Board Treasurer, C. Sneed, went over Fiscal Policy document. According to the CSDE we are making a revision to our fiscal policy. They wanted clarification on exact language. The board went over the language the document needs to have. 

Our CFO went over finance report. 

• Credit card usage was discussed with our board of directors. This is something that needs to be discussed further. C. Sneed states that it would be good to ask the CSDE for guidance.
• We are also discussed possibly moving our fiscal year to August 1st instead of July 1st. This also needs to be talked about further and do the appropriate research. 

The dashboard was discussed with the board of directors.

• As of the end of September we had around 2.1M in our checking account and another 288,316 that came from the ERC. 
• Our cash position is ok, our current ratio is 1.28

Fundraising: We got 166,750 from the Barr Grant which has been funded. This is the last year of our 3 year grant. The Barr foundation has been very supportive of the school.

Expenses: 

The budget is conservative but realistic. CFO, B. Chan, went over material expense variances and summarized the budget to actuals for board members. 

We have worked with SMG to break out their invoice into three different parts so that will be updated and shown in next month's dashboard. The 3 different parts are the following: 

1. Janitorial services
2. Repair and maintenance services
3. Food services

C. Sneed states that this is something that Sage Intact would better help facilitate budget oversight. Sage intact is a software program that has everything we would need for a budgeting and accounting/bookkeeping standpoint. 

L. Hubbard went over COO report.

Enrollment Numbers:

• September 11th Enrollment - 650
• October 1st Enrollment - 661
• Anticipated Final Enrollment at the end of the month: 659 -661
  • Due to a few students on enrollment list that we may need to challenge with the state. For example, on October 1st a student came to school for testing then went to school at Central High School. 

Early Recruitment Approach 

• Open Enrollment for 6th Grade - 2024 -2025 School Year - due to low enrollment for 6th grade.
• Application for  2025-2026 School Year Open in November 

Alternative Income Form distribution:

• Currently we’ve identified 69% of our students through the Direct Certification Portal which tells us which students are currently receiving state benefits. 
• This year we are using the  Alternative Income form to identify families who may be eligible for income based assistance, that are not currently receiving benefits from the State of Connecticut. 
• By collecting the Alternative Income Form from families, we aim to identify those who may not currently be receiving benefits. This effort could increase the percentage of families identified as low-income, making us eligible for additional per-pupil funding to provide more resources and support for our students.

Facilities Update:

• Fence repair in rear courtyard complete - Quote was reduced by $1800
• HVAC Audit Complete - Over $5k in repairs detailed in quotes. Reviewing quotes against new boiler installation, which should be under warranty. 
• Still currently interviewing candidates for the Operations Facilities Manager role, will be concluding interviews next week and making a decision by the following week. 

J. Scalice, CEO, went over CEO report. 

J. Scalice wants to wish our HS and MS principals, Mr. Pellegrino, Mrs. Linares, Mrs. Ford and Ms. Chila a formal Happy Principal's Month! 

Gala has been moved to Friday, April 11th, 2025. 

• Personalized invitations for potential donors and organizations
• A “Fund-A-Need” appeal
• Outreach to visit and speak at local meetings inclusive of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, The Fairfield County Community Foundation, and others
• Personalized letters inclusive of donation opportunities and meeting requests with local known-to-donate organizations
• Requests to speak at meetings of other organizations that we currently receive donations from such as Near and Far Aid to increase contribution amounts

Commisioner's Network Walkthrough:

9/12/2024 visit:

• Positive Environment
• Positive Beginning Implementation
• Deeper Learning Intentions
• Tighten Structures

9/27/2024 visit: 

• Positive Clear Learning Intentions
• Positive Strong Structures
• Embed ongoing assessment
• Increase use of time

10/08/2024 visit:

• High Assessment of plan progress for first month of implementation

Over the next two months our upcoming focuses will be Intentionality, Use of Time, Transference, Success criteria. 

Intentionality: 

• Focus on why the teacher is doing and the impact it will have on students

Use of Time: 

• Pacing to increase engagement

Transference:

• Moving the workload from teacher owned to the student for owned

Success:

• Students demonstrating what they have learned through intentional design

Initial Data Perfomance:

We did our full I- Ready for Middle School. High School is still in working on testing. This shows where our students are where the year ended in 2023-2024. 

Math- Current Grade, Where they ended (23-24), Where we are (Fall 24)

Grade 6

9%   17%   74%

2%   18%   80%

Grade 7

10%   30%   60%

3%   22%   75%

Grade 8

23%   20%   58%

8%   21%   71%
 

ELA-  Current Grade, Where they ended (23-24), Where we are (Fall 24)

Grade 6

10%   12%   78%

 9%   19%   72%

Grade 7

20%   31%   49%

11%   16%   73%

Grade 8

32%   17%   50%

22%   10%   68%

Action Steps: 

• Realigned curriculum to address prerequisite needs to access grade-level standards (CN)
• Additional instructional time built into the scope and sequence to allow instruction of prerequisite learning (CN)
• Intervention model focused on individual student learning needs through iReady instructional platform delivered by Fellows (CN)
• iReady instructional support leveraged as part of the “Seamless Day” program for students
• Professional Development focused on Intentional Learning and Success Criteria (CN)
• Intentional student grouping within classrooms for Tier 1 instruction with teachers and embedded Fellows (CN)

D. Zieff asked if these numbers concern you as a school? J. Scalice states yes regarding where our students are entering our school. But this type of testing helps us see how to get students to where they need to be or as close as we can. 

D. Zieff asked regarding our delinquency in absenteeism. Our attendance coordinator is doing a great job by connecting families to services, doing home visits every week, connected families to her and engaged with the students really well. It is hard to really look at the numbers prior to November so we will touch base then with more information.  

No new business.