Staff Present: 

• Erol Kose
• Minh Baca
• Darren Polat
• Osman Balaman
• Soner Tarim
• Yalcin Akyildiz
• Zekeriya Yuksel

Committee Guest:

• Drew Masterson

Legal Counsel:

• Robert Schulman

Dr. Soner Tarim informed the board that no guests registered for public comment. 

Board members reviewed the minutes of the previous HPS board meeting, which was held on January 25, 2017. 

At 6:32pm, Board members began the Texas Academic Performance Public Hearing and welcomed any teachers, parents or students in attendance who may have questions.

Mr. Yuksel commenced the TEA required public hearing by reviewing the 2015-2016 Annual Report. 

Mr. Yuksel discussed the following reports with the Board. 

• 2015-2016 Annual Report 
• 2015-2016 Texas Academic Performance Report
  • Seven HPS districts discussed under the Texas Academic Report. 
•  2014-2015 Financial Actual Reports
  • Total revenue of each of the seven HPS districts
• 2015-2016 Accreditation Report
• 2015-2016 Annual Report
  • Campus Performance Objections which provide data about campus performance and any criminal related reports gathered through the PEIMS system. 
• District Performance Summary (STAAR)
  • Mr. Yuksel reviewed the TAPR of the seven HPS districts. Mr. Yuksel discussed demographic information and overall performance and academic performance of students  in 2015-2016 school year at the specified districts. 

Mr. Yuksel also discussed the internal HPS goals for school performance at each of the districts. Mr. Yuksel informed the Board and audience that all information discussed can be accessed online at the HPS district website and fall under the guidelines of open meeting and public information regulations. Additional data information and requirements can be found on the Texas Education Agency website. 

 

Board discusses resolution related to the purchase of Permanent School Fund Guarantee Bonds. HPS seeks application for PSF Bonds at a total of $94M.

Mr. Yalcin Akyildiz discussed the possibility of additional PSF funds in September and October and additional expansions for Charter schools that could come after bill passage in the Texas 86th Legislature. Board asked questions related to the cost of bonds, the financial fitness of purchasing bond and possible issues that could result from purchases. Currently, HPS has $493M in PSF bonds. Mr. Akyildiz and Mr. Drew Masterson provided information about benefits of PSF bonds and general impact. 
 

Mrs. Minh Baca informed the Board that HPS is required to apply for an expansion with the TEA whenever there is an additional site that is not within the same address or suite number as the current building. Resolution will approve a required expansion amendment and provide for a new site at the Harmony Science Academy El Paso campus.

Mrs. Baca informed the Board that per TEA regulations HPS can enroll students who are within HPS geographic boundaries. HPS District would like to expand these boundaries and add ISD boundaries that are not currently in the HPS approved list. 

Mrs. Baca informed the Board that HPS Austin and HPS Waco districts were impacted by Immigration protests that occurred on February 16th 2017 and as a result had low attendance. Under the TEA rule HPS may apply for waiver for low attendance for almost any reason that leads to a 10% (significant) drop in attendance compared to the previous academic year. 

Mrs. Baca informed the Board about eight proposed calendars for the various HPS districts. The Austin district is ahead of the other districts because the Austin ISD has applied for a waiver to have the first day of school start on August 16, 2017 and HPS wants to make sure they are within the same time frame to reduce impact of enrollment or district scheduling issues in Austin. All other HPS district start dates are August 22, 2017. 

HPS Attorney Robert Schulman briefly informed Board about the resolution and the formation of Harmony Education Services LLC non-profit. The entity would provide "back office" services yo other charters who request HPS to provide charter management services and will operate as a subsidiary to the board. Initially, the service requesting school would contract with Harmony Education Services LLC. Subsidiary entity would be at the will of the HPS Board. The officers would provide guidance to schools out-of-state (I.e. North Carolina) but they will be managed under the HPS board. 

Mr. Darren Polat informed Board that due to a water outage, at the Houston South District, HPS employees were sent home from work. Mr. Polat stated that because there was no financial loss HPS would still like to pay Non-Exempt employees for the day. 

Dr. Tarim discusses the request to enter into agreement with Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) for full record management services. HCDE will examine all HPS records and provide policies and procedure recommendations to HPS. HCDE will provide consultation and support to HPS under the agreement. The agreement is at a price of $5k a year. The service from HCDE would digitize HPS records and improve record safety. 

Mr. Akyildiz summarizes the HPS statement of financial position and discusses assets, liabilities, revenue and expenditures and final surplus for the next two quarters. 

Mr. Akyildiz summarized the Finance committee meeting from February 15, 2017. The committee met to discuss various topics including vendor procurement, grant programs, catering services, quarterly financials, janitorial services extension agreements and the CO-OP purchasing program. The committee also reviewed the 990 form for tax exempt entity and deliberated  property related lease agreements during closed session. 

Mr. Stewart provided information about two items considered during facilities committee meeting dealing with HSI Waco and HSA Cedar Park projects. The committee reviewed verbiage that was inconsistent and upon review with legal counsel the RFP's were corrected and bidding started again. Also, because the committee did not have a quorum some of the decisions were brought up as individual items to the Board. Mr. Stewart invited Mr. Erol Kose to discuss the projects in greater detail.

Mr. Kose informed the board about the Waco project and discussed the bid method used for the project. 

Mr. Kose stated that, currently, there is one campus in Waco however the Harmony School of Innovation Waco project would allow for the remodeling of an old building to use as a new HPS high school campus in Waco. The procurement method was conducted under a competitive sealed method. The Seal method is differentiated from competitive bidding were the lowest bid is accepted. Alternatively. the new sealed method allows reviewers to analyze the quality of work of bidders, their experience, reputation, financial means and price as well as proposal personnel and safety records to determine which bid will be most advantageous for HPS.

The Board further discussed the evaluation process and examined corresponding documents related to the Waco remodel project. 

Mr. Kose informed the board that the Harmony Science Academy - Cedar Park campus will be in the Austin area operating as an elementary school. The project size is 52,000 square feet and the standard competitive bidding method was used on February 9th and the lowest qualified bidder was recommended by HPS's contracted architect. The estimated cost of the project would be a little over $3 million. 

Board discusses the quality and reputation of the recommended bidder before coming to a vote. 

Mr. Kose summarizes the meeting minutes of the Facilities and Construction committee. The committee discussed the procurement/ job order contracting method and approval method under chapter 44. The committee used this alternative method to select bids for construction and maintenance projects. 

Mr. Kose discussed what happens when contracts are over $50,000, if they are job order contracting and Mr. Stewart stated that using a bluebook standard establishes a bench mark and is a better representation of the impact of the contracted services. 

As a point of clarification Mr. Kose discussed the current HPS practice which is using competitive bidding. However with Chapter 44 the Facilities and Construction committee was able to analyze bids within a new sealed method were a committee can look at more than price but also experience and quality. 
 

Dr. Ozgur Ozer summarized the actions of the Academic Committee meeting. Dr. Ozer discussed the 2017 growth data and online literacy program. Dr. Ozer stated that student's growth is monitored from fall to winter for the past four years. This growth monitoring allows the committee and HPS to see the progression of students and areas of improvement in how students are developing academically overtime. Dr. Ozer stated that reading and math skills among HPS students are increasing.

Dr. Ozer discussed with the board a new objective to use a Literacy Program online software to improve the literacy efforts for elementary and secondary students. The program is for K-10 and it is intended to create a more interactive way for students to learn and improve reading skills.

Mrs. MacDonald informed the Board that over the last couple of years she has been active in finding possible board members who are qualified and passionate about education. Mrs. MacDonald talked about the importance of HPS to have a diversified board and members who have strong credentials in education. Mrs. MacDonald nominated Ms. Daisy Morales as a possible board member of HPS and stated that her reasons were because of Ms. Morales' work history and work ethic, dedication to education and her insightful thoughts on a successful Board. Ms. Morales said that in order for a board to be successful they must contribute work, wealth and wisdom. Board members went on to discuss Ms. Morales passion for advocacy and outreach and her accolades and support in the Houston community. 

 

After reconvening from closed session at 8:40pm the Board decided to hear a motion to decide Level IV Grievance. Board voted on grievance and then convened back to closed session. at 8:50pm

After returning from closed session the Board came to an agreement with Innoved. The Board moved to vote on updated agreement. Once vote was made the Board convened into closed session at 10:00pm 

After returning from closed session at 12:17pm the Board moved to table consideration and discussions on establishing an HPS Board Governance Committee. 

General counsel provided legal guidance on Student Counseling Program during the closed session, only.

After returning from closed session. Board discussed appointing Mr. Stewart to the Board Academic committee. 

Board members briefly discuss the rescheduling of the March meeting, however no date was specified. Board will announce March meeting change once it is rescheduled.