Danielle Eisenberg called the school board meeting to order at 5:00 PM on June 21, 2023.

There was no public comment.

FOB President John Zitzner shared the following highlights

Philanthropy

• Board members and volunteers are making phone calls to solicit end of fiscal year donations. 
• The annual Golf outing will be held on Monday, July 17 and will feature staff and alumni guest speakers. 
• An end of year mail/email campaign is in effect. 
• School tours will kick off again after school opens.

Advocacy

• The state budget will be approved on June 30, 2023.  

Alumni

• There are several events planned this summer for Alumni. More information can be found on the FOB website. 

Facilities

• We are moving forward with plans to acquire Gaines funeral home and hope to close on the purchase later this summer.
• We are about to renew the lease at Cliffs for 15 years with provisions for some improvements and options if retail development, etc., would require some shifting of Village Prep space.

While there are pockets of success in places, our schools have work to do with respect to our goals for excellence and equity. 

Initiatives have been taken to identify issues that have a negative impact on scholar success and teacher excellence at some of our schools thus impacting both student and teacher retention rates. 

Data analysis is helping to highlight the various areas of network excellence and areas that need improvement.  Coaching, training, and feedback are some of the strategies that have been implemented to promote a community of learners, strong instruction, and data analysis. 

Our current focus has been on stabilization and building our teams for success. 

We are wrapping up our work with Grovider and will soon unveil a new mission, vision, and values for the organization. 

Over 100 new scholars have been enrolled since the May 22nd board meeting. Foundation has been laid for July which is our "push” month.  

We have budgeted for 3,100 scholars. 

We are aggressively continuing to hire staff. We are experiencing resignations in addition to hiring new staff. Continued conversations are being had about what is being done to increase staff retention as well as provide staff with opportunities for training and development.

School board members will be asked to vote on a resolution for alternative placement for high need ESE scholars. We have about 10 scholars across the network who require additional services that we are currently unable to provide to meet their needs. While these placements are required for compliance purposes, our goal is that these scholars receive the services they need and then return to a traditional Breakthrough classroom at a later date. 

Celeste Farmer presented the May financials which were provided in the board packet.

A finance committee meeting was held on June 16, 2023 and focused on how we will measure success in SY24. 

Celeste Farmer will officially become the School Treasurer and BPS CFO as of 7/1/23. Doug Mangen will continue as the FOB CFO.

Our sponsors annually require the completion of a fiscal officer waiver, which gives the board the authority to waive their right to directly hire their own treasurer and utilize the treasurer provided by the CMO.

As part of the network's stabilization efforts, we are asking the board to vote on a payroll change that would allow us to pay CMO employees their salary divided by the number of pay periods in a year, as opposed to the number of work days in the pay period. This change is for the CMO only.

Governance Chair Jennifer thanked Hazel Chama for the office improvements and organization. Jennifer also thanked Patti Schaar for all of her work and collaboration with BPS as her contract comes to end.

Jen reminded board members that the Board Retreat will be on June 30, 2023, from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. 

Danielle Eisenberg acknowledged the work that the Academic team has been doing. The BPS Academic Strategy Roadmap has been created as a step-by-step guide for successfully implementing a robust academic model across the network over the next three years.

The committee is enthusiastic about all that is being done to enhance the scholar and family experience. 

In the 23-24 school year, the committee hopes to work with the academic leadership on building out a teacher certification pipeline and ensuring that students are receiving coaching and encouragement. Board members are needed to participate and show their support in school events. CEO Ralph Johnson will be spending one day per week in schools.

Committee Chair Paul Harris reported that the CEO Support & Evaluation Committee met on June 7, 2023. Ralph presented his self-assessment against his goals. 

The next CEO assessment will be held after the August Board meeting. 

The 2023 Partner Agreement between the Cleveland Municipal School District and Village Preparatory School Woodland Hills was presented. The agreement is being renewed to allow the school to receive levy funds from the district.

Special education remains an area of focus as shared in previous meetings. CMSD is working with Breakthrough on plans to address the concerns.

Pre-opening school walkthroughs will take place in August.

Cliffs and Citizens Glenville sponsorship contracts expire in 2024. Evaluative site visits will be conducted as part of the process. 

State Data Report Card comes out in September.

Maureen Barbessi was present to represent Buckeye Hope, sponsor for Village Prep Woodland Hills. She thanked the board and school leadership for their partnership in 22-23 and will be working with the school to plan for 23-24.

The board entered into Executive Session at 6:40. 

Roll call:

Danielle Eisenberg, Paul Harris, Jennifer Howard, Alan Kopit, Andrew Lee, Sam Steinhouse, Cynthia Tancer, Linda Zucca, Sanjay Vyas.