There being no action taken during the closed session of the Board, the Board voted to move into open session to address items remaining on the agenda.

One City's new middle school director Ayodeji Ogunniyi (Ayo) spoke about his background, and what led him to One City. 

Mr. Ogunniyi will lead our 5th through 8th grades, beginning with 5th through 7th during the 2023-24 school year and adding 8th grade in 2024-25. He will report to the CEO and will serve as a member of our Executive Team. 

Mr. Ogunniyi is a distinguished educator who comes to One City from the Chicagoland area where he has spent more than 15 years as a teacher and administrator in education, primarily at the secondary level (grade 6 - 12). His life's work has been to re-imagine the outcomes of public education for underserved youth so they can live prosperous, generous and impactful lives as adults. 

Mr. Ogunniyi has been meeting with families and getting to know our Scholars and team and is excited about the coming school year. 

L Holiday provided an overview of the work our lobbying team has done so far and shared some plans for their future work. L. Holiday confirmed that the new funding will provide $11,385 per student in the 2023-24 school year. That amount will increase to $11,729 in the 2024-25 school year. 

N. Fees provided a brief staffing update. We have hired nearly to capacity.

Slides from Ms. Holiday's and Ms. Fee's presentations, along with a presentation from M. Ruffin around enrollment will be shared with Board members to review.

Chair Noble Wray is stepping down as Chair but will remain a member of the Board. His commitment to One City is not and never has waned. 

N.Wray shared that there are four key things that the One City Board of Directors has embraced during his time as Chair:

1) Preschool parents decided they wanted us to create a school for their kids in higher grades. The Board focus was to grow the school by grades. We have grown, in spite of some growing pains. 

2) Knowing that we needed a permanent home for our schools, we were very connected initially with the Cultural Center. Ultimately, we had to move away from that partnership, due to a different focus and time line. Board members worked with staff to ensure the successful purchase of our elementary and secondary school campus.

3) The One City Board is not a typical School Board - in some ways, yes, but school boards don't help to raise or donate money. Out Board members do. They also attend community events and volunteer in various capacities at our schools. 

4) Board members can be very proud of the fact that we persevered during the pandemic. One City remained open and serving our families when most schools did not. 

N. Wray further stated that the Board has provided continuous feedback to the CEO. 

This past year was one of the most difficult years of all. When CEO K. Caire said that we must engage in advocacy, Board members understood and supported this important work. Board members remained engaged and saw One City through this critical time, and are thrilled that we are in good shape now. 

Chair Wray stated that serving as Chair of the One City Board in these early years of the school, helping to lay a strong foundation for future success, is one of the most challenging and most rewarding things he has ever done in his life.

Moving forward, some suggestions for the Board to look into include:

- Surveying members to learn the best meeting time.

- Some items could be moved to a consent agenda, which would save time for Board members to deliberate on the most important issues.

- Board members have engaged in evaluation of the CEO. We should conduct an evaluation of the Board periodically as well.

- Now that the funding formula is in place and our schools are more secure, the Board should work with staff to establish a fundraising target each year.

- Succession planning for all Board officers should be laid out. We must always keep parents on the Board.

Board members and staff thanked N. Wray for his work and his comments and staff shared that our in person Board meeting in September will be a celebration of N. Wray's work as Chair and the successful first month of school.