None.

Dr. Johnstone and Dr. Jennings briefly commented on the current election. 

Dr. Hawn shared information regarding staff retention and noted that Da Vinci is taking intentional steps to support staff wellness. Feedback is being collected, and an update will be provided to the Board with ideas on supporting and improving staff retention rates. 

Mr. Whalen shared news about the LACOE Board Public Hearing for the Material Revision. The LACOE Board's commentary was supportive and positive. He thanked Principal Naomi Lara, New Earth leadership Evelyn Diaz, and student Donnaysia Brinkley for their support. 

Mr. Whalen shared that RISE is fully staffed at all sites. Recently filled positions include a Case Manager at APCH, an Ed Specialist for APCH and Richstone, and an academic counselor and STEM/Project Design teacher to serve across all sites.

RISE is working with Kitamba, a social impact consulting and products firm dedicated to dramatically improving learning and life outcomes for all children. This service is funded by XQ, and the focus of the work is policy analysis, financial analysis, revenue opportunities, and cost reduction analysis. 

Mr. Whalen shared information about a grant by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and USC. It is focused on supporting and measuring what matters for at-promise youth and their teachers. It is a practitioner and researcher consortium for innovation, sustainability, and scaling. The requested amount is $1.5 million, $500,000 per year for the duration of the proposed project. The grant aims to establish a sustained consortium of like-minded progressive schools serving at-promise youth and social affective neuroscientists studying adolescent development. The aim is to share insights to synergistically innovate school practices, support teacher wellness, and generate interdisciplinary evidence of beneficial youth development. It will do so by constructing and validating novel measures that capture what matters in this context, with regular input from district and state leadership; building out professional development materials to increase educator capacity and encourage adoption by other schools and districts; and ultimately positioning progressive and alternative-model schools to iteratively improve, demonstrate impact and secure long-term funding. The proposed project start date is August 1, 2022 through July 31, 2025. 

RISE is a semifinalist for the $1 Million Yass Prize. More than 2,700 applications were submitted, spanning 48 states and ranging from public to private schools, ed tech companies to nonprofit organizations, micro-schools, and more. 64 quarterfinalists received $100k, 32 semifinalists received $200k, and 6 finalists will receive $250k, and a chance at $1 million. Mr. Whalen will be traveling to Miami to take part in the in-person accelerator. He will be attending the STOP Award Finalist Celebration and announcement of the $1 million Yass Prize in New York. 

Mr. Whalen provided a 21-22 fundraising update. For the 21-22 School Year, RISE raised $909,563. 21-22 Grants Received: XQ - $750,000, Boeing - $50,000, Joseph Drown Foundation - $50,000, Pipkin Family Foundation - $25,000, Teach for America - $10,000, A-Game - $6,000, People Power Progress - $4,813, United Way - $2,000, Annual Giving - $11,750. Pending grants include the YASS Prize ($250k or $1 million) and Cotton-on ($600k).

Mr. Whalen shared updates on the new New Earth location. The new campus is open, but students are receiving academic support at the SkyBox at the main Da Vinci campus while awaiting approval of the Material Revision from the LACOE Board on December 6th. The new campus will be a resource center model with 1:1 and small group instruction. 

Mr. Whalen thanked Chet and Jan Pipkin and John and Cindy Smet for their gracious donation. With the donation, RISE will have a 12-passenger seat van wrapped with the DV RISE logo, sponsor
shout-out, and “Enrolling Now” signage. The van will support the transportation of students for school, re-engagement/home visits, and school work drop off/pick-up. 

Mr. Whalen shared information about engaging in MESA, a design workshop project with XQ. The mission of MESA is to bring XQ competencies to life. Members are working on creating and prototyping a solution for making the competencies understandable and compelling to students, families, and educators. Mr. Whalen reviewed the competencies, shared information about the creation process of the app, and played a short video. 

Da Vinci RISE has partnered with School for Experiential Education in Design (S.E.E.D.), allowing students to engage in a design workshop with Adidas. During the weekend event, students were invited to a screening of Black Panther 2, a meet and greet with S.E.E.D. team members and leadership, and participation in a design workshop with costume designer, Ruth Carter. Twenty participants were selected. Mr. Whalen thanked Principal Naomi Lara for her incredible work in engaging with partners to facilitate these types of experiences for RISE students. 

Mr. Whalen shared a video of RISE students sharing their experience with Assemblymember Isaac Bryan.

RISE 2022-23 Priorities: Advisory Communities, Project-Based Learning, Holistic Wellness.

September Data and Demographics Update

RISE served 191 students, 47% of whom are opportunity youth. ADA from 9/5 - 9/30 was 56.26% at Richstone, 49.4% at APCH, and 46.21% at New Earth. School-wide ADA is 52.01%. Mrs. Lara shared a breakdown of the number of current and foster youth, homeless, current and former probationary youth, students with IEPs, and EL status.

October Data and Demographics Update
RISE served 202 students, 47% of whom are opportunity youth. ADA from 10/3 - 10/28 was 47.78% at Richstone, 54.58% at APCH, and 39.62% at New Earth. School-wide ADA is 48.49%. Mrs. Lara shared a breakdown of the number of current and foster youth, homeless, current and former probationary youth, students with IEPs, and EL status.

Mrs. Lara shared data regarding foster youth, probationary youth, housing unstable (which changes weekly), and parenting youth across the RISE sites. She also highlighted data pertaining to student support services provided from August through October at APCH and Richstone.

Partnership Updates
APCH - 15 RISE students participated in a Virtual Haunted House experience provided by Technology Specialist Iovanni Dominguez. APCH English Language Arts Academic Assistant, Adam Yerima, is providing workshops on creative writing and story development to RISE students during the school day to support with the PIXAR interdisciplinary PBL. APCH is providing Turkeys and groceries to 25 families to support with Thanksgiving Dinner. In collaboration with lead teacher Ed Gray, various APCH staff members are providing integrated enrichment programming based on student interests during the school day. Workshops include Resume building, Basketball & soccer skills & drills, Baking with Love, Scholarships 101, and Intro to Dance.

Richstone – Richstone Family Center has expanded access and availability for free therapeutic services to RISE students and families, including anger management workshops, family therapy, and individual therapy. Richstone has upgraded a portion of the outdoor facilities to include solid flooring where there was previously gravel near the basketball court area which allows for expanded outdoor workspaces. Indivisible Arts Program continues to expand in collaboration with RISE teachers to allow multiple opportunities for engagement and exploration. Students have opportunities to demonstrate mastery and skill acquisition to earn credits in Humanities and STEM by creating and designing clothing, jewelry & art businesses, and guidebooks of the seven Wisdom tools.

New Earth - New Earth is expanding Case Management Department to increase capacity to access and provide additional resources and services. New Earth programming has expanded to include offerings such as Stage of Life: Body, Mind and Nutrition lessons, physical fitness and reflective activities; Theater: Self-expression through Performing Arts; and Office Hours based Mediation: Conflict resolution to support our youth with how to resolve conflicts when issues or situations arise at home, peer to peer, or with staff.

Mrs. Lara shared professional development opportunities staff have engaged in. Opportunities included a PD with Dr. Andrea Purcell from Big Picture Learning and the Da Vinci Transforming Learning Conference. Da Vinci RISE is also engaging in an instructional vision expedition with XQ. Seven XQ schools are participating, and the goal is to help further refine and think through the school's instructional vision and evaluate what teaching and learning look like. Student voice and teacher voice and feedback is included.

Mrs. Lara shared photographs of daily activities and student experiences at each school site.

Mr. Amato reviewed the September financials. He shared the September Balance Sheet noting that the $750,000 in Accounts Receivable is the XQ Grant. The funds are in the Da Vinci Schools Fund. Mr. Amato will be going to the bank to transfer to the Da Vinci RISE bank account. Another item to note is Deferred Revenue. RISE has received the cash, but it has not been applied to the Profit and Loss statement. The money will be used in the 2022-23 school year. The amount reflects various grants received but has yet to be counted as revenue. The amount reflects Ballmer Foundation Grant, Other State and Federal Revenues such as the A-G grant, Education Effectiveness Grant, and ESSER III funds. As the months pass, the amount will decrease to support financials. Currently, through December, Profit and Loss is $135,000, but the amount is temporary due to timing.

Mr. Amato reviewed the P&L for September, noting that there is a positive variance of $5,343 in All Other State Revenues due to an additional grant for Ethnic Studies from the state. This was not planned in the budget. There is also a positive variance of $1,684 from Prior Year State Income. The positive variance of $46,699 in Expenses under Certificated Salaries is due to the timing of hires which impacts benefits, STRS, workers comp, etc. The positive variance offsets a negative variance in professional/consulting services due to a paid agency fee since RISE hired staff through the agency.  

Mr. Amato shared that the budget will change, which will be reflected in the First Interim report that will be presented at the December Board meeting. There have been positive and negative changes. The biggest financial challenge is ADA which has been trending around 50%. The original goal and budget was 75% ADA. The First Interim will be more conservative in ADA since it drives State and LCFF revenue. The good news is that ADA is upwards of $15,000 because of the state’s budget. This is a potential loss of $750,000 of revenue for students based on ADA for this school year. Fortunately, grants and fundraising will be able to support the gap of ADA revenue loss. The 2022-23 school year will be stable, but the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years finances may be unclear. Some grants have extended timeframes with flexible use, so those grants will support future years as well. Staff will be discussing the future model and the impact of finances.

Dr. McCullough asked if there is any news from the state level since the challenges of ADA are happening across the board in California. Mr. Amato and Mr. Whalen shared that there is nothing specific yet but potential in the future.  

Mrs. Morgan asked about attendance rates at the other Da Vinci Schools. Mr. Amato shared that Da Vinci Schools is holding stable, but they are experiencing about a 5%-10% lower ADA average than their historical average.

Mr. Bravo shared news about the upcoming meeting with El Camino College regarding the possibility of opening a fourth RISE location on their campus next school year. El Camino is already an existing partner with Da Vinci with internship programs and scholarships, and staff is looking forward to continuing the expansion of the partnership. E-Occupancy at Richstone is currently in process, and updates will be provided at the upcoming meeting for occupancy at Richstone and New Earth.

Staff and students were experiencing internet issues at Richstone, but with the upgrade to Fiber, everything seems to be going well, and no problems have been reported.

Elinar Gutierrez from LACOE will visit RISE sites in early December for the annual Facility Review. Facilities staff are also visiting sites during the Thanksgiving break for minor repairs if needed, and fire extinguisher checks.

Closed session was entered at 7:25pm.

Public session was reconvened at 8:05pm. Dr. Jennings reported that no action had been taken.