No public comment

Silent Dance party held on Thursday and Friday.  This was a prize from the move-a-thon.  Lots of support from parent volunteers for decorating and supporting the event itself.  Loteria Night held on Friday with a positive turn out.  Supported by lots of parent volunteers.  Tomorrow is the make-up Friendship Day parties (missed from snow days). Starting to plan for end of the year events.

April: Erin Hatch 

May: Andrew

-at this time, there is no June meeting scheduled

Academic Excellence

• Student Improvement Team (SIT) conversations occurred this week (Thursday, March 20th)
• OSAS testing for grades 3-5: coming up in April
• Curriculum: Singapore Math Program is being phased out. The last year is 2027-2028.  As a result, representatives from Singapore Math recommended Dimensions Math.
  1. “We encourage you to consider transitioning to the Dimensions Math® PK-5 program. You will find details about this program here. The Dimensions Math® PK-5 curriculum:
     • Is more affordable than Primary Mathematics Common Core (our current program).
     • Covers all Common Core standards in its own unique progression, and more.
     • Offers a cohesive PK-5 experience, leading to a strong 6-8 program.
     • Includes many free resources that support teachers, such as professional development videos, pacing guides, and downloadable activities and Blackline Masters.
     • Includes an abundance of content, reducing the need for supplemental material.”
  2. BSD’s last elementary math adoption was in 2017 so they are probably getting ready to do a new adoption. I’m not sure if we could potentially be part of this. Exploring partnerships.
  3. Hope Chinese Charter School also uses Singapore Math. Will be exploring partnerships with them, too.
  4. ODE also has a list of approved math programs that we could look at. (See below.)
     • See list: ODE Approved Math 

That list has HMH, enVision, iReady, Eureka, Imagine Learning, etc. as options.  HMH is available in Spanish, and we already have a partnership with them for ELA and SLA.

Team Training and Retention

• Team retention updates:
  1. Intent to Return forms came back
     • 1/39 has informed us of their plans to not return next year
     • 1/39 is TBD as they are exploring growth (being outside of classroom)
• Hiring:
  1. Embassy of Spain partnership after spring break
  2. Two more avenues:
     • Search Associates- process can be involved and costs money up front
     • Cultural Vistas- no cost to start, only pay if we hire a candidate
  3. Interviews will occur after spring break

Community Engagement and Positive School Culture

• Current and upcoming events: 
  1. Coffee and Cafe con el Director:
     • Discussion around SIA grant in February. 
       • 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. Families have received feedback forms electronically, and we are compiling their suggestions on how Arco Iris could spend these future funds. 
       • We had a second Equity session in March. 
         • The topics were Cultural Awareness and Creating Safe Spaces.
  2. Cultural and/or Joyful Celebrations: 
     • Black Excellence Celebration occurred on February 24th
     • Silent Disco Parties occurred last week (March 13th and 14th), to celebrate Move-A-Thon
     • Loteria Night occurred last week: March 14th
     • Kindness Day/Friendship Day was postponed and will now be held on March 21st.
• Family Surveys (update)
  1. Feedback from admin team: Please add “teacher newsletters” as an option to question 7:
     • 7. Which communication channels did you find helpful this past school year? (Check all that apply) / ¿Qué canales de comunicación le resultaron útiles este último año escolar? (Marque todo lo que corresponda)
       • Weekly Newsletter / Boletin semanal
       • Parent Square
       • Arco Iris PTO Facebook page / Página de Facebook de Arco Iris PTO
       • Text alerts / Alertas por mensajes de texto
       • Arco Iris School Website / la página web de la escuela
       • Monthly PTO Meetings / reuniones mensuales de la junta de padres
       • Spanish Translations / traducciones en español
  2. Fundraising efforts:
     • Total fundraising efforts to date. Including Move-A-Thon::
       • $163,163.49
     • Spring Auction will be held on April 5, 2025

Financial Responsibility

• Grants - updates 
  1. ODE (State):
     • SIA grant and EL grants (in progress): Combined grant opportunities around $500k.
     • Equity grant: We received a $50,000 generous grant through ODE to engage our team in Equity training during the summer and next school year.
  2. Non-profit foundation based in OR (OCF- Oregon Community Foundation)
     • The Latino Partnership Program (LPP) is a statewide program of Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) that addresses the challenges facing the Latino/x community. We received $10,000 from the Latino Partnership Program for mentorship opportunities for Perla.
  3. National non-profits (philanthropic venture capital foundations):
     • Glenn-Bailey Grant: We received a $25,000 grant  to provide summer school Math opportunities for rising 4th and 5th graders during the summer.
       • Summer School occurring during the month of June
     • Charter School Growth Fund: We received notification that we are semi-finalists. We submitted additional documentation and we hosted their members on March 11th.  Completed additional interviews this week.   Believe we will hear back by late April.
     • New Schools Grant: We will be interviewed in April.
• Enrollment for 24-25
  1. Total enrollment for the year and current projections:
     • 2024-25: 414 (no changes)
     • 2025-26: 422 (a little bit below 200 applications = 198 total)
       • Last year above 200 applications = 210 total
  2. Open enrollment
     • Lottery occurred March 17, 2025
     • Have waiting list in kindergarten
• Water Leak
  • Waiting for final cost.  Then determine if it makes sense to file a claim with insurance

Interview for potential board member next week

Board discussed feedback on draft annual community survey.  Added some additional questions to gather information on how comfortable parents are with sharing concerns with teachers, admin, and school board

ADMw received for (Month):    $338,336.00
▪ Total income for (Month): $458,349.45
▪ Cash balance for (Month): $3,729,711.60
▪ Accts Receivable for (Month): $39,238.15
▪ Net gain/loss for (Month):   $50,800.41

Erin gave updates on status of grants.  We did not get the Marie Lamform grant, but can reapply next year

• Arco still plans to host a Coffee Connection in August
• Erin has made several connections thru a recent coffee chat

No updates

Application due on March 29th.  Michelle to submit.

• Ask Grow Schools if they have data on birthrate trends
• Erin to send final community survey to Christa.  Send out first week of April.