Mike Hanson is a Captain with the Madison Police Department where he has served for over twenty years. Currently, Mike is the Captain of the South District where he works with the community on problem solving issues and community relations. Mike has a college degree in public relations and a master’s degree in human resource management. Mike is born and raised in Madison and found a career that allowed him to help others and make a difference in our community. As an adjunct instructor for Northwestern University, Mike has always been committed to education and life-long learning. Mike created a fundraising mechanism throughout the community to hire tutors to increase reading scores with our youth who are

behind. This program has grown in the three years of development to reach out to more youth in need.

Additionally as a Captain, Lieutenant and neighborhood officer Mike has been involved in leading numerous community events. Some of those events include Safety Walks, Job Fairs in challenged neighborhoods, federal grants to build trust in the community and reduce crime and most recently a grant to “Wrap Around” services directly into homes to help break the cycle of crime. The “Wrap Around” grant will bring services such as trauma care, AODA issues, housing, employment and more resources to families who have had children spinning in the criminal justice system. Mike is married and has three children.

The Board will review and consider the appointment of Mike Hanson to the One City Board of Directors. A vote to appoint will be called at the February 22, 2022 regular meeting of the Board.
 

Ms. Stucynski was unable to present at this meeting. She will make a presentation at the February 22, 2022 regular board meeting.

T. Jaeckle noted a healthy bank balance and highlighted the importance of fundraising which is the second most important source of funding for our school behind charter school payments.

T. Jaeckle stated that we had raised over $141,000 than we had budgeted for.

C. Gaines asked how many PPE loans we applied for. K. Caire replied that we applied for 2.

T. Jaeckle explained that most of our expenses go towards personnel and that the percentage breakdown is comparable to other charter schools. K. Caire explained that as the number of staff and students increases, the occupancy cost will decrease.

W. Akhtar stated that comparing the percentages may not be as informative as comparing actual numbers.

G. Derzon asked what is included in the occupancy category. K. Caire listed examples like janitorial services, FCI loan, light and water bills, changing water filters in the building, and landscaping. T. Jaeckle showed the occupancy cost trends from last year. We are averaging approximately $600,000/month to run the school in the current building. 

S. Martyniak wondered if the occupancy costs are what we expected. K. Caire explained that WPS shared 5 years of occupancy costs and that the only unexpected cost was the increase in MG&E bills.

S. Martinyak asked what the maintenance reserve is. K. Caire responded that we keep a contingency of 1% and that he will share the figure with the board.

N. Wray suggested we have a conversation with MG&E about solar options. He also noted that the Urban League is looking to partner with MG&E to bring solar to the community.

N. Wray asked what our net income is to offset the costs of the school. T. Jaeckle showed members where to find the monthly breakdowns of cost and revenue in the financial packet.

T. Jaeckle explained that donations will go into the OCS Foundation account and that our financial reports will look different moving forward.

S. Klug asked if deferred revenue is for pledges. L. Lange explained that that line is for the charter school payment that arrived early.

L. Lang thanked everyone for their work to compile the data needed for the audit and meet the DPI deadline. 

Wegner CPAs issued a non-modified opinion.  No material entries were posted which means the accounting is done well. No adjustments were proposed. No material weaknesses or deficiencies were identified. 

Auditors recommended a reconciliation of the donor database and Quickbooks and the documentation of review of credit cards and payroll.

Auditors agreed that it was not necessary to disclose the purchase of the new facility and the start of construction, but S. Martyniak requested that we disclose the purchase of the building and the commencement of construction in the new building in a footnote.

One City Foundation will be disclosed as a related party. One City Foundation may need an audit in the future. 

The 2nd draw of PPE loan will be recognized in fiscal year 2022. There will be a decrease in cash due to purchase of furniture and equipment.  We saw an increase in revenue due to the $14M donation from Pleasant Rowland.

Auditors reviewed the statement of functional allocation of expenses and explained that CEO and other administrative roles fit under the “Management and General” categories. Ideally, we will see 75% expenses in the “Program” category in future statements.

One City is sitting at a high rate of the ability to pay 21 times over the cost because of the $14M pledge. Wegner auditors hope to see at least 3 months’ reserve in coming fiscal years.

N. Wray asked if there are any recommendations from Wegner in terms of reducing expenses. L. Lange said options include reducing staff or holding off on raises, but recognized that is not ideal. 

Members agreed with the idea to pursue solar solutions to decrease occupancy costs. 

Once One City hires a Director of Finance, the bookkeeping service should be eliminated. 

N. Wray suggested that if we are expected to grow (in personnel and students), we should do a cost analysis to identify the impact it will have.

K. Caire stated that we are working with Afton Partners to identify a growth strategy that works for other charter schools across the country. We will adopt the budgeting system they suggest.

K. Caire also introduced Edstruments, which is a system that many charter schools are adopting. It allows schools to plan their budgets and review finances.

N. Wray stated that he serves on the MG&E board and will help the school learn more about bringing solar options to the school.

T. Jaeckle added that OCS spent $29,000 per student last year and highlighted the importance of bringing that number down while maintaining the level of innovation we bring to education. Per pupil spending is on page 17 of the audit report.

Laurie Peterson and Ciera Carey shared what One City Schools 3rd grade scholars worked on during the first part of the school year. 

Ms. Peterson and Ms. Carey are most proud of the culture they have established in the classroom.. 

The class is made up of half returning OCS students who grew up in One City and half students who are new to OCS. Scholars voted on a team name and team mascot as a class. 

C. Carey stressed the importance of the idea of Crew: students leading their own classroom by sharing the knowledge, spreading the love, and asking for help when they need it. 

C. Carey owns the math curriculum in the classroom and shared a story about a student who began the year with low confidence in her math abilities and who now participates in discussions without fear of making mistakes. 

N. Wray asked what the winning mascot was. L. Peterson and C. Carey explained that they are the Blue Crew and that their mascot is a bear.

T. Pedracine-Stewart asked what support parents and admin can provide to teachers.

C. Carey stated that it takes a certain kind of person to be in this position in the current environment and acknowledged that it takes flexibility and investment in the vision and the mission. L. Peterson stated that the reason teachers are at One City is because they want something better for children.

 Board members thanked both teachers for their commitment to OCS scholars and for the excellent presentation.

K. Caire shared that the OEO moved our application along and we will sign a contract for the charter of our secondary school in the coming weeks. 

Board members are invited to join on that day, details to come. We will focus on compliance and contracts in the immediate future and push our advocacy efforts to the fall. 

K. Caire explained the need to boost the participation, particularly of Black and Brown teachers, in the education field.

M. Ruffin provided an enrollment update. Currently, 42/44 preschool students are enrolled and 225 elementary school students.

We will be enrolling 592 student next year (326 4K-5th grade) 264 (6th, 9th, and 10th grades)

Virtual open houses will be held during the month of February. Open enrollment begins on March 1.

S. Martinyak asked how we will market our new grades. M. Ruffin shared that we will create a recruitment video for the secondary school that will involve middle and highs school age students.  We will continue sharing flyers in the community at stores and walking door-to-door. Our largest source of enrollment comes from word of mouth.

S. Martinyak asked where we get our mailing lists. M. Ruffin stated that we mail flyers out all over our community. We will fill in the remaining grades (7th, 8th, 11th, and 12th in the following year).

S. Klug asked if there are ways for us to reach beyond our traditional recruitment approaches.

D. Davis shared information about EdFest. 13 area schools are participating in EdFest, which is an education fair where families can learn more about the different school options in the Madison area. We expect the partnership with these schools will develop into larger EdFest events in the future.

W. Akthar asked what targeted recruitment looks like for 2nd grade. M. Ruffin asked if anyone knows of any families with 2nd grade-age students to follow up with her.

N . Wray asked if we could hold some kind of celebration about the fact that One City is moving into middle school for the first time ever.

T. Pedracine-Stewart asked if we need to be concerned about enrollment rates being below the 90% target we discussed at a past board meeting. K. Caire explained that we have maintained at least a 90% retention rate if we compare enrollment numbers to the number of students we started the year with, not the number of students we projected we would enroll before the start of the year.

N. Wray asked if One City could send a message to the board about how the board can help in fundraising efforts. He further requested that K. Caire speak briefly about the capital campaign committee before we break. 

K. Caire explained that we will use the board as members of a capital campaign committee instead of bringing together another committee of external stakeholders. 

K. Caire asked if the board approves of this plan. 

N. Wray added that a planning group will frame out a formal plan which outlines the roles that board members can fill. Board members will come together to discuss who will take which role.

D. Ledesma agreed to help promote and market One City and to help the school meet its mission.

K. Caire shared a video about a trip to the East coast that members of our leadership team took last fall.  The team visited schools that have successfully implemented many of the strategies that One City embraces.