T. Pedracine reported that the Parent Council has grown to include family members such as grandparents as well as parents. The council is considering changing its name to the One City Family Council.

The Parent Council would like more help with communications from One City to families, and wonders if hiring a full time communication specialist would be possible. T. Pedracine asked the board for suggestions to strengthen communication between the staff, administration and families. She provided examples of where communication from the schools to families could be improved, such as timing of notice given about teachers leaving One City at the beginning of the year, inconsistent communications about COVID testing, and a delay in parents receiving the annual Parent Handbook. 

T. Jaeckle asked for input from the board and K.Caire asked for input from staff. 

G.Wiseman stated that there have been two meetings with One City leadership and Board members who are parents and who serve on the Parent Council. She suggested that the topic be raised and solutions considered during future meetings, which are scheduled to occur monthly.  

M.Ruffin spoke about her use of the Remind text messaging system and the Constant Contact email system which are used to ensure timely and effective communication with families.

W.Ahktar suggested that perhaps an advisory board could be created that would assist in better communication.

D. Ledesma agreed that communication would be better if there was a system in place to ensure consistent communication across all of One City Schools (current and future). He stated that he has observed a difference between the preschools' communication versus the elementary school communication.

K. Caire replied that the beginning of this school year has been uniquely challenging due to an incredibly tight timeline for purchasing, preparing and moving into our new K12 education facility, onboarding 27 new team members, and working with consistently changing and evolving information and guidance for schools regarding COVID-19 safety protocols, all while balancing parents expectations at the same time. OCS' leadership team has maintained its focus on keeping our community safe. A special priority has been ensuring consistent staff and high quality instruction for One City scholars and classrooms, and supporting the mental health of One City staff. 

K. Caire requested that the Board organize a separate meeting to discuss OCS communication's strategies and concerns so this can be addressed more substantively than would be able to occur during our regular Board meeting. T.Jaeckle agreed that a separate meeting around the topic should be held. As the elementary school is in its early stages, he believes that change will not occur over night, be we should expect to make steady progress each month.  

T. Jaeckle reported that Numbers4NonProfits has shifted to using Quickbooks online to help with budgeting and financial reporting, and to support our organization's use of Edstruments software to more effectively and efficiently manage costs centers, budgeting and budget planning. 

We received our first charter payment for the 2021-22 school in September 2021. T. Jaeckle stated that our projected loss for September was less than expected and that OCS currently has more $1M of cashflow in its bank accounts.

K.Caire said that we will need to schedule a separate meeting of the board to explain all of the new entities, their purpose and processes. This meeting will be scheduled in December 2021 ahead of the mid-year Budget adjustments that will be made and presented to the Board in January 2022. 

S.Martyniak reminded the board that hiring a Director of Finance must be a priority. K. Caire informed the Board that hiring the Director of Finance is in progress but that no final interviews have been scheduled yet. Caire said he is focused on finding the right person for this position. D. Davis followed up and shared that staff has been conducting interviews for the position, and there are at least two candidates who will move to final interviews in the upcoming weeks. 

T.Jaeckle stated that the Finance Committee will have the 2020-21 annual audit presented to them in January 2022 by Wegner CPAs, and that a report on the audit will be made to the Board of Directors the same month.

F.D'Abell reported that EL representatives will be in the school tomorrow to provide advice on professional development for our elementary school teachers and staff.

F. D'Abell shared that there is a position posted for the K-1 Scholars Academy classroom.

K.Caire reminded board members that our school does not receive the same amount of funding for special education as other districts such as MMSD. There is a greater fundraising burden on One City Schools to adequately support its special needs students. We need our board members and community to help secure donations.

W.Akhtar asked if progress of students in the Scholars Academy was being tracked. K. Caire confirmed that this is being done similarly to the way progress is monitored for all OCS elementary school students. 

M. Ruffin provided updated enrollment figures. There are several families on the wait list that will be presented with options to join one or both of our schools. 

M.Ruffin has already begun informing parents that we will start the enrollment process in March. 

D. Davis gave a presentation on the progress being made in developing One City Preparatory Academy. Some highlights from the presentation included:

D. Davis highlighted different partnerships we are discussing with UW-Oshkosh, UW-Madison, and Madison College. We are also working towards establishing more college partnerships nationally.

D.Davis stated that job descriptions have been created and staff will work to cultivate a pool of talented candidates for new positions in OCPA in the coming months. The team is also consulting with other successful charter schools on the strengths and weaknesses of their approaches to hiring new staff and launching new schools. 

G. Wiseman reported that a donor event will be hosted by C. Zdeblick at her home in early November. All board members are encouraged to host events, either in person or virtually. 

The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation has approved our proposal for $249,000. These dollars will enable much needed repairs and equipment replacement to take place at our preschool. 

The Charter School Growth Fund is considering OCS for funding for the addition of our new secondary school that will open in September 2022, and for our advocacy efforts.  

S. Martyniak asked what the goal is for phase 1 of the Capital Campaign. G. Wiseman replied that the goal is $26M, of which ~$16M has been raised to date. 

K. Caire explained that there are currently 32 independent public charter schools operating independently in WI and that the number is growing. The UW System's Office of Educational Opportunity has approved a total of seven (7) schools that are operating this academic year.

F. Knepp explained that the per pupil amount paid to charter schools varies and is different for district schools.