• Lots of academic growth in quarter 1.
• There are now a film and a library program. Film program is exciting for students to get exposure to that media art. Library books have been ordered- 15,000 of them Getting back to a love of learning. 
• Basketball game is tomorrow at 5pm at TH Harris. 
• Middle school tutoring will start soon with Ms. Horn. 
• K-5 once a week after school Art program with Ms. Parker starts next week. 
• Field trips are coming back. Looking at colleges for students to complete field trips at and see all the things. 

Academic Update:

• They are in percentile rankings. 
• 5th grade ELA grew 5 percentile points from August to October. 
• Kindergarten results are a bit skewed as kids are learning how to test and use computers. 
• ELA has been routinely strong over the years, and there is a lot of growth in math. 
• Teachers had a PD day where they shared the data two weeks ago and a better path with how to move forward with the data. 
• 8th grade graduation this year will be the first class graduating from Laureate!
• 7 or 8 staff members have signed up for REACH University to get their Bachelor's Degrees. 
• Staff members are also getting SPED & EL Certified, partnering with LRCE. 

• Outlined the four different areas. 
• Will add official academic committee goals to the evaluation.
• It is not strictly an end of the school year feedback session. The metrics are dependent on when they're collected. 

• Most of the finance committee was spent, based off the spreadsheets they get every month (which have also been delayed), we expected to roll over 750K in surplus. Our budget overall was supposed to roll over 200K. 
• That 750K surplus is offset by money that we've already spent on the building. We had already budgeted to spend the money in prior years to do this. We have made back a lot of the money we spent on the building. 
• We have over 100 days of operating days cash on hand. It is a very healthy to be in, but not where we thought we were going to land. 
• This means things that we thought we could spend money on, like a temporary office space, might be more difficult to pull off. 
• It is essentially a tighter budget this year than we expected. 

• Received the audit opinion yesterday. It is a clean opinion, which is a part of the HoS eval. 
• Found that we had a small timing issue where we prepaid rent a month early that will be reconciled where we don't pay a month of rent this year. 
• Based off the finance committee meeting, it went relatively smoothly. They named they're relatively behind on getting documents. 
• We're doing agreed upon procedures which is ongoing through Jefferson Parish, a financial statement audit is done and the deadline for the AUP, which contains some additional things not based on finance but more HR, that audit is happening through November 11. 
• Identifying clear benchmarks moving forward for the audit so that we're on track and working closely with our external partner. The audit is once a year that starts in September and wraps up on November 1st. 
• Next step: Claire will send out staffing chart for the board to see. 

Board of Directors: 

• Considering the transition of the board chair with December 31, 2022. Considering the role that terms play and what's written in our bylaws. 
• Onboarding: Making sure we have the right balance. Jordan volunteered to chair up the onboarding for new board members. 
• Network: Bring people to visit. Invite Claire or Parker to external events to network and involve them. 
• Training: CBLA, LAPCS, Books, etc. 
  • Jaime will look into training opportunities for the board and bring it up in a google doc to vote to order. 
• Staffing Updates: Hired a school operations manager, K-2 is fully staffed, there are still five vacancies: 3rd STEM + Intervention, 6/7 STEM, 6/7 ELA, 8th STEM/Math, ABA Therapist. Staffing is still taking up a majority of time right now. 
   
• Upcoming Events: Fall Fest is 11.12 11:30-2pm, Winter Celebration is 12.10 at 10:00am. 
   
• Next steps: Bios + headshots of Board of Directors.
  
  ** Board Chair Nicholas Aucoin motioned to move the board into executive session to follow up on a disciplinary incident. Dr. Jahquille Ross seconded the motion. After 10 minutes Board Chair Nicholas Aucoin motioned to move out of executive session. **

• December 3rd is what's being held. 
• January date would probably be better. 
• Decided on January 7th at the Teach For America Greater New Orleans Offices from 9-3. 
  • Calendar item has been adjusted.