Dr. Davis led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ms. Huffaker spoke in follow up to the email sent to the Board regarding her resignation as Co-Chair of the Special Education Department.

Heather Knight gave the UTLA update.  She thanked Mr. Silverstein and Ms. Ibach for attending the UTLA meeting.  Ms. Knight also spoke regarding the change of insurance providers and the issues members have had.  Ms. Knight noted that UTLA and AFSCME were asked to review the proposals for investment provider services, and asked that the Finance Committee delay voting on the proposals until more time has been given.  She also noted that official bargaining for the new collective bargaining agreement had commenced, and that two articles had been tentatively agreed to and are awaiting signatures.  Ms. Knight stated that the distance learning side letter expires at the end of the semester, and that it will have to be negotiated for extension as it appears we will not be returning to in-person instruction any time soon.  

Mr. Hussey shared a video regarding the approval of the charter renewal by LAUSD.  He thanked staff for their work on getting the renewal done.
Mr. Hussey discussed the marketing work done thus far.  He also noted that Oaks Christian asked to come to campus to review our technology program.
We had had small groups of students coming on campus, but that has to be postponed.
The last day for Fall Semester is tomorrow, December 18th.  There will be a textbook collection.  Spring semester will start January 20, 2021.  We will start with distance learning, but hopefully at some point we will have a hybrid program in place.  We will also start looking
As to Mr. Silverstein's concerns regarding those students whom we had lost contact with, we had 7 such students.  One has been contacted and is back in school; two were seniors who elected to leave school.  Of the remaining four, we will continue trying to reach out to them.
Ms. Chen asked about the mascot search; Mr. Hussey stated that this would be pushed back to the beginning of the year, he will start working on phase 2 once we are back in January.  Ms. Chen also asked if we expected to be in distance learning for the entire year or just half the year.  Mr. Hussey said that we are likely to be in distance learning for at least half the semester, but that we are subject to LAUSD and the County Department of Health's guidelines.
Mr. Wright asked that if students were to return in some form, what type of waiver would we have them sign.  Mr. Hussey replied that we have waiver forms that are from the California Department of Publish Health, and which we have had legal review.  
Mr. Archibald asked if there was an update on the Equity Advisory Committee.  Mr. Hussey stated that two meetings had taken place thus far, and another meeting will be set up in January.  Something will be sent out during the break to start getting stakeholder feedback, starting with the students.  This was one of the stated goals of the Committee.  
Mr. Wright asked about the liability for individuals on campus, as he has heard that individuals who say they are with LAUSD are allowing individuals to use our campus.  Mr. Hussey said that he would have to look into this.
Mr. Silverstein thanked all those involved for the charter renewal, and particularly noted the end of being under the Memorandum of Understanding.  Mr. Silverstein also stated that he knows of an investigator who may be able to help with locating the students who have lost contact.
Dr. Davis asked about the extended hours for technology, and whether that would continue into the next semester.  Mr. Hussey said yes, we would have tech staff available from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm each weekday, and we will keep the Saturdays hours as well.
Mr. Wright asked about the teachers and staff, as to their morale, and whether we could have an anonymous survey to see how we could help them.  Mr. Hussey said that technology has been in contact with teachers to see if their technology needs were being met.  Mr. Hussey said that he would look into sending out a more general survey.  
Ms. Chen asked if there had been any communication with the parents about what to expect next semester.  Mr. Hussey replied that he would be sending an email the next day.  Ms. Chen also asked if Chat with the Executive Director would continue; Mr. Hussey said yes, and this would be in the email going out tomorrow.

Mr. Wood said that he had a meeting with staff regarding the budget, which was attended by about 35 staff members.  He will continue doing outreach and providing budget presentations to the staff, so that they are all aware where we are financially.
Mr. Wood discussed the reports attached to the agenda.  These reports will be included in each month's CBO report for review and for questions from the Board.  The Investment Summary shows the status of investments, including the OPEB account.  The ADA Calculator shows our enrollment and ADA for current year versus prior year (though we are being funded based on last year's numbers).  We are up about 160 this year versus the same time period last year.  We will get funded based on the P1 ADA of 3,522.51.  The Cafeteria report shows the number of meals served per week and the cost/loss associated with same.  We are serving about 528 meals per day, 37,984 year-to-date.  We are losing about $0.20 per meal because of the way our contract with our food service provider is written.  We will be seeking commodities credit, which will provide an offset to the costs being incurred.
Mr. Wood said that there is some uncertainty about the audit report process because of the delays caused by the pandemic and extensions of deadlines.  
We are in the process of reviewing the proposals for the Investment Advisor services.  Wells Fargo very recently advised that they are withdrawing their proposal.  We have proposals from City National Bank, Beacon Pointe, and Schwartz Accounting.  We have sent out a copy of the proposals to staff, and will schedule interviews for the candidates so that we can make a wise decision.
Dr. Davis thanked Mr. Wood for the comprehensive reports.  Dr. Davis also noted that the attendance rates show: the teachers are providing engaging instruction; the administration is providing the structure for that to happen; the counselors and service providers are providing the support needed and technology has created the structure needed to make this run smoothly.  He noted that most schools are not seeing this type of attendance and commended staff.
 

Finance Committee met Monday, December 14th, and voted to recommend approval of the November 2020 check registers and the American Express charges.  They also voted to recommend approval of the 1st interim financials.  The investment advisor proposals were discussed, and noted that this decision is relatively time-sensitive.  
Travel Committee did not meet.
Tech Committee was provided some information, including the anticipated budget for the freshmen devices for next year; it looks like we will have to order them now in order to have them delivered by this summer, if so a special meeting may have to be called to approve the new devices.  The Committee will also discuss with the tech department as to what a future budget may look like if a hybrid model was used.  Mr. Silverstein asked if a member of the tech department could come to the meeting to discuss why the particular device was selected.
Safety Committee did not meet.

Mr. Wood went over the November 2020 financial update.  

Greg Wood went over the 1st Interim Financial Report.

Ms. Clark went over the Single Plan for Student Achievement, including the revisions made at the suggestion of the Board at the last Board meeting.  For the RIT scores, the national scores by grade (which does not differentiate based on race) was provided and compared with ECR's performance by grade and race.  Ms. Clark also discussed the Built-In Support Period and noted that there will be a support class provided starting the Spring semester.  Finally, Ms. Clark said that she is working on a recording that will provide information on MAP testing and MAP data.  This will be shared. 
Mr. Wright thanked Ms. Clark for helping him to understand this information.  He also asked to be provided with the norm data.
Mr. Kofahl thanked Ms. Clark for resolving the acronym issue.  Mr. Kofahl also noted that the difference in Mean RIT for 9th grade black students and white students was 16.6, but for 12th grade students the difference is only 2.5 and asked why there was such a disparity.  Ms. Clark noted that this was something that ECR would have to look at, whether 9th graders started out weak and got better over time, or whether it was just an individual deviation.  The data would have to be looked at holistically.  Mr. Hussey also noted that the MAP testing is done early in the first 3 to 4 weeks of semester so we have had not had a chance to provide 9th graders with much instruction at that time.

Mr. Chang went over the Charter School Compliance Monitoring document, reviewing each section and discussing the school's compliance as to each section.

Closed session took place.

Closed session took place.

Closed session took place.

There were no actions taken.