Emergency Teleconferencing AB2449 (Board Members Cho and Njboke)

Two member of the governing board at 6:45 PM and 7:31 PM on January 26, 2024 respectively requested permission to attend the meeting today via teleconferencing due to emergency circumstances and has communicated the “just cause” rational, which can be requested by a board member up to twice per calendar year. We do not need to disclose medical diagnosis or disability, or any personal information that is already exempt from disclosure under existing law.

Vote amongst members in the room.

Board Chair, Mary Keipp - Aye

Board Vice Chair, Cesar Lopez - Aye

Board Treasurer, Michael Green - Aye

There were no additions and/or corrections to the agenda.

There were no presentations from the Public.

1) Academics [Cesar Lopez] The schools are on track to meet the publisher's (iReady and NWEA) metrics for typical growth goals for the first semester. The Academic Committee will discuss the outcomes and action plans at the next meeting on February 3rd.

 

2) Finance [Michael Green] the YPICS Consolidated Audit submitted on time on 12/16/24 to all regulatory agencies, changes made to include the ERC funds; Wade McMullen, Principal for CLA, will provide a full update tonight. 

We learned additional info about Q3 ERC.  Therefore, we recommend refiling our Q3 ERC to the entire board, increasing the claim to  474k more than previously claimed. The Next meeting will be on Monday, February 24, 2025, at 5 PM.

3) Technology [Dean Cho] **Absent** - Reported by Board Chair Keipp. Next meeting February 24th.

Additional tech meetings (3rd meeting) will be added before the summer.   This extra meeting will allow us to review and assess IT plans for the summer break and beyond to ensure a proactive approach in addressing any concerns and strategies for the coming month. 

To keep the board members informed, a meeting summary of the Tech Committee will be available and tracked in Board on Track. 

The number of SPED needs at HS is growing by 30%. We need to consider resources to ensure compliance. 

YPICS serves many students with IEPs: 12% at MORCS, 24% at BCCS, and 30% at BCCHS, and the number is growing.
 

Board Chair KEIPP: Do students come with IEPs, or are we identifying? 

Director of SPED Programs Nutt: Most of them come with an IEP.
 

Today, BCCS held its first meeting of the parent network of parents with sped students. 

All other SPED updates are in my report with new data through the end of January 2025.

 

The leadership Team came together in December to review the Youth Truth data. Teams worked together to develop action plans to address the data. For the LSC, we have looked at how we can better support schools in quality PD. The area of need is ongoing PD for noninstructional staff. Community Schools and Ops also worked together on absenteeism metrics from the CDE dashboards. Lastly, Know Your Rights training has been provided for families, and the teams are working with other community partners to ensure that our families have the most relevant information to be safe with their families.- 

Instruction & Performance Data 

PD/PLCs: In the first semester, we focused our PD on small group instruction to ensure that all of our classes were differentiated and supportive of all learners. We also continued our initiative from last year, providing weekly time for teachers and instructional staff to plan collaboratively. This time allows our general education teachers, special education teachers, ELD teachers, and paraprofessionals to plan to ensure that our interactions with students are intentional and effective. For the second semester, we are building upon the fall semester efforts. To kick off the year, we brought in an expert teacher from CHIME to train our teachers on effective practices for co-planning and to introduce them to the idea of co-teaching. There are 6 models for co-teaching, and they are all based on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) structures. At our second PD for the year, we extended that learning through some videos and reading about those best practices. 

We also shared the following expectation for the teachers for co-teaching: 

● Resource teachers will focus on teaching two lessons with math teachers each week. 

● Special education paraprofessionals will engage in small group instruction with ELA teachers at least 2 times per week. 

● ELD teacher will teach one co-taught lesson with general education teachers each week. 

● Tutors and other non-SPED paraprofessionals will teach at least one co-taught lesson or small group lesson per week. 

● Co-planning time (every Monday) will focus on reviewing data and setting goals and a plan for co-teaching for the following week. After we build a base of understanding for co-teaching and UDL, we will move into PLCs focused on UDL instruction. The UDL framework focuses on Representation, Action and Expression, and Engagement, so our PLCs will focus on those topics. To further extend our impact, Dr. Myers will be conducting PD for non-instructional staff at the same time as our PLCs in which he will teach non-instructional staff about how they support the UDL and co-teaching initiatives from their roles. Additionally, we will have parent sessions at which we will help them understand and learn more about our approach.

iReady Assessments and Performance Tasks: Our students made solid progress between our baseline diagnostic (D1) and our second diagnostic (D2) in iReady. Our goals for the whole school year are as follows: 

● 70% of students will demonstrate improved placement by Diagnostic 3 (April) 

● Every student group will hit 100% typical growth by Diagnostic 3 (April) 

● On CAASPP, 60% of our students will score a 2 or better in reading and math 

● At least 51% of students will meet their typical growth. Math Results: D2 Our results from our December Math Diagnostic (D2) are below. As we monitor towards our EOY goals, we would want to see the following on this diagnostic: 

● At least 35-40% of students demonstrate improved placement. 

● 50% median typical growth 

● 25-30% of students have met their annual typical growth.

Reading Results: D2 Our results from our December Reading Diagnostic (D2) are below. As we monitor towards our EOY goals, we would want to see the following on this diagnostic: 

● At least 35-40% of students demonstrate improved placement. 

● 50% median typical growth 

● 25-30% of students have met their annual typical growth.

iReady Celebrations: Here are some teachers and groups who really stood out! 

● Ms. Vidana’s 3rd Period ELA class hit 247% of their typical growth! ○ Her SWD in the same period hit 241% of their typical growth! 

● Ms. Bravo’s students with special needs AND her ELs hit 195% of their typical growth! 

● Mr. Walter’s ELs in period 2 hit 194% of their typical growth! 

● Ms. Contreras’s 2nd period math class hit 269% of their typical growth! ○ Her 4th period EL students hit 254% of their typical growth! 

● Ms. Luc’s ELs in period 5 hit 292% of their typical growth!

Academics At Monseñor Oscar Romero Charter School, we are pleased to share the results of our December iReady diagnostic assessments, which reflect encouraging growth in both Reading and Math. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of our targeted interventions and the dedication of our teaching team to improving student outcomes. 

Reading Highlights: 

● 6th Grade: 40% of students have met their typical growth goals. 

● 7th Grade: 35% of students have met their typical growth goals. 

● 8th Grade: 40% of students have met their typical growth goals. 

● English Learners: 37% have met their typical growth goals. 

● Students with Disabilities: 47% have met their typical growth goals. 

Math Highlights: 

● 6th Grade: 34% of students have met their typical growth goals. 

● 7th Grade: 31% of students have met their typical growth goals. 

● 8th Grade: 32% of students have met their typical growth goals. 

● English Learners: 39% have met their typical growth goals. 

● Students with Disabilities: 31% have met their typical growth goals. 

As a school, we remain committed to providing the systems and supports necessary to ensure continued student growth as measured by the iReady diagnostic. This includes maintaining a strong focus on identifying and addressing learning gaps through our support classes, tailored interventions, and effective instructional strategies.

One of our immediate steps has been refining student placement in support classes based on the latest diagnostic results. By moving students into or out of these classes as needed, we aim to ensure that every learner receives the most appropriate support to meet their unique needs. We are encouraged by these mid-year results and look forward to continuing to build on this progress.

Culture and Climate (School Safety) Los Angeles was plagued by wind, windblown ash, and smoke in January. The January res created a unique situation that did not align to existing YPICS Fire Safety Response protocols or even LAUSD’s protocols (Co-located schools have to be aligned with LAUSD safety procedures.) After considerable time and research, the Executive Team published the Fire, Wind, Windblown Ash, and Smoke Advisory Safety Procedures. The most important discovery was the need to consider windblown ash and smoke in our protocol. Schools are now: 1. Using air purifiers in classrooms and offices every day 2.Monitoring the Air Quality using various tools, such as: ○ Air Quality Index Map ○ AirNow.gov, which measures real-time data for particulate matter in smoke and dust. ○ Fire.airnow.gov measures the primary type of particulate matter present in smoke and depicts areas of significant concern around res. 3. Looking for falling ash and checking for the smell or presence of smoke. Depending on the circumstances, staff will close doors, keep students indoors, limit physical activity, provide or require masks, shorten the school day, or cancel the school day to ensure the safety of our student staff and community.

Timeline Extensions for SARC & LCAP Midyear Progress Report In response to the wildfires, Governor Newsom issued Executive Orders that included an extension for LA County Schools to submit the School Accountability Report Card (SARC) and the LCAP Midyear Progress Report. The SARC will now be due March 18th, and the LCAP Midyear Progress presentation to the local governing board must occur by March 31st. 

LAUSD Charter Renewals

The LAUSD Charter Division took the unusual step of denying three state-identified “middle track” schools. The schools have 30 days to appeal to the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) for authorization. Looking ahead, charter petitions for Bert Corona Charter Middle (exp. 6/30/27) and Bert Corona Charter High School (exp. 6/30/28) will need to be submitted in Fall 2026 and 2027, respectively. 

CDE Accountability Next Steps In the coming months, the California Department of Education will be using the results from the CA Dashboard to identify schools for the State System of Support “Differentiated Assistance” and Federal ESSA Assistance. Schools identified for federal assistance will have additional planning requirements for the Local Control & Accountability Plan (LCAP) for 2025-26.

YPICS 

Professional Development January 6-7, 2025 Academic: The YPICS academic focus for the second semester: How to use practical assessments to drive strong academic performance outcomes? All instructional staff rotated through these topic areas. Each School Coordinator of Instruction led a workshop chosen from the list of sessions they each attended in Riverside this fall at the California Assessment Conference. Workshop descriptions are listed below: Assessing Assessment: Evaluating the Quality of Performance Tasks - Performance assessment provides insight into students' progress toward mastering deeper learning competencies. This insight is critical for teachers to ensure meaningful learning and for students to increase agency and ownership of learning. This session will introduce a tool based on high-quality performance assessment criteria to help educators review potential assessment tasks.

Goodbye Drills. Hello Skills: Embedding CAASPP Prep into Instruction - This session will focus on helping educators harness the often-underutilized power of CAASPP tools such as Content Explorer (question stems), Annotated Response Tool, and Range Achievement Level Descriptors to support teachers as they prepare students throughout the year for the rigor and complexity of the ELA summative exam. Interim Assessments 101 - This session will focus on the basics of interim assessments, including the free interim assessments for ELA, math, ELPAC, and Science developed by the California Department of Education. Day 2- LACOE Instructional Staff provided the following workshops: • Zero to Hero: Using CAASPP ELA Performance Task WER Data • Introduction to the CA Science Test and Science Interim Assessments • Secondary Single Subject Math Teachers All staff participated in the MTSS workshop which reviewed, policies, procedures, protocols. YPICS looks forward to better outcomes with scholars as we track effective and consistent implementation among all three schools.

School Climate and Culture: The YPICS School Climate and Culture staff focused on Promoting a Safe and Secure Learning Environment for All: Guidance and Model Policies to Assist California’s K-12 Schools in Responding to Immigration Issues on January 6th and 7th. 

School Community & Operations: The School Community and the Operations Teams focused on reviewing, adjusting goals, and revising plans based on Youth Truth and discipline data for the second semester. School Closures and Reopening: To keep staff and students from the extreme LA fires and windy weather conditions, YPICS closed schools from January 8 to January 10, 2025. Meals were served, and teachers and staff provided learning recovery activities remotely on Friday, January 10, 2023.



 

• The next regular Board meeting will be February 24, 2025.
• The next Finance Committee meeting will be February 24, 2025.
• The next Academic Committee meeting will be February 3, 2025.