We received two proposals from the RFP process led by Brendan Greeley. One was selected as the best option based on proposed space and costs. We've also been considering alternative options where we can rent space including the potential co-location on a local college campus. We await a proposal of cost and to find out if the college has enough space to accommodate our full high school program. We've been surveying parents and holding focus groups with alumni about the high school and will be assembling a design team soon. Our team is engaged in the process and has good support from various trustees who are providing guidance and consultation throughout the process. We hope to make a recommendation at the next board meeting. 

Rachel shared that the school and team are doing really good with the re-opening plan, attendance is really high today with 99% of students present. Holyoke was the  highest on the district with a 94% average daily attendance after first week of school. The school leadership team is doing and excellent job with great strategy and protocols in place to keep students engaged. Technology it is hard to work with  and troubleshooting a lot the tech problems, but in general our program is pretty solid for now, we are trying our best to provide a better education and make sure all students are engaged, completing work and getting the support they need to learn at home.

5th Grade enrollment: Great news, this is the strongest year ever, we are seeing less "no shows" this year. We do not need to call to offer any other seats at the moment because we are fully enrolled. Promoting that we are opening a high school may be playing a roll in the enrollment and how many students followed through on their decision to enroll.

We are using the metrics provided by the state to inform our decision around bringing students back in person. We are committed to being remote through the first marking period through October. We will continue to monitor the data and consider when we can bring students back in person. Students with special needs and those that are having problems to learn remotely, we will prioritize. 

Parents seem satisfied so far, feedback shows that they are happy with our systems and the supplies that we provide for the students to learn.

AAF, Nichole Reilly and David Kelleher, presented the audit report  to the finance committee this month. As it states on the bottom of page 9 -combined statements are mutual, consistent and clear. This audit was performed entirely remotely which is a lot of work and Lynne and the team did an outstanding job. Note that on page 10 they state there were corrected and uncorrected misstatements - these were two minor corrections and this is not anything to raise any concern. Also note that two out of 25 checks that were tested that require dual signatures did not have them, we’ve tightened up these procedures and this is not something we are concerned about moving forward. 
Denise reviewed the financial highlights on page four and then brought to the attention of the board that cash $465k at the end of fiscal year and also increased our capital reserve so we have over $900k in cash. We have a solid balance sheet.
Dale suggested that trustees read the Management Discussion and Analysis which provides some background on the school and how we invest and spend our funds. 
Operating revenue for the year was $8,211,323 and at the bottom of the income statement you can see the private funds of $140k that can be added to the operating revenue which ties out to the revenue number on the financial highlights section. In-kind revenues including transportation and meals are included in this revenue. 
 

Trustees did not have questions about the monthly financial statements.

Denise shared the finance committees goals for FY21. 1- Over see  the program , the development community and fundraising, 2- Complete financial areas on the organization-technology and security, this year will choose two more, 3- Financial projections, High school Design and financial department.
and 4- Capital reserved- we will explore potential investments for our cash reserve. 

Governance committee drafted goals at the last meeting. They shared the four goals they will work on in FY21. 1- Plan a process and timeline to guide the Board members to continue on making sure to create time and space with Holyoke, 2 - Create a maturity plan for the board, 3-Review the onboarding process of the new Trustees - Creating a new way to learn more about the system with binders or a tutorial for the remote setting at the moment and 4- Explore options and possibility to expand our impact

Rachel provided an overview of the Veritas Prep Holyoke program and explained the relationship between HPS,  the non-profit Friends of VPCS, and the charter school. She explained that this is our third year of a 3 year contract. Holyoke Public Schools has a Contract with Friends of Veritas which outlines the autonomies the school has and the services that are required as well as the enrollment and budget. Rachel explained the Space and services agreement held between VPCS and Friends of VPCS. She explained how our organization has grown to support two schools with the opportunity to hire a network Team and attract top talent to the organization. More will come in future meetings as conversations with the new receiver of HPS play out over the next few months. We aim to have a decision by January.

 

The committee discussed all the work on re- opening plan, how we are pushing for attendance to be at 100%, making home visits, phone calls, we have individual leaders per advisories in charge of the attendance and also  providing the technology for the students  including hot-spots for the families that they are in need. The committee will draft goals for FY21 at next meeting.