Judge Greg Phillips opens the meeting to  Marybeth Mollo's Resignation. At this time (5:13pm), we're unable to accept the resignation with a vote since we do not have a full quorum.

Dr. Jones opens her item with stating that 

• All teaching positions are filled.
• All juniors and seniors are on a college campus taking courses, a piloted goal for the 25-26 school year. 
• NHCSB have co-oped with Randolph Sports team for our own after-school sport teaming activities.
• Multiple activities since September began: 
  • Game night for students and families once a month - 70 families were in the building, 
  • First college-fair of the year with over 40 college and universities.
  • over 50 students attended a Youth Entrepreneurship over the weekend.
• New Heights is an official SAT school site - first SAT of the season will take place on Saturday, October 6, 2025

"We start strong so we don't have to get strong". - Dr. Jones concludes her summary with this quote

Steve Bernard asks how many students are taking place in football this season? 

• 11-12 players -Two of our players are in the starting line-up. 

William Lytte asks about MCAS Data and how will New Heights be utilizing scores seeing as a law was passed that no longer requires it to be a graduation requirement?

• Our scores will keep us informed of the work we will need to do to set our students up for success. 

Lourdes Pires presents that as of September 30th, NHCSB is  fully enrolled with 736 students noting that grades 6 through 9 are at capacity with a healthy waitlist.

Current Numbers:

6th: 115

7th: 114

8th: 114

9th: 115

10th: 103

11th: 86

12th: 89

Female: 364

Male: 372

Sarah Glatt of PaperCrane presents the following:

• Strategic Planning
• Specializes in working with programs who are in their key moment of change 
• touches on Strategic Planning in terms of reaching a shared agreement
• Planning Consideration with key elements like 
  • Strategic and Programmatic
  • Operational Components Needed to Support Plan - staffing models
  • Financial - Business Model and Investments Needed
• End Goal is NHCSB will have a three-five year plan

Questions: 

1. WL asks how many strategic planning goals can we have: 

• 3-4

2. DD is the goal time allotted into a specific time, how will it phase out? 

• The big plans will be multi-year (2-4) the details within them are meant to be delineated. The action plan itself is to complete 30-60-90 day goals.  The action plan will have people assigned to them, not just priorities and be tied to the "if-then"statement." 

3. If Greenlight is chosen, when will they start? 

• They can start almost immediately.

4. What factors does money play in executing this plan? 

• With our relatively fixed budget, we can fundraise on the side to pay for things tuition cannot pay for.

5. Wadner Pierre asks how can marketing communication be an added fixture with the strategic planning and communicating marketing materials to our stakeholders, donors, and sponsors? How can we profit from our 10th year anniversary? 

• Sarah responds that it does not fall under one bucket but six different areas and we're looking for funders and donors who share the same passion and "overlap of their vision of the world". 

-Touchpoint at Board Meetings

-They will not meet with ELT and SBLT meetings as frequent as we meet but can be present at these meetings

-Stakeholders include parents, DESE, Early College Partners and representatives to gather input and inform decision-making. OW outlined a four-phase process to develop a multi-year strategic plan, focusing on defining the organization's current state, setting goals, creating an action plan, and ensuring financial alignment. The plan aims to guide the organization's growth and address challenges such as space, staffing, and fundraising. He also highlighted the need for careful prioritization and communication strategies to support fundraising efforts.

Our Auditors Colleen D'Alfonso and Valquiria Marcal reported a clean audit findings with no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies. The audit included three reports: an independent auditors' report with an unmodified opinion on the combined financial statements, a report on internal control over financial reporting with no findings, and a report on compliance with requirements that could have a direct material effect on the major program, which was the Child Nutrition Cluster. The financial ratios presented by Val showed most metrics in the low-risk category, indicating a strong financial year for the school.

WL asks about operating cash and if it will include the money market? 

• Yes.

Omari thanks Suzanne and her team for their good work on ensuring our finances have been in order along with a clean audit. 

Dr. Jess Geier opens the discussion to give a brief account of what the Board members could expect in preparation for their October 8th Focus Group meeting with DESE.

Tomorrow at 5pm, the board will meet collectively via zoom to hold a Board Member Focus Group Training meeting. The focus group will also focus on questions regarding Governance. 

Jess gives some details on the upcoming site visit which will be a team of four and they will arrive at the school to meet with Jess, Dr. Jones, and Mr. Walker at 7am. The state visit will include visits to classrooms, conduct focus groups, and a debrief by noon. We should expect to hear by February if the renewal is a success. 

Carl Walker explains the reasoning behind the need to purchase the two vans

1. 12-passenger 7D van (used 2024 van with 5k)

2. 15-passenger van ( this will replace the use of having to use the school bus to and from activities) 

The board approved the purchase of two new vans: a 12-passenger 7D van for $52,000 and a 15-passenger van for after-school activities within the $60,000 numebers. Carl explained that the 7D van would be used for transporting students outside the Brockton area, while the 15-passenger van would replace school buses for team activities. The board also discussed the option to purchase three leased buses at the end of their lease term in June for $25,000 each, but decided to postpone this decision until then.

Omari explains the basis of this presentation which will be explained throughly by Dr. Delroy Dennis and a request before the board to sponsor these visa for five  teachers . Dr. Jones will also answer any questions the Board may have behind the rationale of sponsoring the visas for the 5 staff members/teachers. 

Questions: 

Judge Phillips asks 

1. how long are the petitions good for? 

• The filing expires but the petition is good for 3-5years and it can be moved to permanent status via green card. The H1-B is good for five years.

2. What happens if during the five year period decide they want to move and go somewhere else? It will be considered a new filing and now the new institution will have to take over the responsibility of obtaining a new H1-B visa. 

This only applies if we apply for the H1-B while these sponsors are in a current J1 visa. 

3. How do we defend why we are spending this money on these five individuals?

Dr. Jones answers and highlights the low turnover rate  and any school that has the opportunity to keep qualified teachers in their building for five years are very fortunate. The question about hiring new teachers is unlikely due to the work it takes to get qualified teachers, train them, and keep them in our school. The teaching pool is small. 

4. Vinnie asks if we can afford this 60k? 

It is not written into the budget but prior conversation from yesterday's finance meeting brings into focus the idea of being allowed to use our savings while finding ways to replace the funds used for this unexpected project. Omari responds that our auditors said we could potentially/very much use the funds and while we may end up in the red, we're assured that we will not be looked upon unfavorably if we make this decision intentionally and for a worthy cause. 

5. Steve Bernard asks if there are other expenses we would be providing besides the 60k that is being discussed. Suzanne answers no. 

Suzanne Graham presents the Finance Committee's report in place of Shelly and Nick who were not present during the meeting and notes that income was running at 17% of budget and expenses were slightly under budget, though professional services were running high due to front-loaded costs.

Steve Bernard gives a recount of last week's AEC Meeting:

Early College Course Sequence which breaks down how New Heights students go from 0-60 college credits while in high school. It starts in 9th grade where students successfully take 1 college class in their 2nd semester. They will then take a total of 12 credits by the end of their sophomore year. By the time they get to the 11th grade and by the end, they would have completed 24 credits. When in their senior year, they will take an additional 3-4 classes each semester which brings them to 60 credits once they are crossing the stage at graduation.

How many students reach this goal: Approximately 50 %. 

Dual Enrollment students who are not deemed college-ready in the 9th grade, receive the opportunity in the 10th grade and continue taking 2 college courses (6 credits) both semesters. This year, our dual-enrollment students are on MCC's college campus taking college courses.

Dr. Hyde-Jones asks Maria to highlight how they assess the 9th graders who are deemed early-college which happens with an accuplacer and measured by PACK skills, and other methods partnered with MCC. 

Kaitlin presents important points from the data dashboard with reports in FY24-25 showing a decrease in chronic absence from 26.3% to 21% compared to the previous year, though they remain slightly above the state average of 18.8%.

Vinnie presented the Governance Report, which included the following topics:

Executive Director’s Evaluation: Discussion was held regarding the Executive Director’s evaluation and the need for the Board to formally adopt the findings of that evaluation.

Board Terms: Review of current Board member terms and upcoming renewals.

Financial Disclosure Completion: Reminder of outstanding Financial Disclosure forms and the importance of compliance.

 Jason Radzevich - term  to expire on November 21, 2025 but renewal most likely will take place.

Dr. JG informed the Board that five to six members have yet to complete the required Financial Disclosure form. She will send a follow-up notice to those members the following day.

Dr. JG clarified that the purpose of the Financial Disclosure is to affirm each member’s oath that they are not compensated for their service and do not receive any financial benefit from serving on the Board of New Heights.

Next steps: Dr. JG will distribute a reminder notice to the remaining Board members who have not yet completed the disclosure form.