There was no public comment.

Bill recognized Sherriff for organizing a collaboration with the MassMutual data science team.  As part of a "Data Days for Good" initiative, the team is redesigning our Academic Dashboard to help us better analyze our monthly performance data.

Meghan gave board members a tour of the new building.

Bill provided an update on the preparations for the new school year.  Management is mostly focused on getting the building ready and preparing to welcome new and returning staff at Summer Institute.  The school is fully hired with the exception of open Paraprofessional and Culture Aide roles.

The board ended executive session and re-entered open session at 6:49 pm.

Meghan and Tricia reviewed the financials.  There were two key points:

1. The school ended the year with a healthy surplus.
2. Tuition revenue was lower in June because of an error in reporting our number of students.  Because of this, tuition payments were reduced for March, April and May. The school has been working with DESE to correct this and the school will receive these funds in September.  As a result, tuition will remain at $170k through August, at which point it will return to the correct rate.  Past payments will be included in subsequent payments.

Tricia asked Meghan to follow up with the school's auditors about how to properly account for this tuition error.

Bill presented the DESE Annual Report for SY17-18.  The school met many of its Accountability Plan goals but not all.  There was discussion about whether the goals were the right ones; Bill explained that while they are ambitious, school leadership believes they can be met and that  DESE discourages changing Accountability Plan goals during the charter term.  These goals can be modified during the renewal process if needed. 

Bill discussed the need to reschedule the Board Retreat due to scheduling concerns with the August date.  The board tentatively scheduled this for 9/6 with 9/18 as a back-up date.

Bill and Meghan presented the Paid Parental Leave Policy and expressed management's belief that this policy is the right one for the school at this point in its growth.  The Policy would be in place for three years, until the state rolls out its paid leave plan.  

Bill presented selected material changes to the Student & Family Handbook.  First, Jess, as Principal will now serve as the school leader making disciplinary decisions per the Code of Conduct, while Bill, as Executive Director, will serve as an appeal level.  Second, there is an updated and clarified policy on student cell phones and smart watches that requires that these be in student backpacks and not used during school hours and on school grounds.

Alex presented a memorandum summarizing the individual evaluations of board members, the CEO self-evaluation, and the evaluations of Bill’s direct reports. He indicated that there was a strong consensus that Bill’s performance during 2017-18 was outstanding.  The Board noted the response rate from board members, which Alex said was 100%.  There was discussion about how Board and board members can partner more with Bill; Bob suggested that board members indicate to Bill how much they can get involved so that everything does not fall on Bill’s shoulders, noting two significant goals from last year, fundraising and finding a facility.  Alex said that the Board needs to maintain its oversight over the facility process because it is such an important issue for the school and its future.  The Board voted to accept Alex’s memorandum as its evaluation of the CEO and to present the memorandum at the conclusion of the meeting, which it did.