Veritas Preparatory Charter School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Zoom Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday March 25, 2021 at 4:30 PM
Location
Join Zoom Meeting
https://vpcs-org.zoom.us/j/82460204268 Meeting ID: 824 6020 4268
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Meeting ID: 824 6020 4268
Trustees Present
A. Errichetti (remote), A. Mendelson (remote), D. Ford (remote), D. Fuller (remote), D. Janes (remote), M. Landon (remote), R. Martin (remote), R. Sela (remote), T. Maxey (remote), X. Delobato (remote)
Trustees Absent
G. Moody, J. Crowell, L. Doherty, T. Gabinetti
Trustees who arrived after the meeting opened
D. Janes
Guests Present
J. Castrillon (remote), R. Romano (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
A. Errichetti called a meeting of the board of trustees of Veritas Preparatory Charter School to order on Thursday Mar 25, 2021 at 4:35 PM.
C.
Approve February minutes
D. Fuller made a motion to approve the minutes from Board Meeting on 02-25-21.
A. Mendelson seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| R. Martin |
Aye
|
| D. Fuller |
Aye
|
| A. Mendelson |
Aye
|
| M. Landon |
Aye
|
| G. Moody |
Absent
|
| D. Ford |
Aye
|
| R. Sela |
Aye
|
| T. Maxey |
Aye
|
| A. Errichetti |
Aye
|
| L. Doherty |
Absent
|
| X. Delobato |
Aye
|
| D. Janes |
Absent
|
| J. Crowell |
Absent
|
| T. Gabinetti |
Absent
|
II. Academic Achievement
A.
Reopening Plans
B.
Knowledge Building - High School Accountability
Rebecca showed the board members the Massachusetts school and district accountability system and the website. Some indicators that provide more information about school performance and student opportunity are: Achievement, student progress or growth, High school completion, progress towards English proficiency for English learners, chronic absenteeism and advance course work completion. Rebecca led the board in a discussion around the differences between middle and high school accountability and the ways in which the board may need to provide oversight differently as we expand into the high school grades. Rebecca shared several school examples and we looked at the school percentiles and data for Springfield district and charter high schools.
III. Finance
A.
February Financials
Denise explained to the board that we are in great shape- revenue projection has increased a lot thanks to tuition coming in higher than assumed and the government grants and COVID relief grants we are receiving this fiscal year.
Enrollment at the moment is 408 which is great and close to what we projected. The finance committee is focused on capital and infrastructure projects and plans to replace the windows which is the next big project on our capital plan. We are not sure if the window project is going to happen this fiscal year because we might have some students during summer, we might do some small projects outside like fencing and landscaping now and prepare to get the window project out to bid in anticipation of doing it next year.
D. Janes arrived at 5:00 PM.
B.
Investment RFP
Matt, Lynne, Denise and Rachel have been finalized and disseminated the RFP for financial services. We are accepting proposals and have a process in place to review each proposal against common standards using a score card. Once the proposals have been reviewed, we will interview the finalist and make a recommendation to Dale and Rachel. Dale and Rachel will conduct a final interview and the goal is to make our recommendation to the board at the April 29th meeting. If we proceed at the month of May will working through paperwork and finalizing the policy statement with whomever we choose and the goal after this will be to fund the account in June. Lynne has been doing a great job preparing documents, the score card and managing the project timeline and process.
IV. Governance Committee Report
A.
Board Survey Results
Rachel gave some background on the board survey that we took and the organization it came from. education board. We had the majority of our trustees participate so received a dashboard.
There are 8 potential areas of growth:
1-33% of trustees disagreed with :i review a data dashboard on a regular basis that includes measures of students success other than test scores” P.15
2- 44% of trustees said that they disagreed with “the board knows who take over in the event of an emergency in which the school leader cannot lead” P.18
3- 33% either don’t know or said no (22%) to “ Our board conducts a self assessment every year” p.20
4. 44% don’t know/don’t do Discussion between balance of governance and management. P.22
5. 33% don’t know/don’t do- Board steps back from decisions that are the responsibility of the school leader, even big decisions. P.22
6. Only 33% agreed that taking the pulse of the community and stakeholders. P.23
7. I or another board member has initiated a discussion about whether any school policy or practice may disproportionately impact some students negatively and or advantage others. P.26
8. Relationships with legislators. p.28
Trustees discussed and agreed that numbers 1, 6 and 7 rose up as the top three priorities. Number 8 also felt like something we can work on.
V. Executive Director Report
A.
Update on operation of Veritas Prep Holyoke
The update in Holyoke, everything is going in a great direction. The district will do a re- organization which could impact grade configuration. We will be included in the process and can present the benefits of a 5-8. grade configuration. The contract is not finalized yet but getting close.
B.
High School Planning
We are still recruiting a founding principal for the high school, interviews will soon be underway and everything is going smooth, we are taking our time to find the best person to support the high school.
We are exploring early college opportunities for students and other innovative design features.Lily is doing a fantastic job, the process includes all of our stakeholders and centers the voice of students and alumni.
VI. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 6:04 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
J. Castrillon
Teachers will be live streaming lessons while they are in the classroom with some students but still teaching via zoom for those opting to stay at home. We are hiring additional teachers a to help with zoom information and all offer the best support for our students as well as reduce the size of classrooms.
All employees have been given all the information to get vaccinated by the time we open the school. Most have already gotten the first dose so being vaccinated is helpful to comfort level for teachers. We've considered the pooled testing initiative but felt we did not have the capacity to implement it at VPCS. We are relying on community based testing.