Kylie requested the following amendments to the agenda:
II. Superintendent Report, add items
J. SCCA Principal Retirement - FYI
K. SCCA Principal Replacement Recommendation - Vote
L. SCCA New Part-Time Leadership Coach Position - Vote
 

There was no public comment.

Kylie gave an update to the Board on COVID-19 positive cases at both campuses and the percentage of students virtually learning.
PCA - 18 total students and staff positive for COVID-19 this year, 8 positive cases since Christmas Break. Currently there is 1 positive case and 5 quarantining due to exposure. 26% of students are virtually learning.
SCCA - 10 total students and staff positive for COVID-19 this year, 4 positive cases since Christmas Break. Currently there are 2 positive cases and 4 quarantining due to exposure. 10% of students are virtually learning.

Community numbers seem to be slowing in the PCA service area. There was an increase of 273 cases the week PCA shutdown after returning from break. The increase this past week was 249
cases. 

Community numbers for SCCA seem to be on the rise with 259 cases in the last two weeks. 

There doesn't seem to be a "school" spread as much as students bringing cases to school from the community. It is the consensus of the board to continue Face to Face learning as long as administration, staff, parents, and students continue to feel safe coming to school with our protocols in place.

The question was asked about Phase 1B of vaccinations from DPH - when will that begin? There are rumors of a vaccine "shortage"? Lane Drug is ready to vaccinate all staff at PCA when the vaccine becomes available for educators.

 

The CARES Act Leave Policy expired on December 31, 2020. Kylie would like the Board to approve this updated policy for the best interest of our staff and in hopes that people will continue to self report. Most of our staff can continue to work from home during quarantine in any case.

Kylie presented the PCA Operational Checklists for November/December to the Board. We are 100% compliant in meeting all deadlines.

Kylie presented the SCCA Operational Checklists for November/December to the Board. We are 100% compliant in meeting all deadlines.

IDEA Compliance is comprised of several indicators that govern how our school's Special Education services/programs meet compliance guidelines. PCA was found 100% compliant in these indicators for FY20.

IDEA Compliance is comprised of several indicators that govern how our school's Special Education services/programs meet compliance guidelines. SCCA was found 100% compliant in these indicators for FY20.

Kylie presented beginning of the year MAPS testing data for Board review. We have only just completed mid year testing so that data was not available at this time. Kylie hopes to present mid year data at the next meeting. MAP reports compare grade levels this year to the same grade levels from last year. These are not the same students so Kylie feels there should also be a comparison by cohort (to measure actual student growth). Therefore, Kylie also added in a cohort comparison..

Overall, we can see the effects of COVID closures and virtual learning in lower test scores.  Lower grade levels show less overall growth in ELA, where higher grades levels show an increased percentage of growth due to repetitive skills. Math overall growth is more concerning due to the need to master new skills. Comparing 4th grade last year to 5th grade this year show marked growth in ELA and Math - congratulations to last year's 4th grade teachers. 

Kylie also presented the report that predicts how students will do on Milestones.  Overall data indicates we are not far from where we have been in the past. However, this was Fall data, so Winter benchmarks will give us a better picture.

Kylie presented beginning of the year MAPS testing data for Board review. We have only just completed mid year testing so that data was not available at this time. Kylie hopes to present mid year data at the next meeting. MAP reports compare grade levels this year to the same grade levels from last year. These are not the same students so Kylie feels there should also be a comparison by cohort (to measure actual student growth). Therefore, Kylie also added in a cohort comparison..

Overall, we can see the effects of COVID closures and virtual learning in lower test scores.  Lower grade levels show less overall growth in ELA, where higher grades levels show an increased percentage of growth due to repetitive skills. Math overall growth is more concerning due to the need to master new skills. Comparing 5th grade last year to 6th grade this year show marked growth in ELA - congratulations to last year's 5th grade teachers.

Kylie also presented the report that predicts how students will do on Milestones.  However, there is no milestone data for SCCA from last year to compare.

Mrs. Linda Miller, Principal at SCCA, has decided to retire at the end of this school year. Her resignation leaves an open Principal position at SCCA for the 2021-2022 school year.

Kylie recommends Mrs. Heather Worsley for the open Principal position at Spring Creek Charter Academy for the 2021-2022 school year.

Kylie recommends the addition of a Part Time Leadership Coach Position at SCCA for the 2021-2022 school year. The position is needed to assist administration due to the change in leadership brought about by the resignation of Mrs. Miller. The Coach will assist in training of a new Instructional Coach at SCCA as well as provide guidance and assistance to the new principal.

The CARES Act Funding FY2021 allotment will result in an approximately $500,000 payment for SCCA and an approximately $842,000 payment to PCA. This is a second round of CARES Act funds distributed to school systems in GA. Schools have until September 2022 to spend these funds. The Board allotted the first round of CARES funds to salaries for teachers and our pandemic coordinator. The finance committee will budget the second round of funding into FY 22 budget and will present at the March meeting.

The finance committee presented the PCA - CPF Financial assessment reports for Board review. PCA has 42% of the school year budget spent with the possibility of line item amendments to the budget needed in March.
 

Vangeline Williams, school nutrition worker at PCA, resigned due to family issues effective January 22, 2021. PCA administration has decided to leave this position vacant for the time being.

The finance committee presented the SCCA - CPF Financial assessment reports for Board review. SCCA has 44% of the school year budget spent with the possibility of line item amendments to the budget needed in March.

GADOE notified us that due to a deficit in SCCA's year end financial statements from FY 2020 we will need to submit a deficit elimination plan. The Finance Committee is presenting this plan to the Board for approval. This plan will tell the state how we plan to eliminate the deficit and what caused it. This Deficit is from the start-up loan to SCCA from PCA and the bank. This long term loan was entered on our governmental balance sheet as a short term liability. This entry by the auditors resulted in a deficit to our fund balance for FY 2020.  Every month we will need to submit a report on paying the deficit to the state and we must run a notice in the local legal organ for two weeks. This is not a reflection of our actual operating balance. This long term debt that caused a deficit is not budgeted to be paid for as a short term liability but over a period of several years. SCCA will not have a cash flow issue due to this deficit.

The Finance Committee is seeking approval to accept the $50,460 change order and invoice from Mike Floyd Paving and Excavating, Inc. for installing a 6" Fire Main to eliminate the need for a booster pump to operate the sprinkler system in the new building. This vendor was awarded the original contract for site work during a competitive bid process. This work will be a change order to that original scope of work. The funds will be paid out of the Walton Grant. This installation was completed by the company during the set-up phase of the modular buildings without Board knowledge or approval. Although this is a fair market price for the work and the funds are available in the budget, the vendor did not seek prior approval from the school. Cheryl has voiced our concerns to the vendor.

The next session of the required training will be held virtually in February. The last session will be in April. There are also recorded training sessions to be viewed after this initial training session. If you can't find the original email from Kylie, for either, let her know she will send the link again.

The Governance Committee has been planning the Annual Board Retreat. The retreat will be an all day team working event focusing on our goals of Formalizing Committee Work and Member Recruitment, with a social hour afterward.  A tentative date of April 10, 2021 has been set. Please email Kylie with your approval or alternate dates if this date does not work for you.