Brighten Academy
Minutes
Brighten Academy Charter School Governing Board Meeting
Date and Time
Monday January 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Location
5897 Prestley Mill Rd, Douglasville, GA 30135
The Brighten Academy Governing Board will meet on Monday, January 27th, 2025 at 6:00 pm, in the Media Center.
Directors Present
C. Burns Falker, C. Claiborne, J. Smith, K. Moses, N. Lord, R. Finan, R. Zackery, S. Battle
Directors Absent
D. Carter, M. Vitale
Ex Officio Members Present
D. Davis
Non Voting Members Present
D. Davis
Guests Present
K. Bemus, K. Smith, S. Littles
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Adoption of Agenda
D.
Approval of Minutes
II. Executive Director's Report
A.
Facilities Update
B.
PTO Updates
- Sweetheart dance 2/15 from 4-7 pm. $12 for adults, siblings $6
- Light refreshments will be provided.
Volunteers still needed and must still purchase a ticket. Will work in shifts and assigned duties.
- Positions are available for the PTO. Contact the PTO board for more information by April.
- Toms coffee was a success. Will take place again this Wednesday from 7-8:15 pm. Students can purchase coffee for their teachers.
- There is a wishlist available for the Admin team. Please add to it if you wish.
C.
Staffing Update
- Filled the 3rd grade teacher last week.
- 3-5th intervention check is currently at the reference check of the interview process.
D.
New SRO Staff Role
- Will be utilizing the Security Grant Funding for the SRO position and security cameras as an immediate security action.
- Grant funding is just for 1 year. $3500/month.
- Funding for security is already in the budget, but the goal is that the grant will replace those used funds.
Voted to approve the utilization of grant funds for security upgrades that will include updating cameras and hiring a PT SRO.
III. Executive Committee
A.
Strategic Teams Updates
Discussed the meeting Matt and Deona had regarding the safety committee with the Security Consultant.
B.
Fun Run Update
-The spreadsheet has been submitted, and the website will be up in a few days.
-The Fun Run will be Febuary 28, 2025.
IV. Finance Committee
A.
Monthly Financials
V. Birdies Fore Brighten Ad Hoc Committee
A.
Golf Tournament Update
- We have not received any golfers/sponsors yet for the golf tournament.
- Minimum golfers is 40, and must make at least $30,000.
- We are not under contract yet, so discussion was had if we want to proceed with the tournament.
- March 27, 2025 is the deadline, April 3, 2025 is the golf tournament.
- A suggestion was made to have each board member sign-up at least one team.
VI. Policy/Governance Committee
A.
Information Only
C-1 Communicable Diseases: no recommendation
C-2: Tabled.
C-3: No recommendation
E-1: No changes
I-2: suggested keeping the language, adding a footnote:
H-26: Suggested keeping the language, but pulling for further conversation.
B.
Policy for Vote
Coriya abstained.
VII. Academic Excellence Committee
A.
Workplan Data
- Skills Block/Phonics program: tracks how many students have met their goal, pulling from last years data k2. 28% of students have met their end of year goal. 1st is presented as a deficit. 1st Grade has an action plan.
- i-Ready: Measured on % of students meeting the end goal as well as what way did they meet their end goal. As a median, 73% of students have met their end of year goal. Tracking well in reading.
Highlights: 5th grade surpassed their goals at 108%. 6th grade exceeded by 121%.
- Cary asked if we could get data that could show greater detail for all students both exceeding and not exceeding. Requested feedback from teachers to get an insight of how i-ready is going.
- Data Dialog is in the formation of an action plan. The expectation is that students are doing group work to access the pace of the student and how to improve the scores. Small sessions are 90 minutes long for reading and math.
Dyslexia Students: The school does not diagnose dyslexia. If students are below 40th percentile, they will be put in an intervention classroom. Using a combination of i-ready tests and characteristics tests determines if the students show signs of dyslexia. Winter data shows # of students receiving intervention:
K: 26
1: 25
2: 16
3: 17
% of Students scoring greater than or equal to 2.5 for HOS:
- 90% and above for term 1 and term 2.
Discipline:
- 19 total referrals for the month of December.
Attendance:
- Tracking better this school year vs. 2023-2024 school year.
High Quality Work: Defined in complexity, craftsmanship, and authenticity.
- High percentage in craftsmanship at 98.31% and 81.67% in authenticity for the fall. Typically improves in the Spring. This is pulled from the students learning expeditions.
VIII. Other Business
A.
MOU: Department of Homeland Security- Know2Protect Campaign
Know2Protect: Prevents and combats child exploitation and abuse.
- Dept of Homeland Security is giving organizations the opportunity to become champions of this initiative. Jamiliah will forward the MOU to the board.
- Repairing the broken lights in the gym and replacing a broken speaker.