Kevin Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, and Elizabeth Dignan, Chief Operating Officer, outlined the timeline for the City on a Hill Boston Charter Consolidation Amendment, which is due to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on Monday, January 27, 2020. CoaH is required to submit 5-year financial projections as part of the amendment and Dignan presented two scenarios for the Board to review and discuss.

Both options call for all students to be located at the CoaH Circuit Street campus, but the difference is in timing. Option 1 would maintain two buildings, with all students locating to the CoaH Circuit Street campus beginning summer of 2022 (for school year 2022-23) while option 2 calls for all students to locate to the CoaH Circuit Street campus beginning summer of 2020 (for school year 2020-2021). Each option necessitates the need for a building addition project at CoaH Circuit Street, which is currently projected to be completed by summer of 2020 to accommodate all students.

Greg Vasey, Chair, led a discussion of the pros and cons of each option and noted that each option calls for CoaH asking for 400 seats, which is fewer seats than the 560 seats for which the CoaH Circuit Street and CoaH Dudley Square are currently chartered. Committee members asked whether we should be requesting for more seats to allow for further growth. Taylor noted that CoaH has not been able to achieve enrollment of 560 and that the number of seats we seek should reflect what we can realistically attain in the near future. Taylor confirmed that the final enrollment number to submit in the amendment has not been finalized.

The Committee also inquired about the current capacity of the building of CoaH Circuit Street and whether it would have space to fit all of our students in school year 2020-2021. Taylor noted that it will be tight and that a partition project would need to be undertaken in the summer to break up some of the larger classrooms to allow for additional space. With the addition project, the building of CoaH Circuit Street will have more breakout spaces to support Special Education and English Language Learner students, teacher’s lounge, among other benefits.

The Committee next asked about the differences in the financials between the two options, the principal one being the savings realized from not having the operate two separate buildings, saving approximately $1M in operating costs in rent/maintenance alone. Option 2 would allow for more financial flexibility. The Committee asked about feasibility of getting out of the lease at the building of CoaH Dudley Square. Taylor noted that there is a charter peer who has expressed interest in sub-leasing the space. 

Taylor also shared that the two options have been shared with the City on a Hill Foundation Board and that we would present the two options during the Board of Trustees Meeting directly following this Committee Meeting to solicit feedback from our community members.