There was no public comment.

Bill highlighted excellent attendance at recent report card conferences.  He emphasized the importance of in-person meetings with families.  Mary Kate asked about the logistics of these meetings, and Bill explained that they were held during a half-day, with teachers meeting families from 1 to 7 pm. Meghan added that the attendance rate was 97%. The board was very pleased about this.  

Bill expressed appreciation for Mary Kate's contribution after joining the board, highlighting a significant donation from her employer. The team discussed an update on their videos, which have been revamped to better represent a full middle school and made more social media-friendly for enrollment and teacher recruitment purposes. Sally sought clarification on the availability of separate links for each video, which Bill confirmed. The team celebrated their successful efforts, acknowledging each other's significant contributions, particularly Sarah and Sally's support with annual campaign strategy.  Everyone was pleased that the school met the challenge and unlocked an additional $15,000 in funding for after-school programming.

Bill highlighted the very strong results for Massachusetts charters in the NAEP national charter schools report. 

Bill proposed a consulting contract for leadership development programming.  The board was in agreement with an investment in internal leadership development. Bill talked about how this work would allow the school to develop its own leadership framework and toolkit. Anne shared her support for a customized solution.  Sally named the value in a solution that we can use repeatedly in our organization versus sending individuals to a one-time training.  Bill explained how this consultant is a type of "sole source provider" (meaning we did not seek other proposals) because of her knowledge of our organization and values from her previous work with the school and Bill.

Bill presented an overview of the school's performance, focusing on enrollment, attendance, discipline, and assessments. He highlighted a decrease in chronic absenteeism and an increase in the attendance rate, as well as a low out-of-school suspension rate. He also discussed interim assessments, noting that students were performing above average in Math and English Language Arts (ELA) at a similar margin to 2023. 

He cautioned against comparing the school's performance to the network average due to changes in the network composition.  Instead, the school was focusing on the number of students meeting a benchmark indicating MCAS readiness.  The school believes this will help  teachers and leaders be more targeted in how we are supporting students. Anne added that the Academic Achievement Committee talked about how the school’s goal to ensure that this change is made incrementally with teachers to ensure this isn’t destabilizing for their work.

Bill also introduced a new assessment tool, MClass, which focuses on foundational literacy skills and is also a universal screener for reading issues like dyslexia.  The school is using this in addition to STEP to ensure we are assessing for the full range of early literacy skills students need -- comprehension (which is STEP's strength) as well as foundational skills like phonemic awareness and rate (which is MClass's strength).  Students are considered to be at target when they are at target in STEP and MClass.  

Bill discussed the progress of the school's strategic plan, sharing that priorities with clear goals and a senior leader with capacity to oversee the work are moving forward well, while priorities that require more program development or analysis have been slower to progress. 

Bill named that in terms of alumni supports, we are using this year to gather data instead of launching a new program mid-year. 

Sally asked about the HSS program and Bill named that this is still happening. It is alumni supports that is still in development.

Bill named that some of the regional research has begun, but that has been more limited. 

Mary Kate asked about current staffing situation in terms of the recruitment goal.  Bill explained that staffing is strong, but this is in part because we are very focused on recruitment and retention and have a seasoned, talented senior leader overseeing Talent.

Ron asked about current engagement among alumni. Meghan named that we could report back on this net month, following the alumni basketball game and after connecting with Jess and Beth who are closer to this work right now.
 

Bill outlined his priorities for the year which he's developed with input from the board, through it's annual evaluation of him, and with input from the governance committee.  Priorities include systematizing the fundraising process, updating the ED job description and succession plan, and developing an alumni support program. Anne suggested that we also consider updated our ED evaluation tool to match the new job description. Bill shared that the purpose of goals as a way to have alignment on what the priorities are and that it is a working document that can change as the needs of the organization changes. Anne agreed with the importance of revisiting these goals during the years.

The board discussed planning for a staff breakfast before the winter concert. The breakfast would be organized by the board and would include food and beverages for the staff. The meeting also touched on the topic of inviting Carlos Gonzalez, a legislator, to the event to foster relationships with him. 

Mary Kate was glad we hit our fundraising goal.  Sally appreciated the leadership development plan and Anne for running a great meeting.  Anne appreciated the strategic plan update -- thought it was a good amount of detail and digestible.

The next board meeting is in January after a December break.