None.

Dr. Jennings shared her condolences to the RISE community for the loss of a former staff member and student.

Marcy Kearney from Christy White and Associates reviewed the 2020 Annual Audit Report. The report for RISE was clean with no issues. Ms. Kearney reviewed the responsibilities of both the charter and the auditor. The charter’s responsibility includes effective internal controls, financial statements, and preparing and managing the budget. The auditor’s responsibility is providing an unmodified opinion and reasonable assurance that the financial statement is materially correct and in compliance with K-12 state requirements. The auditor does not address the financial condition of the charter or absolute assurance. Key points in the audit report include no new accounting policies, accounting estimates, sensitive disclosures, audit adjustments, difficulties, disagreements, or audit findings/issues, and management representation. Ms. Kearny shared her appreciation for the staff for their cooperation. Dr. Wunder and Dr. Johnstone shared their appreciation for Marcy.

Mr. Amato reiterated as Ms. Kearny shared, that there were no adjustments in the audit. Year-end results from June 30, 2021, are final and unchanged. The tax return will be presented at the next Board meeting and will be filed on time.

Mr. Amato reviewed the November and December financial statements with projected scenarios in respect to the first interim revised budget presented at the previous meeting. He reviewed the different scenarios for LCFF revenue/state funding based on enrollment and ADA with gaps relating to ADA fluctuation. Staff is working to increase overall ADA at a current target of 67%. Dr. Jennings asked for clarification on the target ADA, and Dr. Johnstone inquired about the pre-COVID percentage. Mr. Amato shared that prior to COVID, RISE’s ADA was upwards of 78%. Discussion ensued. Mr. Amato continued to share the projections for revenue in books and supplies, grants, fundraising, legal fees, transportation, and CMO fees. Key figures of net income loss in the best-case scenario are $344,000 and $816,000 in the worst-case, with an influx of restricted funds of $218,000. The change in unrestricted net assets fluctuates between $600,000 in the worst-case scenario and $120,000 in the best-case scenario. The school year started with $689,000 available in unrestricted funds. Depending on the changes in unrestricted net assets, the scenarios based on available funds are $91,000 worst case, $560,000 best case, and $350,000 based on the current budget.

Mr. Amato provided an update on the governor’s proposed budget with potential good news regarding funding the current LCFF COLA increase, STRS costs, and additional potential funding sources.

Dr. Wunder shared his appreciation for the staff who have been working on fundraising and advocacy efforts. Potential funders include California Community Foundation, Ballmer Group, and Parsons. 

RISE 2021-22 Priorities: Data-driven, campus culture, college, and career.

December Data and Demographics Data Update

RISE serves 204 students, 51% of whom are opportunity youth. ADA from 11/27 -
12/14 was 54.05% at Richstone, 48.37% at APCH, and 57.84% at New Earth.
Schoolwide ADA is 57.92%. Mr. Whalen shared a breakdown of the number of
foster youth, probationary youth, housing unstable (which changes weekly), and
parenting youth across the RISE sites.

The Sentinel Press Release
A new article was published in print and online to share the current challenges RISE is facing due to the decrease in ADA and inequitable funding for schools serving the most at-risk populations in the city. The article featured a student highlight and shared the current deficit projection without increased ADA or fundraising.

Student Support Services Update
SSS has begun planning for home visits. Home visits will be conducted for students in need of welfare checks and/or chronically absent students. Case Managers and Interns will begin providing group counseling for stress management, anger management, executive functioning, and grief counseling. Mr. Whalen also highlighted data pertaining to student support services provided from August through December 6th from all three school sites.

Partnership Updates
New Earth: Instructional collaboration is being forged between Da Vinci New Earth staff and Spirit Awakening to provide credit attainment through their creative writing course offering. Site-Specific Student Council was formed.

APCH: COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Clinic continues to be onsite and will remain onsite every other Tuesday through March. APCH matched 26 RISE members with donors this December, providing them with gifts and gift cards from their holiday wishlists. NFL LA Rams player Sebastian Joseph Day is giving individual gifts of up to $100 to APCH members. 25 RISE members are participating and will be receiving gifts of their choice, ranging from grocery store gift cards and cooking utensils to video games and clothes.

Richstone: Richstone & RISE will commence weekly meetings to outline and develop programming options funded by Sierra Health Foundation & Elevate Youth California's $10,000 grant award.

2021 RISE Winter Graduation
Da Vinci RISE High School graduated six students in December. A banquet-style ceremony was held to celebrate the students.

RISE at Richstone:
The schedule pilot was successful and led to development of refined Quarter 3 schedule which includes: dedicated time for each student to meet with advisor and engage in enrichment offerings, dedicated Zoom class times to support our fully virtual students, and opportunities for virtual office hours for all students on their independent workdays. RISE facilitated a successful onsite rapid COVID testing campaign at Richstone to ensure all RISE students had an equitable opportunity to test prior to returning to campus. Launching this week is the STEM and Humanities interdisciplinary instructional model allows for two consistent teachers to remain onsite each week. Areas of growth include attendance which dipped significantly the first week back on campus. Staff is hopeful that the new interdisciplinary teaching model and refined schedule launch will lead to an increase in attendance through consistent virtual support. Next steps include maintaining strong feedback cycles with staff & students throughout Q3, and continuing the work to bring Richstone programming to RISE through grant.

RISE at APCH
The COVID Campaign continues at RISE APCH. Bi-weekly COVID Vaccine Clinics and free COVID rapid testing for the community are offered on campus. The new Quarter 3 schedule plan rolls out the week of January 18th. This plan allows for the following site benefits: cohorting w/ Humanities and STEM, student virtual options for absent and/or during independent workdays, weekly advisory sessions - regular PLP review, goal setting, academic progress monitoring, etc., weekly enrichment offerings. Sessions will include but are not limited to DSD tutorials, core subject area support, reading workshop, ELD support, Teen Summit, counseling groups, and a stress and mindfulness series. Areas of growth include targeting ADA growth and increasing student enrollment with a focus placed specifically on Tuesday/Thursday afternoon student cohorts. Next steps include continuing to progress monitor the Quarter 3 pilot, gathering student and stakeholder feedback, and end of quarter academic data analysis/academic growth comparisons.

RISE at NE

Catalina Cabrero is New Earth’s 2021 Winter Graduate. Student Donnaysia Brinkley has been elected to serve as parliamentarian on our School Site Council. She has accepted recruitment to serve on the Student Advisory Council at The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Six students are five credits or less away from completing all STEM course credits. Areas of strength include student governance opportunities and elevated attendance. Areas of growth include a greater fusion of communication and shared practices and policies within the partnership. Next steps include student accountability to the school schedule and daily recorded course progress, establishing procedures and protocols for student traffic, and more direct co-planning and cooperation within the partnership.  

Site-based Facilities Brief
New Earth – RISE might not have to pursue the Conditional Use Permit/Certificate of Occupancy at the Bristol location, pending a 22-23 facility decision.

APCH - Vaccination Policy: Extension provided until February 1st, 2022. All APCH Members and staff must be fully vaccinated by 2/1/22 to access the building.

Richstone – Certificate of Occupancy is in progress. Staff is currently awaiting feedback from the LA Fire department and final correction feedback from the Hawthorne Building Safety department.

Mr. Whalen commemorated former staff member Kai Atticus Ybarzabal and APCH student Ixchel Gomez. He also thanked Board members for sharing messages of gratitude to RISE staff during the holiday season. 

Mr. Bravo provided updates to the Certificate of Occupancy status for Richstone and indoor air quality at all sites. In support of COVID-19, since RISE sites co-locate with partners, RISE staff recommend HTC systems with high-grade filers to partners such as bipolar ionization systems. Currently, all sites use plug-in air filtration units provided earlier in the year. Mid-year quality checks are currently taking place. KN95 and N95 masks have been distributed to staff and students as needed. 

Mrs. Croft provided grant application updates. The Drown Foundation has awarded $50,000 to RISE. The applications process for Teach For America Reinvention Lab: Enduring Ideas ($10,000 requested) is complete, and an interview was held with RISE staff and former student. Awardees will be announced in February. Staff is awaiting application status results from Parsons Foundation ($500,000 requested), Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation ($50,000 requested), George Hoag Family Foundation ($50,000 requested), and Lyft ($3,000 in ride credits requested (maximum request possible)).

Postcards have been mailed to encourage and maintain relationships with donors, and a GuideStar profile was created to support ongoing donation requests and verification of 501C3 status to build credibility and development efforts.

Ms. Croft reviewed the next steps and projects currently in progress, including research and recommendations for transportation alternatives and university partnerships for research and policy recommendations. Ms. Croft is working on the donor/fundraising toolkit to centralize documents for future development efforts. Upcoming meetings include the advisory committee meeting on January 31st and the working group meeting on February 1st. Ms. Croft thanked Dr. McCullough for her detailed work on celebrity foundations.

Mrs. Croft requested support in the following areas: letter of interest for two potential projects to support funding the college and career program and facilities and renovations support. She has also requested support for continuing progress with the advisory committee, a review of the foundation list to identify potential connections prior to outreach, and guidance on focus projects and requests. Ms. Croft shared that she will be transitioning out of the development support role and shared her appreciation to the Board and staff for allowing her to continue to support RISE.

Dr. Jennings and Dr. Wunder thanked Mrs. Croft for her work with RISE and wished her well on future ventures. 

Closed session was entered at 7:27pm

Closed session reconvened at 8:16pm. Dr. Jennings noted that no action was taken.