The meeting on January 23 was cancelled and no quorum was present. The meeting was advertised and opened on zoom, but no quorum was present and the meeting was not called to order because there was no business. Therefore, there are no minutes for this meeting.

Shalini Shybut presented information about Black History Month and other celebrations taking place throughout the month of February. Board members were encouraged to attend. 

The Board of Directors recently approved the hiring of Shalini Shybut as the new Executive Director and welcomed her to provide her first update to the Board. 

Before beginning on her 90 Day priorities, the Board had a brief discussion about recruitment for SY25-26 and how the school is monitoring current events. The Internal Committee will provide a brief report later in the meeting as they had a longer discussion about the school's efforts to monitor and respond to Executive Orders issued over the past month. 

Shalini pivoted to reflecting on the following as priorities for her first 90 days which were included in the meeting materials. She highlighted both opportunities and challenges. Specifically, that student achievement has lagged behind expectations as have some of our organizational systems. We see the need for change, but is going to take time-- we are committed to making the changes that need to happen and we will be transparent about what we can prioritize first and what needs to be de-prioritized in the immediate term. 

For the next 90 days, the priorities are:

- Talent: keep and attract the right short and long term talent

- Assess & Plan: engage the community in reviewing our current state and start building plans for the future

- Stay on Track: support student achievement and maintain stable operations

- Build Trust: Continue to show up for staff, caregivers, and stakeholders in an authentic way

Shalini also shared her anticipated organizational chart demonstrating the capacity to help her accomplish goals and also highlighting areas where the school needs to hire in the short and long term. 

Board members engaged throughout the presentation to ask questions and receive answers from Shalini.

Shalini presented information about the facilities project at the Calle Ocho campus. As discussed in the December meeting, the facility project is not going to be available for the start of school next year. However, from a financial perspective, the school needs to enroll additional students. The result is our need to utilize "swing space" for 2-3 classrooms of PreK3 & 4 at the Calle Ocho campus. 

The school has communicated this need to My SchoolsDC and the Public Charter School Board and have ensured that no additional hearings or approvals will be necessary for us to move forward with our plan to house "swing space" classrooms at our J.F. Cook campus. 

We have been speaking about the need for swing space in our recruitment sessions. Additionally, MySchoolsDC is posting a notice on our page on their website and we will be sending a written notice to all applicants (once this week and once after March 2 when applications close) to advise applicants in PK3 and PK4 at the Calle Ocho campus of the potential of being placed in a "swing space" at J.F. Cook next year. Our goal is to be transparent to families so they can rank the school in their true order of preference. 

Our hope, is that families will understand that this is a temporary situation and will yield a placement in a beautiful new facility when it is ready. 

Meeting materials contained a brief timeline and renderings of the project. 

Currently, the school believes demolition at the site will begin in March and construction later in May. Substantial completion date is now marked in Spring 2026. We are hosting a private meeting with immediate neighbors in the coming weeks and presenting at the ANC next week to keep the larger community abreast of the construction plans and timeline. 

Rashida provided an update from the committee meeting which were included in the meeting materials. 

Items of note included an update on our 15-year charter renewal including ASPIRE predictions and charter goal performance. Additionally, the committee reviewed interim MAP data that showed positive trends for the year. 

The group is meeting with school leadership regarding the School Specific Performance Measures (SSPMs) which will be used in the ASPIRE framework. The school is currently considering two school specific measures related to our bilingual model. The Board will review the final recommendations from staff when they are available. 

John provided a quick update from the Governance Committee meeting.

With several members rolling off in June, there is a need to continue to grow the Board. Katie and John have been working to recruit and meet with potential members from the community and also the caregivers at the school. 

Goal is to add 3-4 additional members in the next few months. Priorities include expertise in finance, policy & education, and a additional Spanish speakers. 

Roman presented information from the Internal Committee meeting when they discussed the potential impacts of recent Executive Orders, progress on spending against the budget, and the process for creating the budget for SY 25-26.

The committee received preliminary information about spending to date and staff shared that spending is currently forecasted to be approximate $500,000 over budget. Staff are continuing to work on the forecast and find areas for savings that will not have a direct impact on students and learning. Staff is scheduling a deep dive on the forecast in the next week and will report more in March. 

The committee put forward a Resolution for consideration.