Bill reviewed his report.  He provided an overview of Summer School, which is finishing tomorrow.  Attendance has been a challenge as compared to attendance during the school year.  This year, there has been a greater focus on a pre-assessment and post-assessment for the program to be able to better evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

He also provided an update on the current staffing situation.  There has been some movement, including some unexpected departures, leaving some positions open.  The school is aggressively recruiting.  Amy asked about ways that board members could help and Meghan and Bill said that they are confident the school will make progress on this front but that they could certainly share openings with their networks.  

Bill also shared some details about Naloxone policy to follow up on policy questions from the previous meeting, including how the law governs the requirement for the nurse to authorize the use of Naloxone and can train others to administer it.

The board noted a typo in the ED report.  These minutes reflect the correct language, with the edit in bold: "So, if for some reason the nurse is physically unavailable to assess whether Narcan should be used, the trained staff member would have to call the nurse to describe symptoms and seek the nurse’s authorization to administer the Naloxone."   

Bill reported out on his goals for the past year.  While MCAS data is not yet out, he shared that he believes the school will perform around state averages, which is below pre-pandemic performance but stronger than last year's performance.
 

He highlighted the school's strong staff retention rate, which is notable given high attrition rates in many schools.  He shared that the school is just below its 85% goal of accepted offers for new hires, and that there is no particular trend when analyzing the slightly lower rate for BIPOC candidates (10 out of 14 candidates who identified as BIPOC accepted offers).  

In terms of family engagement priorities, Bill reported that we are meeting our goal of 2 board members who have children at the school, but that he did not prioritize a restructuring of the PAC to create regular opportunities for members to participate at Board meetings. Despite this, family engagement is still strong across a variety of metrics and we still see strong family participation in school events and strong family engagement as measured in family surveys.
 

Regarding the REDI Strategic Plan goals, this goal was met and the REDI Strategic Plan will serve drive the organization’s work over the next three years.  

In terms of diversity goals, Bill reported that 71% of new staff members identify as BIPOC, which is helping the organization to become more diverse.  Specifically, 44% of lead teachers now identify as BIPOC. Bob asked about how this compares to Spingfield Public Schools and Bill explained that the percentage of BIPOC teachers in SPS is 22%.
 

Bill also shared that while he delayed explicit after-school programming goals given the pandemic, after-school programming did grow last year and he feels the school is in a good position to build on that this year. 
 

Bill presented the Annual Report, with a focus on the school's Accountability Plan in Appendix A.  The board discussed in more detail which goals were not met and the reasons for this.   

 

Anne provided an update about the ED evaluation process.  She reviewed the board's ED evaluation and reduced questions that felt redundant and changed the rating scale based on her survey research.  However, the essence of what the board will be evaluating Bill on is the same.  Bob noted that he really appreciates seeing the individual comments, so he would like to retain those.  The board discussed how they believe a more streamlined survey will eliminate survey fatigue and encourage more comments.  Anne will make the changes and begin the evaluation process.

The board reviewed the Draft REDI Strategic Plan.  Anne expressed appreciation for the work that was done and her feeling that the grid at the end is an accountability tool for the school and board.  Sherriff and Amy shared their belief that this will convey a seriousness and commitment to REDI work and their belief that we should share this with our community.  Amy also suggested that we share this with our middle school students so they can engage with this plan.  
 

Amy reported out on the Finance Committee’s review of the updated Fiscal Policies and Procedures (FPP).  The committee wanted to share this with the board given that these changes reflect those recommended by a federal audit and a state audit.  She noted that the committee is supportive of the management team's proposal to change the board contract approval level from $5,000 to $10,000.   
 

Meghan provided an end-of-year financial report.  She noted that the financials presented here are preliminary, as usual.  Going forward, the school will report on Realty and the School side by side because this presents a more complete picture of what’s happening at the organization.  She reviewed the new lease accounting standard: the lease expense on the school side will come off the school’s operating expenses and will instead be recorded as a right to use the asset with a corresponding liability on the school’s balance sheet.  

Overall, the school saw a positive change in net position at the end of the year, slightly more than the  budget.  There were a few drivers of this: lower expenses on after-school transportation and lower health service expenses, because the state provided funding for COVID testing programs.  Revenue was slightly lower than budgeted but this was offset by increased grant funding.  The finance committee discussed in detail areas where there were variances, but overall, the budget was on target as budgeted.  Bob asked about why tuition revenues were lower.  Meghan explained that this was due to a state tuition adjustment.  Typically, these numbers increase, but this year, they decreased.  The school learned that this was experienced by many other charter schools as well.  Amy shared that the end of year report is consistent with the financials as they’ve been reported all year.  Meghan talked about the cash flow and noted that even as we grow and expenses increase next year, the school has 4 months cash on hand and is in a strong position.  

Bill proposed scheduling a board meeting in August in the event there are any additional policies that require discussion and board support going into the new school year.  The board was in agreement.  Bill will send a meeting scheduling email to determine the best time for the meeting.