Mr. Solkovits' name appears under the heading "Others," but is recognized as a Voter/Member.

Quorum established as all seven (7) board members were present. 

Mr. Solkovits led meeting members, guests/panelists, and public attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.

One public comment was received/requested, that of Mr. Jon Wasser, ECRCHS Special Education/IEP Coordinator, LGBTQ+ and GSA Advisor/Coordinator, who welcomed Mr. Solkovits to the ECRCHS community and expressed a desire to collaborate with Mr. Solkovits and members of the Board in supporting the ECRCHS community.  

Mr. Monroy provided the UTLA update, noting the following items:

1. UTLA is dismayed at the ECRA Board for convening Board Meetings in virtual format while teachers, staff, administrators, and students are on campus.

2. UTLA asks Mr. Wood if the establishment of the Capital Account is going to include teacher input.

3. UTLA welcomes Mr. Solkovits.

4. UTLA thanks Mr. Kofahl for voting against the board continuing to meet via virtual format. 

Mr. Hussey provided his Executive Director Update, noting the following items:

* Mr. Hussey welcomed Mr. Solkovits and thanked him for volunteering for the board member position. 

* Per LADPH guidelines, the wearing of face masks outdoors for COVID-19 prevention is optional for students and staff.

* School stakeholders are engaged in the WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) Accreditation Preparation process with meetings every two weeks.  Thanks to all for your efforts.  Visit is next year.

* April 5-6 is our Charter Schools Division (CSD) Oversight visit and we are currently working on that report.  Mr. Bennett is primary point of contact.

* Special Education Administration, Teachers, and Staff have been preparing for the LAUSD's District Validation Review (DVR) which is a process whereby LAUSD reviews and monitors our special education programs, IEPs, services, and supports.  Thanks to Mrs. Larew, Mr. Kingery, and all special education teachers and staff, for their efforts.  DVR is in the third week of March.

* The bus program: ECRA board voted to have the Metro bus passes; program has grown to 565 students from approximately 220 over the past two years. Cost savings of over $151K.  Thanks to the Board.

* Provided a sports update on winter sports; Girls Soccer; shooting for 15 CIF chanpionship; Girls basketball playoffs; Alex Waitsman, girls and Jacob Rios, in Bakersfield, for State Wrestling championships; Great job to Mr. Terndrup in that program; Spring sports now underway, so baseball, softball, boys volleyball, boys and girls lacrosse, track and field, boys tennis.  

* Congratulated ECRCHS Academic Decathlon team for winning silver at the Southern CA Independent Charter Schools Competition; Team Earned 58 medals; Marisol Mendoza posted highest score in the State.  Team will compete in the State competition next month.  Please congratulate the Team. 

*Counselors are working on Fall programming.  Thanked History Teachers for allowing students to meet with their counselors to get classes programmed and to plan their futures. 

* Thanked Mr. Wright and Members of the Board for their time. 

Mr. Wood provided his CBO Update, noting the following items:

* Welcomed Mr. Solkovits to the Board.

* Reviewed ADA and enrollment numbers; ADA percentages at 90%, down from typical 96% average ADA, in large part due to Omicron COVID-19 variant. 

* 152 students below target daily attendance/budgeted amount or $1.6M million funding shortfall.

* We are in midst of second interim budget report preparation and ADA will reflect the shortage and will be presented at next month's board meeting. 

* Cafeteria Financial Summary: over 35% of our student body; those numbers are strong and support our LCFF; YTD $78K profit; excess funds/profit will be used to invest in capital projects and improvements for the Cafeteria.

* Mr. Wood noted that he will address the Cafeteria Request for Proposal (RFP) process later during the Board meeting. 

No Committee updates were provided. 

Ms. Malconian noted that anything that she has to share will be shared later during the meeting agenda.

Mr. Wright invited members to share any updates, noted as follows:

Ms. Ramirez shared that she had been impressed during a recent visit to campus and after observing Ms. Gregorio's classroom instruction. 

Mr. Solkovits shared that he is looking forward to working with all stakeholders and I have a long history in public schools and with collaborating with stakeholders and look forward to collaborating with everyone.  

Ms. Malconian shared that she heard (acknowledged) the earlier request to consider the board meeting in person and that the Board will address that in the near future. 

Mr. Wright noted that while some feel entitled to speak above their pay grade, he noted that all members of the board serve voluntarily on behalf of the entire community.  

Mr. Wood, CBO, introduced Mr. Breller, Investment Advisor of Beacon Pointe, who provided the Investment Update, with highlights as follows:

* Mr. Wood noted that Mr. Breller had presented the full report during the recent Finance and Investment Committee Meeting, so he will present highlights and answer questions about his report.

* Re: page 2: Provided a brief market summary; spooked by Russian invasion of Ukraine and spooked by Inflation and Fed's possible 5-8 expected rate hikes.

* Was a great quarter and calendar; 11% quarters and 28% annual returns shouldn't be expected at all times.

* All of calendar, still a 16% return in Stocks, althought paring back.  International and small cap stocks aren't performing as well; large cap a good place to be.

* Bonds for capital preservation and bond yields not providing much, but aren't taking the brunt of volatility.  Alt. investments included in portfolio, too. 

* Re: page 5: OPEB account preview of slide report; far right column is since inception; down September, really strong 4th quarter; equities 5% most from international and emerging markets which Breller likes long term, while experiencing downturn due to international goings on.  

* Portfolio looks like its benchmark. 

* Bottom of p. 5 - Investment policy is what guides Beacon Pointe's investment strategy.  Range is wherein we must play and check in on a quarterly basis.  If we see a no, and we meet and address the issue.  On a quarterly basis, we meet and ask how the advisor addresses that need. 

*. Reviewed fund managers and asset classes of the Total Composite; Discussed active and passively managed funds;  We will look at these funds' positionality and we'll review each quarter and we don't currently have any recommendations to hire/fire fund mangagers.

* Reviewed General Fund account: OPEB 70% stock 30% bond allocation.  General Fund is opposite: 30% stock and 70% bond. 

* Mr. Wood added for those board members who more recently joined the board that Beacon Pointe had been hired through the appropriate Request for Proposal (RFP) process, and is fully vetted, strong references; and can attest to Mr. Breller's and Beacon Pointe's responsiveness and that they are managing within the investment policy guidelines. 

* Mr. Kofahl commented that this Investment presentation was the best he's experienced in terms of understanding terms, etc. 

* Ms. Malconian noted that for any member who would like more information, they may watch the video of the recent Finance and Investment Committee meeting. 

* Mr. Wright praised and thanked Mr. Breller and Mr. Wood for their partnership and report.  

Mr. Wood, CBO, provided the January 2022 Financial Update, with highlights as follows:

* This report is provided in partnership with ICON School management, who does our back-end reports.  This report had been provided in detail during the recent Finance and Investment Committee Meeting. 

* Balance Sheet - compares assets (7.5M highter than last year; liability are down 1.7M); net assets position is up 9M; one comment to detail is that future reports will reflect more detail/itemization of "unrestricted net assets." 

* Cash Accounts - on hand 22.6M; PPP bank account 3.8M; if board approves later, we will consolidate these funds in the general fund (close the PPP account, tbd). 

* Profit and Loss Summary - LCFF State, Funding, local; Market Value; YTD per market value reflects a loss position and we don't budget for that.  2nd interim will reflect updated revenues and expenses;  As a result of our audit, federal budget 6M; our interim report that due to the timing of the forgiveness having taken effect last year (reported for last year).  Net income reflects 312K operating income and not just overall.

* Profit and Loss YTD - massive swing when looking at investment account; FMV creates massive swing; 800K loss; great market conditions last year (2.3 or 2.4 gain), reflecting a $3M swing on that line alone; salaries in January increased with on and off-schedule with retro adjustments so we have started to see those reflected here in the Cert. and Class. Salaries lines;  textbooks and supplies amounts higher with in-person instruction, but not a surprise.

* Budget Comparison YTD - January vs. interim numbers; FMV reflected on an actual basis; fed. rev. reflects removal of PPP that is reclassified to last year; expenditure lines reflects 7 months of 12 or 58% of the year; we'll reproject numbers based on next month's 2nd interim; 

* Department Budgets - Another agenda item for next year; department budgets will reflect expenditures; Instructional materials: we are planning a whole budget calendar through which we will have more detailed information at the department level.

* The remaining slides reflect line item accounts generated from our system. 

Ms. Vanessa Pineda, ECR Auditor from Christy White and Associate, Inc., presented a brief overview of the recently completed 2020-2021 Audit Report, with highlights as follows:

* Mr. Wood noted that this is our second year with Christy White and Associates and noted that Ms. Pineda has been our auditor during both years.  Mr. Wood noted that we view our working relationship with Ms. Pineda and Christy White and Associates, Inc., as strong/positive, or words to this effect. 

* Audit Repot reflects year ended June 30, 2021.

* ECR's responsibilities are to ensure effective internal controls, financial statements, and prepare, and manage the budget; 

* Auditor's responsibilities include to come in and audit financial statements, and provide an opinion, and provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are materially correct; we also do federal/State compliance testing; our opinion does not address the financial condition of the entity, nor does it provide absolute assurance; 

* PDF p. 4 - Bottom - Our first opinion is over financial statements; in our opinion, we believe that the financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects are in accordance with general accepted accounting principals in the USA.  In summary, this is an unmodified opinion which is the best opinion you can receive. No significant deficiencies nor material weaknesses.

*  PDF p. 31 - Internal controls over financial reporting; purpose is provide our review of internal controls; we use our testing of internal controls to provide an opinion about financial statements; 

* PDF p. 33 - Our second opinion is over federal compliance; this audit year (2020-2021) federal COVID funding was central; we tested required compliance on those funds; based on our test, we provided an unmodified opinion, again it's the best opinion one can receive, as we noted no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. 

* PDF p. 34 - State compliance opinion - We have a clean, unmodified opinion of ECR's State Compliance in all material respects. 

* PDF p. 35 - Ms. Pineda reviewed the procedures performed as listed on p. 35 (including distance learning, instructional time, CA clean energy, attendance, teacher credentials, etc.) to ensure that all procedures were in compliance. 

* PDF p. 37 - Summary of all opinions; completely clear; no issues or findings or deficiencies; no prior year audit findings, thank you to Greg and ICON and congratulations.   We appreciate your hard work and again, thank you.

Mr. Wright thanked Ms. Pineda for her report and professionalism.

Mr. Wood noted Ms. Pineda's availability and recognized Ms. Pineda and Christy White and Associates for being available to help us remain in compliance. 

Mr. Wood discussed this item, with highlights including the following:

* I recognize that there was a question at the opening of our meeting and this item is for the purpose of having a discussion about the possibility of opening up an account with some of our available unrestricted funds to be designated to an account for the sole purpose of paying for capital projects.

* Our Capital Committee recently met to discuss this and LAUSD provided us an extensive list of projects and funding associated with various projects for our school's consideration.

* To be clear, if we were to open such account for the designated purpose and some economic or financial calamity should befall our organization, with Board approval, these funds could be made available if needed and directed.

* We have a discussed a process to continue to add to this account; questions include when would be deposit, invest, access, and/or pull out these monies; what decisions we make would be determined based on projects dates/costs.

* Ms. Malconian added that she supports setting aside unrestricted funds into a form of investment account for capital projects; at this point we are waiting for committee reports and LAUSD's report to determine how much money is needed to set aside for short-term and long-term in order to determine investment account status. 

* Mr. Wood noted that this process should be stakeholder-driven and allow some weigh-in and should not happen in a vacuum.  

* Mr. Hussey noted that he did reach out to various stakeholders for capitalization projects and he did ask for and obtain some input which informed the creation of the capital projects committee in the first place. 

Mr. Hussey confirmed that this agenda item no longer applies.

The employee in question had submitted a formal resignation in lieu of possible board action that might have resulted in dismissal/termination.  

Mr. Hussey provided an overview of the five questions to which ECR had to provide responses to the CDE as part of the LCAP Annual Supplement Mid-Year Report, as noted below:

1. Engage all stakeholders - ssc, pd advisory, quarterly parent advisory committees; we continue to seek input from all stakeholder groups.

2. N/A as we do not receive additional funding related to this item. 

3. Funding to support professional development and covid safety protocols, supplies, and transtion to and from distance learning and back to in person; hired 4 college tutors, provided tutoring, purchased writing materials to support EL instruction.

4. Successes; more tutoring; PPP well-stocked with COVID supplies; completed network upgrades, expanded maintenance hours to ensure a clean and safe campus; Challenges include getting students to partake in the tutoring in the core subjects; started a ten-week SEL mentoring program for girls; Sign-ups have been slow, but we continue to work in this area; major facilities projects delayed due to COVID-19 related supply chain delays; 

5. How LEA (ECRCHS) is using its fiscal resources: 

* Goals 1 and 2 - EL Reading and Writing Curriculum; LTEL Writing Workshops; Additional Professional Development for Teachers

* Goal 2 - Additional Tutoring Offerings in After-School Program, Addl. Summer School Support; Addl. In-Class Support

* Goal 3 - Targeted EL Intervention Curriculum; Addl. Supplies and Materials

* Goal 4 - Increased Parent workshops and meetings to support all students; Addl. Mental Health support staff

* Goal 5 - Addl. Counselors and College workshops focused on school to college pipeline.

Mr. Hussey presented this item, noting the following: 

* this position has been a need and is a budgeted item;

* we haven't had a comparable salary study so we wanted to propose this to the board for consideration

* our scale goes up to fifteen years

*It's been difficult for us to fill this position due to salary scale.

Mr. Wright noted that we've had two LVNs in the past month.

Mr. Hussey noted that we've had LVNs through an agency and we'd like to hire an ECRCHS employee who will stay here and we offer a comprehensive benefits package and noted that the position would be represented by AFSCME.

Mr. Solkovits asked if this is a union-represented position, did ECRA negotiate the salary with the union, to which Mr. Hussey noted that we are currently in negotiations with AFSCME beginning tomorrow and we will include this item accordingly during negotiations. 

Mr. Hussey noted that the best thing to do is to take no action now and take this up at the next board meeting.

Ms. Malconian asked if that this delay might prohibit the hiring of a needed LVN.

Mr. Wright noted that the board will take up this item at the next board meeting. 

Accordingly, no vote was taken on this item pending further information to be provided ahead of a likely vote during the March Regular Board Meeting or a Special Board Meeting, whichever occurs first. 

Mr. Wright announced that the Board was going into Closed Session at 7:15 p.m.

This item had been pulled/removed from both Open Session and Closed Session. 

Item discussed.

Item discussed.

Item discussed. Mr. Hussey, Mr. Wood, and Dr. Lowry recused themselves from this discussion.

Item discussed. 

Mr. Wright announced that the Board returned to Open Session at 8:21 p.m.

Mr. Wright reported that no Board Action(s) had been taken during Closed Session.