Brian Archibald led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sara Warford-Crowe, student and representative of ECR's Student Council, made a statement in support of changing the school mascot.
Meredith Adams, teacher, made a statement regarding the childcare support for staff.
A statement on behalf of all ECR Social Studies teachers was made in support of changing the school mascot.
Letty Zane, parent, made a statement in support of changing the school mascot.
Nadine de la Rosa, teacher, made a statement in support of changing the school mascot.
Brian Finley, community member, made a statement expressing concerns about the process used to change the school mascot.

Heather Knight provided the UTLA update.  Ms. Knight acknowledged ECRA's sunshine proposal, and looked forward to the start of bargaining a new collective bargaining agreement.  The parties have agreed to meeting on October 28th and November 4th, with more dates to be agreed upon.  She also expressed UTLA's support of changing the school mascot.  Ms. Knight expressed concerns about some of the financial items on the agenda, including the changing of the trustee for the lifetime healthcare benefits trust.  She asked that a financial presentation be made by the CBO to the faculty on the current finances and budget projections.  Finally, Ms. Knight invited the certificated representatives to attend the next UTLA chapter meeting through Zoom on October 28th at 4 p.m.

Mr. Hussey started by honoring and recognizing all the work that students, parents, teachers, staff members, community members, and Board members have done so far this year.  He noted that we are in the 11th week of our semester and only have 7 weeks remaining this semester.  
The US Department of Education, in collaboration with Microsoft, has reached out to ECR (a Microsoft showcase school) has reached out and asked to have our tech one-to-one program in its blog on best practices.
Mr. Hussey also noted that the Tech Office is open on Saturdays from 8 am to 12 pm.  He also noted that the Tech team and office staff have done amazing work so far this semester.  Since August 10th, there have been 1,254 student chats answered, 295 office chats answered, and 2,300 phone calls answered.  The Tech team has also made 396 repairs to date, resulting in $11,068 in reimbursements for the repairs for being a Lenovo-authorized repair facility.
The Equity Advisory Committee will be having its first meeting on Monday, October 26th.  A survey was sent out, and the meeting will be for those who expressed interest in participating.  The Committee will be comprised of teachers, staff members, students, parents, and administrators.
ECR has been approved for the TK-12 Education In Person Support and Services Notification Waiver, which allows us to bring our at-risk students on campus.  The Intervention Team has put together a program that will start tomorrow.  Cohorts will be created to bring groups of students onto campus, starting with 9th graders.
On the Charter Renewal Process, LAUSD will be doing its redlining during October and November.  There will be a presentation before the LAUSD Board on October 27th.  CSD will be making its recommendation to the LAUSD Board on November 23rd; and LAUSD will have its vote on ECR's Charter Renewal Petition on December 8th.
School ID pictures will take place November 17 - 20 from 2 pm to 6 pm, so as to not interfere with instructional time.  
The PETS tutoring program takes place on Mondays and Thursdays during lunch for math, English, science and world languages.  Students enter a Microsoft meeting, and a student monitor sends the students out to the different tutors for one-on-one tutoring.  Ms. Endres and Mr. Graham supervise the students.
Our Average Daily Attendance is 98%.  We are reaching out students who are absent.
Our lottery application process beings November 1st and continues to January 15th; the lottery will take place on January 21st.  We have begun advertising this. 
There will be a virtual open house this year on November 18th starting 6 pm.  This will be recorded and be used as school tours for those who could not make it to this November 18th meeting.  Mr. Hussey advised he would speak with Mr. Bennett and Mr. Alba for other virtual tours (such as during the Chat with the Executive Director).
ECR will be a voting site on October 30th (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), October 31st (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), November 1st (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), November 2nd (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and November 3rd (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.).  Voters will enter through the cafeteria, go into Anderson Hall, and then exit out through the cafeteria.
ECR is working with Mustang Marketing to create a standardized message and editorial guide (which will be distributed shortly).  We are using "ECR Flex" for all of our alternative programs (Alternative Education, Independent Study and everything related), with the tag line "The excellence you deserve; the flexibility you need."  This will be marketed through advertisement design, content creation, E-blasts, digital design, and social media support.  
Ms. Chen acknowledged Holly Kiamanesh and all the students of Student Council for all their work in planning and promoting the spirit days and school events.

Mr. Wood stated that he had created a profile report for the school to track the monthly enrollment and ADA, and will be presenting that to the Board.  The numbers indicate that 3,652 students are currently enrolled; by grade level this is 916 9th graders, 942 10th grader, 910 11th graders, and 884 12th graders.
Our Special Education (SPED) numbers have increased 12% this year; from 365 students identified with SPED needs last year, to 410 this year.  We are part of the LAUSD Option 3 SELPA from which we receive our federal and state SPED funding; Mr. Wood is the co-chair for this group.  Grants are given our annually, and because of our increased SPED enrollment, we will be receiving $30,000 more in funding this year than last year.  This will be used to support our SPED expenses.  
As to our food service, we are now able to provide meals to all student-aged children in the community, not just ECR students.  In the current week, we delivered 894 meals on a daily basis combined breakfast and lunch.  This is a growth from the approximate 500 daily meals at the end of September.  Also, schools can apply for commodities from the USDA based on the free and reduced population; we had not previously applied for such commodities.  We have applied and been accepted, which will bring in more than $200,000 in commodities (foods) for our school meal program.  This will reduce some of our food service cost, and will help support our current pricing model with Chartwells.  Currently, our contracted pricing with Chartwells is resulting in a net loss to ECR.  We have also invested funds to expedite the food service process here at ECR, and these commodities will help offset that cost as well.
Mr. Wood is having ongoing conversations with LAUSD regarding the budget submitted as part of our charter renewal, and he believes we are in the final process of such discussions.
We have also had discussions with LAUSD regarding the maintenance and operation costs charged which are still in dispute.  These discussions include disputed gardening service charges, as ECR believes the invoicing does not coincide with the amounts billed.  Of the approximately $140,000 in gardening charges, we are not disputing 95% of it and will be paying those amounts while discussion those amounts that are still in dispute.  We are seeking to move this process along, to ensure that it does not interfere with the charter renewal process. 
Mr. Wood noted that he is continuing to network with the other conversion charter schools to discuss common issues.
Finally, we are reviewing our health benefits renewal, and are getting proposals from our current vendors and other vendors to compare pricing.  We hope to complete the RFP process next week, and hope to come to the Board with a proposal to consider and approve.

Travel Committee did not meet.
Finance Committee met last Thursday October 15th, and spent quite a bit of time in discussion with the investment advisor going over the portfolio; there is some concern as there appears to be a disconnect between the Investment Policy Statement and the strategies the advisor is employing. The Finance Committee had sought reports to be presented in a particular way, which was not achieved.  This has not been fully resolved.  Mr. Archibald made a recommendation to Mr. Hussey and Mr. Wood to consider alternative investment advisors moving forward.  The Committee did approve recommendation to the Board of the check register and the American Express charges.  The Committee did not advance the Resolution re the Healthcare Benefits Trust as they wanted some alternatives which should be presented later tonight.
The Tech Committee did not meet, but Ms. Chen noted she is planning to set up a meeting later this month.
The Executive Director Evaluation Committee does not have an update.
The Safety Committee needs to be staffed, as Mr. Ryburn is no longer on the Board.  The Safety Committee will review any safety procedures as needed, such as COVID procedures.  Mr. Silverstein and Mr. Kofahl agreed to serve on the Safety Committee.
 

This matter was removed from the Consent agenda and voted on separately.

Mr. Wood shared the September 2020 Finance Report.  He noted that our financial position is improved compared to the same time last year.  The Cash Flow includes learning loss funding of $1,375,560 as well as the PPP loan funding.  The Profit & Loss shows that our expenses this year are on track with last year's expenses, but this year's net income is greater due to the additional funding received.
Mr. Archibald asked how the school will be managed over the next year and a half.  Mr. Wood replied that the Profit & Loss identifies that, while there is a current net income projected, that income is based on the PPP loan funding and also the school has to consider cash flow in light of the deferrals in state funding that we will experience over the next year and a half.  
Mr. Silverstein noted that the 119 days of cash on hand will be needed because of the deferrals that will be coming.  
Mr. Hussey stated that he will work with Mr. Wood and staff to have a presentation to provide information to the staff and to give staff an opportunity to ask questions.
The Budget Comparison shows that we are on track relative to our expenditures.
 

Mr. Chang went over the purpose of the Resolution, to establish the current CBO Mr. Wood as the trustee and remove all prior trustees.  The concerns of the Finance Committee over the unilateral authority of the Chief Business Officer were addressed, by noting that the CBO was required to identify two (2) other co-trustees and one (1) non-voting corporate trustee.  
A discussion was held whether the Board should have authority to approve any trustees for the trust, and whether it should be required to have Board member(s) serve as trustees.  It was agreed to revise the Resolution to reflect that the Board would have authority to approve the trustees as recommended by the CBO.  The approval of the trustees will be agendized for a subsequent Board meeting.

Mr. Wood discussed the benefits of establishing a LACOE County Treasury Account, which would include: allowing us to immediately transfer state and federal funding into ECRA's account, which would benefit our cash flow; and allowing ECRA to pay its STRS and PERS contributions directly rather than having to mail a cashier's check, which is beneficial given the recent issue we had with LACOE losing our cashier's check.
Mr. Archibald asked about the annual cost; Mr. Wood replied that it would cost $2,500 a year for the account.  Mr. Archibald asked what economic benefit we are getting in setting up this account; Mr. Wood noted that the benefit was an improved cash flow and savings in time in having to get a cashier's check cut and mailed out.  Mr. Silverstein said that the cost of a little over $200 a month was worth the benefits in terms of cash flow and not having to have a cashier's check cut and mailed out each month.

Closed session took place.

Closed session took place.

Closed session took place.

There were no actions to report.

ECRA's initial proposal for bargaining with UTLA was reviewed and discussed.

The Independent Audit Report on Shoup Property Expenses was reviewed and discussed.  Mr. Chang noted that the audit was requested by LAUSD as to whether ECRA's Fiscal Policies and Procedures had been complied with as to the Shoup Property renovation.  It was noted that the FPP had been revised recently to reflect more defined policies regarding backup and documentation requirements.  The report will be submitted to LAUSD along with ECRA's response noting the steps ECRA would take to ensure that the FPP is complied with at all times.
Mr. Archibald requested from Mr. Wood that, whenever an audit is done, the Finance Committee (or, in this instance, the Finance Committee chair) meet with the auditor to work on points of emphasis for the audit, and that the auditor come and have a conversation with the Finance Committee so that additional questions could be asked.  Mr. Wood stated that he agreed with this and that he would ensure this happens going forward.

This item was moved up to before the closed session IV.A.
Mr. Hussey stated that students had been discussing this issue for the past couple of years, and he believed this should have been discussed sooner but it hadn't been.  Community has been aware of this issue as well, and that our community has changed over time.
Mr. Hussey also noted that he had reached out to the Fernandeno Tataviam Band of Mission Indians to get their input on some potential news, and the organization had provided feedback on potential mascot names.  
Mr. Hussey stated that he wanted a mascot that reflected the history of this area and our school, and which would allow us to go into the 21st century with a mascot that represented the school, the area, and the community.
Regarding the cost aspect, the major cost would be to revising the stadium field; if funds are not available, we can simply paint over the current mascot name and wait until funds are available to re-paint the new mascot name.  However, he stated that cost should not be a consideration if changing the mascot is the right thing to do.
Mr. Silverstein stated that, aside from the potential cost involved, it is his opinion that this is not a Board issue but should be dealt with by the staff with the involvement of students, parents, and the community.  Ms. Chen noted that he had asked Mr. Hussey to discuss this in order to keep the community apprised of current developments; as such, this is not a voting item but rather a platform for the school to explain the process to date.
Mr. Archibald asked that Mr. Hussey put together a project plan with a projected timeline.  Mr. Hussey stated he would do so.