• Bill reviewed the Executive Director memo as presented, highlighting the upcoming DESE site visit, the enrollment lottery and waitlist, new after-school programs, advocacy week participation, and the recent REDI PD session.
• Bob shared that he had visited the school recently and was impressed with the campus, the students, and the teaching he saw, and encouraged the board to do the same.

• Nancy shared that the school has gone 5 weeks without any COVID cases, including in-school testing, and that there are approx. 300 people enrolled in the testing program (Weekly testing in school, sending home at-home tests with students and staff weekly for at-home asymptomatic testing, and symptomatic testing in school)
• Bill reviewed SPS's current COVID data to compare to Springfield Prep & Springfield as a city
• Nancy and Bill discussed the school’s recommendation to remove the mask mandate in line with the expectation that SPS will end their mask mandate at their School Committee meeting tomorrow (3/31). They reviewed the rationale to align with the district based on the information that the city has a health department that is advising on this for Springfield.
• Bill noted that there would still be situations in which people would be required to wear a mask (including after a COVID diagnosis, exposure, or in the school health office). He also reinforced that the school would support any individuals that chose to continue to wear a mask, and would continue to provide masks.
• Amy asked whether this change would apply to visitors and contractors, and Bill stated that yes, it would, and they discussed the importance of posting this policy visibly for visitors.
• Doug joined at this point
• Bill and Bob clarified that the school’s end of a mask mandate would happen only if SPS votes to end their mask mandate for the reasons discussed earlier, so the language of the vote was revised to reflect that stance.
   

• Meghan reviewed the Budget Memo, noting that:
  • Many stakeholders, including staff and families, had provided input into this draft
  • The Student Opportunity Act and ESSER funding lead to an increase in revenue for the school over the next 5 years.
  • Expenses will increase due to the new facility as planned, but keeps us in the low risk category with DESE 
• Amy noted that the Finance Committee discussed this information and the process that went into devising the draft budget, and said that it was a similar process to that which has been done in the past. 
• Meghan discussed the projected personnel expenses, including changes to salaries to help with retention and recruitment. 
• She also reviewed the five-year budget overview and how the changes in revenue and expenses mentioned previously impact the school over this time period.

Bill reviewed the building update memo, including the progress of the commissioning process and corrections based on those findings. 

He also discussed the building renovations mentioned in the memo. These were proposed during the initial building design process but not completed due to value engineering. Remaining budgeted funds now may allow us to complete these projects.

• Bill discussed the temporary amendment proposal to shorten this school year by 2 days, as suggested by DESE and as discussed at the Governance Committee meeting. 

• Bill reviewed the organizational goals that the school has been operating under this year. He noted that the governance committee has reviewed and discussed these goals, and they have been shared in parts during other academic achievement committee and board meetings, but Bill invited a discussion about the compiled goals and a brief update on progress so far this year.
• Bob - suggest to change the word “develop” to "Maintain" in Goal #2, and also to change the word "develop" to “continue as” in Goal #4
• Anne asked if there a specific metric for Goal #2? 
  • Bill stated that staff retention is the primary metric, but the school also looks at staff survey data to monitor staff satisfaction. 
• The Board agreed that a vote to approve the goals was not needed but that they were satisfactory.

• Bill discussed that the Board is allowed to meet remotely through July, and that the Governance Committee has discussed and recommended that the Board continue Zoom meetings overall with a scheduled in-person meeting in April or May. The Board agreed that an in-person meeting in May would be favorable and the school will coordinate that for the scheduled May meeting date.  

• After she joined the last Board meeting, Bob and Sarah met with Amneris and were impressed with her knowledge of the education space and Springfield Prep already. Bob relayed that Sally had shared positive feedback about Amneris based on their prior encounters in working in education in Springfield.

The next scheduled board meeting is on Wednesday, 4/27/22 at 5:45 PM