This item was pushed to the next meeting when Nicole can be present. 

Rachel recapped the charter school accountability cycle and where Veritas is in the cycle. The last time we had a review was for the renewal in 2022. The team is looking forward to hosting four site visitors on January 18th and they will conduct focus groups and observe classes. Some focus groups will be conducted via zoom in the days prior to the site visit. The board focus group will take place via zoom on January 16th. Rachel and Ann identified trustees to participate in the board focus group so there would be representation from all committees. There is nothing for trustees to do to prepare for the focus group. The site visit is a great opportunity to reflect on our practices and get some feedback from the site visit team. 

The process focuses on the three areas of charter school performance and the criteria that fall within each. 

Rachel recapped the three areas of accountability and what falls under each:

Faithfulness to Charter

1.  Mission and Key Design Elements

• the school's accountability plan is an important document as it contains the metrics we set for our school. We report out on those metrics annually in our annual report. 

2.  Access and Equity

• Rachel talked about the coordinated program review and the Tiered Focus Monitoring that recently happened. There were no findings from that review and Jonathan Swan will be sharing more about this at the January board meeting with all trustees. 
• Board ensures appropriate levels of staffing and budget to support special education, English learners 
• Board/academic achievement data looks at sub-group data to monitor progress and any disparity in achievement
• Board/Finance committee monitors enrollment and student attrition data monthly 
• Board reviews Recruitment and Retention Plan annually with annual report 

3.  Compliance

Board reviews results of accountability reviews by DESE and the Coordinated Program Review (special ed, ELL, civil rights) and identifies areas for improvement as needed

Board ensures staffing and appropriate oversight of these programs 

Board/finance committee monitors grants monthly and ensures compliance 

The board ensures the school undertakes corrective action when needed and implements necessary safeguards to maintain compliance with all legal requirements.

4.  Dissemination

The school provides innovative models for replication and best practices to other public schools in the district where the charter school is located. Holyoke project was an exceeding dissemination effort we did. We influenced district plans at a large scale, brought staff to HPS, build capacity of leaders and teachers who remain in their district. We should be proud of that effort and work. New dissemination goals established in accountability plan and Early college program is an opportunity to disseminate. Rachel highlighted Seminar course which we are expanding to all grades as a potential practice to share

Academic Program Success

5.  Student Performance

We consistently makes progress in student academic achievement for all students as defined by the statewide accountability system. Academic achievement committee monitors data closely. School leaders and staff use data regularly and use it to ensure equity for all students

Whole board reviewing data regularly in response to board survey.

The other criteria in the APS domain are 

6.  Program Delivery and 7.  School Climate and Family Engagement

Organizational Viability is the third area of accountability. It includes three criterion 

8.  Capacity - The board is always focused on capacity buildingand succession planning. 

9.  Governance - our committee has used the board effects survey results to set goals and to inform recruitment. 

10.   Finance - management and finance committee work closely together and have developed multi-year budget projections to ensure sustainability for our growing high school and early college program.