Rich Harrison, CEO, led the board and staff in a land acknowledgement for the Ohlone people.

Rich Harrison, CEO, gave updates for board members and staff about how returning staff members were celebrated for the number of years they have committed to lighthouse and the pin ceremony. Rich then gave pins to the board members as associated to their years of service. 

The board and staff then viewed Instagram highlights related to the Martin Luther King day of service that happened at Lodestar, including community members who came to support. Rich voiced appreciation to those who showed up, including students and families who participated in the clean-ups.  Rich then gave voice to the mirrored event at Lighthouse on the same day, where community members painted the campus and helped clean the general area.

No questions from the board.

Maya Bell, parent at Lighthouse, spoke to advocating for justice within the school and advocating for the board and staff to elevate their problem solving practices. She spoke to feeling disconnected to events and her special needs children and feeling an inequity between Lodestar and Lighthouse. She advocated for more support and openness for Lighthouse parents and services for special needs children. Ms. Bell urges the board and staff to work more with families to help them understand their needs and work together.

Lila Wiley-Booker wanted to highlight an incident that happened with her child and emailed appropriate staff on Monday and advocated that bullying was not being addressed in a timely manner both for her child and other children. She asks that increased awareness happen at both sites. 

Ms. Leanna, Parent of Lighthouse, advocates that she does love Lighthouse but feels concerned about needing a field and lack of attention on sports. She believes that increased attention on sports would help retention and mental health issues among students.

Seeing and hearing no others who wished to voice public comment, public comment was closed. The board asked LCPS staff to follow up with public commenters to better hear their concerns.

Rich Harrison, CEO, reviewed CEO goals and updates. He spoke of Lighthouse TK-8's upcoming charter renewal and the upcoming town hall to help inform families of the renewal goals and needs. Rich highlighted the current interim assessments and other academic initiatives, such as attendance rates, the launch of the Against Gun Violence Unit in 8th grade, and community school initiatives, including chronic absenteeism and suspension rates. Rich then spoke to staff satisfaction related to professional development, student enrollment changes, and financial positions, such as the second interim budget. 

Rich then gave an update to the board about the organization's LCAP goals and how LCPS is working towards strategic priorities. Related to academic strategic priorities, Rich spoke to how teacher development is focused on teaching grade-level materials and maintaining academic rigor. There was a reflection on the 5x5 related to the California Dashboard and how LCPS can achieve growth by subject and LEA. Related to shared decision making, Rich spoke to how LCPS can improve on gaining student and family feedback, but showed that LCPS has made growth in regards to teacher communication and staff professional development.

Rich gave a budget overview of total revenues, actuals, and variances. He noted the increases in budget due to a facilities grant, an ELOP grant related to expanded learning, and a CA teacher credentialing grant related to a counselor residency program. Rich spoke about an increase in special education department staffing, a REACH program, Youth Alive to support violence-impacted youth, partnerships with chronic absenteeism, and other local organizations that we fund for students. 

The board asked about an increase in staff survey ratings related to communication and how the positive increase may be increased in parent communication. The board will return to this when the survey is more deeply discussed later in the meeting.

Aisha Ford, Senior Managing Director of Teaching & Learning, spoke to current events in academics such as Interim Assessments, Parent Advisory Committee meetings that reviewed data, strong progress in professional development. Aisha then spoke to the spotlight of the K-5 curriculum and how teachers and administrators are seeing progress.

Kathleen Liljeberg, Director of Assessment and Performance Management, reviewed ELPI data by LEA and domains, citing areas LCPS is strong in and areas of growth. 

Aisha then spoke about the ELD strategy and curriculum supporting ELD instruction and how teachers will be strategizing to support EL students.

No questions from the board.

Anna Martin, Chief Operating Officer, gave an executive summary on the staff survey at LCPS. These highlights included that engagement has increased, and staff are expressing that they want to stay with the organization at a rate of 80%, plus that professional development as an area grew the most. 

The board gave praise for the increase in staff satisfaction and asked what the possible reason may have been for the jump in communication satisfaction. Anna responded that LCPS has worked on alignment in types of messaging as well as cadence, additionally hoping to have increased structure in parent communications. Aisha Ford, Senior Managing Director of Teaching & Learning also praised principals in aligned messaging and the timelyness of the messaging, maintaining predictability. 

The board suggested involvement with families to help collaborate on sending out the family memos. Staff asked for an example to understand how LCPS may replicate. 

The board followed up on how the weekly survey related to professional development aligned with the staff survey. Anna Martin responded that we did see a positive correlation, and staff believe that the rate of weekly responses and the yearly staff survey. 

The finance committee gave a summary of the committee meeting to the board, including that cash levels remain sufficient and that LCPS is implementing increased levels of conservation related to spending and decision making per previous feedback from the board.

Hung Mai, Senior Director of Finance, gave an update on finance, talking about enrollment, attendance, cash flow, and budget versus actuals. LCPS remains green in most areas, with yellow related to student attendance. 

Anna Martin, Chief Operating Officer, talked to the launch of the SY26-27 enrollment, including lottery processes and grades that are on track for full grades.

The board asked when the deadline windows for applications fall, to which Anna responded that the window is Friday, February 13th, and those who apply after the deadline will have a calculated ranking for the application that considers many factors but cannot jump ahead of those who applied on time. 

Hung Mai talked more about cash on hand being around 72 days, which Rich commented that this may decrease based on decisions made later in the evening related to financial strategy and teacher compensation. 

Rich Harrison, CEO, led the board in a discussion for members to consider what LCPS needs, wants, and wishes for. These would relate to sustainable academic programs, teacher compensation, and building TK classrooms. Rich gave a recap to the previous two discussions in regards to the discussion such as cost sustainability, strong facility improvements, and revenue assumptions. There are a few variables that relate to the discussion, such as sustainability and predictable revenue, as well as capital facility expenses and assumptions, such as federal grants. 

Rich clarified that TK expansion approval at the sites is a barrier to revenues and impacts LCPS finances. Additionally, LCPS intends to use reserves rather than borrowing options due to high rates. Rich reminded the board of three scenarios related to insurance claims and gave a summary of TK costs that would be required for expansion, as well as how LCPS could break even for 2 TK sections or create a net income. 

No action taken.

No action taken.

No action taken.