There was no public comment.

• Ben Seyoum introduced himself as the new Managing Director of Business and Operations.
• Ben is responsible for operations, HR and some aspects of compliance and governance. He expressed his excitement to join the team.  Bill shared his appreciation for the work Ben is already doing.
• Megan Hoagland, our new Communications and Development Coordinator, will join the October meeting and discuss the annual campaign plan.

• Sarah led the group in a check-in activity.  People shared personal reflections and updates. The discussion led to conversations about:
  • The possibility of considering a childcare affiliated with the school, partly as a staff retention strategy.
  • The generally smooth start to the year, although with some challenges in kindergarten. 
  • The status of school buses arriving on time, because this is an ongoing issue.
  • Praise for the school’s recent newsletter and general communications strategy.
  • The status of the alumni support programming, which Bill said he would be reporting on at the next meeting.

Wendy gave an update on our staffing and retention.  

• Overall Staffing:
  • 90% of positions are filled, with key roles like classroom teachers, special education, ESL, and operations staff in place.
  • Additional hiring for associate teachers and a culture monitor (for recess, lunch, and bus duties) is ongoing.  
  • Unfortunately, a kindergarten teacher will be relocating to Florida at the end of September.  The organization had proactively hired an associate teacher, who will shadow the current teacher for a smooth transition.
• Diversity in Staffing:
  • 55% of staff and 40% of teachers identify as people of color, with a significant portion of teachers having 3+ years of experience.
• Retention:
  • Staff retention stands at 82%, with most departures due to relocations.
  • Bob asked how our retention compares to district retention.  Wendy explained that our retention is lower than district retention, but there are some aspects to our model, like higher expectations and longer school days that make this expected.  We want to keep retention high but know that some attrition will occur.
  • Sherriff asked about any areas of retention or recruitment difficulties.  Wendy responded that while middle school teachers were initially hard to find, they have recently seen more openings for lower elementary positions.  Special education and middle school math and science roles are traditionally hard to staff.

Bill gave a monthly update:

• He reported on the school's recent events, upcoming ones, including the Puerto Rican Parade and the Latinx Heritage Month Block Party.
• He and Ben reported on enrollment.  The school is fully enrolled but will hold another lottery for 8th grade since there is no waitlist at that level.  Based on enrollment patterns, we are considering a potential enrollment policy change to account for the fact that families are less interested in enrolling families in 7th and 8th grades.
• Bill gave a budget update.  The state’s final budget led to a per pupil rate increase, resulting in additional revenue, which we will have as a contingency.  
• He also shared the school’s theme of the year - Rooted in Values, Evolving with Purpose, and shared the four focus goals for the year.

Bill provided an overview of the renewal process.  

• The five-year review will assess three core areas:
  1. Faithfulness to the charter
  2. Success of the academic program
  3. Organizational viability
• The review consists of document review; a review of assessment, enrollment, discipline and other data; and focus groups, which will be held for the board, teachers, and leaders.
• Bill is optimistic about a successful renewal without conditions.

Sarah provided an overview of the evaluation process.  The evaluation will take place in October once MCAS data are out and the Governance Committee and Board will discuss these in early November and finalize in December.

The next meeting is scheduled for the first Thursday in October (10/3).