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Dr. McCullough took the Oath of Office and joined the Board of Directors.

Dr. McCullough (Douglas) briefly spoke of her background. She is originally from Chicago, and moved to L.A. about 20 years ago. She taught in LAUSD, was a Principal and Assistant Principal for the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, and is now an education operations and efficiency consultant.  She expressed her enthusiasm for joining the board.

The other board members introduced themselves, including Dr. Johnstone, Ms. Morgan, Ms. Montes-Rodriguez, Dr. Ring, Mr. Whalen, Dr. Robertson, 

Mr. Merrick Wadsworth, attorney at Procopio, conducted the annually-required training, covering the Brown Act, California's "open meetings" law for local public agencies.

He defined "meetings" and warned to avoid inadvertent or serial meetings. One-on-one agenda briefings, conversations about whether to call a meeting, and information-only updates received by the full board are okay.  Board retreats, planning sessions, etc. are meetings.

SB126 requires board meetings to be held in L.A. County and two-way teleconference ability at all school sites.

Teleconferencing (virtual meetings by phone, internet) rules are currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but are usually in play.  Locations must be accessible to the public.  Agendas must be posted on the school website and at all the teleconference sites.  The agenda packet is a public record that should be available if requested. 

Agendas cannot be easily modified once posted. 

Public comment period is required.  Comments should be time-limited. Disrupted conduct is not permitted.  Comment is not a conversation - board president may ask staff to follow up with the member of the public.

Closed session is allowable for limited topics (litigation, personnel evaluation/discipline, real estate negotiations).  Only essential persons may be present.  Executive compensation (dollar amounts) must be discussed and approved in open session, at a regular, not special meeting.  The board must orally report a summary description of executive compensation before final action is taken, and compensation must be reasonable (board should conduct compensation analysis).

Minutes should be more than an action format.  Open session items are usually in narrative format.

The Conflicts of Interest "Big 3":
Corporations Code (applies to boards, not staff), and refers to decision making. The Political Reform Act (Form 700, applies to board, staff, spouses), and requires disclosure of financial interests in school business.  Government Code 1090 (board and staff) deals specifically with contracts, and is very broad. The board cannot enter, or delegate authority to enter, a contract in which a member has a financial interest.  Nepotism, common law, IRS rules, federal funding rules, etc. also apply.  

Mr. Christopher Taylor, who joined the meeting at 6:34 p.m.,  took the Oath of Office and joined the Board of Directors.

Mr. Taylor gave a brief bit of background, saying that he is a native of San Diego and a first-generation college student.  He is a Director of Northrop Grumman, and has been employed there for 19 years.  He is eager to help the RISE High students from a position on the board.

Dr. Wunder introduced himself, as did Dr. Johnstone, Ms. Morgan, Ms. Croft, Mr. Whalen, Dr. Robertson, and Dr. Ring.

Dr. Johnstone thanked everyone at Da Vinci RISE High, the Da Vinci and Wiseburn organizations in getting education and the community back on a strong footing under the pandemic.

Dr. Jennings congratulated the staff for their start of school.

Dr. Wunder spoke of the extraordinarily special place RISE High is for kids.  He spoke of the fact that under current pandemic-induced changes in law, there is no funding for expanded enrollment at RISE High.  He is working with Da Vinci partners to effect change.

Dr. Ring spoke of the reopening plan for the schools.  The plan suggested that the types of essential services that might be offered would be reviewed by September 1.  Essential service staff may be brought back in September to support special education, compliance for initial assessments, etc. on an appointment-based, one-on-one arrangement. The reopening plan will be presented monthly to the board, due to the potential for changes.

Ms. Croft gave the update, providing data on enrollment and demographics, saying that while the newly-added New Earth site shows 34 students enrolled, 20-25 additional students are in the process of being enrolled there. The delays are caused by a lack of documentation (transcripts, immunizations, birth records) that frequently occurs in this population. New Earth has an older student population due to its previous partnership with Youth Build. The material revision to the RISE charter petition allows the RISE New Earth site to serve students up to age 25.

Ms. Croft spoke of the desire to create a countywide school to support underserved students such as those in foster care, probation, and/or facing housing instability.  This led to the partnerships with A Place Called Home (APCH) and New Earth to provide the students with education and wraparound services.

Ms Croft discussed graduation statistics.  RISE has four graduation pathways:  A-G, RISE (between A-G and state minimum), State Minimum, and California High School Proficiency Exam.

XQ Milestones must be met for RISE to continue to receive XQ grant funds.  Priorities include increased student progress monitoring, i.e. Personalized Learning Plans for every RISE High student, with schedules, credit mapping, contact links to teachers and support sessions, and credit tracking that is updated weekly.

Learning engagement (Humanities and Math/Science labs with Socratic seminars, debates, etc.) and increased English Learner (EL) support such as weekly reading workshops are another priority.

Dr. Jennings requested a map of which staff work on which parts of the program.

Mr. Bravo, Chief Administrative Officer, Operations, Equity & Compliance, introduced himself.

He and the Director of Facilities John Fernandez are working on public health and safety compliant ventilation, socially distanced furniture arrangement, cleaning and disinfection, PPE (masks, shields, etc.) and outdoor canopies at each site, keeping in mind costs.  Protocols for campus access for staff have also been established.

Mr. Amato, Director of Finance and Accounting, introduced himself. Mr. Scott Warner, of consultancy firm CSMC, introduced himself, as did Ms. Sabrina Ayala, who is also assisting in the transition.

Mr. Amato gave the financial update, giving the July results.  The annual budget bottom line is $43,578 profit, however, if RISE High does not receive funding for planned-for enrollment growth, the bottom line could be a potential loss of $650K.  In addition to Dr. Wunder's efforts to find a solution, the finance team is exploring savings strategies in preparation for the potential loss of funding.

Mr. Warner commented that the hold harmless clause in the SB 98 specifically states it is for classroom-based schools; the hope is that non-classroom-based schools such as RISE High will be excluded.

Mr. Warner reminded the board that the LCP (local plan) and SPSA (how the schools will spend federal funding) which need to be approved by the board next month.  

Ms. Ayala spoke of the cash deferrals that the finance team will present in future meetings.  RISE High has always had a good position thanks to XQ.  

Mr. Amato offered to meet with the new board members to orient them on RISE High finances. 

Ms. Morgan pointed out that the the goal is for RISE High to become self-sustaining. Dr. Wunder noted that the team plans to seek additional long-term funding, and thanked Ms. Montes-Rodriguez for her guidance. 

Ms. Morgan asked the staff for training on the bylaws. Dr. Ring provided a summary document, and feels that a brief training and review of the bylaws and governance would be beneficial. 

Dr. Ring commended the staff on the amount of effort required to pull together the audit during a pandemic, as did LACOE's Charter School Office. LACOE also understood the RISE High student population and their remarkable engagement during the COVID-19-induced closures. Dr. Ring praised the staff's work in creating additional engagement opportunities in summer school and the Personal Learning Plans.  Dr. Ring and the leadership team will present the action items on which they're currently working.

Ms. Montes-Rodriguez would like to know more about what will be different for the English language learners apart from the online program, and restorative justice that won't require suspensions.

Dr. Johnstone pointed out that on page 84, letter D, "donators" should be corrected to "donors," on page 85, Number 5, "sixty (15) days" should be corrected to (60). and 88, number 5, "ten (5) days" should be corrected to (10) days.