Ms. Christa Billings informed that Board that member Mr. Mario Barron not attending due to health reasons.

There was no public comment.

Executive Director Michelle Herron shared the following Report:

Information to Share
Student Achievement

• At this point, the state is still saying that students will take statewide assessments in the spring.  We need to prepare ourselves for lower scores.
• Progress Reports will be sent home after conferences.  Report cards are on the semester system, so they will go home in early Feb and June.
• Conference days will be extended for some teachers/subjects so they’ll have time to meet with all of their parents.  We added at least one evening block for every grade level.
• The service hours we receive from BSD for special education students were cut in half effective immediately.  This is based on caseloads.  I’m reaching out to their Special Education department to see what the threshold is for getting these hours back.

Climate and Culture

• The volume of communication coming in from stressed out teachers and parents has slowed down, but I know things are still difficult for everyone.
• We are holding our monthly Familias Unidas meetings this week.  We had about 10 people at last night’s meeting and the conversation was great.  You can view the presentation here. 

Professional Development

• We have 3 days of upcoming professional development.  Topics will include equity and inclusion, teaching rubrics for distance learning, professional goal setting, and student data team procedures.

Hot Topics

• BSD  will make a decision on Dec. 28 about possibly starting to bring students back on Jan. 11, but it seems unlikely given the current trend in both Washington and Multnomah counties.  You can check the latest metrics here.  In order to move into the “transition” phase where we could consider reopening for hybrid learning, case counts would have to be 100 per 100,000 people and be trending down.  Right now, Washington Co. is at 260 and Multnomah Co. is at 343.  Both are trending up. Other important takeaways from the BSD plan and the state guidelines:
  • Once we get into the “transition” zone, we have 2 weeks to reopen, but we can take longer if we need to.  BSD is planning to give teachers 3 non-student days to prepare once their reopening plans are in place.
  • We’d have to bring back K-3 all at the same time, and then we could phase in 4 and 5. It is up to us to decide whether or not we bring back middle school. 
  • BSD is NOT planning to have teachers do both hybrid and CDL instruction.  It will be one or the other.  This is big news.  Our plan at the beginning of the year was to have staff do both because we knew some families would stay home, but experience has shown us this will not be feasible.  BSD sent out a survey and around 25% of families said they would not be comfortable sending their kids back to school.  When we get closer to having reopening be a real possibility, we will need to do a survey as well and figure out a staffing plan based on the numbers.
  • I will need to reconvene the reopening blueprint committee to review our plan and submit it to the state before we reopen.
• I know I have to create a final report for the expansion grant, but I haven’t had time to dig into this.  Any insights you have would be welcome!  I’m going to focus on this during conferences.
• We are still seeing a loss of enrollment.  This situation is really hard for many of our families.  Some are finding options that allow kids to be in school, some are moving, some are choosing to home school, and some are joining their local public school and some are enrolling in Flex Online now that they know we are in the for the long term.  On the bright side, some families are telling us that distance learning works better for their kids.

Seeking Input

• I’d like to send teachers to some virtual conferences, but I’m hesitant to spend any money because of our declining enrollment.  Thoughts? There is a virtual dual language conference on Sat., Jan. 9 that is $100 per person.

Decision Needed

• I worked with the leadership team to develop a draft of our School Learning Plan for this year.  We are using the same template as BSD and we’ve chosen goals that reflect the initiatives currently underway at school.  This plan needs to be approved by the board before I send it to BSD.  
  • Because we have no testing data from last year, we cannot set specific achievement goals, so the metrics are more observational this year.  I’m very open to suggestions about how to make our goals more measurable.

Ms. Shagun Trivedi presented the following Treasurer's Report:

• ADMw received for (Month):    $ 285,644
• Total income for (Month):        $ 283,524
• Cash balance for (Month):       $ 1,810, 728
• Accts Receivable for (Month): $ 209, 439
• Net gain/loss for (Month):        $ 33,720

Ms. Shagun Trivedi noted year-to-date spend on line items that exceed 50% budgeted for this time of the fiscal year.

Ms. Christa Billings shared that the Finance Committee is proposing a small ye.r-end bonus for all staff, so long as it does not affect debt-to-service ratio. The Board discussed.

PTO President Ms. Yessenia Jones presented the PTO report, including:

• Moveathon fundraising results $37,187.30 including corporate matches; profit was 28k+, Performance was better than last year. 
• Restaurant nights in support of playground fund.
• Gentog fundraiser in support of Arco Iris.
• Volunteer directory, roles, and opportunities.

Ms. Sarita Stevens presented the Development & Community Relations Committee report, including: kickoff for this year, new members; brainstorming on gaining parent support; focusing on bringing external funds in; and draft document on ideas.

Ms. Christa Billings announced that the school will host an online auction this year, and have identified a Chair. 

Nothing to report.

There were no action items.