Mr. Pearson, Director of Facilities, shares his presentation on the Valencia Brothers Contract. He goes over the range of services covered by this contract. When the internal technician at Amethod Public Schools is unable to fix a problem, Valencia Brothers will step in as the qualified technician to finish the job. He discusses the financial parameters, the contract renewal procedure, and the contractual agreement.

Board Member Andres asks what the spending ceiling is.

Mr. Pearson responds it is over $100,000 per site currently. Bringing in this contract will limit expenditures on facilities work. He says if there are changes to increase or decrease the spending from the board, spending can be adjusted accordingly.

Ms. Flores says with Valencia Brothers, it is projected that $15,000- $30,000 will be spent per site.

Board Member Andres asks for clarity on which projects this contractor will be doing and cost.

Ms. Flores says that there is a spending process set in place. Directors have the spending limit of up to $5,000. Beyond this amount, all projects will need CEO approval and/or board approval. 

Mr. Pearson says if the contract is approved, most facilities work will be done by Valencia Brothers unless he believes another vendor is best fit for the scope of the project.

Ms. Flores announces Maurice Williams as the final candidate for the Chief Academic Officer position, who will oversee the six school site directors and the Director of Special Education. She reviewed sixteen applications and conducted pre-screening interviews with eight potential CAO candidates. Five candidates were invited for the first round of interviews, and from there, three candidates were invited for the final rounds of interviews. The final round of interviews consisted of two panels. Each panel consisted of six interviewers, and it had staff representation from each site where the interviewers gave feedback on each candidate. Ms. Flores decided that Maurice Williams is the best fit for the organization and can fulfill the role of CAO successfully.

Maurice Williams introduces himself and shares his story of being one of twelve school principals at Lighthouse Charter Schools in Oakland.

Ms. Flores presents the Charter Impact contract, which will provide back office support for the home office. Ms. Flores researched three back office support vendors: EdTec, CSMC, and Charter Impact. Charter Impact will be charging the rate of 1.65% of LCFF revenue at about $460,000 per year. She believes Charter Impact will provide the level of stability the home office needs so staff can be freed up to better support the sites. The Senior Director of Finance, Payroll Manager, and certain contracts will be eliminated for cost savings to account for the cost of Charter Impact. There is a May 1st start date for Charter Impact in order to support the current budget manager and accounting manager.
 
Adam Kaeli from Charter Impact shares his presentation of the full scope of service they will be providing. Charter Impact will take over all financials, such as reporting, budgeting, strategic planning, grant reporting, board support and training, payroll management, and benefits. Charter Impact will also provide onboarding support and visibility at school sites to empower site leaders. 
 
Ms. Flores says Charter Impact also works with other charter schools in California. She has contacted a charter network in San Jose that has great things to say about Charter Impact. 
 
Vice Chair Edgar asks for clarity on which roles will be eliminated and how she envisions the support at the site level.
 
Ms. Flores says the Chief Financial Officer, Senior Director of Finance, and Payroll Manager will be eliminated. Currently, only one individual will be impacted by this elimination, and she has offered this employee another position in the home office to retain staff. She mentions that Charter Impact will be available to provide more real-time support for site leaders.
 
Board Member Elisa asks how the transition will look and if there will be people from Charter Impact on site to provide support.
 

Board Chair Gilbert asks if there will be a real-time dashboard provided to site leaders.

Adam says the director from Charter Impact will attend all board meetings to present updates, and Charter Impact will be actively conducting audits and providing onboarding support.