We have received a good contact from Ann at Baystate. 

We are still looking for more contacts.  They don't have to be contacts that have to serve on the Industry Advisory Board but we would welcome conversations with anyone who could help us gain insight related to our pathways, job trends, hiring, etc. 

Ann said it was a very strong renewal and kudos to Rachel and her team for all that they do to end up with a renewal like that. 

Dale echos that sentiment. 

One of the feedback pieces that we had related to Open Meeting Law and including a list of documents used in the meetings in the minutes was an easy fix and we have done it. 

Rachel was very happy with the results and says it's a testament to us doing all the things we need to be doing on a daily basis and it's very validating. 

Rachel announced that we recently received word that we received a competitive Early College Full School Impact Planning Grant that will provide significant planning and resources to support our high school along with a college partner in designing and developing an impactful, large scale immersive Early College program model. ($150,000). If you get a planning grant you are pretty much guaranteed an implementation grant which we think should be similar in amount. 

Additionally, we are excited to announce that we have been awarded a Teacher Diversification Grant designed to support our efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention programs. ($50,000)

We have been partnering with Market Mentors to advance our marketing and communications efforts and that is going well. 

Denise asked if we would think about advertising for enrollment on tv?

Rachel said yes, we would definitely want to look into that. 

In general, Rachel says we haven't seen as many applications this year as we have in the past. We expected it last year during COVID but we're a bit surprised to see it continue this year. We are not worried about filling our seats but many local schools are definitely interested in drumming up interest this year. 

Aaron thinks we should be looking at the Asian community in the Springfield area for enrollment opportunities. 

Strategy and Approach for Advocacy Week 

We must activate and elevate the voices of our charter public school community.

We want out legislatures to hear directly from their constituents about what matters to our students, families, etc. 

Goal 1: Educate legislators about charter public schools. (Build knowledge about our schools).

Coordinate efforts we engage in all year long with storytelling.

How are we going to do this?

• Engage in 5 quick, impactful advocacy actions per day
• In order to do the above effectively, we need our community - School leaders, A4C/C4C reps, families, Board members, alumni  
• Monday, March 7th: 7pm Kick off Rally and CTA. Send an email to legislators together. Register yourself here. 
• Tuesday, March 8th: Share the CTA email with 5 friends and have them send it as well. 
• Wednesday, March 9th: Engaging content to download, personalize, and share on social media. 
• Thursday, March 10th: Community Padlet to share your stories. 
• Friday. March 11th: Amplify and share our collective stories.

Goal 2: Advocate for a FPP increase in the FY23 budget.

Budget Process

Step 1: Governor’s Budget to be released January 26th (MCPSA engagement with Executive branch)

Step 2: House + Senate Budgets finalized last week of April and May respectively. (CTA to targeted legislators during Advocacy week/Targeted legislator meetings March 8th - March 18th/Additional MCPSA and school engagement with key allies).

• This is how our work during advocacy week will hopefully ensure that FPP increase moves forward. 

Advocacy week is about ensuring that our legislators know that every child has equal potential and that equal potential deserves equal opportunity (no matter what school they attend). 

Denise said the finance committee talked about creating an investment sub-committee. This committee would include Steve Howard from Seeley Howard as well as Rachel, Lynne, Denise, and Matt with Matt leading the charge. Aaron would like to join as well. 

Denise reminded the Board that as of December 31st, our balance is about $598,000.  There has been a little bit of volatility in the market over the past few weeks but she thinks it's performing well. 

Matt says that success will also be judged over years as opposed to days and months.  

Denise encourages any other Board member who would be interested to attend the investment subcommittee meetings as well.

Rachel says these will be public meetings so anyone is welcome to join.

Denise says cash balances remain strong and very liquid.  On income statements, the big change is we had been projecting on the approved budget a break even year and we are now projecting a $140,000 loss and that is because the city of Springfield reduced it's standard foundation rate per pupil to zero. We should be able to make that loss up through our contingencies. 

David asks if that is a correction of something that shouldn't have been paid. 

Denise says yes, some of the COVID relief funding money got allocated into the money over the standard foundation rate per pupil.  Lynne found through her research that was an error and it was removed. 

Denise mentioned the other document in your package was the DRAFT ESSER Implementation Plan.  Dale wanted to make sure we were using the funds appropriately.  We are in the process of putting together a very clear outline of the ESSER funds we've received and how we have allocated them.  There are broad parameters related to the funds so Lynne always talks to our grant liaison, other charter school business managers, and our accountants to make sure when we make an expenditure it is allowable and no audit will show a misuse of funds. Starting on page 96-99 of the package that was sent to you you can see where some of the money has been spent thus far. 

Aaron asks are we going to be able to hire all the staff we need to implement a lot of this especially in this competitive environment.

Rachel responds we will do everything we can to but it's a very good question.  The talent, hiring, and management landscapes are very different right now but we will adapt. 

Denise asks about the principal search for the HS.

Rachel says we have four great finalists and we are beginning to conduct interviews. We have also made other hires for the new HS like Director of Operations, Family Engagement Liaison, and Special Projects Coordinator. The team is starting to shape up nicely. Right now we are also at 77% of our 8th graders committed to attending the HS next year! We are holding parent information sessions for any of our "maybes" and hopefully converting them to "yes". We also have a student leadership team who has been hard at work thinking about day to day operations related to the HS. Rachel and Alyssa Dube also presented to the PVIAC and we received approval so we will have a robust athletic program. 

Aaron asked about the Strings Community Music School program that we had been a part of in the past?

Rachel said yes we will definitely have some continuation of the music program into the HS. 

Rebecca said the committee continued our book study of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. They also looked at some attendance data.  

One main takeaway would be "our challenge as culturally responsive teachers is knowing how to create an environment that the brain perceives as safe and nurturing so it can relax, let go of any stress, and turn its attention to learning". 

David said the governance committee is in the process of contacting Board members whose terms are slated to end in June. It is about 50% of the Board. We are still looking for ways to recruit members to the Board with diversity in mind. It is also important to note that Dale is completing the third year of his term as chair and so we will need a new chair come 7/1.