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Malka Borrego introduces perspective Chief School Officer, Javier Guzman, who has joined us. Javier is in the final round of interviews. 

Malka Borrego shares details about Org Updates and grounds us in the 21-22 Meeting Focus structure.

• 2 School Directors will be sharing with the Board.

Malka Borrego shares the CEO update.

• 11 priorities used to determine org direction. 
• Most indicators are on track.
• We are focused on learning opportunities with our students and teacher satisfaction.
• CEO has three goals and all goals are on track. 
• Inaugural Director of DEIA, Brittany Rush, will be presenting to the Board.
• Final stages of Chief of Schools interviews are being conducted.
• Cristina Lowry has been hired as Director of People & Culture. 

Kyle Gouveia, Director of Data and Assessments, presents on winter surveys.  Students, parents and staff were surveyed. Mr. Gouveia shared details about strengths and areas of growth for each group surveyed. 

• Students
  • Areas of Strength for grades TK-4: School Climate, School Belonging, School Engagement, Teacher-Student Relationships, Value for School
  • Areas of Growth for grades 5-8: School Engagement, School Learning Strategies, Grit, Teacher-Student Relationships, and School Rigorous Expectations. 
• Parents
  • Areas of Strength include Barriers of Engagement, School Climate, School Safety
  • Areas of Growth Include: School Fit and Family Engagement
• Staff
  • Areas of Strength: Hiring Process, Teacher Compensation, Observation & Feedback, Workload, Leadership.
  • Areas of Growth: School Operations, Academic Opportunities, Instructional Planning for Student Growth, Learning Environment, Professional Development, Education

Mr. Gouveia also shared 

• Growth goal progress % Data Guide including growth projections and growth achievement.
• Data on the overall MAP data.
• Student Learning MAP NWEA Winter Admin IS Data.

Tyler Bell asked: 

• How are we looking at growth beyond the academics? 
• How are we accounting for or do we plan to account for social and emotional learning as well as the academic piece?
• Can we identify a correlation between how a student is feeling and how they are performing? 

Response: That is a gap in the data collection but we are looking at ways to measure more effectively this data. We do have some tools already that we can begin to use. 

Jennifer Freeman, Director of ELD, presented data on Emergent Bilingual Scholar Context highlighting with a focus on promoting Bilingualism. Ms. Freeman's presentation includes the multilingual progress 21-22 goals and analysis: 

• 21-22 Goal #1: 80% of Designated and Integrated ELD teachers have an explicit language focus in lessons gathered through observations.
• 21-22 Goal #2: 55% of Emergent Bilingual Scholars (EB)s will meet their ELA MAP Growth Goal in Spring 2022 (up from 48% in Spring 2021).
• Data analysis included Wins, Growth opportunities, Action Steps and Action Items.
  • Jennifer Freeman highlighted the action step "drafted a proposal for an EL Program specialist" that can be on the ground and can provide additional support on school sites. 

Additionally there is progress monitoring in designated classrooms for scholars that are not projected to meet their goals.

Gregg Gonzalez, Interim Chief Schools Officer, provides a schools update including data reviewing Academic Expectations and Academic Opportunities. Greggs presentation highlights the connection of mindset to priorities. 

School Context - December - January

• Key Challenges include: staffing, attendance, student culture, leader focus.

Second half of year focus:

• Reignite 21-22 School Level Priorities
• Planning for the 22-23 SY 

Prabhu Reddy asked:

• What are some of the key priorities for the upcoming years? 

Response : 

• The details list of school priorities can be found on slide 53 in the Board presentation slides.

Question:

How we are capturing data about what has been learned?

Tyler Bell asked:

• What are the strategies to support staff and teacher who are tired and fatigued?

Response: 

• On a national scale, we are beginning to make connections between our fatigue and how outcomes. As we begin moving out of this phase, we will need to begin focusing on the work that supports staff in feeling successful. Mr. Gonzalez highlights getting back to foundations will help.

Brittany Rush, Director of DEIA, presents on Equity Work and DEIA priorities steeped in Equitas Forward Initiatives.

• Ms. Rush shares details about her personal path prior to her time at Equitas. 
• Details about the Promise 54 data which is a DEI Survey as well as a SWOT analysis captured in early learnings. 
• Essential Question: How are we considering our staff and particularly our staff of color, understanding that they are disproportionately effected by the Pandemic? 

Tyler Bell asked:

• How does the Board continue to support in the work of staff retention, specifically highlighting BIPOC staff?

 Response: 

• Learning more and unpacking more about how we can support forward movement and career growth.  Cristina Lowry, Director of People & Culture, will work along side Ms. Rush in digging into what staff are looking for in the future and identifying what support looks like?

Kyle Gouveia also shares that as we broaden the group surveyed it impacts the data that we are seeing

Carla Perez, EQ2 School Director, adds that when people are saying they are not coming back and in the exit interviews we should examine that data to find answers to these questions. 

Jessica Redon, EQ School Director, and Brittany Rush, former EQ School Director, present on EQ 2021 - 22 SY Initiatives including and Insight Survey Data. 

Initiative Foci: 

• Instruction 
• Culture 
• DEIA

In Academic Opportunity, EQ is above the national average and there was growth in several areas. 

• Ms. Rendon highlights areas of focus including:
  Instructional planning for student growth. 
• Next Steps include Instructional Planning Support and collaboratively reviewing student work.  

Carla Perez, EQ2 School Director, presents on the goals and initiatives for EQ2

Initiatives Include: 

• Build a culture of Trust and collaboration 
• Build Restorative Scholar Culture 
• Build Strong Tier 1 Instruction

How can the Board Support?

• On going tracking of learned information 

Catie Langston acknowledges the level of EI in the presentations and sees the strategic level thinking but also the heart in each presentation.

Cecilia Melgares presented on Form 700.

Form 700 is a state reporting form in which state and local government officials publicly disclose their personal assets and income that may be materially affected by their official acts. Agency employees, including some public officials who are designated in a conflict of interest code, are required to disclose certain financial interests according to the disclosure categories assigned to that position in their agency's conflict of interest code. Cecilia Melgares, MD of OPS, will reach out to board members and staff directly to send instructions on how to complete on the LA County website.

This year the Form 700 will be online and Ms. Melgares will send info on how to complete the form. The Form 700 is due by April 1, 2022. 

Maggie Ford, COO, shares about the LAUSD annual oversight.  

On an annual basis LAUSD works with each school to conduct an audit and assess the following buckets: Governance, Student Achievement and Educational Performance, Organizational Management, Programs, and Operations.

This was discussed at a previous meeting. 

Tyler Bell provided an update on the 2022 board retreat. 

The committee is currently looking at the Langham to host Board retreat on May 13-14.

Tyler Bell shares that Aaron Perez has resigned from the Board and the Board has accepted his resignation.

Aaron hopes to someday return to Equitas and believes in the mission. 

Tyler Bell leads a discussion session envisioning the newest Equitas CEO.

Discussion Notes are linked HERE.