Due to relocation, we regret to inform you that Tom has resigned from the board and submitted a resignation on Monday, 10/21. We thank Tom for his great work. 

Trustees voted by roll call and all were in favor.

Trustees voted by roll call and all were in favor.
 

Trustees voted by roll call and all were in favor.

Trustees voted by roll call and all were in favor.

Dale Janes talked to the trustees about attendance issues and proposed changing the time of the board meeting. He will be reaching out to trustees to solicit feedback about a potential change of meeting time. 

Trustees reviewed and discussed the audit report last month. There are no findings, clean audit and great process. Trustees voted using roll call and all were in favor. 

FY20 financials are tracking better than planned with more revenue coming in from private grants. We are in good shape and hope to drop surplus to cash reserve as planned in order to allocate funds toward our capital budget. We need to have the roof replaced and have been exploring costs and getting quotes. We are currently planning a project to replace the front door and also hope to improve windows in the future. The finance committee has  been working with management on a capital plan and budget. 

Matt Landon reviewed the 5 week plan, dividing the board into three teams - Team Aaron, Team Denise and Team Matt - to get the word out about the matching grant. The goal is to raise $15k over the next 5 weeks which will be matched and get us to $30k. Team captains will be reaching to the trustees on their team. The school will send a thank you letter to all donors and will communicate with the referring trustee so that they can also say thank you. 

Tatiana presented the trustees with the enrollment policy and talked the trustees through what the policy looks like in practice. She shared that recruitment and enrollment go hand in hand and that you can't talk about enrollment without understanding the important role recruitment plays in the process. 5th grade is our entry point so the majority of students are enrolled into 5th grade and we do backfill vacant seats in grades 6-8. The only preference given in the enrollment process is for siblings of currently enrolled students and residents of Springfield. While all MA residents can apply, preference is given to students who reside in Springfield and demand in Springfield is high enough that all of our students are in Springfield. While the targeted mailers are the most efficient way to get applications for the lottery, Veritas is deeply committed to serving high needs families and students. We partner with community agencies to find the families who need us most. This is a tremendous amount of effort and work and the outcome is that we serve a very similar population of students to SPS. 

Trustees asked about the enrollment packet and what is included and Tatiana described the content of the packet and the information requested of families at the time of enrollment. Trustees spent time discussing the similarities and differences between veritas and sps and how we can work even harder to reach high needs families, specifically homeless families. Dale Janes encouraged all trustees to read and understand the enrollment policy and continue to ask questions as this is an important topic for the board to understand.

Rachel shared the process for the expansion request and next steps. The CSO will schedule an interview in the next few weeks to ask follow up questions about our submission. Following the interview the commissioner will make a recommendation to the BESE and the expansion request will be an item for discussion and approval at the December BESE meeting. We have begun looking for sites and sourcing talent for the founding team.

Rachel shared an update about the Student Opportunity Act which has been debated in the senate and house and is currently in conference. The sticking point is around accountability and whether or not schools should have funds tied to improvement plans. Rachel also shared information about the weighted lottery bill which Veritas supports. 

Trustees voted by roll call and all were in favor.