Foxborough Regional Charter School

Minutes

Board Meeting

Date and Time

Monday February 28, 2022 at 6:15 PM

Location

Foxborough Regional Charter School
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:
  • 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, Kathleen Crawford, Matthew Yezukevich, Sergio Martin, Susanna Girard

Trustees Absent

None

Guests Present

Anissia Vixamar (Candidate), Annie Azarloza, Irhene Kelvin Osagie (Candidate), Karen Calvert (remote), Luis Soria, Todd Tetreault (Candidate)

I. Opening Items

A.

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 Monday Feb 28, 2022 at 6:20 PM.

II. Ggovernance committee

A.

Interviews Questions

  1. How would your experience and skills complement our Board?
  2. What do you know and understand about Charter Schools?
  3. How might you advocate for the school publicly and privately? Why might you want to support FRCS?
  4. What are your thoughts regarding holding all scholars to college preparatory standards? For example, scholars who are identified as English Learners, scholars identified as special education, scholars identified as low income.
  5. Working on a Board requires close teamwork among a group that is likely to bring diverse backgrounds, experiences, and different points of view. When there is discussion and disagreement regarding a decision, and the Board comes to a conclusion that you don't agree with, how would you proceed?

B.

Format of Interviews

After each candidate's arrival Sergio Martin explained to the candidate the format of the interview.

  • They will have a total of 30 minutes.
  • The first few minutes they can introduce themselves.
  • The board will ask 5 questions to each candidate.
  • Then the board will give them time to add anything additional to share with the board.  Something they feel is relevant that they did not get a chance to share with the board.  
  • Annie Azarloza will be taking notes of their answers/comments.

NOTE: During Kelvin Osagie's interview the wifi had an interruption and the zoom call self corrected

C.

Interview: Board of Trustees Candidate Anissia Vixamar

Introduction: live in Brockton with husband Ralph and daughter Vivian, K student. First year at FRCS. She works in the pharmaceutical industry for 16 years. Most of the experience is in audit and compliance; she tells people what to do (ensures that external companies adhere to her company's policies); internally she performs assessments of the different departments to make sure they all adhere with policies too. She likes to travel and cook.
 

  1. Governance and oversight is what she's done all of her life; continuous improvement; remediation projects; she looks at a process and see what improvement is needed; identifies deficiencies and trying to make things better.
  2. You have to apply for charter status; renewal process as well (not sure how it occurs); evaluation is done but does not know the frequency. We need to make sure we are adhering to things in order to get renewed.
  3. Publicly - enrollment session just started; mentors introduced her to the school; she did her due diligence and researched the school; she advocates for the school; since her daughter started FRCS she has been very involved; she wants to continue to be involved. Privately, she can lean on her experience and those she trusts who were advocates for the school. She did her due diligence; she will not beat someone over the head and impose her views; she has insight as to what is coming in the future to help parents make a decision about the school.
  4. It's great to have a baseline for all of the students; we need to advocate for the equity part; some students will need more assistance than others and we need to help them get to that status; for some students it might be more academic help, more resources needed. 
  5. Team player; not a yes person; she will respectfully express her opinion and support the decisions that are made; she applies justification to her opinions so that it backs up her findings and thoughts. Her husband jokes she should have been a lawyer; if ever a disagreement, finding a resolution that works for everyone.

Closing Remarks: Organizational skills; report out what she has found; has had to report out to senior management; that takes a special skill set; it might be helpful to deliver or report on; very analytical and can take away the emotion; can get to the root of it; responsibility of the board is so important; no room for personal.

D.

Interview: Board of Trustees Candidate Irhene Kelvin Osagie

Introduction: He is originally from Nigeria came 20 years ago; he does direct care for people who are challenged physically and also challenged mentally. He went back to school and he has a passion for people. He's a chronic learner; he's pushing a Phd program; has 3 kids here they are his life; he's from the Brockton area; wakes up at 4:30 to get his kids to school; believes in the mission of the school; wants to make sure he puts them through quality education so they are better people in the future.

  1. He's been to many schools in his short life; he knows what good schools are made up; he believes that being part of the board he can bring some of those experiences; sitting in a classroom for a very long time; improve the quality and direction of FRCS.
  2. The little he knows is that they are public schools but like in a private school setting; funds come from the state; quality education and that's why he did not choose his kids to go to his school district.
  3. He would like to support because he is a stakeholder; waking up at 4:30 to give them a quality education; he knows so many people in his area that he can introduce them to the school; many people applied to the charter school because he let others know; legislative - he can write and advocate for more funds.
  4. That should be the standard; this is a preparatory school and all preparatory schools are to compete strongly with other people; important to hold all to the same standard; it's not just foxboro - we are preparing scholars for the next generation.
  5. We all agree to disagree; the big picture is the common goal and that's not his personal interest — it's to advance the school. We still have to have a common ground to achieve the common goal which is to push the school forward.

Closing Remarks: there are some programs that he doesn't see in Foxboro that he'd like to see. He knows some charter schools that have programs with agreements with community colleges when students already have 2 years of college when they graduate to prepare them for the next generation. Friend's daughter is a senior and has already completed 2 years of college; we should promote the school with that to give the school a good reputation; the serious students already have an advantage over others. With that kind of program, the school can just sell itself - it's 5 stars; they have high flyers. As a parent that is something they should be looking into. I also think foxboro is in a better place to do that; we serve many other communities and most of those towns have community colleges.

E.

Interview: Board of Trustees Candidate Todd Tetreault

Introduction: Appreciates the opportunity; you all have reviewed his resume. Chief tech officer for his company; comfortable with technology and building and leading teams with analytics; procurement; management; compliance regimes; accountability standards for his teams; he is part of the executive team so is familiar with governance; goes to work everyday to improve culture to improve people and processes; he and his wife think it's important to be present when important decisions were being made especially during the pandemic. He is interested because he has a lifelong passion for education; used to be a teacher; he is a fan of FRCS; went to the open house 10 years ago and was impressed by the vibe of the leadership team. Third, he has a deep invested interest in the school; has 4 daughters at FRCS; he is really impressed by the board; he works with a lot of adults who do not have the competency that this board does; being willing to debate and come to a consensus; sent Kathleen almost two years that if you want to have a say you need to be able to roll up your sleeves.

  1. professionally he thinks his background in technology, transparency, analytics fits in with some of the topics that have come up; also bleeds into the facilities conversations that have come up; for someone who has been managing teams and large projects, having a good understanding of how accountability works so that it is repeatable, accessible which helps to create accountability for the board and the school.
  2. has a lot of exposure to charter organizations; he has a friend who knows a lot about it and he has talked to him when his girls were getting in; there are misconceptions about charter schools; charter schools are public; making sure that the school is fulfilling its charter; it's on sound ground financially; it's about making sure that the accountability structures are in place so that we are compliant.
  3. privately already advocates for the school; publicly he'd love to do that and already does through PAG; he really believes in what the school does; he worked hard to get his kids in here; he moved to Mansfield 8 years ago and they have a strong district; but he believes in diversity; commitment to academic excellence; truly enthusiastic and particularly the diversity and the K-12 experience which offers huge advantages for the student body.
  4. he agrees with it for the most part and he thinks that there are studies that show that children rise to expectations so we shouldn't lower the standards. With the diversity that this community serves, we should respect that not all students will go through that path; we should consider military, trades for other students; and maybe students who need an alternate path before coming back to an academic setting.
  5. short answer is he would do the best to listen to all views and will argue his passionately; once we arrive in consensus once we leave the room that is the decision. Those are table stakes. Like when the coach calls the play you will do everything to get that play off even if you don't think it was the best call.

Closing Remarks: There is not a lot new other than he would be reiterating his excitement for the mission; he learned at hiring experts. He wants a product manager that is managing products; he is data driven and wants his managers to be data driven; his daughters represent less than 1/2 of the data; we need the broadest qualitative and quantitative data possible. He approaches things from the point of view from data.

III. Closing Items

A.

Vote to Adjourn

Matthew Yezukevich made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Sergio Martin seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Kathleen Crawford
Aye
Susanna Girard
Aye
Badawi Dweik
Aye
Matthew Yezukevich
Aye
Sergio Martin
Aye

B.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susanna Girard
Documents used during the meeting
  • Anissia Vixamar Resume.pdf
  • Kelvin Osagie resume.pdf
  • Todd M. Tetreault resume.pdf