Meeting participants and guests did the pledge of allegiance.

Refer to attendance information recorded above.

Hugo Hernandez, community member, commented that he is a parent of two children who attended charter schools clarifying that they did not attend a MPS school. He commented on the importance of education in charter schools and shared that he leads the effort to ensure parent engagement becomes a central focus in charter systems. He commended MPS in the efforts of communicating Board meetings to parents and posting them at all schools. He added that the process of signing up to make a public comment and the website were easy to view and follow. He expressed to continue the efforts to expand parent roles and spoke about the struggles parents face. 

Caitlin Wright, MSA-San Diego teacher, addressed certain concerns to the current grading system. The system was to aid students during the pandemic, and shared that now that students are back in the classrooms, changes to that policy should be made to hold students accountable. 

Kim Geiger, MSA-1 teacher, also addressed the grading system at her school sharing the same sentiment.

The Board addressed the public commenters that they will take feedback and instruct staff to follow-up with these concerns made.

Student finalists for the Student Board Member position gave a presentation to the Board & public for their interest in the position for 2023-2024 school year. The students from MSA-1, MSA-2, MSA-5, and MSA-Santa Ana were chosen as the finalists through school elections held where they received the majority vote from their student peers. Students were asked questions from the Board. The students will join the June 8th Regular Board Meeting to announce who the selected Student Board Member is. 

B.Lopez, Chief External Officer, shared information regarding the community schools initiative that started this school year. She stated the three main values are; Connection, Excellence & Innovation with the main pillar being Connection with families. In 2021, a $3 billion dollar investment by state of California went to creating more community schools. In 2022, MPS applied for nine out of the ten schools to be awarded the planning grant, which came to $1.8 million for the schools to start the work. In 2023, MSA-San Diego become 10th school to be awarded the planning grant. She announced that the State Board of Education approved eight of the schools to be awarded almost $10 million for implementation grants. She gave the floor to the parents, students and Community Schools Coordinators that were present in person and through zoom to share their testimony and the impact from this initiative.

MSA-Santa Ana & MSA-San Diego gave their glows, grows and priorities presentations for their school sites. Board questions were addressed by staff.

M.Avsar, Principal at MSA-4, provided an update about their enrollment and efforts to reach their goals since they last presented their Glows, Grows & Priorities. Over the course of this time, MSA-4 staff reached out to their current families and students for feedback in improving the school's programs. They completed a number of home visits and through those visits they received a few enrollments from other family members interested. He mentioned that they held an Open House on May 6th and plan to hold another on May 27th. Out of the 30+ new enrollments some were middle school grade and others for high school grade. He added that their school met with the Academic Department and other Home Office staff to open the door to enroll middle school students. He shared that the enrollment trajectory for this school is going well and are aiming to hit above their enrollment projection with more work and outreach. Additionally, MSA-4 was featured in the news in which they received interests from other parents wanting to enroll their child. A.Rubalcava, CEO & Superintendent, added feedback received from the Educational Partner survey in which parents indicated the distance of where the school is now and space issues. He further added that M.Avsar & E.Veloz, are strong MSA-4 administrators and with the assistance of the Home Office will manage to meet the demands from their parents. He provided updates regarding possible new locations for the school, but will know more towards the end of this year. Board Members questions were addressed by staff and will await for more updates.

S.Budhraja, Chief Financial Officer, presented along with Joe Faye Sr. from Allied Wealth Partners. Currently, MPS has a 401k plan, limited to a select employees. The ask was made to look at other options that would aim to support all MPS employees. They looked at a 403b plan along with a 457 plan. This presentation is aimed to inform of the plan to look at alternative retirement plan options to benefit all employees and this item will come to the Board again with more information and updates. Joe Faye Sr. defined 403b and 457 plans and explained MPS current plan and its limitations. Board questions were addressed by staff and by Joe Faye Sr. Staff will bring back further analysis given the Boards asks for more information and estimates. 

S.Budhraja, Chief Financial Officer, introduced ClassWallet tool which came after conversations and feedback received from school site principals about procurements and the delay in getting items approved and purchased for their schools and other challenges they face. Finance Department looked for a solution which S.Budhraja presented the ClassWallet tool app. He added that this application is used by other schools and entities. It allows principals to have $1,000 to make school purchases with ease and ensuring that all purchases are backed with a paper trail to ensure there is back up for audits. The Finance Departments will view everything in real time and is easily viewed for Finance Department to flag any inaccuracies or issues. Board Members questions were addressed by staff.

D.Yilmaz, Chief Accountability Officer, presented the school calendars for the 2023-24 school year. He went over the analysis to ensure the instructional minutes requirement. Staff developed the calendars in collaboration with the school leadership teams who have sought feedback from their educational partners. They also looked at LAUSD, SDUSD, and SAUSD calendars and were carefully considered while finalizing the calendars. Public comments made and Board members questions were addressed by staff. Staff will look into their communication timeline to ensure teachers are informed.

Item was removed during the approval of agenda.

M.Muhammedov, Board Chair & Chair of the Audit & Facilities Committee, reported out of the Committee's discussion for this item in which the Committee approved for their recommended approval to the full Board. He added that the same contractor worked on a similar project for MSA-1. M.Sahin, Project Manager, added further information about the proposals received and that this location is the property for MSA-5. P.Ontiveros, General Counsel & Director of Facilities, added that their intent is to get a jumpstart on the demolition process by doing their due diligence and moving forward with the process.

M.Muhammedov reported out of the Committee's discussion for this item in which the Committee approved for their recommended approval to the full Board. He added context regarding the purchasing of this the facility for MSA-5. P.Ontiveros, General Counsel & Director of Facilities, added that MPS was given an award by the Office of Public School Construction to purchase the property to build a campus. He added that to use those funds the appropriate entity would need to hold title in which title is held by LLC. That title would need to be transferred to Magnolia in order to move forward with the asbestos abatement and demolition to ensure those expenses are eligible expenses under the award. 

M.Muahmmedov announced that the Board will be going into closed session to discuss Public Employee Performance Evaluation for the CEO & Superintendent and would report out in any actions that may be taken.

This item was discussed in Closed Session.

M.Muhammedov announced in Open Session at 11:59pm that the Board discussed this matter.