Dr. Manuel noted the following in his report:

• Merrick Academy has been considered for a five-year renewal with no conditions. The official SUNY Vote will be on February 11, 2020.  
• Advance Educational Plan
  • Meet all IB PYP candidate year one benchmarks
  • Hire STEAM Coordinator and draft vision for Merrick's K-5 approach
• Student and Family Support
  • Merrick intends to hire Director of Student Support Services. 
    • Currently interviewing candidates for position.
  • We have created an equity gap dashboard to monitor all student performance. 
• Administrative Handbook has been initiated. 

As Merrick moves closer to finalizing its full term renewal for 2020-2025, we are diligently working to stay on track with the efforts and benchmarks of the five year strategic plan. As you can see from the dashboard, we are on track and currently making progress on over 90% of our planning year goals. 
It is critical to bring the board together for a full day retreat in order to engage with the year 1 priorities and plans for the strategic plan. As part of this effort, I have designed a Board of Trustees Learning and Development survey that I would like all trustees to complete by Friday January 31st. The results from the survey will be shared with the board and used to identify learning priorities and group needs for the retreat.

• Students took the 2nd Interim Assessment two weeks ago.
• Scholars have started taking the iReady assessment.
• We had the pleasure of hosting the District Charter Collaborative at our school on January 22, 2020. We received positive feedback from the educators and administrators in attendance. 
• We have finished informal observations and started formal observations. Testing grades are entering their test prep units and our reteach week will begin next week.
• Family Teacher conferences take place will take place on Wednesday, January 29th. Promotion in Doubt letters will go out on that evening.
• We are excited about Black His/Her Story month. There are a lot of events and activities planned with a culminating We are Warriors Assembly on February 28, 2020. 
• Scholars third Interim Assessment will take place the last week in February. 
• ELA Test, March 25-27, 2020, Math Test April 21-23, 2020

• December’s enrollment continued to stay above the budgeted goal of 538 students. With the addition of 2 students being enrolled, we are currently at 542 students.
• As we continue to monitor enrollment January’s focus is on student recruitment. Letters of Intent To Return will be sent home early February.
• We have set dates for school tours, open houses and site visits for advertising.
• Merrick Academy will have a half page ad in the February and March edition of the Queens Family Magazine.
• Weekly school tours will be given February 4th- March 31st.
• The school facilities are in a good place, no major projects are scheduled. As IReady testing begins, Ms.Nelson, our Tech coordinator is working with the admin team to ensure we are prepared for testing.
• The first semester of after-school will end Feb.14th. The second semester of after-school will begin February 24th after the winter break.
• Student attendance declined from November's 95.8% to 92.7% due to sickness. Students that have an 80% attendance calls were made to inform parents. Those with less than 90% letters will be sent to the home. 
• 42% of the operational team members (Student Registrar, Ops Associate, Ops Support, Custodial Coor., and Ops Administrator) use project management software to input tasks, projects and goals. The management software is used for notifications of upcoming, current and past-due projects. 25% (Tech Coordinator and Security) of team members not currently using the management software use a Google document outlining the same work and are in the process of transitioning to using management programs The remaining 33% of the team (custodians) are in the process of learning how to use documentation within their roles.
  Professional Development is required of each team member at least once a quarter (4x a year) this is done through workshops, webinars, or in- house PD. Specific PD courses are recommended by both the OM and the team members and discussed as goals are established and worked on.
• Performance Reviews:
  This month the Operations Team received mid-year evaluations. The last performance review on file for operations was in 2015. Early January, each team member received a review that looked at key areas of individual work performance for the past 6 months (July 2019- December 2019). Some key skill areas included being Data-Driven, Ability to Drive Results, Prioritization Skills, Continuous Improvement in work, and other key areas. Campus Leadership feedback was also included in the review. Review outcomes are being incorporated into individual weekly meetings to develop an understanding of setting goals and desired results, overcoming obstacles and challenges so that tasks are completed and planning  any training needed for staff members in order to improve performances. These reviews will go into employee files. End of the year performance reviews will take place early to mid June. 

• Our Next PTO meeting is schedule for January 28, 2020. 
• Snack sale resume for the January and all proceeds are going to Senior Trip activity’s for the 5th  grades. 
• Breakfast with the Principal hasn’t resume as of yet.
• Our Next Parent Support Group meeting is schedule for 2/6/2020 as an Workshop. Topic is “Know Your Right’s”. 
• December was the second month that the IEP families got a progress report that will be going out every 8 weeks letting the families know if their child is meeting their goals.  This way, when it’s time for their annual IEP they will know exactly where their child stands as far as goals.  I meet with Mrs. Caso and letter’s are going out several weeks prior to student’s annual IEP review remaindering of the date of annual and offering a meeting with the Dean of Student support to review prior goals and issues before meeting with CSE. 
• Washington, DC trip  January 18, 2020- January 19, 2020 was a success. All families that attended the trip truly enjoyed themselves. We had about 80 families from Merrick on the the trip. Our itinerary was:

The Academic Committee focused on:

• Interim Assessment Results
• Formal observations 
• Observation requirements:
  • Informal observation
  • Formal observation
•  Teacher Observations
• Test Prep
• During mid winter recess there will be an ELA boot camp. The boot camp is geared for the students that are on the cusp of failing. 
• Equity Survey Results
• IB Candidacy Update

All leaders have to attend two day training, there is only one more leader to attend training. 
All teachers must go through a two day training. 
After we must draft our program of inquiry (POI)

• Vacancies
• Director of Student Services position
• As for our open security officer position, we hope to fill this position by the end of February. 
• The fire Inspection is scheduled for next week. 
• Vacancy game plan
  • Attend job fairs 
  • Open and non open vacancies will be posted
• Resumes for all paras
• C.On-line HR System

We are currently using  the online hr system Little Bird HR for all staff documents. 

• Status for Recruitment for 2020-2021 SY
• Operations department is currently working on ads and other promotional items. 
• Grievances
• Our open grievances are currently in attribution. 

• Mid Year Evaluations (Operations Team)

The new goal for Merrick Academy Charter School is all staff receive mid year evaluations using the operations evaluation rubric. 

• Mid year evaluation requirements
  • self assessment
  • self assessment review
  • Assessment report reamains in the staff file. 
  • with working with ops eval rubric 
• Other Business
  • Anniversary gala

A.Budget Review

• We have a projected surplus of $60,000 fir 2019-20. 
• Currently waiting on payment for 6 students from Hempstead/Vally Stream. J. Moreau stated he will send an invoice.
• 45 days cash on hand. 
• 2020-2021 Budget will allow the primary 3% increase in salaries
• Draft of 2020-2021 budget will be ready in March. Anticipated April or May the Budget should be finalized. 

B.Enrollment
Budget projected for 535 students, we currently have 542. 
 
C.Budget Planning 2020-21 SY

• Lease expires 12/31/2022
• There will be a rent increase of $2,200 monthly
• Conversation regarding a new building was discussed. J. Moreau advised that the new building should be put on hold until we can prove that the budget is is sustainable and our test scores continue to show growth over the next two years. 

Operations
A.Facilities
B.Security
C.Technology
D.Supplies
E.Enrollment Management
F.Compliance