Board President Bill Schaff read The Academy's Mission and Envisioned Future Statements.

There was no public comment.

• ED Chilcott shared with the board a presentation on community schools. 
• She reminded the board that they discussed this in spring 2022 when California began giving grants for community schools and how The Academy intentionally does three of the four pillars of already (Integrated support services, Collaborative leadership and practices for educators and administrators, Extended learning time and opportunities) and has a goal of working on the fourth pillar (Family and community engagement).
• As the board retreat was to discuss the next five years of planning for The Academy, there was discussion of the pros and cons of formally becoming and defining ourselves as a community school.
• Some pros were that there are no community schools in Alameda and it could be a draw for families. Others are we are intentionally doing these pillars already and have plans to do the fourth so why not capitalize and highlight/market what we are already doing to focus our goals and resources, and distinguish ourselves from other schools.
• Some cons were that are we sending mixed messages that will confuse families because we're a social justice school and if we also say we're a community school are we giving ourselves too many identities. Others were why can't we just do these four pillars, and not label ourselves a community school. Why is that a benefit?
• ED Chilcott said it was worth a continued discussion throughout the next few months and possible school year as the board and school leadership are creating five year goals for The Academy from the strategic plan.

• The group moved on to work on goals for the next five years based on the strategic plan report that was created in the 22-23 school year with input from all The Academy's stakeholders (school leadership, the board, students, parents, teachers, and staff) to discuss The Academy's strength areas and areas that need focus. 
• There was a retreat on June 10, 2023 that began the first planning of the five year goals.
• This retreat continued the planning of the five year goals.
• ED Chilcott reviewed the ideas the group brainstormed from the June 10, 2023 session in the category of Instructional Practice and Pedagogy and asked Principal Rubin to share with the group what her goal at the end of five years (2027-28) would look like. 
• Principal Rubin shared her goal and the steps she would take to get there.
• ED Chilcott instructed the group they could start with the five year end goal in mind and work backwards on how to get there or start with the current year (2023-24) and work forward. She also said the group could work on one topic at a time or work on all three topics (Instructional Practice and Pedagogy, Culture and Climate,  and Staffing) together. The group opted to work on all three goals together.
• There was confusion about what was a goal vs. implementation of a goal. ED Chilcott did her best to explain, and Board Member Robie clarified.
• The group worked on this for 90 minutes then had a lunch break.
• When the group returned from lunch, Board President Schaff reviewed board expectations including being on time, RSVPing for meetings, reading materials in advance, attending the majority of board and committee meetings.
• Board Member Forbes requested that board materials be sent a week in advance for board members to have time to review them.

• Board President Schaff reviewed the chairs and members of each committee:

Standing Committees and Members:

• Finance Committee: David Forbes (Chair), Kristin Welch, Keith McCoy. Staff: Ann Gilcrease, Sharon Perkins, Christine Chilcott
• Governance Committee: Amy Price (Chair), Teresa Ruiz, Kristin Welch, Randy Rentschler. Staff: Christine Chilcott
• Student Success Committee: Carole Robie (Chair), Jezra Thompson, Amy Price, Randy Rentschler. Parent Member: Que Chu. Staff: Leah Rubin, Ann Gilcrease, Christine Chilcott.
• ED Success & Eval Committee: Carole Robie (Chair), William Schaff, David Forbes, Keith McCoy. Staff: Christine Chilcott

Ad-hoc Committees and Members

• Facilities/Garden: Teresa (chair), Keith McCoy, Jezra Thompson. Staff: Sharon Perkins, Christine Chilcott
   
• Board Member and Student Success Committee Chair Carole Robie stated that the Student Success Committee will be meeting on the same day as the board meetings from 5:00-6:00pm.
   
• Board Member and Finance Committee Chair David Forbes said he will speak with his committee members about the best day and time to meet.
   
• Board Member and Board Governance Committee Chair Amy Price said she will speak with her committee members about the best day and time to meet. Board President Schaff reminded her that Board Governance is a committee that does not have to meet monthly and it is her decision about the meeting frequency.
   

• ED Chilcott apologized for the large number of policies that came to the board at once for approval. She explained that in reviewing the handbook in 22-23, she and staff noticed many of the polices had not been updated and spoke with the lawyers about this. The lawyers came back with several necessary legal revisions of policies towards the end of the school year and into summer. If the policies were not voted on now, The Academy could be out of legal compliance.
   
• The board agreed to vote on the policies to be in legal compliance but have them more deeply reviewed to be aligned with The Academy's social justice mission.
   
• ED Chilcott suggested coming up with a calendar of compliance so policies are updated on a regular basis since several of the policies had not been reviewed in 5-10 years. She also suggested creating a policy sub-committee.
   
• Board Governance Chair Amy Price said that policies should come under board governance and the board agreed.

ED Chilcott shared the Columbine locks that were on back order from the district unexpectedly came in early and would be installed by the end of August.

• Board President Schaff shared that the next board meeting would be on Thursday, August 24 and some topics would be the school year opening report and an enrollment update. 
• Board Member Forbes asked if there would be a financial report and ED Chilcott said she would check with Jean Yang.
• Board Member Teresa Ruiz said she would be unable to attend the August 24 meeting.