Bill provided a brief report.  He announced that SPCS 4th grade teacher Brittanie McGregor was chosen as a  recipient of the Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award.  Board members made a plan to celebrate Brittanie's award by delivering breakfast on behalf of the board.  Bill also shared new promotional videos the school has created to share its story, one geared towards prospective families and external partners and another towards prospective teachers.  

The board discussed the school's need to continue its occupancy at the Heritage location.  Bill shared that he has been communicating with the Heritage leadership about this and the school has until March 15 to renew its lease.  He noted that he has submitted the charter amendment and has been communicating with DESE about this; he expects to hear from DESE by March 15. 

The board discussed the Capital Campaign Planning and proposed contract for consulting services.  The board felt that a capital campaign to support the school's building needs was the right step at this time.  Bill shared the draft campaign strategy based on initial planning the school has done with Andrea.  The board discussed having Andrea continue to lead this campaign and felt that she was the right person given that she has knowledge of the school's story and needs from the strategic planning work she has already done; that she has highly relevant experience in the education reform space; and that her rate is reasonable and affordable. The board determined that it would seek regular (monthly or bi-monthly) status updates about the progress of the campaign.

Meghan presented the monthly financials. The school's numbers are on track and there are no significant updates or changes to its finances.  Meghan noted that updated grant projections from DESE will lead to the school receiving an additional $50k of state grant funding which the school will allocate to its programs.

The board discussed the January Academic Dashboard.  On MAP, scholars performed well and have hit the school's internal goals.  The chronic absence rate has increased to 10%, but it is still below the statewide rate of 13.1%.  The school's suspension rate remains very low and there was just one in-school and one out-of-school suspension over the past month.  Regarding enrollment, the school has received a very high number of applictions, exceeding its goal of 378 new scholar applications for the 2019-2020 school year. 

The board discussed having Jason Rosewell join the school as a Trustee.  The board felt that his experience in facilities development and management would be an important addition given the school's needs right now, and that his commitment to the school's mission would make him a very strong board member.   

The board discussed the parent complaint and the board's response.  The board believed its investigation and the response letter were very thorough.  The board had questions about how to discuss specific complaints without disclosing the identify of children or families. Bill noted that these can and would be redacted from the board packet if anyone were to request these documents and that he would follow up with the school's attorney to ensure the school was following best practice.

The board discussed the Executive Director Compensation, Support and Evaluation webinar, hosted by the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association.  Justin gave a brief overview of the webinar, and explained that it provided a summary of best practices related to board oversight of the Executive Director.  The board discussed the alignment of the recommendations with its current practice and condcluded that it was providing strong oversight and regularly asking school leadership tough questions about the school's policies and operations.  It noted small but important ways to further improve, such as more clearly documenting the annual ED evaluation process in its board packet and minutes.

The next board meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 27 at 5:45pm.