D. Forbes advised no action taken in closed session.

J. Yang from EdTec advised that next year's COLA went up to 8.13% which impacts AoA's LCFF and Special Education funds. The Arts and Music grant is about $84K.  There has been a decrease mostly due to ADA adjustment.  Projecting to end the year with 4.4 cash flow which is 157 cash on hand including the LAIF. FY 25 and 2026 is showing a lower COLA but EdTec and AoA have planned for that.

C. Robie advised that there is a significant enrollment increase in future years.  J. Yang advised that is including TK and fuller classes for 6-8th grades. 

K. Welch advised she heard middle school numbers are decreasing around the area.  She advised the ADA would increase if the percentage would potentially stay the same. J. Yang advised COVID still has affected hence the reason why the numbers are not 95% or higher.

W. Schaff advised we have been waiting for the final audit from Baker Tilly. They have sent us a draft and final draft but not a signed and dated final version.  W. Schaff advised the board can only approve the final version but they cannot approve the final draft to be forwarded to the AUSD board.  C. Chilcott advised that Brenda at Baker Tilly has advised that no changes will be made. 

W. Schaff asked how comfortable the board is with having Christine forwarding the final signed and dated audit to the district upon her receipt of it, or would they prefer an emergency meeting.

M. Thorman advised that overall there is 50% growth percentile.  6th grade math was showing with 24.3% urgent intervention to drop to 8.2% which means they are moving towards proficiency.  The black and latinx groups have significantly increased which is very encouraging.  The ELA group is also moving away from urgent intervention and moving towards progression.  7th and 8th grade has been added as an appendix annex for viewing.  We have been focusing on improving tier 2 (i.e. tutorial time and some extra with teachers) and tier 3 (i.e. reading lab or SPED programs).  We have partnered with Edficiency that is 4 days a week to focus on different subjects to prioritize that day.  We have re-vamped our interventional team. COVID showed that students had a lot of hand holding and not enough hands on and due to such the programs used started changing to help students be more hands on. The competency based teaching has allowed for more communication with families about progress (monthly progress reports), teachers are getting deeper understanding of students' skills and it supports equity goals and program coherence.   Suspension rates have gone down significantly.  As of this year we have had 6 suspensions and it has been for drug/vape possession, multiple fights and possession of weapon.  AoA is working on decreasing racial disproportionality. Our Chronic absentee rate has gone down and our ADA has increased, which is good.

K. Welch asked if Fall was when the changes were implemented.

A. Price asked if there is a difference in the learning between AoA elementary students and students joining AoA in middle school.  M. Thorman advised there is no way to divide it that way but theoretically AoA is of the higher part of the spectrum.

A. Price asked if the referral incident numbers is by kids or by incident so as to know if students are getting multiple referrals.  M. Thorman advised it is by incident but our repeat students has decreased.  A. Price wanted to note that students with referrals are needing help sometimes instead of suspensions.

T. Ruiz was thankful for the wealth of information and advised that on the 6th STAR Math the "at or above benchmark" has decreased and asked that we be mindful of that group and continue to have them move forward. 

C. Robie wanted to thank M. Thorman for a complex and thorough presentation.  She wanted to point out how fortunate AoA is to have restorative justice at the school and how that has benefited the school.

A. Price asked if there is anyway to see those with disciplinary issues where they are with the teaching benchmarks.

Facilities Ad Hoc Committee- no meetings taken but have been in contact regarding the fallen tree with all the rain. 

Marketing Committee- no meetings taken.

Student Success Committee- Met Jan 11 and discussed that Feb will be the final zoom meeting.  Most of the meeting was about the middle school presentation given.

Governance Committee- Met on Jan 16th and talked about recruitment and understanding the current board members' skill set and to plan to have incoming members have the same skill set so that the board can stay at the level it is currently at. Also looking into a list of Acronyms for new board members to have. 

Finance Committee- met Jan 24 and covered what was discussed with Jean's presentation.  W. Schaff also advised that we have been thankful the past few years to have a lot of state funding but that will be changing soon.  Both C. Robie and A. Price reminded the importance of grants.

C. Chilcott reminded that we are 5 weeks away from Lottery on March 9th.  They will have a 2 week period after being notified to see if they will accept or decline the offer. 

D. Forbes asked if there was any way that we can just extend an offer to the 7th and 8th graders since we will be taking them anyways.  C. Chilcott said she will check from a logistical standpoint. 

C. Chilcott stated Raskob school is closing and have a few applying from there to AoA.

K. Welch asked if the students leaving are mid-year or the beginning of next year.  She also asked if the waitlist was mid-year.  

A. Price asked for future potential enrolment slides to show if they are Alameda applicants.  She also asked if we have any 6th graders to potential move over now to join us. C. Chilcott advised that is tricky for both the student and the staff member. 

T. Ruiz asked how much the numbers are matching up with Jean budget projections.

D. Forbes asked which of the target columns ties in to the budget.

C. Robie asked if C. Chilcott was aware that Raskob students are students primarily with Dyslexia.

C. Chilcott also showed the Larson communications progress and how much their marketing efforts have been helping. She also recapped other marketing efforts.

K. Zimmerman asked about art festivals and if things like that can help with marketing efforts. T. Ruiz also stated that every 3rd wednesday Hangar 1 has a arts and crafts night.  A. Price advised little league would also be a good opportunity to hand out flyers. 

K. Welch asked if we still have banners up due to our partnership with APRD.  C. Chilcott advised they were taken down but will follow up with them.

J. Whatley wanted to advise that she loves Ann Kohlers pictures and the updates to facebook and other outlets showing the new pictures.

C. Chilcott reminded the board of the process and timeframe for the work that Megan Agee did in defining the school and what it stands for.  She highlighted the responses the staff gave to the survey sent to them.  She provided the new motto to be voted on: "The Academy of Alameda: A diverse, supportive community for every learner."

J. Whatley said she likes the idea of a motto but does not feel this is very catchy.

K. Welch stated when she hears the word "learner" she thinks of NEA and she is going back and forth with "every learner" vs "all learners".   She also said she does not see anything impactful with academics. 

A. Price agreed with Jen and Kristen that she is trusting the process with the motto.  She said she recalls discussing a motto but does not believe it was implemented.  She feels that it is not catchy but is trusting the process but she does have a problem that she feels it describes the school but does not explain why this is a social justice school.

C. Robie wanted to remind the team that there is a difference between the vision, a mission and a motto.

C. Chilcott

K. Zimmerman stated she had the pleasure of receiving a visit from Leah Rubin, Sharon Perkins and Amanda Goad to see what the TK setup looks like and the needs.

K. Welch advised the elementary parents met today to plan the read-a-thon fundraiser.

All other board members had nothing to report. 

D. Forbes recommended the board to take advantage of the school tours.