Rich Harrison, CEO, gave a land acknowledgement for the Ohlone people.

Naimah Churchill raised a concern about the Spanish language requirement included in many Lighthouse job postings. She acknowledged the value of bilingual skills but noted that requiring Spanish for positions where it is not essential may limit the applicant pool, particularly among Black families, who are currently underrepresented. She emphasized that school employment can provide valuable opportunities for families and encouraged consideration of requirements that may unintentionally create barriers to employment.

Paris Jordan thanked the board and staff for attending the charter renewal initial hearing and the opportunity to share the supports that she has received. She thanked the board and added that she wants to continue building a relationship. 

Rich Harrison, CEO, gave an update on the Lighthouse TK-8 Charter Renewal initial hearing on Monday evening, citing the hard work of the team. Rich gave updates on the questions asked by the OUSD board and noted that the work is underway for the decision hearing on September 28th.

Rich gave an update on community schools, enrollment and attrition, finance

The board asked about the outreach for board members and school visits. Shaina Hurley, Lead Principal at Lighthouse TK-5, updated that she and Alicia Blacknell talked to the remaining board members who did not visit the campus and they gave verbal agreements to visit.

Dr. Shajaira Lopez, CAO, reviewed the academic updates and the executive summary on how LCPS is planning to address the third year of the strategic priorities. Dr. Lopez talked about the strengths and weaknesses she had noted as well as trends, then how she has focused her time in August in her new CAO role. Dr. Lopez talked about the changes to the coaching systems and implementing an improvement cycle.

The board asked how students were selected to shadow during instructional observations? Dr. Lopez responded that she intentionally kept in mind students under our subgroups of Black students, SPED students, chronically absent students, and multilingual learners.

Chief Operating Officer Anna Martin discussed the strengths, challenges, and year 3 focus of the operations, technology, enrollment, and finance departments. Anna also updated the board on how she has been focusing her time at the beginning of the school year, as well as the upcoming frequency and updates she intends to present to the board month-to-month. 

The board appreciated the clear formats for the many strands of work that Anna holds. 

Anna then gave further details about the 2026-27 enrollment updates and projections, noting that there are no changes to budgeted seats. She gave insight on the targeted entry grades at both sites. 

The board asked how attendance looks in the first 10 days. Anna responded that while attendance is difficult to pinpoint due to "no-shows", the enrollment team has been speedy in making those corrections in the student information system. 

The board asked about the new students who are present in grades that normally wouldn't have them and the impact on school culture. Anna reported that, from what sites have told her, the new high school students are sizable and are coming to schools, creating a positive influence on other students.  Dr. B added that there feels like a lot of joy in the school and culture feels strong. Dr. B attributes that to the sustainability of the system and staff retention. 

Hung Mai, Senior Director of Finance, gave brief highlights of the cash flow, bond covenants, and payments to vendors over $50K.

Anna Martin continued the presentation, giving a facilities master plan and financing update. Anna presented a 10-year plan of priorities for needed maintenance, comparing "must-haves" and programmatic priorities. 

The board commented on the importance of prioritizing projects.

Rich Harrison, CEO, announced to the board that the official audit will be conducted in the next few months.

Karen Fee, Director of Development, gave an announcement for LCPS' anniversaries of 25 years at Lighthouse and 10 years at Lodestar. There will be an event on Friday, November 6th, to celebrate the anniversaries. 

Seeing none and hearing no further comments, public comment was closed.

There was no reportable action taken in closed session.