Foxborough Regional Charter School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday December 14, 2021 at 6:15 PM
Location
Foxborough Regional Charter School
Middle School Media Center
131 Central Street
Foxborough, MA 02035
Middle School Media Center
131 Central Street
Foxborough, MA 02035
Meeting Format
Whether in person or online, the public is welcome to attend Board Meetings and have access to meeting minutes. Meetings are held once a month and additionally, as determined by the Board Chair. All meeting Agendas are posted to the school website at least 48 hours in advance of each public meeting.
During the meeting, the Board follows the published agenda and works through business. Audience members are not part of the formal discussion or deliberations, but may raise their hand to add brief comment or ask clarifying questions. Meetings start promptly on time as noted on the agenda.
In person details:
Whether in person or online, the public is welcome to attend Board Meetings and have access to meeting minutes. Meetings are held once a month and additionally, as determined by the Board Chair. All meeting Agendas are posted to the school website at least 48 hours in advance of each public meeting.
During the meeting, the Board follows the published agenda and works through business. Audience members are not part of the formal discussion or deliberations, but may raise their hand to add brief comment or ask clarifying questions. Meetings start promptly on time as noted on the agenda.
In person details:
- Please Review COVID Guidelines if you are attending in person
- Please Enter through the Middle School Main Office
- Please remember to sign in upon arrival
Trustees Present
Badawi Dweik (remote), Kathleen Crawford, Sergio Martin, Susanna Girard
Trustees Absent
Matthew Yezukevich
Guests Present
Aimee Sullivan (HS Science Teacher), Annie Azarloza, Heidi Berkowitz, Karen Calvert, Kathleen Foley, Luis Soria, Matt Harrington (remote), Roy Pavao (Department Head HS Science), Todd Tetreault (PAG)
I. Opening Items
A.
Roll Call Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
Kathleen Crawford called a meeting of the board of trustees of Foxborough Regional Charter School to order on Tuesday Dec 14, 2021 at 6:18 PM.
II. Leadership Report
A.
Executive Director's Report
- 2021 Turkey Brigade was able to provide dinners to 200 families in the local area.
- FRCS Debate team held their first tournament
- FRCS Girls Volleyball captured the 9th consecutive Charter School State Title
B.
Equity & Inclusion
Dana Benton-Johnson and Dr Luis Soria are continuing to review the strategy going forward.
C.
Personnel Update
The board requested the stats on personnel vacancies and transfers which were not available for the meeting. Annie Azarloza gave an update on recent hiring.
RECENT HIRES
- MS Behavior Interventionalist
- MS Art Teacher
- ES Physical Education Teacher
- ES 1st Grade Teacher
- Administrative Staff Member for Culture & Learning
OPEN POSITIONS
- Approximately ten open positions including:
- MS Assistant Principal, narrowed to 2 finalists
- Grant Writer
- Director of Human Resources
- 5 Long Term substitute teachers to support maternity leaves this winter/spring
D.
Special Topic
Ray Pavao presented with support from Aimee Sullivan an overview of the High School Science department's offerings to students. They walked the board through the curriculum, staff, and changes for students as they are newly entering the High School. Their presentation is available with the meeting materials.
III. Community Group Updates
A.
English Language Parent Advisory Committee (ELPAC)
Nothing to report
B.
Parent Advisory Group (PAG)
- Reworking the mission statement
- Discussed the uniform survey results
- Discussed disciplinary policies and gaps in the policies. example: Bad behavior on school transportation.
C.
Partners in Education (PIE)
PIE has not submitted any updates to the Board of Trustees but the upcoming Holiday Fair will be hosted by the PIE.
D.
Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC)
Nothing to report
IV. Policy Review
A.
First Reading of New/Changing Policies
Nothing at this time
B.
Second Reading of New/Changing Policies
Nothing at this time
V. Committees
A.
Enrollment
- The Enrollment Committee heard one appeal since the last board meeting. The committee did not grant the appeal.
- School year 2022/2023 we have received 600 applications since 01DEC2021 when the application opened.
- Current enrollment is 1667. The school cap is 1700 and budget number is 1675
- This has been an unusual year for withdrawals. Karen Calvert reported that at the last MA Charter School meeting she attended schools have seen a drop in enrollment between 1-5% across the commonwealth.
- When we make midyear offers we have not been able to also offer transportation due to the existing waitlist
- We will continue to make offers through February but do not expect a high rate of acceptance at this point in the year.
B.
Facilities
- The Board reviewed the materials submitted by Matt Harrington for discussion.
- The Elementary School Gym has not seen any progress in working with the companies that installed/manufactured it. The Board agreed it was time to involve our legal counsel. Matt Harrington will reach out to legal.
- The BARK System has been installed on the student network, which improves the school safety. BARK notifies the school administration and key staff to threats to the school as a whole or an individual considering self-harm. The BARK System works on school and personal devices. The system assesses the incident and rates it low, medium, or high concern, and alerts the school appropriately based on a set of criteria. Since the system was installed it trigged one escalation that resulted in a positive outcome for the student involved.
- The Board also briefly discussed the use of WIFI networks and the expectations of anyone using a network they do not personally own.
- The Board asked Matt Harrington to have our legal counsel review the WIFI joining acceptance message since it has not been updated in a few years. The Guest, Staff & Student messages could be looked at differently.
C.
Finance
- Currently trending as expected
- We have had a large swing in expenses compared to last year when the majority of the school worked from home.
- The annual tuition reimbursement rate is still pending from DESE
D.
FRCS Foundation Inc
- Giving Tuesday raised $2000
- The foundation has mapped out an ambitious plan for 2022. There will be no Foundation meeting in December but will resume at the end of January.
E.
Governance
- We have 8 candidates for potential future Board of Trustee Members
- 6 candidates are current parents
- The Subcommittee is working on a list of questions for interviews.
VI. Board of Trustees Business
A.
Old Business
Nothing at this time
B.
New Business
Nothing at this time
C.
Items for the next meeting
- Metrics on discipline this year
- compared to a pre-pandemic year.
- review it for fair and equitable application
VII. Closing Items
A.
Approval of Minutes:12OCT2021
Susanna Girard made a motion to approve the minutes as amended from Board Meeting on 10-12-21.
Kathleen Crawford seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Sergio Martin |
Aye
|
| Matthew Yezukevich |
Absent
|
| Susanna Girard |
Aye
|
| Badawi Dweik |
Aye
|
| Kathleen Crawford |
Aye
|
B.
Approval of Minutes: 09NOV2021
Tabled
C.
Vote to Adjourn
Susanna Girard made a motion to adjourn the meeting to executive session for the purposes of conducting strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel and not to return to public session via roll call vote.
Kathleen Crawford seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Sergio Martin |
Aye
|
| Badawi Dweik |
Aye
|
| Kathleen Crawford |
Aye
|
| Matthew Yezukevich |
Absent
|
| Susanna Girard |
Aye
|
D.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:16 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Susanna Girard
Documents used during the meeting
None