General updates are being given by Ms. Carter. 

Celebrations:

• LEAP 2021 → Laureate was 17th of 100 K-8 open enrollment schools in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans 
• 180 new applications for 2022-2023 school year. 
• Intent to enroll 73% of her kids are returning and three are not but all for valid reasons. 
• TFA & Laureate will be partnering for summer school. 
• Got a lot of Collaborative hiring fair and got to meet a lot of great candidates.

Academic Updates:

• K-2 Reading update (STEP Reading Assessment)
  • Scholars are behind. 
  • 55% have shown expected or above expected growth. 
  • Increasing intervention for scholars who aren't showing the growth. 
• 3-8th Updates
  • LEAP “Bootcamps” 
    • LEAP-aligned material & strategies integrated into each content area
  • Math Urgency
    • Increased urgency due to being behind schedule for the year in upper grade
    • Asynchronous work 
    • Varsity Tutors
    • Math for 6th & 7th Grade 2x per week starting 3/31 

• 2022-2023 Hiring Process Beginning 1/28 
  • About 60% of Laureate’s staff have reapplied for the 2022-2023 school year
    • This is a significantly lower number than usual, but this was expected due to the external factors all schools are experiencing. 
  • Laureate is pushing to recruit a strong team for the 2022-2023 school year 

Questions & Comments from the board:

• Movement on the recommendation for salary was in non-certified teachers / certified teachers, leadership and the addition of the specialist. 
• Added the social emotional specialist and is covered by Esser.
• Would like to see this factored into the budget before deciding. 

• Voting on a stronger benefits package 
  • Adding $300/month in dependent care per employee with children 

Questions & comments from the board:

• This would cover any dependent on our insurance. 
• This is capped at $300 total, not per child. 
  • The $300 would go towards the dependent's monthly insurance costs. 
• Potentially we could introduce advanced benefits for pained retention points (like after 3 years). 
• Since this wouldn't be used to attract new talent if we use a service threshold (for example, three years of service to Laureate), we can table this to a special vote on 4/13. 
• Information we would need to make a decision: put in the criteria for what it would look like for 3, 4 & 5 years of tenure.
• Also want to consider how this impacts environment & culture.
• Dependent care has been something that has come up on staff surveys. 
• For next year, folks are getting raises in salary and in potentially incentive pay. 

Facilities update: 

• Claire & David met with the architect Brian last week to go through the punch list to find what they're going to live with and what needs to be adjusted.  
• Brian & Davide met with Emily M. & Joel to go through the remaining items on the punch list and overall it was the first time Emily's been here since the deal was signed. 
• Overall, Emily directed Joel to bring the crews back to fix most items.
• There are few things that need to be further talked about. It was overall a productive meeting and they should be here next week. 
• Minor repairs inside and outside. Big things were the doors. Outside drainage was also talked about. 

Jordan w/ Staffing:

• Biggest metrics:
  • Operational capacity: taking the total number of filled positions versus the staffing plan. Also adding that metrics may change as the staffing plan changes throughout the year. 
    • Driving towards 
    • > 95% capacity and above would be green status. 
    • 85-95% would be yellow 
    • below 85% would be red. 
  • Leadership Satisfaction Survey: Potentially get a baseline for this year. There would be 4-5 questions on a sliding scale.
    • Potential questions:
      • I have a clear understanding of my accountabilities and how they bring value to LACS.
      • I have access to the resources needed to excel in my current role at LACS.
      • I receive the coaching that I need to further my professional development.
      • If I were offered the same position with similar pay and benefits at another school, I would stay at LACS.
• When do they occur? When are the checkpoints?
  • Operational capacity could happen whenever. The recommendation is quarterly. This could be implemented right away.
  • Leadership satisfaction could be done at a baseline this year and then could be reviewed for next year. 
    • We'll need to set metrics here to fall within the green, yellow, red ranges. 

Jake w/ Finance:

• Biggest metrics:
  • Budget actuals that are updated monthly. There is a lag to close out the month.
    • Four ratios/actuals:
      • Quick
      • Debt to asset
      • Cash on Hand
      • Cash Ratio
      • Overall enrollment number
  • Are financial processes being followed? Are the annual financials a positive report? Did you get a clean opinion? They also look at HR based things (like years of experience from teachers). Something on the financial audit needs to be built in with those. 
    • Maybe we can look to see if there are adjustments made from the year before in this year?
• When do they occur? When are the checkpoints?
  • Monthly & at the end of the year
  • Quarterly we do red, green and yellow as it relates to the four ratios. 
  • Annually we look at the financial audit to see if a clean opinion was given AND if there was growth from last years items. 
  • Opinion would be reviewed in October. From there, how does she remedy the significant matters throughout the rest of the academic year to be reviewed in May. 
     

Jaime w/ Academics:

•  Biggest metrics:
  • 5-10% growth in all subjects on LEAP. There should be a category for where they land and for growth. 
  • Similar measures for MAP. 
  • Considering having a long term goal for LEAP that the school based grade is maintained or moved every three years?
  • To give a range of performance:
    • Ineffective- way below grade level (D, F)
    • Effective Emerging- Below grade level (C >) 
    • Effective proficient- Grade level ( B > )
    • Highly effective - Above grade level (A)
• When do they occur? When are the checkpoints?
  • LEAP is once a year in April. Results are in August
  • MAP is 3x a year in August, December and March. Results in 48 hours. 
     

Nick w/ Governance: 

• Biggest metrics:
  • Leadership turnover (may relate to staffing operational capacity. 
  • Are we fully enrolled and keeping our students? Are our waitlists filled out?
  • Needs to be affiliated with a particular year's objectives. 
  • Maybe fundraising could agree to finance. 
• When do they occur? When are the checkpoints?
  • School calendar would be the window. 

Next steps:

• Take these metrics and overlay it with the school year calendar. 
• LACPS specific rubric is the one we've used in the past. 
• Bring this to the board for final input. 

• There was a budget reforecast for the current academic year which is very favorable. This aligns with a bigger trend year over year. 
• Budget for this year initially had $119,000 surplus and is now at a $296,000 surplus. 
• As of January 31st, we have a budget variance of $316,000.
• The budget for next year has some items for improvement and we do believe the budget is workable for next year. 
• Special meeting on 4/13 to approve the draft of the budget. Approved by 4/30 and May 25th to vote on it as a whole board. 

• Reviewed the simulated school performance scores between Orleans & Jefferson Parish. We sit at about 17/100 on that list. 
• Identified some schools to learn from in Hynes & Audubon. 
  • Specifically wanting to look at what kids are receiving curriculum wise, what they're learning and how they're performing against our kids, as well as leadership coaching leadership. 

• June 4th won't work for Nick or Jake. 
• All the other dates would work for Nick. 
• Nick wants a Doodle. 
• Jake hates June.