Jordan Pina, Chief of Staff, shared with the Committee that the School received a letter related to the intended topic of the Executive Session, and after consulting with the School's Counsel, it was recommended that this meeting be rescheduled. Pina shared that Sonya Pratt, Executive Director, would be connecting with Melisa Lemire, Chair, to discuss further.

Pina then shared that while the Committee would not be meeting for its intended purpose today, since the posting of the agenda for this meeting, the School received its Summary of Review (SOR) from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for its February 2023 Targeted Site Visit, which she and Pratt would like to discuss.

Pina then reminded the Board that the SOR is a document that DESE produces following a site visit, which overviews rating of any and/or all of the Performance Criterion for Charter Schools. She reminded the Committee that those include:

1. Mission and Key Design Elements
2. Access and Equity
3. Compliance
4. Dissemination
5. Student Performance
6. Program Delivery
7. School Climate and Family Engagement
8. Capacity
9. Governance
10. Finance

Pina then also reminded the Committee that given this was a mid-cycle review, it was a targeted review that focused on specific criterion, including Program Delivery (6.2 Instruction and 6.4 Supports for All Learners), School Climate and Family Engagement (7.1 Safe and Supportive Environment), and Organization Viability (8.1 School Systems and Leadership and 8.2 Professional Climate and Standards for Performance) and Governance. She then confirmed that all ratings had either maintained or improved since the School's last rating.

Pina also noted that the School has two opportunities to respond to the SOR; the School can submit factual corrections to anything in the SOR, as well as a general response to be added to the body of evidence for the School's renewal process. She also explained that due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, DESE has overhauled its accountability system, which will focus on regaining losses since 2019 and would have a multiyear timeline to do so depending on results. The Committee thanked Pina for her overview, and Pina handed the presentation to Pratt for further detail.

Pratt then began to discuss Key Indicator 6.2 (Instruction), for which the School received a Partially Meets. She shared that the School expected this rating, as it has a generally less experienced staff and self-identified areas of growth around high expectations for all and cultural proficiency. She then highlighted the other Key Indicator of Criterion 6, Supports for All Learners, which received a Meets due to the School's proactive, data-based system to identify students' strengths and needs for academic development though improvement is needed for social-emotional development.

The Committee inquired if any of the Partially Meets would be able to move to a Meets following the School's factual corrections and general response. Pratt shared that based on her experience and understanding, it was unlikely due to the process of the review, but regardless, it would be important to provide context for the School's argument of continued growth throughout its probationary period.

Pratt then pointed to Key Indicators 8.1 (School Systems and Leadership) and 8.2 (Professional Climate and Standards for Performance), which were both rated as Meets. Pratt noted that she believes these ratings, particularly 8.1, are good indicators of the School's growing capacity to improve upon instruction as strong strategic leadership and systems of feedback/evaluation are crucial to moving the needle.

Finally, Pratt pointed to Governance, which had improved from Falls Far Below to Partially Meets. She shared concerns over the financial oversight of the School, which had also been directly discussed in the School's monthly meetings with DESE, but was optimistic that the School and the Charter School Office (CSO) are now aligned. She also confirmed that the Finance Committee has been consistently discussing the long-term fiscal stability of the School, and it is currently in a strong fiscal position. Ted Gildea, Chair of the Finance Committee and Board Treasurer, confirmed Pratt's characterization of the finances.

Pratt noted that while DESE suggested a cadence of every other month, rather than monthly, the School will continue to meet with the CSO to share updates. The Committee also agreed to discuss these results at the June 2023 Board Meeting.