No public comment

Jesus presented a draft of the 25-26 calendar, including explanations of days off that differ from the BSD calendar.

Jillian provided updates on PTO.  Friendship Day party moved to March due to snow days.  Had to reschedule around art lit and OBOB events already on the calendar.  A new art lit project starts next week, as well as the OBOB competition.  Silent Dance party planned for March, during PE time.

Yessenia is scheduled to attend the March PTO meeting.  

Academic Excellence

1. Report cards
   • These are being shared with our families this month.
     • Summer project: review our current report card(s) template for refinements.
2. easyCBM results used for Data Teams meetings
   • Data cycles: 
     • This week we held our second data analysis meetings with the entire team, grades KN-5, ELA teachers, Reading Specialist, Counselor, and PE team.
       • We hold data cycle analysis meetings during the year. (Oct - Dec, Dec - Feb, Feb - April, April - May.) Students take easyCBM 3 times a year, upper grades take OSAS and STAMP at the end of the year.
       • We use data from the prior year to kick off Interventions at the beginning of the year.
     • These meetings provide our team the information and data necessary to support students during Workshop (interventions).
     • These meetings also help our team to make informed determinations about any possible retention in the lower grades and/or to request additional meetings with the BSD team and decide the best plan of action for our struggling students.

Team Training and Retention

• February 18th - SDW:
  1. The focus of this month’s training remained on:
     • Acquiring additional expertise around our new ELA and SLA curriculum. (A representative from HMH supported this training.)
     • Putting together our upcoming SIA grant application with the team’s feedback. 
       • We are submitting a new SIA application this year, as part of ODE’s 2-year cycle application process, and gathering team feedback about the possible ways to spend this grant is one of the many requirements.
• We engaged in mid-year feedback conversations with the team:
  1. Highlights of those conversations:
     • Areas of success:
       • There is an increase in community involvement.
       • Rigorous/more aligned student learning and positive school culture.
       • Team commitment (in adopting our new curriculum, and commitment to students and each other).
       • Support received from administration.
     • Areas of growth:
       • Training, especially around the new curriculum.
       • Diverse hiring from countries we haven’t explored or where we have fewer representatives.
• Team retention updates:
  1. We are holding conversations with team members about their intent to return next year.  These conversations provide a clear picture about our hiring needs for next school year. We have also sent an intent to return form with a March due date to have more specific data.
  2. The Embassy of Spain fair is happening in March. It will be attended by a representative from Idaho this year. We have submitted tentative numbers (low) so that we can interview possible candidates, once they release/share their resumes with Arco Iris in April.
  3. Regarding other partnerships/opportunities: 
     • Attempts to engage with the Embassy of Mexico to attend any upcoming fairs or to create partnerships have been unsuccessful.
     • We are using Search Associates platform to invite interested international candidates for interviews.
     • Job posts on our website, Bamboo, and other platforms once we obtain final numbers of team members returning for SY 25_26.
  4. Board discussed how current events in the federal government may impact recruiting or Visa access in the future.  Need to stay on top of current events and have contingency plans.

Community Engagement and Positive School Culture

• Community Engagement:
  1. Current and upcoming events: 
     • Coffee and Cafe con el Director: February event topics
       • SIA grant
         • Families have received feedback forms electronically to gather their ideas on how Arco Iris could spend these future funds.  
         • In the past, this grant has been used to pay for the salaries of 4/8 of our Instructional Assistants and 1 FTE School Counselor / Student Success Coach.
       • During Coffee with the Principal we also shared updates on government policies and memos (see below)
       • Upcoming (March Cafe/Coffee event):
         • We will have our second Equity session in March. The topics are Cultural Awareness and Creating Safe Spaces.
         • Address concerns about the parking on Stratus. Some families went to a hearing with the City recently.  Reports that the City wanted Arco Board or Director to present the concerns.
     • Black Excellence Celebration will be held on February 24th
     • Friendship Day has been postponed and will now be held on March 21st.
  2. Communication around policies and memorandums shared with our community.  Please see summary below:
     • “... the current executive orders and memorandums have not changed federal and state education and employment law here in the state of Oregon. Our primary focus remains ensuring that all students in our state receive a high-quality education in a safe and welcoming environment with the support they need.”
  3. Fundraising efforts:
     • Total fundraising efforts to date. Including Move-A-Thon: $154,557.95
     • Spring Auction will be held on April 5, 2025
        

Financial Responsibility

• Grants - updates 
  1. SIA grant and EL grant - in progress.
     • Combined grant opportunities around $500k.
  2. Charter School Growth Fund: We received notification that we are semi-finalists and we are submitting additional documentation and secured a date for their organization to visit our school. 
  3. New Schools Grant: We submitted an application during the break, which can also be up to $250,000 in additional funding for expansion. Have not received news, yet.
  4. We received a $50,000 generous grant through ODE to engage our team in Equity training during the summer and next school year.
  5. We received a $25,000 grant to provide summer school Math opportunities for rising 4th and 5th graders.
  6. We are submitting PEEK grant results to ODE as part of the PE grant we received from them to fund this position for the last two years. (About $150,000 which supported our general budget.)  We have inquired about opportunities for extension on this grant.
  7. We received $10,000 from the Latino Partnership Program for mentorship opportunities for Perla.
• Board discussed if any of our grants or funding come directly from the federal government.  Jesus will report out in the future on the funding source for these grants. 
• Enrollment for 24-25
  1. Total enrollment for the year and current projections:
     • 2024-25: 414 
     • 2025-26: 422 (around 180 new applications)
  2. Open Enrollment
     1. January 6 - February 28
        • Added information to our website.
  3. We partnered with Grow Schools for marketing and enrollment support!
     • As mentioned above, we have 180 families who have submitted applications. Last year we were at 188 at around this same time.
     • It was noted that our applications jumped once we started marketing again with Grow Schools!
  4. Lottery:
     • March 17, 2025

• There is currently one application for the open Board Secretary position in June. 

• OSBA does not recommend implementing an anonymous complaint policy, but not due to legal ramifications. Notes that our drafted policy does address some of their concerns about impact the policy would have on the community.  Also noted this does not need to be a formal policy, but could just become a procedure. 
• Board agreed we do not want to move forward with a formal anonymous complaint policy. 
• Discussed adding a mid year community survey as an additional way to gather feedback from families.  We currently do a yearly survey in May.  For this year, Board will review current community survey.  Update as needed and send out in April this year.  Add question to gauge if community has wanted to make a complaint but did not feel comfortable to do so. 
• Admin team already sends out an anonymous staff survey for feedback
• Later this school year, review how the complaint information is presented in the student handbook.

No Treasurer's report

Waiting for response on grants for Marie Lanfrom and Take it the Court.  Should hear back soon.  Erin submitted the information for both of those grants.

3 Board Members and Jesus attended recent annual luncheon for Chamber of Commerce.  

Our current bond holder wants us to refinance, in discussions of how this could support expansion.  Christa and Jesus working on new Charter agreement, which can be submitted to different districts for approval.

Michelle and Adreana met recently.  Agreed to move forward with the application.  Deadline is due around same time as SIA grant. 

• Sarah to email Yessenia about March PTO meeting and Andrew for Treasurer's report
• Jesus to add parking on Stratus to March agenda
• Jesus to provide clarity on source of grant funding.  Is any of that money coming from the federal government. 
• Erin to send out draft community survey. Board to review for feedback.
• Christa to reach out to OSBA on if the Board needs to vote on applying for the ATDLE aware.  Adreana to send link to Christa.