1 Public Announcement:

Board Member, Nick Driver says he and Mrs. Villa attended a conference in San Diego last week. The topic was about artificial intelligence and he is excited to see how this will impact education.

No public comments on non-agenda items.

No reportable actions.

Nick Driver asks if the auditor has asked Amethod Public Schools to change the schedules for when things are due. 

Marie Arce answers no, but the auditor is asking for audit materials to be presented earlier as it takes much more time. The auditor has also increased their cost. 

Marie presents her slideshow of the comparison between the first interim and second interim. She says by looking at the expenses, Amethod Public Schools have increased their revenue and the projections are that all sites will be breaking even or increasing their fund balance. She mentions that all sites are trying to increase their fund reserves to save for times of uncertainty. Marie shows the fund balances and hold harmless for the second interim.

Nick states that Richmond Charter Academy and John Henry High School is quite low. He asks if these two schools are the ones below the 3% threshold.

Elisa asks how long will the funds continue for the schools and if this funding is a one time thing.

Marie says this is a one time fund.

Gilbert asks if there are any other reporting the Finance Team need from the school sites to make sure Amethod Public Schools is on track with funding. 

Marie says no other reporting is needed from the sites but the Finance Team is tightening up on how the sites will spend their funds. Marie then shares declining enrollment.

Evelia asks if the schools are aware that low enrollment is affecting their funding. She says this is a one time fund and school sites' should not spend all their funds.

Evelia Villa introduces Chloe Gia who has stepped up to the role since the departure of the previous Director of Special Education.

Chloe Gia explains the increase cost amount of the master contract is to cover extra services for all students.

Chloe Gia shares an update on submissions of CDE files. Files were accepted by CDE and no further action is required. She also shares a general update on the special education department at 6 schools.

Nick Driver asks if we have had about the same number of 10% IEP students in the past few year.

Chloe says IEP changes depending on the school. Some schools are up and others are down on IEP.

Evelia Villa introduces Jonathan from CCSA whom is doing a research on John Henry High School.

Jonathan explains his research is still a work in progress for John Henry High School. This year CCSA research is focused on John Henry High Schools' data. CCSA wants to research schools that have a large demographic of students who are underserved like John Henry High School. He has interviewed Ms. Roberson and others from the school to collect more documentation of data processes that the school is using. His findings were schools are emphasizing on culture, achievements, and student driven goal setting. His expected publication of the research is this summer. 

Gilbert asks if there will be recommendations for the research.

Elisa asks what CCSA stands for.

Jonathan says it stands for California Charter School Association. They are the largest organization to represent Charter Schools in the state level. 

Michael Bradley shares his presentation. He says there has been a leadership change in March 10th, 2023. Testing is currently underway and no data is available yet as testing is still in progress. He shares a snapshot that Richmond Charter Academy is in the 20th percentile. He shares changes in leadership, responsibilities, improving school culture, RCA had over $50,000 in damages prior, and what the leaders are doing to change school climate. 

Evelia asks if data will be available after SBAC or before SBAC.

Michael says after SBAC to ensure every student has tested.

Gilbert asks when PD is happening.

Michael says PD is every Friday where the team collaborates and works together.

Elisa asks for more clarification about the 4 pillars. 

Michael explains the culture is lack of leadership, change in leadership, covid, etc. Teachers have expressed concerns about what teachers need to do and what admins were doing when it came to intervention.

Elisa asks about change in uniforms.

Michael says in the past students slowly stopped wearing uniforms because the school was relaxed about the uniform policy. The staff has set expectations to hold the line and ensuring all students abide by the policy.

Evelia asks if the 4 pillars are held accountable at all 6 schools. She asks how do others schools hold themselves from becoming like another Richmond Charter Academy.

Michael says schools need to ask themselves "what is an AMPS school" and how can they ensure they stay align to AMPS values.

Gilbert says Richmond Charter Academy is here today because there were a lot of concerns about the school, test scores, and academics 2-3 months prior. He asks if wellness is available at the other 5 school sites.

Nick Driver asks if RCA has small group tutoring like the other school sites.

Michael says they are holding small group tutoring after school, training of NWEA knowledge with staff, and small groups in class. He says RCA is setting incremental goals for students and rewarding them if they make progress.

Elisa asks if Michael can bring in somebody to talk about trauma enforced care for the teachers during PD meetings.

Evelia mentions that while she was writing the grant, she is hoping that if the grant gets approved, AMPS can provide more wrap around services to the schools. 

Evelia shares her presentation. She talks about enrollment, ADA, and P2. The sites are working on increasing their enrollment. She is concerned about Oakland Charter Academy who is on their 3rd year of low enrollment and are looking at collapsing 2 classes.  

Maria says schools are currently actively doing enrollment and applications. Once enrollment closes and if there are no increases in enrollment, some schools will need to collapse classes. 

Kindergarten teacher Ms. Wing shares her improved test scores. She shares the story of her student who did not speak English prior is now speaking English. Many students are performing above the national average. 

Elisa congratulates Ms. Wing on her accomplishments.

Evelia continues her CEO report. She talks about recruitment teacher fairs, enrollment concerns, searching for a chief operating officer, Oakland Charter High School Unidos Clorox Grant, mountain bike team update, Downtown Charter Academy NASA visit, Spring site visits, and graduations. 

Gilbert says he attended a meeting a few weeks ago to listen about the number of complaints on John Henry High School whom Hector Garcia, a parent was the organizer. He encourages that we use the processes available to file a formal complaint. He does not feel that the meeting was organized in an open way and would like to attend more in the future to hear about the families concerns.

Nick proposes that in the next meeting, the board should raise the threshold amount for the CEO's approval.