Springfield Prep
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday October 27, 2021 at 5:45 PM
Location
This meeting will take place via Zoom
This meeting of the Springfield Prep Charter School Board was held via Zoom video conference on 10/27/2021 at 5:45 pm. Meeting notice was posted on the school's website (www.springfieldprep.org) on 10/22/21 at 3 pm.
Trustees Present
A. Grant (remote), A. Malone (remote), A. Piela (remote), D. Morrin (remote), J. Rosewell (remote), K. Molina (remote), R. Leonard (remote), S. Balogun (remote), S. Fuller (remote), S. Monson (remote), T. Walker (remote)
Trustees Absent
None
Trustees who arrived after the meeting opened
D. Morrin, S. Balogun
Ex Officio Members Present
B. Spirer (remote)
Non Voting Members Present
B. Spirer (remote)
Guests Present
M. Wagner (remote), N. Abramowitz (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
R. Leonard called a meeting of the board of trustees of Springfield Prep to order on Wednesday Oct 27, 2021 at 5:47 PM.
C.
Public Comment, If Any
II. Consent Agenda
A.
Approve September 1 Board Meeting Minutes
A. Grant made a motion to approve the minutes from Board Meeting on 09-29-21.
T. Walker seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| S. Monson |
Aye
|
| S. Balogun |
Absent
|
| J. Rosewell |
Aye
|
| A. Grant |
Aye
|
| A. Piela |
Aye
|
| K. Molina |
Aye
|
| A. Malone |
Aye
|
| T. Walker |
Aye
|
| R. Leonard |
Abstain
|
| D. Morrin |
Absent
|
| S. Fuller |
Abstain
|
B.
August Financials
Meghan noted that although the agenda item says August financials, the data is actually the September Financials as expected.
C.
Vote to approve consent agenda items
A. Grant made a motion to Approve all consent agenda items.
T. Walker seconded the motion.
Meghan noted that although the agenda item says August financials, the data is actually the September Financials as expected.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| S. Monson |
Aye
|
| J. Rosewell |
Aye
|
| A. Piela |
Aye
|
| S. Balogun |
Absent
|
| S. Fuller |
Abstain
|
| A. Malone |
Aye
|
| A. Grant |
Aye
|
| K. Molina |
Aye
|
| D. Morrin |
Absent
|
| T. Walker |
Aye
|
| R. Leonard |
Abstain
|
S. Balogun arrived at 5:53 PM.
III. Executive Director's Report
A.
Executive Director Report
- Bill discussed the Executive Director Report. He shared that school feels more-or-less normal, with little COVID-related activity or cases. Students took field trips this fall, including a 7th grade trip to Project IMO, an outdoor education and teambuilding program.
- Christine Torres, Assistant Principal for MS, and some students were highlighted in Teach Like a Champion’s 3rd edition, a popular teaching book. He discussed several excerpts from the book where Christine is highlighted.
- Bill shared that staffing has improved with several great hires in recent weeks, and that there are still openings that we would like to fill but with minimal impact to staff scheduling.
D. Morrin arrived at 5:59 PM.
IV. COVID Updates and Mitigation Planning
A.
Staff Vaccination Policy
- Bill discussed the rationale for a proposed vaccination requirement policy for all SPCS staff, with an exemption option with a weekly testing requirement as an alternative. He shared that the vast majority of staff are vaccinated and that COVID activity has been low, in part due to our other mitigation strategies.
- The Board discussed various aspects of the policy and the rationale surrounding it, including: if the state has provided any guidance for such policies; ensuring employee health data is stored according to privacy requirements; current staff vaccination rates and COVID mitigation measures; how the policy would apply to new hires; how this policy might affect retention and hiring (both positively and negatively) and the follow-on effects to students; and the landscape of vaccine mandates across other public schools.
- Alex expressed a desire for a more stringent policy with no testing alternative in the interest of student safety. He noted that several large districts across the country are implementing these full vaccination requirements.
T. Walker made a motion to enact the COVID-19 staff vaccination policy as presented.
S. Fuller seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| R. Leonard |
Aye
|
| A. Piela |
Aye
|
| K. Molina |
Aye
|
| A. Grant |
No
|
| S. Fuller |
Aye
|
| D. Morrin |
Aye
|
| A. Malone |
Aye
|
| T. Walker |
Aye
|
| S. Balogun |
Aye
|
| J. Rosewell |
Aye
|
| S. Monson |
Aye
|
V. Academics
A.
2021 MCAS Report
Jess Yiannos joined at this point.
- Bill shared an overview of our MCAS results report. Bill discussed the school’s results as compared to some other schools and to prior years data. Jess shared her understanding of why Math declined so strongly across the state, even more than in ELA.
- Bill reviewed the data by subgroups and noted that the school is aware of the disproportionate impact of learning disruptions on the most vulnerable student groups
- Jess discussed our tactics to address these challenges, including the summer learning program. She also discussed that we are not giving remedial work to students but instead training teachers on how to scaffold instruction to support students in accessing grade-level work. She shared that we received a grant for math diagnostic assessments so we can see quickly what students are learning and where they need support, and we are doing more ELA progress monitoring. We also built in time to the PD schedule to ensure teachers have time to dive into this data and create effective plans.
- Sheriff noted that the Academic Achievement Committee discussed how we should set goals after the disruptions of the past two years, including remaining ambitious but realistic, as well as focusing on growth from our current scores and accelerating our return to prior levels of performance.
- The Board discussed how our successful in-person methods translated to remote learning and if this impacted our decision to remain remote for the majority of the prior school year. They also discussed how our results compared to other districts and if there are any lessons we can learn from similar schools whose scores were less impacted from prior years. Jess closed with the note that while we have not done this type of acceleration on a whole-school scale before, we have been successful with many students and will use similar strategies now.
B.
Assessment Overview
Bill noted that there was an overview provided of the various assessments used at Springfield Prep as a refresher or primer for those who are newer to the Board.
C.
Academic Dashboard
- Bill discussed the Academic dashboard, including attendance, discipline, the after-school program, and academic assessments.
- He shared that the after school program is beneficial to students both from a social-emotional and academic standpoint and for their high school and college careers. He also noted that it puts additional work on staff, so we are trying to balance those two things, but that staff have volunteered for these additional roles at this time.
- Jess discussed STEP data for grades K-3. On STEP, she shared that we set our benchmarks internally for what answers count as grade-level. As expected, our students aren’t at grade level given that some or all of their academic career has been disrupted or virtual. She also shared that the goal of 4 STEP levels of growth will ensure that students grow a full year plus 1/3 of a year to get them closer to grade level.
- Jess also shared STAR data for grades 4-7, and noted that this is an adaptive assessment. The data is similar to MCAS data.
- Jess briefly reviewed MAP data, which is a national assessment for K-2, and that the results seem better than STEP, in part due to how rigorously we grade STEP. We do see a decline from prior years, especially in Math, but not as much as in other assessments.
- Bill shared the results of the DESE special education status report. The report showed that no discrepancies or disproportionate impact to students of different racial and ethnic groups in terms of identification as Special Education students or disciplinary practices.
VI. Closing Items
A.
Next Board Meeting
The next scheduled board meeting is on Wednesday, 12/1/21 at 5:45 PM (Note: this is one week later than usual given the Thanksgiving holiday.)
B.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
N. Abramowitz
Documents used during the meeting
- 2. SPCS FY22 September Summary.pdf
- 4. FY22 September SNP.pdf
- 5. SPCS FY22 September Cash Flow.pdf
- 3. Friends FY22 September Summary.pdf
- ED Report - 10.22.21.pdf
- Springfield Prep - Vaccine Policy for Staff - 10.25.2021.pdf
- MCAS Report for Board - Updated October 2021.pdf
- Overview of Academic Assessments.pdf
- Academic Dashboard 10.20.21.pdf