Deadre introduced the new PES office manager, Nina Dom, who will be transitioning into Bryana's support role for the PES Board. 

Staffing  - view PPT presentation Deadre emailed to the Board 

Comments: 

• faculty/staffing
  • BEP will go official in October
  • kindergarten has 50 registered students
    • need another teacher to get to enrollment goal of 80
• teacher licenses - 2 will retain certification at the end of this year

View PPT presentation 

Reopening plan for SY2021

Deadre emailed the reopening plan to Board members and the plan has been made accessible via Facebook and the PES website.

• Office hours were made available for PES parents:
  • Today's event had 14 families represented 
  • Last night's event had 16 families represented 
  • During the meeting, Deadre emphasized to parents that students are still expected to wear uniforms, even if learning virtually and family engagement is still expected
  • Deadre shared that during the virtual home visit meetings, teachers should inform Ms. Pearson if parent(s) isn't able to be home so that she can assist them 
• Staff response to reopening plan
  • staff were appreciative of the slow school opening structure
  • teachers are now involved in the summer institute to help them with their planning, using the hybrid model 
• Questions from the Board 
  • How are we recruiting the 30 kindergarten students needed?
    • Staff went to local community centers, neighboring streets and gas stations to distribute flyers
    •  PES is also asking parents to make referrals and making this ask into a friendly competition among parents to see who gets the most referrals 

Deadre and Alicia will discuss offline opportunities for collaborating with PPS regarding working with students who are 100% learning online. After discussing the possible options, Deadre will seek the Board's feedback and approve.

Kathryn, Mike and Deadre will meet later this week to discuss finding a service that can resolve the HVAC issue. 

Mike invited any of the Board members to participate in this discussion. Please email her directly.

Kathryn asked for an itemized list of the companies that walked the school to identify maintenance issues. Shandra will send the digital bid to Mike, Kathryn and Deadre. 

Because Cody is wrapping up end of year activities, there is no finance report to present during this meeting. 

Shandra and Mike shared about PES' encounter with fraudulent checks. Shandra has been in communication with PES' banking institution, resulting in fraudulent protection being adding to the account. 

Deadre emailed a document regarding the fraudulent checks for the Board to view. 

Mike reassured the Board that PES isn't liable for these checks. 

PES will open a new account and once it's operational and necessary checks have been processed, the old account will be cancelled. Signatures will be needed to move forward with opening a new account.

Shandra is daily monitoring the PES account and explained what could have been the cause of this incident. 

After speaking with the banking institution, it was decided that a police report would not be filed. Kathryn requested to be kept in the loop regarding this matter. 

Kathryn shared that PES applied for the Aug-Sept submission of PPE. The process may take up to  6 months before being completed. 

Martha shared that the Board is required to perform one hour of training. Training options aren't available as of yet, but she will keep the Board posted. 

 

Mike emailed Greg Thompson to talk about this process, identify what his company's role may be and the associated cost. Mike will inform the Board of her findings. This would be for busing and bringing the 4-year old students under PES. 

Technology for school reopening update 

• New target date is August 7 to know when chrome books will arrive in Memphis.
• Cart and 15 hot spots have be secured. Hot spots will be for parents who do not have internet access at home. The network provider is T-Mobile. 
  • Darnell suggested to test how the internet connection prior to the start of school. This can help determine if training materials and video with "how to use" instructions would be helpful for families. 
    • Deadre is planning a training experience for parents. If unable to host this in-person, Deadre will recruit Darnell's help.
• There are safeguards on the devices (i.e. notifications about unrestricted sites and about being lost/stolen). 
• Serial numbers on chrome books will be recorded and given to teachers. 

Insurance cost for devices

• Darnell shared that some schools are imposing an insurance cost. Deadre emphasized that parents were not made aware of this additional cost on the front end,  but can discuss if this can be done in the future. 
• Insurance coverage wasn't added to chrome book. Deadre is open to going back to see if this is an option. Kathryn and Deadre will look through the contract to see what the insurance coverage fee could be. 
• For accountability, PES could add a consideration that if the device is stolen, lost or damaged there is a $20 fee. Deadre feels comfortable doing this addition because parents haven't received devices yet and certain documents haven't been signed by parents.