Oakland Military Institute, College Preparatory Academy
Minutes
Regular Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday November 14, 2024 at 4:00 PM
Location
Address: 3877 Lusk St. Oakland, CA 94608
Room: B104, B Side Building
In response to the expiration of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-29-20, which temporarily suspended provisions of the Brown Act relating to public meetings, the Board will resume in-person board meetings.
In Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, those requiring special assistance to access the board meeting should contact Carlos Rodriguez at crodriguez@omiacademy.org. Notifications of at least 24 hours prior to the meeting will enable Oakland Military Institute to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to the board meeting.
Directors Present
A. Campbell Washington, D. Clisham, J. Brown, J. Wire, M. Baldwin, M. Mares
Directors Absent
S. Bryce
Guests Present
15 other participants, C. James, C. Rodriguez, J. Pike, J. Welcome, K. Wong, M. Streshly, S. Lipsey
I. Opening Items
A.
Roll Call
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Public Comment
D.
Ordering of the Agenda
II. Approval of Consent Items
A.
Minutes of September 12, 2024 Regular Meeting
B.
OMI Bank Account Activity (September 1, 2024- October 31, 2024)
C.
Personnel Report
D.
New Contracts
III. Cadet Commander Report
A.
Cadet Commander Report
C/2LT Jayson Ly gave the cadet commander report for this month's board meeting.
He began by letting the Board of Directors know that his report will be about October and November events since OMI did not have a board meeting in October. All seniors took the sat and some junior class students did as well. He mentioned that OMI participated in parades (Black Cowboy Parade, Veterans Day) and competitions (XTreme Team Challenge). At the Xtreme Team Challenge, one teams of OMI seniors won first place and a combination team of 10/11th graders came in second.
OMI had a spirit week that was held on the last week of October leading up to OMI's Fall Fest. Throughout the week, more and more cadets began to participate and were excited/motivated to participate and attend school.
The OMI fall festival included spirit week and fundraising helped raise $3713 that will be used for OMI activities. OMI is helping by donating clothes and food to various donation organizations.
IV. Superintendent's Update
A.
Dashboard Progress: Where have we been. How far we've come. Where we need to go.
Dr. Streshly wanted to start by praising the superintendent liaison, C/2LT Jayson Ly. She mentioned that this is the first year that OMI has had a Superintendent Liaison and it has helped Dr. Streshly stay informed with the cadet leadership.
OMI staff gathered data for similar schools to OMI to see what the trend is for these schools and measure how OMI compares. The schools used were both charter and non-charter schools in the Oakland Unified School District. These schools were Oakland Unity High School, Lighthouse Community Charter, Madison Park Academy and Fremont High School.
Diane and Dr. Streshly separated the high school and middle school data to see a clearer picture than what the dashboard has as they are combined statistics. OMI tries to find alternate ways to deal with suspension depending on the severity of the situation. The C building on campus has been transformed into a Cadet services center so that cadets are helped faster and more effectively by linking cadet services with the wellness center interventions..
The graduation rate over the years for OMI has improved as well as the A-G requirement fulfillment.
Math tutors have been brought in to help with this endeavor of aiding in raising scores. There has been good feedback by the tutors that have been hired.
B.
December Staff of the Year Ceremony
During the December board meeting, Dr. Streshly, CMSgt James and the Board of Directors will be holding the second annual Staff of the year Reception Ceremony during the intermission of the meeting. This allows OMI Leadership to recognize the staff members that have made an incredible mark on the previous year at OMI.
C.
Budget Committee Dates
Dr. Streshly mentioned that she is going to be holding a budget committee meeting on Tuesday, January 14, 2024, so that she and other leaders, teachers, and parents can talk about what programs we can manage and find ways to find funding solutions that match our projected enrollments.
Dr. Streshly mentioned that OMI has been having Grizzly Family Nights and Coffees with Leadership as they try to bring parents and staff together to discuss multiple subjects including the budget committee. Cadets were invited to the events so parents could directly ask them questions. Parents used these as opportunities to mention to OMI leadership what was on their mind. One of the main pieces of feedback from these events is that the cadets are behaving better at school and at home due to the structure that they are getting from the OMI program.
V. Information/Discussion Items
A.
Curriculum/Instruction Update: Math Plan Part 2 & Monthly ELA/Math Progress Report
LTC Jonathan Pike began by explaining that this report is an overview of what OMI leadership, with the help of the teachers, is implementing in the classrooms.
Assessments have been given out in classrooms to measure how the cadets are retaining the material that is being taught. Monthly formative assessment benchmark tests are being administered in the classroom to identify the strengths and the barriers for each cadet.
The math program consists of the certain supports like tutoring push in and pull outs, supplemental programs like IXL and Math 180, professional development for the teachers and monthly assessments with Silicon Valley Math Initiative.
At the time of the board meeting, 72% of the middle school cadets that took the baseline assessments scored a not met, 55% for high school.
One of the problems that OMI staff is encountering is that the cadets are forgetting the material after the teacher moves on to another lesson. The key to retaining the information for these cadets is to repeat the material as the weeks go by. Adding the old lessons at the end of the new lesson will help with retention.
B.
Cashflow Update
Jessika Welcome began to explain that the CD matured in October and $800,000 was moved back into the main account to keep the cash level over the one month payroll line. The remaining $200,000 + (Accrued approximate $42,000) was placed in a more liquid high yielding savings account to accrue over time.
VI. Action Items
A.
First Reading/Approve: BP5125 Student Record Retention Policy
Part of the Federal Program Monitoring review for the ASES program, OMI has to adopt the Student Record Retention Policy. OMI Staff will be bringing more policies to the Board of Directors to review and approve on a consistent basis to grow the policy foundation that the school has.
The custodian of records is the registrar, but this will be housed in the cadet services center on campus. OMI is using Gamut, a CSBA program that houses policies and OMI has it tied to the website.
B.
Consideration/Approve of Employee Cost of Living Allowance for 2024-2025 (COLA)
The Board of Directors agree with Dr. Streshly in her vision to approve the cost of living adjustment because they believe that OMI has to pay to retain the talent that they have.
Marc Mares mentioned the fact that EdTec can help with grants but OM is employing multi-year knowledgeable Mark Basnage, our IT Director, to help with the grants because he has extensive experience in writing grants. The position is being paid by those said grants.
C.
Approve Salary Schedule Revision
D.
Approve First Interim Budget Report
Since the September Board Meeting, the OMI forecast has improved by $497,000. OMI added $318,000 of local revenue, which was a combination of military funding and private donations. The forecasted attendance rate increased from 90% to 94%. The current operating deficit is at $874,000.
The best scenario is that the monthly cash balance stays over the red line displayed in the graph (one month payroll line).
E.
Approve Bylaws Modification/Update
OMI staff recommended a change to the bylaws that the number of board members can be up to eight (8) and no less than five (5).
F.
Consideration and Vote- Appointment of New Board Member- Sabrina Foster
Jerry Brown recommended Sabrina Foster to be added to the OMI Board of Director roster.
G.
Second Reading/Approve: After School Program Safety Plan (ELOP)
This was the second reading of the After School Program Safety Plan (ELOP). The after school program was transitioned to be operated from in house.
Marc Mares mentioned that HOTE is included in the plan. Dr. Streshly mentioned that because HOTE is OMI's grant partner, they could not be left out of the plan at this time.
VII. Board Member Comments
A.
Board Member Comments
There were no Board member comments.
VIII. Standing Item: Review Board Meeting Quorum for next meeting
A.
December 12, 2024 Board Meeting Quorum
The Board of Directors checked their calendars to see if they will be available for the December 12, 2024.
Mr. Clisham: Yes
Governor Brown: Yes
MG Baldwin:
Ms. Washington: Yes
Mr. Wire: Yes
Mr. Bryce: Yes
Mr. Mares: Yes
Ms. Foster: Yes
There were no public comments at this board meeting.