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Veritas Preparatory Charter School

Finance Committee Meeting

Published on February 14, 2021 at 7:14 PM EST
Amended on February 17, 2021 at 5:32 AM EST

Date and Time

Thursday February 18, 2021 at 8:30 AM EST

Location

Veritas Prep Charter School 1st Floor Conference Room or Dial-In Number: 866-848-2216, Conference Code: 7783935205, Leader Code: 2356

Agenda

     
I. Opening Items
  A. Record Attendance
  B. Call the Meeting to Order
  C. Approve Minutes
    Approve minutes for Finance Committee Meeting on January 21, 2021
II. Finance
  A. Monthly Financial Reports
III. Other Business
  A. Investment Strategy, Policy and RFP next steps
  B. Student Information System Discussion
   
A school's Student Information System (SIS) is a critical program and any changes would require in-depth research, stakeholder input, and intensive team planning.  Consideration of a SIS change has been happening for over one year and included many team members (board, school leadership, operations team, technology consultants, etc.) and this request is prompted by the findings as summarized below.

 

Currently Veritas uses SchoolBrains as its SIS, but SchoolBrains needs to be used in conjunction with other software programs to be an effective tool.  It has been determined that additional software programs would need to be added in order for SchoolBrains to be an effective tool for the high school.
PowerSchool is also a DESE compliant SIS system and includes the necessary modules to support a high school program.  PowerSchool would replace SchoolBrains, EDIS, ESped, and Docusign programs in FY22 (these equal $25k annually) and overtime PowerSchool will have the potential of replacing other programs currently in use (i.e. DeansList, JumpRope, POSSIP, Edulastic, etc.) which are approximately $20k annually.

 

PowerSchool is more widely used in the high school programs because its system has:
  • a more robust class scheduling module that includes a student interface
  • a course credit tracking and graduation requirement tracking module, and
  • a family friendly portal that makes real-time information more relevant all in one place (i.e. attendance, grades, credits, IEP progress, etc.).
Planning and negotiation has been happening since Spring 2020 and included the following:
  • state-wide surveys
  • other software considerations (i.e. Rediker, Canvas)
  • monthly meetings with leadership to review and discuss research
  • PowerSchool presentation to leadership (video available for anyone who would like to review)
  • stakeholder input:
    • Robbie Martin onboard
    • Lily onboard
    • Operations Team onboard
    • Leadership onboard with SIS change only for FY22
    • Jonathan onboard with SE
  • Reference check with Springfield Public Schools, Brooke Charter School (who went through similar SB to PS change due to high school), Phoenix Charter School
  • Price negotiation:
    • Implementation plus year one costs started at $123k and ended at $93k
    • Annual fees started at $48k (annual uplift 5%) and ended at $35k (annual uplift 3% max)
    • For a total 5 year savings of over $70k
We are requesting agreement from the Finance Committee to recommend to the Board approval of this SIS change and a 5 year agreement with PowerSchool.

 

Thank you for your consideration.
IV. Closing Items
  A. Adjourn Meeting