CEO Darilek began her update by noting the start of the second half of the school year.  She updated the Board on investments made with the additional revenue discussed in prior Board meetings,  including the launch of a student impact grant fund, increased resources for grade-level and team budgets, and a one-time payment to staff members.  CEO Darilek shared positive feedback from staff members to these additional investments toward students and staff. 

CEO Darilek next provided school highlights:

•  A Black History Month Celebration will be held on February 12, and will feature a cross-campus Honors Choir. 
• Upcoming musical/theatrical productions include Lion King, Jr. at the Elementary School and High School Musical at the Middle and High Schools.

Last, CEO Darilek provided updates on the school calendar and the March 20th all-staff session, during which the Strategic Plan will be launched.

CEO Darilek referred to the Strategic Plan presentation provided in advance of the meeting.  She first grounded the Board on the reasons for adopting the plan now, key challenges to be addressed, and the process undertaken to develop the plan. CEO Darilek described the Strategic Plan road map, including strategic initiatives, a community-wide launch, the implementation plan, and monitoring. 

Next, CEO Darilek presented the new mission, graduate profile and core values. She noted the importance of the theory of action developed to show the overall outcome of the initiatives described in the Strategic Plan.  CEO Darilek discussed the strategic initiatives, which could be subdivided into the areas of academics, talent, and organizational development.  She highlighted changes to the strategic initiatives since last reviewed by the Board.  

Board Chair Smith referred to working documents for the leadership team to track, measure success, and set forth deliverables for each initiative.  Board members then provided feedback and asked numerous questions about the Strategic Plan and related strategic initiatives.  Board questions related to the following topics:

• prioritization of the various initiatives; 
• proposed reporting to the Board and staff on performance against the plan;
• the importance of simplifying reporting so that trends are clear;
• performance management and the need for clarity on tracking outcomes;
• additive costs related to the plan outside of the standard budget;
• what changes will be most impactful to staff;
• the ongoing role of committees involved in the strategic plan; and
• implementation timelines for various initiatives, among other items.  

Audit, Finance, and Facilities Committee Chair Greene began the update by noting the strong financial position of the school.  He thanked the leadership team for their great work in managing resources of the school, and turned to COO Carlo-Miranda to provide an update to the Board.  

COO Carlo-Miranda first reported that another timely and clean audit of the financial statements had recently been completed.  She then spent the rest of her update focusing on two budget-related items: (i) planning for the 2020-2021 school year budget and (ii) the revised budget for 2019-2020 school year. Referring to the materials provided in advance of the meeting, she reviewed the timeline for preparing the budget for the 2020-2021 school year. 

COO Carlo-Miranda then discussed changes to the budget for the 2019-2020 school year, including increases in revenues and lower expenditures.  She provided additional detail on the drivers for these changes.  COO Carlo-Miranda reviewed a final list of additional investments given the current financial position. 

In response to a question from a Board member, COO Carlo-Miranda discussed allocations of funding to Special Education students, at-risk students, and ESL programs.   A Board member also inquired about benchmarks for days of cash on hand and the debt service coverage ratio. 

Senior Director of Development and Communications Callahan reviewed the annual fund report provided in advance of the meeting.  He highlighted results from the end of the year giving campaign. 

The Board met in executive session to discuss matters of mutual interest.