Call to Order: Jennifer Howard, Chair, BPS Board called the meeting to order at 5:00pm. Alan Kopit, Chair, School Boards called the Schools Board meeting to order at 5:00pm.

All Boards Vote to approve the October 20, 2021 Joint BPS Meeting minutes.

J. Howard requested a motion to approve the October 20, 2021 Joint BPS Meeting minutes. Paul Harris so moved and Andrew Lee seconded, and all were in favor. Motion carried.

A. Kopit requested a motion to approve the October 20, 2021 Joint BPS Schools Board meeting minutes. Sam Steinhouse so moved and Linda Zucca seconded, and all were in favor. Motion carried.

None.

M. Rado and M. Traum provided updates on the Annual and Fall Site Visit Reports with both reports included in the Board materials for review. Matt reported that this is the second year due to the pandemic we did not receive normal State Report Cards; for academic performance the only indicator we had was attendance. Other areas of the report are normal and includes looking at financial metrics, compliance, etc.   The Fall Site Visit Update: we did not have a student record check this fall; conducted a building walk-through looking at compliance and safety items; conducted classroom observations and conducted debrief sessions with Principals at each school.

M. Traum, provided the update on the qualitative classroom trends for all of the schools stating the fall visit focused on instructional with 20-minute observations looking at three domains – classroom climate; purposeful teaching; and in-class assessment/feedback.  Trends were definitely strong in classroom climate with trends lower in scores around purposeful teaching and assessment/feedback. Megan noted trends noticed at the schools are consistent with nations trends, both of which impacted by the pandemic.  Megan concluded with stating the spring site visits will focus on looking at focus group data – what it feels like to be a student in the building; being an educator in the building; and parent and family community connections. 

M. Barbessi provided the update highlighting the following:

• Compliance wise things are going well with the schools
• Conducting our second Bi-Annual site visit in January/February
• In contact with the Leadership Team about the middle school at Village Prep – the lack of staff and best way to service students
• Watching legislation regarding the House Bill 

J. Zitzner provided the update highlighting the following:

• BASH will be in-person – we are requesting that everyone be vaccinated; we will wear masks; more people have signed up this year than two years ago; this year’s video will feature teachers, Principals, and scholars and will talk about their experience in the last year and a half and point out the real hardships we are going through; we will honor Alan Rosskamm this year
• Asking Board members to please bring a bottle of wine or deliver to Susan Ertle 

1. Enrollment Update – A. Prass provided the update supplemented with a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the following:

• Enrollment Report included in the Board materials as of October 31; going forward reports will be based on the Board date meetings of each month; trying to provide the most updated and accurate monthly report; meeting scheduled in January will report on December numbers
• Enrollment is at 3449; this number is different than what is in the Finance report; enrollment number reflects currently enrolled kids; Finance report reflects kids we are being paid for
• Continue to be behind our budget target but continuing to enroll scholars
• Moving forward our focus on retention must be the approach and keeping the families that we have

1. School Staffing Update – J. Younker provided the updates supplemented with a PowerPoint Presentation highlighting the following:

• Review of staffing shortages across the network; continues to be extremely challenging – 30+ vacancies
• J. McBride provided an update on the challenges/impact at the schools in terms of the overall model with vacancies at the schools
• Staff working really hard and stressed beyond anything we have seen

J. Younker provided the update thanking everyone for their support on Total Rewards and a PowerPoint document was included in the Board materials for review. A major challenge we are facing at Breakthrough is in the compensation realm. We are recommending three compensations bridges we have been exploring with the Advisory Committee to help us to be more sustainable for approval in the short and long-term. They include: 1) a gratitude bonus to say thank you (immediate); 2) a retention bonus (short-term); and 3) the raise amount for SY22-23 (long-term).  Discussions were held and the Financial Advisory Committee provided additional information on supporting the approval of the three Total Rewards compensation bridges.

T. Thornton provided the update supplemented with a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the following:

• Review of current surge we are experiencing in Cuyahoga County
• Experiencing this surge at some of our schools
• Review of updated Dashboard – Southeast and Cliffs currently getting hit the hardest in the current surge and review of in-school transmissions; 
• Review of comparison of other school districts in Cuyahoga County on a per student basis – 124 districts
• Summary of homeroom and grade level closure
• Getting staff tested quickly for both exposure or symptoms continues to be key in keeping staff in the building
• Held booster vaccination clinic on November 12 at Cliffs Campus
• Working on strategies for student vaccinations and carefully monitoring the Omicron situation with the Department of Health

R. Johnson provided the update stating the past seven weeks he has been able to observe, speak with staff, and with Leadership Team members. During these discussions, the subject of culture of the organization kept coming to the front. Ralph explained that culture is really about doing what is sustainable that an organization can live and dwell in over time – “The House.”  Ralph then presented a PowerPoint presentation on the core elements of a culture that an organization needs to have in place highlighting the following: Culture is based on multiple elements – its values; mission/vision; supporting structures – performance metrics; a leadership & development model; execution and accountability; Decision-Making based on six guiding principles; the Metrics to monitor progress; and the proposed approach to tacking “the house” – timing; and objectives and the approach. Ralph summarized and explained having all these elements in place will allow us to define the culture of our organization and will enable us to confidently say we will be able to build or develop the leaders that we need; have processes in place to tell our story clearly; and know we are thinking systematically about big decisions that have to be made. 

McRae and J. McBride provided the update supplemented with a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the following:

• Will have multiple campuses that will be transitioning to a hybrid modality with two of our campuses that are fully remote coming back in to a hybrid modality; 
• The plan is to have those campuses operate this way until the end of the year
• Made sure all components are in alignment – legal, financial, and policies

J. McBride provided a brief update on the Listening Tours highlighting the following:

• Focused heavenly on our four schools that had to change to modalities and other schools
• Scheduled a sustainability survey and listening tours
• Staff talked about the challenges and were very appreciative of the process and productive
• Discussions were about scholar behaviors, health and safety concerns, compensation, communications; and school design

October 2021 Financial Reports

October 2021 Financial Reports – Doug shared the Schools and BPS highlights from October 2021 financial report included in the Board materials supplemented with a PowerPoint Presentation.

Resolutions to Approve the October 2021 Financial Reports

Action of All School Boards – A. Kopit raised approval of the October 2021 Schools Financial Reports.  Joy Johnson so moved, and Linda Zucca seconded, and all were in favor. Motion carried.

Action of BPS Board – J. Howard raised approval of the October 2021 BPS Financial Reports.  Cynthia Tancer so moved, and Alan Kopit seconded, and all were in favor. Motion carried.

Breakthrough 2030 – Sustainability Fund

The Breakthrough 2030 long-range planning Sustainability Fund is relatively on track based upon good news from PPP and will cover deficits we have right now and next year. We will likely comeback with a recommendation for deficit budgets in next year.

FY23 One Breakthrough Budgeting

Preparing a One Breakthrough process for FY23 as one District consolidating the schools, FOB and BPS and will be challenging. Next year’s budget will take a cut based upon our enrollment from this year. There will be a lot of hard decisions in the FY23 Budgeting process.

Resolution to Approve the BPS and School Boards Vote of Immediate Total Rewards Recommendations: 1) December 2021 Thank You Bonus; 2) September 2022 Retention Bonus; and 3) FY23 Base Salary Increases.

Action of BPS Board – J. Howard raised approval of the Resolution for Immediate Total Rewards Recommendations.  Cynthia Tancer so moved, and Brad Schlang seconded, and all were in favor. Motion carried.

Action of All School Boards – A. Kopit raised approval of the Resolution for Immediate Total Rewards Financial Reports.  Sam Steinhouse so moved, and Amonica Davis, and all were in favor. Motion carried

J. Howard provided the update stating Quatrice James has resigned from the BPS Board but will remain on the Academic Excellence Committee.

P. Harris provided the update stating the Committee met on November 19 and had a great discussion with Ralph regarding his 30-day observation and a preliminary discussions regarding Ralph’s goals for the year. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, January 14, 2022.

School Boards Vote to Approve Consent Agenda

Action of All School Boards – A. Kopit raised approval of the Schools Board Consent Agenda.  Joy Johnson so moved, and Sam Steinhouse seconded, and all were in favor. Motion carried.

School Board Approves Signing of Blended Learning Declarations and Associated Contract Modifications

Action of All School Boards – A. Kopit raised approval of the Schools Board Consent Agenda.  Linda Zucca so moved, and Joy Johnson seconded, and all were in favor. Motion carried.

J. Howard and A. Kopit motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:19pm. All were in favor.