Quorum established. Mr. Solkovits notified the Board ahead of the meeting of his absence.

Student Paul Scola led Boardmembers and guests in the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America (USA).

Two public comments were received, with highlights below:

1. Student Maddox Le - Read a statement critical of the quality and caloric value of the meals served in the school Cafeteria.  Cited research survey respondent data.  Requested improvements to menu.

2. Parent/Volunteer Cheryl Dorries requested that the ECRCHS make the Emergency Response Plan and Comprehensive School Safety Plan easier to access to for parents, including making these documents available from the school's website's home page; she also requested non-traumatic active training/situational awareness training for students and staff who need further training; noted that she will follow-up with an email to the Board and Mr. Hussey.

Mr. Hussey provided his Executive Director Update, with highlights as follow:

* Congratulated and Recognized the ECRCHS Academic Decathlon Team who recently was named the SoCal Independent Charter School Regional Champions and who was recently recognized by Congressman Brad Sherman, who provided certificates to each member of the team; Mr. Hussey presented the certificates to each student and noted that the team will go on to win at the State level this weekend; Mr. Wright thanked each student individually and the team then took a photograph in front of board members;

* Noted that the school began Statewide Testing this past week with a new testing schedule with testing beginning after nutrition based on research that highlighted potential beneficial results for testing after a nutrition period meal; make-up testing next week; all seems to be working out well initially.

* Thanked to Ms. Evens, Mr. Boyle, and Mr. Denny, Mr. Hartley, Ms. Shano, Mrs. Schuster, Mrs. Yedor, Mr. Bennett, and Ms. Endres for their work on finalizing the WASC Action Plan; the Self-Study has been submitted and we are waiting for the WASC Commissions decision on the status of our accreditation. 

* Thanked Mr. Guinto and Mr. Delgado for their work in securing a more secure internet service capability at the North Campus; noted our last contract required payment of $899/month for 100MB; new contract is $347.50/month for 1 GB; noted that as soon as we received the E-rate discount, we'll pay approximately $174/month; we're now getting something faster and cheaper.

* Informed Board and guests that the school will distribute COVID-19 tests next Tuesday in preparation for Spring Vacation and will recommend (Not Require) that students test prior to their return to school. 

Mr. Wood, CBO, provided his CBO Update, with highlights as follows:

From the Materials:

* Cafeteria Updates - participation is up 54%; with surplus cafeteria revenue, we will present later in today's meeting a proposal for cafeteria upgrades; happy that the cafeteria meals program can support those things; 

* Financial Updates - Month 7 ADA information and comparisons between last year and this year (presented during last week's Finance and Investment Committee Meeting) are in the materials attached; Next month (month 8) will result in our locking in of our budget outlook/projections for the year and will guide budget development for 2023-2024 academic year; noted that Mrs. Ilyas has been working with departments to ensure the budget development process for next year is following the proposed timelines; 

* noted Mrs. Ilyas had also attended a webinar earlier in the day to learn that our insurance premium with CharterSAFE (JPA insurance provider) may increase 1% to 3% next year based on current market conditions; 

* Met with Legal Counsel (YM&C) at the recent CA Charter Schools Assoc. (CCSA) Conference in Sacramento to discuss the Fulgent Case (we and several other charter schools are challenging Fulgent on their COVID-19 testing-related billing); 

* Also met with vendor/auditors in response to the RFP for audit services; 

* Also met with insurance company in case we choose to go in a different route than with CharterSAFE; 

* Also met with a number of other Charter School leaders, CBOs, Executive Directors; noted it was a worthwhile conference; 

Mr. Wright facilitated Board Committee Updates, with highlights as follow:

* Athletics Oversight Committee - No updates to report.

* Capitalization Projects - Ms. Malconian noted that the committee convened a brief meeting last week and reported that there are some items on today's agenda (facilities improvements and tech. upgrades).

* Finance and Investment Committee - Ms. Malconian noted the committee met last week and in the guise of transparency, all agendas, credit cards statements, check registers, financial documents, are posted and available; recordings; made recommendations to the full board to pass; 

* Ms. Malconian noted, too, in response to the students' public comment about the quality and caloric value of the food served in the cafeteria, she noted that our meals served is up so she'd like to see students' email or survey responses to learn more about concerns that she has not heard to date. 

*Executive Director Evaluation Committee - Ms. Ibach reported that it has been taken care of.

* Facilities and Maintenance  - Nothing to report.

* Instruction and Data - Nothing to report.

* Travel - Nothing to report.

Technology Committee - Nothing to report.

No Board Chair Update was provided beyond the Board Committee updates.

Mr. Wood, CBO, provided the February, 2023, Investment Update, with highlights as follow:

Investment Accounts:

OPEB:

*End of Feb. OPEB balance is in excess of $23.4M, an increase of 12.6% from last school year's ending balance; Our investments are up 5% for the year, with contributions of $220K per months for a YTD contribution amount of $1.5M. 

GENERAL INV. ACCT:

* End of Feb, Gen. Acct. balance is at $6.82M; 

COMBINED Investment Account Balances = $29.86M

Ms. April Beauchamp, Vice President, Relationship Manager, Institutional Trust & Custody for U.S. Bank, presented and discussed US Bank's role as trustee of the OPEB Investment accounts, per the slideshow presentation attached to this agenda item.

Highlights presented included:

* Reiterated commitment to meeting ECRCHS's needs in the current relationship/partnership

* Reviewed client services team and services 

* Provided overview of education custodial portfolio (clients and assets) 

* Reviewed Trust services at a glance 

* Reviewed Trust services specific to ECRCHS/OPEB Account and primary/fiduciary responsibilities (5)

* Pivot Platform Overview (run reports, access documents/statements)

No need to discuss Item A as was/is included in Item B. immediately following this item.

Mr. Hussey discussed the CA School Dashboard while navigating the actual CA School Dashboard for ECRCHS:

* Color codes are used for each year-to-year data comparison

* Susp. Rate is Low (a Good Thing)

* English Learner Progress is Low, notig that we reclassified 61% of English Learners (ELs)

* Graduation Rate is High

* College and Career not reported in 21-22

* English Language Arts as compared with other schools in CA = High Range

* Mathematics as compared with other schools in CA = Medium Range

* Basics, Teachers, Instructional materials = Met

* Implementation of Academic standards = Met

* Parent and Family Engagement = Met

* Climate = Met

* Access to a Broad Course of Study = Met

Mr. Hussey reviewed graduation rates data to highlight student subgroups' respective performance and actual graduation rates

Mr. Hussey reviewed subgroups' respective academic performance in ELA and Math and noted that these two areas of concerns are included in our WASC Action Plan.

Mr. Hussey invited anyone who wants more information to contact him.

In response to Mr. Kofahl's question about how we plan to address mathematics performance, Mr. Hussey highlighted study skills, tutoring, Algebra 1 class offered again in the Spring Semester; possible class size reductions; introducing "Edulastic" as part of the PLC process; ensuring students are exposed to SBAC-type questions in the classroom. 

Dr. Lowry informed Boardmembers and Guests of the Rules for going into Closed Session and invited guests to return when the Board reconvenes in Open Session. 

The Board entered Closed Session at 6:55 p.m. 

This item was discussed. 

This item was discussed.

The Board returned to Open Session at 8:44 p.m.

Board Chair Wright announced that the Board had voted unanimously to approve acceptance of the Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Agreement against JUUL Labs, Inc.