This agenda item was tabled to the next meeting.

Mr. Yezukevich reported that the Board needs to address the FinCom’s proposal for adding a new staffing position at the high school into the FY25 budget. Ms. Foley, acting as Interim High School Principal, has been able to assess the needs of the high school better in two distinct areas: a) the assistant principal’s role in instructional support of teachers with coaching around instructional practices; and b) the behavioral interventionist’s role in support of behavioral issues in the classroom. Her proposal is to create a second assistant principal position by combining the present two interventionist positions into one. In this way the assistant principal model would offer the more effective ability to service students and teachers with the level of authority that an assistant principal has that the behavioral interventionist position does not. From a budgetary standpoint, the combining the two positions comes with a savings of $30K. 

The replacement of two behavioral interventionist positions with one assistant principal position will have a positive impact on behavior insofar as the assistant principal comes with a stronger educational skillset. While the behavioral interventionist role is directive, the assistant principal has the education and schooling to go beyond discipline and consequences to investigation and addressing bullying, social media etc. to support educational programs around those topics. Having a more in-depth knowledge of the law and more experience and knowledge of child development and age appropriateness for high schoolers comes with the ability to develop and implement support systems at a higher level. This will enable the principal and assistant principal the vision and knowledge of logistical procedures to create effective processes and procedures.

The two candidates have been chosen for the positions, and administration needs to announce the filling of these positions at the same time.

Mr. Yezukevich began the discussion on the FY25 budget process. He stated that,  insofar as enrollment numbers are required to be submitted to the state in March, the Board needs to be prepared to vote on enrollment numbers in February. Considering a steady decrease in enrollment not only at FRCS but across the state, the Board and senior leadership need to plan in advance and decide “what to do before reality tells us what to do.” In light of onboarding the new executive director and setting a realistic plan, there will be a transition period to ensure that the hiring of the new executive director is brought into consideration within the overall plan going forward.

Mr. Yezukevich added that having fewer students will have an impact on staffing, and FRCS may be in the position where revenues are lower than expenses not up to bondholder requirements. Using cash reserves to fund operating costs in the short term will need to be considered as a substantial change to the FRCS operations that the new executive director will need to address.

Ms. Berkowtiz stated that she is hoping to have by the February meeting printed entrollment data from sending districts and charter schools in Boston and other data to show the landscape of the problem beyond FRCS. Mr. Yezukevich noted that the Boston Globe wrote an article about Boston Public Schools in particular that has seen a demographic decrease in enrollment from 68K in 2008 to 48K in recent years. Ms. Foley noted that that there has been an impact on enrollment across the educational spectrum including first-time freshmen and transfer students.

Discussion ensued. In response to Ms. Crawford’s suggestion of having open houses and having road shows or other means to advertise the benefits of a FRCS education, Ms. Berkowtiz confirmed that she has been in conversation wit the state about going back to the early days of the charter school movement to go out and solicit families to come, and going back to the ways the charter school differentiates itself and having outreach strategies that change and reflect the needs.

Mr. Martin expressed concern about the loss of staff every year and its impact on the classroom, and the need to look at enrollment in terms of head counts to manage and support education. Building trust with teachers is of critical importance.

Mr. Yezukevich noted that funding operations from reserve to limit a negative impact on staff. Ms. Crawford noted that regulatory aspects have to be followed in retaining the best educators. The message to teachers is that they are valued and they need to trust that administration is not undermining their foundations. At any rate when decisions are made, they need to be communicated in the right way.

Ms. Calvert reported that with a projected enrollment of 1,420 the tuition per student is $19.371 for a total of $27,507,336.