Rich Harrison, CEO, led the staff and board in an Ohlone land acknowledgement.

Rich Harrison, CEO, gave highlights on community projects and events, such as a new podcast, staff milestones and retention, and postsecondary pathways with OneGoal.

No questions from the board.

Seeing none and hearing none, public comment was closed.

Rich Harrison, CEO, gave updates on financial health, staff retention, academic performance, attendance, and chronic absenteeism.

The board asked questions about the college and career initiatives and asked which student groups have the highest needs. Rich responded that students with disabilities have the highest gap but exceed the rates of the state.

The board asked about trends for chronic absenteeism, and Dr. Baldridge, Lead Principal of Lodestar 6-12 noted trends at the 6-12 level. Anna Martin, Chief Operating Officer, also detailed special exceptions and anticipated trends in future months. 

Rich then also gave an update on how LCPS is working towards the strategic priority initiatives.

The board asked about what may have led to some of the results. The board was curious about how LCPS can create focus and re-create areas that were strengths from the dashboard.

Rich responded a combination of school climate, new students coming in at a lower starting point, and staff continuity. Aisha Ford, Director of Elemenatary Academics, spoke to some of the strategies on how each student's progress will potentially move the dashboard.

Joshua Weintraub, Director of College and Career Success, gave a brief professional background, and discussed the dual-enrollment classes and their services across both sites.

The board asked if AP classes were available to all students. Josh responded with the specific grades in which all students take the course and the differing courses students can opt into. 

The board asked how the college and career strategies overlap and work towards the CA dashboard indicator. Josh spoke to how LCPS is continuing to work on the career pathways a bit more while the college pathway has been traditionally strong. Josh then detailed out how the CTE pathways works for students, strengths and weaknesses of the AP programs, and how students are encouraged to seek postsecondary experiences that best fit their needs.

Erin Wesseldine, Senior Director of Special Education and Specialized Programs, discussed special education staff retention, family connections, cost of programs, differentiation of accessible lessons, and the need to collaborate on professional development. Erin then discussed some funding strands. 

The board asked if there are any projections for special education funding issues. Erin responded that public insurance providers remain more of a mystery, but private providers are anticipated to stay.

Rich Harrison, CEO, discussed the second part of the updated Strategic Plan and their targets on enrollment and finance. Rich commented on the enrollment projections for OUSD and Oakland in general, as well as how LCPS is going to position itself financially for the future.

The board asked about next steps. Rich responded that we have some final Bellwether meetings and there will be more board engagement to come in later months.

Linda Wu, Senior Director of Finance, gave a summary on the budget and finance overview, detailing enrollment, revenue, cash, covenants, and budget revisions. 

The board asked about staff consolidations and the process for identifying retentions and consolidations. Anna Martin, Chief Operating Officer, responded with previous methods and possibly replicating those. 

Linda Wu, Senior Director of Finance, gave an overview on the audit process and timeline for the finance committee meeting.

No questions from the board.

Anna Martin, Chief Operating Officer, reviewed the timeline for teacher and staff compensation. This includes when LCPS will present the compensation in relation to the state to occur in February.  Anna added the historical decisions that landed LCPS on the current salary matrix, and how LCPS intended to adjust this year to close any gaps.

No questions from the board.

No action taken.

The board decided that appropriate next steps would be for the Academic Committee to meet ahead of the next board meeting to discuss what to monitor. For the focus on quality programming and what the focus on from the strategic plan heat map may be, with questions surrounding what will be different in January versus what we're actually seeing? Additionally, that ahead of addendums, staff should align to the strategy and think about the process and timeline for addendums given the budget.