The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jon Wasser.

There was no student presentation this month.

ECRCHS English teacher Mariellen Webster urged the Board to vote to approve the ECRA/UTLA contract, that was overwhelmingling voted on by the UTLA membership, at this meeting instead of waiting until the April meeting.

ECRCHS English teacher and Debate coach Cameron Maury thanked the Board members for their time and efforts and thanked them for all that they have given to the teachers.  He stated that he agrees with a previous statement by a board member that the Board, the Charter and the Executive Director should each have their own attorney and urged the Board to pursue that.  He stated his belief that since the Charter does not cover how promotions are determined or the hiring of administrators, he suggested that a policy be established by the Board.  He also suggested that a professional conflict team be brought in to engage the teachers and administrators to help work out and overcome the continuing animosity and division between teachers.

ECRCHS English teacher, UTLA Rep. Jason Kinsella, who helped negotiate the contract between the teachers and the administration, stated that all 138 teachers unanimously voted to approve the contract and urged the Board to call a special meeting to vote to ratify the contract so as not to leave the teachers without a contract until April.

ECRCHS teachers and UTLA Rep. Carlos Monroy also stated that every UTLA member who voted, voted to approve the contract thanks to collective bargaining.  He thanked staff members Anita Gruen, Frank Wymond, David Valenzuela, Torben Pedersen and Jason Kinsella for their efforts in negotiating the contract and thanked UTLA for their guidance and assistance.  He urged the Board members to vote unanimously to approve the contract.  He requested that the Board call a Special meeting within 24 hours to vote on the contract.

Jackie Keene stated that the committee update will be presented later in the Agenda.

A motion was made to move the vote to section 5A on the Agenda, when the Financials prepared by EdTec are presented.

Eric Wilson is working with Professional Development and should have an outline of a plan by April to present at the May meeting for approval.  Eric and Lisa Ring should have the LCAP ready to present at the April or May meetings for approval.

David Hussey updated the Board that the Lottery was held on March 8th and there were 997 Open Enrollment applications for 320 spots for the upcoming fall semester.  There were a few late applications that put the total over 1,000.   The previous evening was High School Transition night and both sides of the bleachers in the gym were full with parents and students.  Teachers volunteered their time to explain their programs and the meeting lasted about 1 1/2 hours.  Parents had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with counselors, teachers and administrators so hopefully all questions were answered.
Spring sports have started and Winter sports just wrapped up. The Wrestling team won another City championship, Boys soccer lost in the quarter finals, girls soccer lost in the finals and lost in the semi's of the regional tournament, girls' basketball lost the finals and then made it to the regional championship and boys' basketball lost in the open division and made it to the regional playoffs.  He thanked the winter coaches for their hard work. The school spring musical Urinetown, was a success and all shows were sold out. 
ECR has started a Professional Development Committee, which has met twice, and will meet after school to develope PD through the school and throughout the year.  WASC will be at ECR next year and will take up a good deal of time.  The committee was open to all teachers and 15 responded with a core of 10 teachers who attended both meetings.  This will help the younger teachers and get everyone on the same page and improve the school. 
Mr. Fehte joined the meeting late, due to a conference call, and stated that he agrees with Jason Kinsella that the negotiated contract is a fine contract, the administrators approve, it was negotiated in good faith on both sides and he urged the Board to vote on the contract either tonight or call a Special Meeting ASAP to vote.
Mr. Fehte named David Hussey to oversee the creation of new committees and oversee the Charter Over-sight Committee.
 

Marshall reported that the plan is to start using Prop 39  funds around July according to the Clean Energy Law Act and present plans to the Board for approval. Tony Lumino, from Opterra , who already works with LAUSD, presented Part 1 of a 3-part plan to the Board with projects that apply to Prop. 39.

Chang Patel from EdTec reviewed the January financials.

A Motion was made by Peter Vastenhold and seconded by Jackie Keene for the Board to vote on the ECRCHS/UTLA contract after the closed session at the end of tonight's meeting.  The Motion was unanimously approved.

A Motion was made by Dennis Thompson and seconded by Odus Caldwell to ratify the agreement between ECRCHS and UTLA.  The Motion was unanimously approved.

 

Marshall Mayotte reported the hiring of two new employees, Christopher McGrady and Iris Quiago, in the Business Office due to additional fiscal requirements by LAUSD which will increase the workload, and the departure of two employees, Duc Quach and Emese Gaspar.  Fernando Delgado and Susan Kim are working hard on the ERP purchasing system to be in line with LAUSD's demands.  The goal is to implement the new process April 9th after it is presented to the staff at a PD meeting.  ECRCHS received a public records request from LAUSD's Office of Inspector General to review ECRCHS's vendor contracts, as did Granada and Palisades Charter schools.  Some changes are being made to payroll.  For classified employees no hours will be projected out. Certificated employees will be paid their regular salary on the last day of the month and any supplemental pay (summer school, auxiliary pay, etc.) on the 15th of the following month.  Judy McLean has been brought on board to assist with payroll.  He reviewed Title 1 funding, reduced tax revenue and stated that ECRCHS is one of the lowest funded schools but we run efficiently. 

Jon Wasser stated that he would like to further discuss future fund raising.  Melanie Horton reported that she will be sending out letters to parents of the first campaign requesting donations.  She has discussed fund raising with the President of The Friends of ECR parent group and PTSA.  Jon would like to bring in groups in the future to discuss and increase diversity. 

In Closed Session the Board members voted unanimously to accept releasing public employees.