Equitas Academy Charter School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday August 31, 2017 at 6:00 PM
Location
1700 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015
PUBLIC COMMENT AT EQUITAS ACADEMY BOARD MEETINGS – An opportunity for the public to address the Board will be provided at the conclusion of the agenda. Members of the public who wish to speak on any item are requested to identify themselves and indicate on which agenda item they wish to speak. The Board will provide an opportunity for the public to speak for a maximum of three (3) minutes, unless granted additional time at the discretion of the Board. Testimony shall be limited in content to matters pertaining to Equitas Academy. The Board may not take any action on matters discussed during the public testimony period that are not listed on the agenda. Brown Act Compliance: Agenda posted at School
Directors Present
A. Valentine, B. Snyder, J. Creed, L. Phillips, O. Ammon, O. Bajracharya, S. Chandler
Directors Absent
A. Sowrirajan, C. Sanii
Directors who arrived after the meeting opened
J. Creed
Guests Present
J. Host, K. Cape, K. Kilty, M. Borrego
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
O. Bajracharya called a meeting of the board of directors of Equitas Academy Charter School to order on Thursday Aug 31, 2017 at 6:02 PM.
II. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
Troy Kinney presented on Social Justice at Equitas
III. Consent Agenda
A.
Approve Minutes
O. Ammon made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 06-23-17 Board Meeting on 06-23-17.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
B.
Approve Minutes
O. Ammon made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Retreat on 06-24-17 Board Retreat on 06-24-17.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C.
Student Handbook
O. Ammon made a motion to approve the student handbook for FY17-18.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
D.
Consensual Relationship Policy
O. Ammon made a motion to Approve consensual relationship policy.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
E.
Employee Handbook FY17 - 18
O. Ammon made a motion to approve Employee Handbook for FY17-18.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
F.
Building Excellent Schools Agreement
O. Ammon made a motion to approve the BES agreement.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
G.
Board Approval of Spending Plan for One-Time Funds Included in the 17-18 State Budget
O. Ammon made a motion to approve the spending plan for one-time funds.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
H.
Loan Resolution for Pacific Western Bank
O. Ammon made a motion to approve loan resolution for Pacific Western Bank.
B. Snyder seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
IV. School Updates
A.
CEO Update
J Host shared that he will move into a new role: Managing Director of Strategic Growth, including facilities, budget and finance plus special projects, working under S Chandler to support the Strategy work. We are looking to bring on a senior COO in the coming months. Formal announcement will be made to the organization tomorrow.
M Borrego summarized the attached CEO report. She shared that a number of EQ students went to EQ4 because their teacher moved into the School Director role there. J Host shared we are scoping a role to centralize enrollment support. L Phillips shared that CWC is doing something similar, especially because school-site staff turnover makes the relationship maintenance difficult.
B Snyder asked what was driving the teacher shortfall. M Borrego responded that our talent team all turned over in January. S Chandler and J Edelman have done a great job recovering in a short time window, according to M Borrego. K Kilty shared that we will contract services until the roles are filled. There was discussion about the difficulty of filling 8th grade science roles.
J Creed raised that focusing externally will put a lot of pressure on M Borrego for delegation, and asked how many direct reports she had. She replied that she now has 5, including her assistant. L Phillips asked how large the network was, and J Host replied about 20.
M Borrego summarized the attached CEO report. She shared that a number of EQ students went to EQ4 because their teacher moved into the School Director role there. J Host shared we are scoping a role to centralize enrollment support. L Phillips shared that CWC is doing something similar, especially because school-site staff turnover makes the relationship maintenance difficult.
B Snyder asked what was driving the teacher shortfall. M Borrego responded that our talent team all turned over in January. S Chandler and J Edelman have done a great job recovering in a short time window, according to M Borrego. K Kilty shared that we will contract services until the roles are filled. There was discussion about the difficulty of filling 8th grade science roles.
J Creed raised that focusing externally will put a lot of pressure on M Borrego for delegation, and asked how many direct reports she had. She replied that she now has 5, including her assistant. L Phillips asked how large the network was, and J Host replied about 20.
J. Creed arrived.
V. Facilities
A.
EQ3 LLC Sublease
J Host shared that sublease has been changed, from Equitas Academy to lesee name EQ3 LLC. Language is being passed through the master on an uninsured casualty loss.
B. Snyder made a motion to approve the amended sublease.
L. Phillips seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
B.
Capital Impact Partners Loan Commitment Letter
Jon Host presented on putting in 4.3MM loan contribution to the fund, as part of that Capital Impact Partners is asking Equitas Academy to sign on as a guarantor to their collateral.
A. Valentine made a motion to approve CAP commitment letter and an officer will sign.
O. Ammon seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C.
Commission Agreement
Jon presented on the Commission Agreement and the terms therein.
J. Creed made a motion to approve the commission agreement.
L. Phillips seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
VI. Resource Development
A.
Development Dashboard
K Cape shared a summary of the Development Committee dashboard.
O Ammon suggests to give the board gift before December for the tax deduction this year, allowing us to focus the second half of the fiscal year on getting the "get." That would allow time to prepare for an effective event, she is working with J Host and K Cape to find some more corporate giving.
L Phillips asked if there are certain levels and according impact. M Borrego suggested a one-pager with that information, O Ammon suggested a website for your birthday or Christmas to have friends and family give to Equitas.
O Ammon suggests to give the board gift before December for the tax deduction this year, allowing us to focus the second half of the fiscal year on getting the "get." That would allow time to prepare for an effective event, she is working with J Host and K Cape to find some more corporate giving.
L Phillips asked if there are certain levels and according impact. M Borrego suggested a one-pager with that information, O Ammon suggested a website for your birthday or Christmas to have friends and family give to Equitas.
B.
FY18 Development Committee Goals
O Ammon summarized the 250 total individual donors goal
C.
Training on Fundraising
O Ammon presented on the Donor Continuum as a tool to determine how deep the engagement of a given donor, and that the goal is to make the donor's answer yes to all of the questions therein.
M Borrego shared that O Ammon is effective at walking a prospect through the continuum according to their individual profile, and suggested the board use O Ammon to guide them. O Ammon suggested using the vales to think about who to target with potential board members and donors.
M Borrego shared that O Ammon is effective at walking a prospect through the continuum according to their individual profile, and suggested the board use O Ammon to guide them. O Ammon suggested using the vales to think about who to target with potential board members and donors.
VII. Academic Accountability
A.
Presentation of State Standardized Scores for grades 3-8 for FY16-17
K Kilty shared a summary of results from SBAC testing. Areas of strength were:
-Flagship performing 20% above state in Math and 80% (absolute) in ELA.
-EQ2 performed 8% above state this past year, 13% year-to-year increase in ELA.
-Network-wide increase of 8% in ELA
-EQ2 8th grade had 67% proficiency in ELA
Areas of growth were:
-3/5 grade levels went down in Math (cohort analysis)
-Overall 0% (network-wide) change year-over-year in Math
-5th grade cohort had a decrease year-over-year, 24% ELA, 28% Math
Adjustments:
-Significant growth of Academics department (CAO, Director of Middle Schools, Curriculum Specialist,
-New curriculum in ELA and Math from our partnership with Achievement First.
-Pre-planned lessons via AF open source curriculum
-Flagship performing 20% above state in Math and 80% (absolute) in ELA.
-EQ2 performed 8% above state this past year, 13% year-to-year increase in ELA.
-Network-wide increase of 8% in ELA
-EQ2 8th grade had 67% proficiency in ELA
Areas of growth were:
-3/5 grade levels went down in Math (cohort analysis)
-Overall 0% (network-wide) change year-over-year in Math
-5th grade cohort had a decrease year-over-year, 24% ELA, 28% Math
Adjustments:
-Significant growth of Academics department (CAO, Director of Middle Schools, Curriculum Specialist,
-New curriculum in ELA and Math from our partnership with Achievement First.
-Pre-planned lessons via AF open source curriculum
VIII. Finance
A.
Board Review of June 2017 Financials
B Snyder summarized the financial dashboard.
B.
Board Approval of FY 16-17 Unaudited Actual Financial Statements
O. Ammon made a motion to approve receipt of June 2017 financials and approve the unaudited financials of FY16-17.
A. Valentine seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
IX. Governance
A.
Prospective Board Members Process
L Phillips shared we're kicking off the efforts to identify prospective board members by building a list, via each board member identifying the best prospects in their network. She then cited the Board Member Scorecard and introduced a board member prospect tracker. L Phillips committed to send it out to everyone and requested each board member begin by populating the tracker with 5-10 prospects.
O Ammon pushed that we involve the values in these meetings. O Ammon asked that the values be added to the tracker.
J Creed shared the plan is to set up one-on-one meetings with each board member to strategize how to cultivate each prospect.
O Ammon pushed that we involve the values in these meetings. O Ammon asked that the values be added to the tracker.
J Creed shared the plan is to set up one-on-one meetings with each board member to strategize how to cultivate each prospect.
B.
Board Scorecard
J Creed asked for data on how many board members hit each scorecard item last year, K Cape committed to produce.
X. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:11 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
O. Bajracharya