Board Members discussed their committee selections and selected the following.

Governance Committee: T. Ramsay, B. Bagley, B. Carlson

Finance Committee: C. Sneed, D. Zieff, D. Luciano 

Fundraising Committee: Chaired by D. Zieff. 

L. Hubbard explained Conflict of Interest forms. Board members in attendance read and signed Conflict of Interest Forms

Board Members agreed to meet the 2nd Wednesday of Every Month for all committees and board meetings.

CFO, B. Chan, went over CFO report. 

B. Chan reports that there is Equitable per pupil funding. While the State’s Charter Foundation Rate for Per Pupil remains flat, MLL & Free/Reduced Lunch Enrollment now count towards a higher rate. During the past school year, our achievements were the following. 

• Internal Control & systems
  • 2-Week Supply of Key Items
  • Approval workflow for Purchase Requests
  • Vendor Payment Schedule
  • Payroll Control
  • Grant Expense Tracking
  • Credit Card Receipts & Reconciliation w David

Our New Objectives for the following school year are the following:

• COST CONTAINMENT & FUNDRAISING 
  • Tighter Spending to the Budget
  • Expand Budget Awareness & Ownership
  • Optimize Costs
  • Capital Budget
  • Foundations & Donors

In regards to Electricity; the school is being charged for non - demand instead of demand basis. 

• B. Chan will verify this further
• We are being charged higher 25% at peak and 16% at off-peak
• We don’t pay UI directly, we pay NuPower who is a second party. They came for a site visit so we will know better details later on. 

Middle School Presentation:

• Goals for this year are planned and aligned with the CN network. 
  • Staff Retention & Development Goals:  Increase teacher retention to at least 80%  and staff retention to at least 85%.  
  • Academic Goals:  Increase overall school proficiency in both ELA and Math by 3-5pts.
  • Culture & Community Goals:  Decrease suspension rate to 6%. Decrease chronic absenteeism to 7%.

Staff Retention: 

• MS also created a system for teacher appreciation and team building. Including a committee to boost morale and show more teacher appreciation called The Sunshine Committee.
• D. Zief asked if you could do one thing to change staff retention and development, what would it be? D. Linares states that when teachers feel supported and have an opportunity to voice and be heard helps. 
  • B. Bagley asked what is the biggest reason why staff leaves? D. Linares reports that the staff chose to move out of education, go back to school, or a personal move and make different life decisions.
     

Academic: Goals for 23-24: Increase  overall school  proficiency in ELA and Math by 5pts. 

Result at the End of Year: Increased school proficiency in ELA by 4pts.  Increased school proficiency in Math by 4pts. 

Culture & Community: Goals for 23-24:  Streamline our positive behavior systems and embed social-emotional learning into the student learning experience. Result at the End of Year: Decreased suspension rate from to 8%.  Chronic absenteeism was 29%. Implemented social-emotional learning curriculum in the classrooms. 

• MS also implemented an SEL curriculum for students in classroom. 
• Developing Culture Staff and be able to have conversations with teachers. 
• Area of Growth- Social Media education for students CN aligned 

High School Presentation: 

Celebrations: 

• Increased opportunities for students to earn college credit with Post and Housatonic. 
• Expansion of the Seal of Bi- Literacy Program and AP US History.
• Increased Resume Building Programs for students through partnerships The Fire Department, LIV Girl, Sikorsky, Bullard Havens, SoundWaters, Outward Bound & Career Day
• Expanding College Options for Students:
  • Temple, LSU, Westfield, Simmons, Albertus Magnus

This year we hired a College & Career Counselor which created a Career Day where students were able to come to and get information. 

Culture & Community:

• Our Goal for decreasing suspensions was >5% and we ended the year at 8.44%. The goal for 2024-2025 is Reduction in Physical Altercations by 55% (would support our overall goal of suspension rates falling below 6%)

Chronic Absenteeism: 

• Goal for this past school year is below 20%. We ended at 34%. Our goal for 2024-2025 school year is still below 20%.

Transportation is a huge impact on our chronic absenteeism. Parents/ families have rejected attending our school due to lack of transportation. D. Zief asked if there is a correlation between grades and the absenteeism. C. Pellegrino reports there is no correlation. All grades were pretty much the same. 

Staff Retention: Our goal was to be at 90% and we ended at 97% staff retention.

Academics: 

Our goal for 2023-2024 was to have students graduating in 2024 with college credit be at 40%. Class of 2025 to be at 25%. What we ended the year with is the following.

College Credit: 

48.5% of 2024

26.8% of 2025

15.7% of 2026

The goal for 2024- 2025 is Increasing courses offered and opportunities to take more classes through Post University to increase total credits earned for students starting in 10th Grade.

Curriculum: 

The goal for the next school year has 3 areas of focus. 

1. Curriculum 2. Teacher Clarity and 3. New Teacher Development

Curriculum:

• Revise curriculum documents to include prerequisite skills
• Conduct Professional Development for all staff on curriculum updates
• Review data to measure the impact of curriculum changes
• Teacher meetings to review and update curriculum throughout the year

Teacher Clarity:

• Focus professional development on teaching purpose focused on clarity for students
• Create a library of delivered professional development techniques for teacher clarity
• Collect data through observations and walkthroughs on the implementation of techniques for clarity
• Develop individualized support plans with teachers to enhance development

New Teacher Development:

• Revise teacher onboarding and create plans of support with teachers for needs specific to new teachers
• Support teachers in the development of confidence, curriculum, and clarity
• Assign new teachers to mentor teachers with additional coaching sessions

4 levers for improvement: 

1. Instructional Leadership

2. Focused PD

3.Instructional Coaching

4.Team Data
 

The CT Charter School Association did a presentation to the school's board of directors about their role with our school. They shared their presentation along with their board resources. This has been added to the agenda. 

Dr. Brian Frazier went over Fellows at Great Oaks Charter School- BPT.

The Role of a Fellow:

Engagement

Fellows will assist in removing distractions and assisting students to engage in learning.
Monitoring Students

Fellows will monitor students for engagement and understanding during teacher instruction
Practice

Fellows will support small groups and individual students during individual and guided practice.
Middle School Intervention Times

Fellows will work with students for 50 minutes per day on ELA and Math Interventions.

Computer-Based Interventions

Fellows will support students in small groups using  computer-based interventions at their grade-level,  based on their individual assessment results.

PaperBased Interventions
Fellows will support students using paper-based academic interventions to support below grade-level learning loss.

Focus in 2023-2024 was Highly defined Fellow Roles and Classroom Academic Support only.

Now in 2024-2025 the role has changed a bit and added flexibility of Fellow Scheduling and addition of intervention blocks at the Middle School. The fellows will also work on Academic Achievement by helping more students reach intended academic achievement targets. Engagement by helping students engage with learning activities and stay on task. Finally, a Pipeline to Teaching Careers by Encourage more Fellows to consider careers as teachers.

This will be achieved by the following:

Social-Emotional Learning- Fellows will receive training on how to help support students SEL. 

After-School Programming- Two hours of after-school academic support for students, four days per week.

Data- Regular meetings to review data and impact of Fellows. 

Scheduling- Regularly reviewing and adjusting schedules based on student data.

L. Hubbard went over COO report and presentation. 

Student Enrollment:

Enrollment Highlights 

• 92% student retention rate (average in the past 3 years)
• High demand for seats in High School 
• Over enrollment in grades 8 through 12
• Enrollment target met by June of 2024 compared to August of 2023 

Enrollment Challenges 

• Potential attrition through October 1st, 2024. 
• Lower enrollment and limited waitlist in 6th grade. 

There is a high demand in seats in HS but our HS students aren’t leaving either. As for Middle School, we have lower enrollment in 6th grade.

Facilities Update:

• Update Middle School front office space, to accommodate two Office Coordinators. Opening up space for one on one services from district partners to work with students, and creating more visibility of front office area. 
• Consolidation of Americorps Office Space. Opening up an office on the first floor for a HS Counselor , allowing easier access for students. 
• Replacement of Dumpsters on courtyard with smaller more compact dumpsters in a fenced in area. Opening up more outdoor space for students. 
• Consolidation of general supply closets and curriculum storage spaces. Opening 3 storage spaces in close proximity to Physical Education Classes, HS Spirit items for students, and Ed Tech supplies. 

Education Technology and Data Governance:
How can we optimize the use of our current Edtech Platforms to avoid the need for additional programs, minimize the amount of time teachers spend on tech in order to increase the time spent on instruction?
 

• Transition from Learning Management System Schoology. 
• Optional Use of Google Classroom and Clever Pages.
• New PowerSchool Interface and transition of teacher grades entered directly into PowerSchool. 
• Student behaviors entered into PowerSchool.
• Parent Communication through PowerSchool. 
• Panorama integration and comprehensive student data reports. 
• Data Governance Team -Audits and Data Team Meeting Attendance. 

Community Partnerships Highlights:

• Successfully created a portfolio of 71 community partners, offering a diverse range of resources and services to students and families.
• Assisted 22 families with navigating resources like 211, evictions, homelessness and aid for undocumented families.
• Secured $3k in donations for Community CleanUp efforts, $1700 Shed for Courtyard, and 10 free Basketball Camp Slots for current students (estimated value of $17k. 

How can Human Resources Support Staff Retention?
 

• Significantly streamlined onboarding processes
• Staff Survey to gauge adult culture
• Complete exit Interviews
• Cycles of feedback starting with Admin Team

Initiatives to Increase Funding and Reduce Cost 

• Goal 100% Certification - Continue to Tag to Per Pupil Dollars reduce the need to cover teacher salary costs with other funding sources.
• Apply for 2nd round of Security Grant Funds. 
• Building Initiatives to reduce Electricity costs . 
• Comprehensive review of Ed Tech Platforms and cancelling programas no longer needed resulting in over $90k in cost savings.
• Updated process to collect low income family data, and to support with SNAP and Medical Resources. This number could impact per pupil funding as Ben will discuss later in presentation. 

CEO, John Scalice, went over CEBoard Goals for the 2024-2025 school year. 

Academic: Increase student achievement in ELA and Math. Implement Year 1 Commissioners Network. 

Culture: Reduce Chronic Absenteeism and reduce out of school suspension rate. 

Finance: Increase school funding through competitive grants and fundraising. Develop a fundraising approach that yields short and long term funding for school specific programs. 

Current Model: 

6-12 Middle/High School

• Embedded Fellows in all 6-8 classrooms for English Language Arts and Math
• Embedded Fellows in select content (English/Math) Courses
• Intervention Blocks in 6-8th grade focused on targeted instruction for ELA and Math
• Small group instructional focus leveraging Fellows; using Scientifically Researched Curriculum

AmeriCorps Fellows

• Used in small groups for traditional classroom periods and academic intervention during the day
• Used for High-Dosage targeted intervention for after-school programs and support
• Typically 20-25 Fellows allowing for 6 assigned to Middle School Classrooms, 4 Assigned to HS classrooms, and 2 Assigned to ESL Support; plus 8-13 used for varied levels of intervention

Expanding to K-5: 

Demonstration of Need: 

• Since 2018, 6th grade students entering Great Oaks Charter School have had a range of 4% to 8% in Math Proficiency and a range of 13-19% ELA Proficiency (CSDE SBAC Data). 
• The wide range of learning gaps shown through entering 6th graders highlights a lack of consistent support and implementation of District wide programs throughout Bridgeport Public Schools (Interim Assessment Data)

What does k-5 population in a school look like?

• 20 (K-3) 25 (4-5) students per classroom; 2 classrooms per grade level
• 1  Teacher and 2 Fellows per classroom
• 3 Teachers per grade level team
• State Approved Research Based Curriculum for ELA
• Math Curriculum aligned with the Middle School
• Science/Social Studies taught by primary teacher
• Primary school model through Grade 4; split team for grade 5 to prepare for grade 6
• Intervention Blocks

Starting the Process and Exploration:

• Parent and Community Partner Survey
• Initial planning of implementation of program, creation of a framework, basic outline of a daily, monthly, annual plan
• Research, review, and apply for grant funding for development
• Conversations with CSDE regarding substantive change of Charter to include K-5 expansion
• Discussions regarding model of expansion (beginning grades, seat caps)
• Secure sight and funding for expansion in addition to grants
   

Grants and Fundraising: 

 We get a CT state per pupil amount of $12,800 except for Special Education.

Key Grants and Entitlements:

$1.5 mil (3 yr) - Commissioner’s Network

$236,000 (1 yr)- School Improvement Grant

$635,000 (2 yr) - High Dosage Tutoring Grant

$500,000 (3 yr) - Barr Grant

$800,000 (1 yr) Mandated LEA Funds

$450,000 (1 yr) Title I Federal Funding

*This year 29.73% of our instructional program is grant and entitlement funded

Allocation Facts:

• 64% of non-operational spending on Instructional Support for teachers (Professional Development, Coaching, Fellow Support) is Grant and Entitlement Funded
• 100% of Special Education is Entitlement Funded
• 67% of our non-operational spending is directly student facing support

18% of our non-operational budget is for administrative costs (inclusive of School Based and Central Office)

Fundraising initiatives:

• College Tuition for Dual Enrolled Students
• Student Tutoring (High Dosage Tutoring)
• College and Career Exploration (College visits, internships, career and college fairs)
• New to Country Student Supplies and Resources
• Multi-Language Learner Programs Before and After-School
• Career and College Pathway Materials (Science Lab)