Rev. Dr. Marion Newton provided an invocation. 

Ben Griffith led the board in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Greg Thompson acknowledged the momentous nature of the occasion of tonight's event and thanked directors & staff members for their continued effort in supporting the work of Liberty STEAM Charter. 

Steve Creech read aloud the mission statement for Liberty STEAM Charter. 

Bronwyn McElveen read aloud the vision statement for Liberty STEAM Charter. 

Trevor Ivey reminded the board that the sole purpose of today's special called meeting of the Founding Board of Directors is to conduct the fall enrollment lottery to select the founding kindergarten and first-grade classes for the 2021-22 school year at Liberty STEAM Charter. He informed the board that LSC has received a total of 208 applications for its 2021-22 founding kindergarten (116) & first-grade (92) classes. Pursuant to the SC Charter Schools Act of 1996 (59-40-10), a public lottery is required in order to determine the selected students for both founding grade levels. Dr. Ivey also acknowledged that representatives from the local media, city government, county government, and the legislative delegation were invited and are in attendance to observe the lottery proceedings in person. Dr. Ivey also informed the board that, as with all other board meetings, this one was being live-streamed via the school's official Facebook page to provide an opportunity for parents whose scholar (s) is enrolled in the lottery to observe. At the time, it was noted that 207 viewers were watching the proceedings via Facebook live. Dr. Ivey informed the board of the general procedures that will be followed to conduct the initial enrollment lottery emphasizing that it is a random selection of scholars via the online Lotterease platform, outlining the three priority preference groups and dates of both the enrollment period & lottery administration included in the board-adopted scholar enrollment policy. A breakdown of enrollment data was provided to the board including both recruitment efforts (77 events held) and lottery applications (208 received over a 60 day open enrollment period). Dr. Ivey concluded this portion of the agenda by displaying the Lotterease platform online and showing the public anonymous list of current applicants for all to see. 

Greg Thompson administered the lottery online via the Lotterease platform while Trevor Ivey provided commentary on the actions being taken by the system. The lottery was administered in a matter of minutes and produced a list of all scholar applicants noting those who were "selected" and those who were "watilisted" in both kindergarten and first grade. Dr. Ivey concluded this portion of the agenda by displaying the public anonymous list of all applicants reminding parents that it is a live document, meaning it can be checked anytime to see seats as they are confirmed and any movement on the waitlist as positions change. 

During this time, Dr. Ivey explained the difference between "selected" and "waitlisted" and informed parents of selected scholars that they would receive both an email and text message notification once the verification process has concluded. For scholars who were waitlisted, parents should only expect to receive an email notification. Dr. Ivey reminded parents of the board-adopted scholar enrollment policy that requires parents of selected scholars to confirm or decline the seat within five days. Once a seat is confirmed, parents will obtain access via Lotterease to the Enrollease platform to complete the enrollment process within 10 days. Parents of selected scholars are invited to participate in LSC's "Cookies & Cocoa with Santa" event scheduled in 15-minute sessions over a four day period, December 12-15, and is designed as a way for scholars/parents to meet school leaders and also for parents to complete any part of the enrollment process in person. Dr. Ivey then provided the rationale behind the verification process that will occur immediately following the conclusion of the board meeting and last no longer than 30 minutes. Finally, all were reminded of the board's amendment request to the SCPCSD to serve an additional 24 scholars in each grade level but that it would not impact the current waitlist until a decision is made. 

Greg Thompson reminded directors of the regularly-scheduled board meeting for the month scheduled for December 14 from 11:30 am -1:00 pm at the CCTC Advanced Manufacturing Training Center. No other announcements were made by directors or school leaders during this time.