There was no public comment at this board meeting.

Bill Tran and Thalia Lopez gave a brief presentation... as Bryan Ramos could not be attend to give the presentation.

Thalia explained that the OMI entrance camp had more candidates than in previous years, with a 93% success rate this year. Numerous candidates passed the camp with excellent standards. Some students are still candidates going into the school year because they enrolled later than the camp in July. The camp for those candidates would be held at the beginning of the school year.

Thalia mentioned that the OMI Cares initiative was supported by over 150+ cadets throughout the year, and 14 community service projects were done.

Marc Mares asked who would get the survey results for the survey landscape/climate initiative that is being led by cadet Arden Zhu. The project was still in the early stages when the board meeting was in session, but those key dates would be established immediately after.

The superintendent, Dr. Streshly, gave a presentation on these topics:

• Invitation to the OUSD Board of Directors for OMI Visit: Dr. Streshly and CMSgt James invited the OUSD Board of Directors to visit OMI. At the time of the board meeting, three board members made reservations with her to visit the school. One of the board members was a student board member named Marianna. She was very interested in the OMI program and especially fascinated that her grade counterpart at OMI was far ahead in dual enrollment/college credits than the students at her school. Van Cedric Williams also came to tour the school. Dr. Strehly invited the OMI board of directors to come visit the school when the OUSD board members were here. The visiting board members were given an OMI swag bag that contained information about the school.

• Edtec Charter renewal CAASPP and ELPAC analysis:  Emphasis on the growth of the cadets in the distance from the standard. The cadets who spend more than one year at OMI tend to move between proficiencies in a positive direction by 15 or more points. 
• Introduction of Special Education Administrator: Dr. Streshly introduced OMI's new Special Education Coordinator, Zandra Texeira. Zandra mentioned that in the short time that she has been at OMI, she has enjoyed all the interactions she has had so far.

Jessika continued with her financial update. One word that could sum up her financial update is Math. OMI, with the help of the donation from Governor Jerry Brown, put an emphasis on the math initiative. Cadets have been able to be tutored more frequently throughout the week due to the hiring of full-time and part-time math tutors. Governor Brown has committed to fund the entire math initiative and Dr. Streshly explained that this would be roughly $700,000 without augmentation throughout the year.

The prior year's revenue displayed in the chart was mentioned to be the kitchen money and the Prop 28 money. The FTE has increased in both arts and music so all of the funding will be expended. 

The budget was made with the assumption that OMI would have 500 cadets enrolled. At the end of the first attendance period, OMI had 519 cadets enrolled. If OMI maintains that, that could be an additional $250,000-$300,000 in revenue.

Jessika and CMSgt James explained that they are going to put $800,000 back into the bank for the CD (certificate of deposit), along with the $200,000 that has been in CDs since $800,000 was reallocated to the safety net again. OMI will have a comfortable gap between the operational cash and the one-month payroll requirement.

Dr. Streshly explained that the governance calendar is for the Board of Directors to have an idea of what the board meetings will likely consist of. Simon Bryce asked Dr. Streshly and the staff to add the word anticipated to the draft so that not everything is set in stone and has to be present on the board agenda. 

Marc Mares asked Dr. Streshly and the staff to add a recruiting row, specifically for the timeline (recruiting cycle).

BG Cross asked about the number of cadets in summer school and if the number presented was high or low. Mr. Pike said that we do not accept Ds only Fs for this summer school but this upcoming year we will not have Ds in the grading scale. The summer school mostly consisted of cadets who needed to remediate math. Mr. Mares asked what happened to the cadets that did not complete the summer school remediation, and Mr. Pike said that some cadets were retained.

CMSgt Thomas James explained that OMI was expecting a 185-candidate camp and 157 candidates attended camp. 147 candidates completed the camp, and 2 candidates were placed on contracts.

At the time of the board meeting, some candidates still had to complete the camp as they were accepted after the camp had happened. 

Communication was highly effective this go around because the final cadet count conversion rate was higher than previous years. OMI staff also had a flood of prospective families in the month of July, so the staff spent time communicating with all those families and explained their path to becoming a cadet.

Jonathan Pike explained that he and the staff reviewed the CAASPP scores and dashboard indicators to evaluate OMI’s progress.

Cadets were also given a diagnostic assessment to establish a baseline of their knowledge, allowing teachers to plan instruction more effectively.

Mr. Pike noted that OMI currently uses two diagnostics: IXL and RenStar. He observed stronger growth trends on the IXL assessments compared to RenStar. Cadets performing below grade-level expectations receive additional tutoring. Staff also recognized the need to build cadets’ test stamina to reduce fatigue during assessments.

Marc Mares asked whether RenStar could be removed since OMI also has IXL. Dr. Streshly responded that both assessments would be kept in place to measure growth for the upcoming charter renewal.

In addition to supporting cadets through tutoring, OMI also schedules professional development days to strengthen teacher practices. Mr. Pike emphasized that the greatest current challenge for cadets is unpacking the academic language in word problems.

Mares acknowledged the improvement in math scores but emphasized the importance of maintaining academic rigor. He also noted the need to be mindful of cadets transferring to other high schools and suggested addressing this topic during Back-to-School Nights and recruitment efforts.

BG Peter Cross expressed his appreciation to the cadets who presented at the board meeting.