Board, staff and guests conducted the pledge of allegiance.

Refer to attendance information recorded above. 

Verbal announcement was made of where U. Yapanel & D. Sheehan would be taking the meeting from. U. Yapanel joining from Selina Cuenca Calle Larga 7-93y, Cuenca 010150, Ecuador. D. Sheehan joing from 305 Cherry Dr., Pasadena, CA 91105.

J.Hernandez, Director of Student Services, welcomed and congratulated MPS Student Board Member, Melissa De La Rosa, for joining their first Regular Board Meeting. He also made an announcement that Magnolia Science Academy schools received PBIS recognitions. He reported that MSA-3 & 8 was recognized with silver, MSA-1,2,4,5,6,7 and Santa Ana were recognized with gold, and MSA-San Diego was recognized with platinum. He reported that a letter will be sent to the community regarding these recognitions. S.Keskinturk, Principal at MSA-Santa Ana, announced that MSA-Santa Ana ranked 7th in the US News Report Best High Schools in Orange County and 358th nationwide. He congratulated his students and staff members. J.Lara, Executive Assistant & Board Secretary, thanked and welcomed Student Board Member, Melissa De La Rosa, for joining their first meeting since coming back from break. 

A. Rubalcava, CEO & Superintendent, informed the Board that they will receive updates regarding current enrollment trends and updates from the Human Resources Department. Throughout the course of the next following Board Meetings they will receive updates from school sites to be aware of what is occurring at the school level. He also welcomed M. De La Rosa for joining the meeting and for representing the over 3,000+ students across Magnolia. M. Muhammedov, Board Chair, congratulated all on the news received regarding school recognitions on PBIS and US News Report. He also welcomed M. De La Rosa onboard and expressed the joy of having student representation at the Board level. Other Board Members expressed similar sentiments. M. De La Rosa, Student Board Member, announced her honor to be chosen for the opportunity and shared excitement to be part of the team and to be the voice of the student body. She reported she will be working alongside J. Lara, Executive Assistant & Board Secretary, and J. Hernandez, Director of Student Services, to provide updates to the Board on aspects she will be focused on during her term. She announced that for this meeting, she will be just observing the proceedings. 

D. Yilmaz, Chief Accountability Officer, reported that the 2022-23 oversight reports for Los Angeles Unified Schools District (LAUSD) authorized schools, MSA-4, 6, 7 and 8 have been received. He went over the the ratings for these schools sites for the areas of Governance; Student Achievement & Educational Performance; Organizational Management, Programs, and Operations; and Fiscal Operations. Previous years ratings were also showcased. He reported that MSA-4 did not receive a rating in Student Achievement due to the small size of the school they did not get enough indicated on the CA School Dashboard. Details of the categories were described in detail by the Department leads which highlighted the areas of growth, areas of improvement and collaborations done between Departments and school site staff. A. Rubalcava, CEO & Superintendent, thanked the partners at the Charter School Division for their continued partnership. M. Muhammedov, Board Chair, recognized the continued growth on these categories and the improvements done over the past couple of years. 

B. Lopez, Chief External Officer, provided an update on current enrollment and systems and structures placed to improve enrollment across Magnolia. She presented the board adopted 2023-24 projected enrollment, Census Day enrollment from October 5, 2022 and current enrollment on Infinite Campus as of September 7, 2023. Nine of out ten schools improved from the previous year with census date 10/5 enrollment compared to the current enrollment standing as of September 7th. She added that the numbers have changed for some of the schools after this report was created and publicly shared. She verbally presented those updated enrollment numbers for each school. She also presented the budget impact of the enrollment targets as of September 7th. Board Members questions were addressed. B. Lopez, added that the goal is to continue the growth and collective collaboration and effort.

S. Acar, Chief Operations Officer, provided updates on Human Resources (HR) activities and operations. Some of the updates included staffing head count and provided a comparison to last years numbers. Staffing head count includes teachers, certificated staff, classified staff, instructional staff and college counselors and psychologists. He also provided updated numbers on the Williams Act/Credentialed Staff report which he reported that HR following closely and reporting to authorizers. Vacancies across the school sites was reported along with terminations and new hires. He also presented the California Statewide Assignment Accountability System (CALSAAS) monitoring reporting of all certificated educator assignments. S. Acar also reported the mandatory trainings held which is done annually and provided to each employee. Board Members questions were addressed by staff. 

This item was previously presented at the Finance Committee Meeting. The Committee recommended their approval to the full Board. S. Budhraja, Chief Financial Officer, briefed the Board on the major points of the Committee discussion and presentation. He went over the overall fiscal health of MPS which included revenue, expenditures and net revenues. He shared that MPS had applied to the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) funds which MPS received during the summer of 2023. He presented the year to date actuals per school site and MERF, one which included the ERC funds and another which excluded the ERC funds. Board Members questions were addressed by staff. 

This item was tabled during the approval of agenda.

D. Garner & I. Gavrilof, Principals at MSA-2, presented the proposal to revise the school's administration plan and organizational chart to convert the Dean of Academics and Dean of Students positions

into Assistant Principal positions. They reported one Assistant Principal will be an Academic Assistant Principal and the other be a Student Services Assistant Principal. As of late, their Dean of Academics position remained vacant since June 2023 and if approved, they will remove the Dean of Students position. They shared that they were informed that their Facility Use Agreement which MSA-2 is currently occupying with Bermingham High School will no longer be valid starting July 2024. They reported that this will most likely lead to MSA-2 moving to a Prop 39 facility with the possibility to being placed in multiple sites. This proposal stems from staff wanting to be proactive if this scenario occurs. Board Members questions were addressed by staff.