Officer, shared that with continued efforts they will strive to review policies and practices and identify ways to strengthen internal controls and help build better processes moving forward. Staff went over each piece of the oversight reports.

M.Muhammedov announced that the Board would be going into Closed Session to discuss public employment, conference with real property negotiators for Magnolia Science Academy-1 & 5 and anticipated initiation of litigation for one case and would report out any actions taken.

This item was discussed in Closed Session.

This item was discussed in Closed Session.

This item was discussed in Closed Session.

M.Muahmmedov announced in Open Session at 9:18pm that the Board directed staff to take necessary action regarding public employment and conference with real property negotiations for Magnolia Science Academy-1 & 5 and to report to the Board. The Board has also authorized staff to investigate litigation in connection to one of its facilities and authorized A.Rubalcava, CEO & Superintendent, to follow-up on the matter. 

B.Plonka, Principal at Magnolia Science Academy-1, stated that due to the amount of growth and to better provide a safe environment for their students in connection to social distancing during the pandemic they are in need of lunch tables. Their current tables are deteriorating due to old age. They are assessing which can be salvaged or which can be provided to other school campuses. They are utilizing their ESSER III funds under capital improvement projects. Board Members questions were addressed.

This was previously presented to the MPS Development & Stakeholder Committee which was was approved for their recommended approval to the full Board. D.Hajmeirza, Human Resources Director, added that the MPS Recruitment & Retention Plan will serve as a blueprint for recruiting, hiring and retaining qualified staff members. This will be implemented in an ongoing basis as the Human Resources Department develops processes to meet all the steps as mentioned in the plan. This was presented to the Home Office leadership team and Principals for feedback.  

This was previously presented to the MPS Finance Committee which was was approved for their recommended approval to the full Board. S.Budhraja, Chief Financial Officer, went over the first interim budget report. Projections are for the 2021-22 school year based on the July 1st budget and any information between July 1st through October 31st reflecting actuals data. He walked through the financials of all MPS school sites and MERF. The overall projected ending fund balance collectively is a sustainable healthy ending fund balance. Over the course of now to sometime next year, the Finance team will find some ways to curve the deficit to reduce it from its current size. They will work with school site principals and share information in regards to their budget and develop strategies to allocate resources for their students and help develop concrete plans closing out the fiscal year and moving into the next fiscal year.

This was previously presented to the MPS Audit/Facilities Committee which was was approved for their recommended approval to the full Board. M.Muhammedov, Board Member & Chair of the Audit/Facilities Committee, discussed the main points brought to the Committee which stipulated the process that will be done once the agreement is signed. P.Ontiveros, General Counsel & Director of Facilities, elaborated on those points and mentioned that previously a letter of intent for this transaction was signed with the Boards approval which spelled out the terms and conditions. Currently still in the negotiation phase. Once a resolution is reached MPS will be in a position to signed and make the good faith deposit and proceed with due diligence.