Board members thanked Bob Beckman, One City's retiring Board Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair, for his three years of effective and dedicated service to One City Schools. 

Dr. Tenah Hunt provided the Board with an overview of the evaluation process and details. The longitudinal study may be extended beyond the currently approved 5-year period that has been fully funded with $600,000 from the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health's Wisconsin Partnership Program. The University of Wisconsin's IRB has given approval to begin data collection process. The Evaluation Team, with includes staff from One City Schools, will meet quarterly.

Dr. Thomas Friederich of UW-Madison provided the Board with details of the LAMP testing pilot program. Frequent, accessible testing may help to identify positive COVID-19 cases before an individual experiences symptoms, helping to prevent transmission and protect the community. 
Once the pilot program ends, One City Schools will continue on-site testing throughout the 2020-21 school year, for as long as resources are available to support this.

Toya Pedracine-Steward reported that the Parent Council will meet before the next regular Board meeting in January 2021, and that the Council is looking forward to contributing to that and future Board meetings. There was no specific information to share at this time.

One City's Executive Team members provided brief department updates, as follows:

Family and Community initiatives - Ms. Marilyn Ruffin:
One City virtual home visits began two weeks ago. Trained volunteers have been helping to conduct visits. Volunteer Cathy Wendorf shared her experiences leading virtual home visits. She reported that parents seem to enjoy the conversations and that parents with in-person scholars are looking for more feedback on daily student activities. Some parents of virtual students have struggled with logging on to their scholars 4:45pm closing crew.

One City Expeditionary Elementary School - Mr. Faren D'Abell:
Principal D'Abell reported on successful staff appreciation activities, PD days, and the lottery for open in-person space that will take place on on Friday, November 20, 2020.

One City Preschool - Mr. Bryce Pickett:
Assistant 3K teacher Ms. Latoya Mahoney is relocating to GA and the team is interviewing to replace her. New 4K lead teacher Tiffany Ortego started last week.The preschool team is working on accreditation packets, virtual parent conferences, weekly calls with AnjiPlay leaders, and using Conscious Discipline to address challenging behaviors. In keeping with COVID-19 protocols, one preschool classroom is currently under quarantine. Mr. Pickett, Ms. Wiseman and Mr.Stephan successfully applied for two grants totaling $18,000 through the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families to help with costs associated with COVID-19.

New School Development - Ms. Devon Davis:
An advisory report has been submitted to the Office of Education. One City is applying for a charter school expansion/implementation grant to expand its schools to include middle and high school beginning with the 2022-23 school year. The grant is due in February 2023. Ms. Davis is researching middle and high school curricula and programs that will best fit with One City's mission, vision and educational change agenda. 

School Health, Facilities and Operations - Mr. David Stephan
The Facilities Committee met with Urban Land Interests (UL), the property owner and manager for its current 450 Coyier Lane location, to discuss the possibility of extending the lease.  The Committee has retained Annette Gelbach of Key Commercial Real Estate to begin the search for a new location, if such an extension is not possible. The Facilities Committee now includes One City parent, Dr. Elizabeth Felton. 
 

Student Demographics
One City CEO Kaleem Caire led the Board in a brief discussion around student demographics. Currently, 45% of the entire student body of the elementary school (4K-2nd grade) are female, while 55% are male.  There are more African American students learning virtually (32) than every other racial group learning virtually, combined (29). There are a greater percentage of males (57%) learning virtually than females (43%).

It has been reported across the country that African American parents, including those with limited incomes, are more likely than the general population and other racial groups to keep their children at home during the pandemic. African Americans make up the largest demographic of children learning virtually at One City: 63% of our African American scholars are males and 37% are females.  Likewise, 7 of the 11 (64%) multiracial scholars learning virtually (of which 10 have an African American parent) are males.  All of the males have an African American parent.

Plans to Recruit, Hire and Develop Diverse One City Staff
The CEO will share more about this at a future Board meeting but wanted the Board to know that he and member of the team are working on a plan to develop a "Grow Your Own" teacher and administrator program at One City Schools. The Executive Team is engaging in conversations with DPI and other higher educational institutions to inform the early stages of development of this plan. 

Addressing COVID-19' challenge to One City's Financial Viability/Plans to Address Concerns
The CEO gave the Board an update of how closing classrooms, or either of its schools, at One City could adversely affect families, and the revenue and viability of One City's Preschool. He shared a spreadsheet that showed how much revenue One City loses when one or two classrooms are closed for two weeks (14 days) at-a-time, which is the required time for quarantining students, staff and other close contacts when a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 impacts our school community. He shared how the executive team is paying close attention to this and will work to mitigate the factors related to school or classroom closing, while working to keep the preschool viable at the same time. He will continue to keep the Board apprised of how things are going. 

Board Chair Noble Wray reflected on the past year, as this is the last regular Board meeting for 2020. While there have been many challenges, One City Schools, led by Kaleem Caire, has done an outstanding job of continuing to move forward with its mission and vision. Chair Wray stated that a special session of the Board may be called if necessary during December, otherwise, the next regular Board meeting will be held in January 2021.