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Aurum Preparatory Academy

Minutes

October Board Meeting

Date and Time

Thursday October 28, 2021 at 6:00 PM

Location

1034 66th Avenue
Zoom: 449-267-1102
Password: 12345

Directors Present

A. Kingsley (remote), C. Davis (remote), J. Huddle (remote), V. Hayes (remote), V. Toke

Directors Absent

M. Knutson

Guests Present

D. Hardin

I. Opening Items

A.

Call the Meeting to Order

V. Toke called a meeting of the board of directors of Aurum Preparatory Academy to order on Thursday Oct 28, 2021 at 6:11 PM.

B.

Roll Call -- Establish Quorum

V. Hayes made a motion to approve the minutes from September Board Meeting on 09-23-21.
J. Huddle seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

C.

Approval of the Agenda

V. Toke made a motion to Approve Agenda.
V. Hayes seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

D.

Public Comment

II. Consent Items

A.

September Board Meeting Minutes

B.

Board findings pursuant to Government Code Section 54953(e)(3)

Updates--monthly consent agenda items..."Due to the pandemic, it limits our ability to meet in person due to physical distancing". So, we have to consent to each of these virtual meetings at each meeting.

 

 Motion that the board find that virtual meetings should continue
J. Huddle made a motion to Extend virtual meetings.
V. Hayes seconded the motion.
Updates--monthly consent agenda items..."Due to the pandemic, it limits our ability to meet in person due to physical distancing". So, we have to consent to each of these virtual meetings at each meeting.

 

 Motion that the board find that virtual meetings should continue
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

III. Information and Discussion

A.

Working Group Meeting

Each working group has developed a time for our meetings...
Calendaring the meetings
Must meet in November

 

B.

Executive Director's Report

  • Coming up on end of first trimester...will have some data on passing rates (won't know growth until January)
  • Top line numbers of dashboard
    • 166 Students; 6th grade 47; 7th grade 66; 8th grade 53
    • Open positions English and Education Specialist
  • ACOE Material revisions unanimously approved on October 12
    • Allows us to continue virtual meetings/distance learning and has been an effective intervention
  • Grades--hitting 80 percentile for 6th grade passing; hitting low 70s for 7th grade; hitting high 80s/low 90s for 8th grade...passage rate
  • Hispanic Heritage Month--door decorations--really fabulous, exciting creative
  • Week without walls first week of November--project based learning--latter half of day week without walls. Students are working on research, presentations, and collaborative learning. 
  • Acts full gospel--looking at lease extension; Bishop Bob speaking to families and students around food banks/clothing/basic needs; recently hired one of their staff members as the dean of student support...a good strengthening of a relationship. Discussions will continue next month (November).
  • Special Education Specialist left but acquired a new student support dean
  • Comments--Johnny--props for major work on ACOE
  • David has joined OK Program Board--they work with specific police officers and they work with students at a specific capacity with high schools. They do special programming...to help prevent dropping out, etc. Saturday they go do some work--like learning about careers, etc. Encourages students to help them stay on track with personal and educational goals. Connecting black youth with black leaders.
    •  

C.

Financial Update

  • Finances:
    • October Projection: Deficit of 26,000 for October
    • Ending fund 1.2 million
    • Goal--Get enrollment numbers up
    • Down about 20 students...bringing students back from COVID...we don't want to cut to adjust for 20 student loss.

D.

Brown Act Compliance

We have to flag and post minutes for public 48 hrs after.
Secretary will need to post.

E.

Board Recruitment and Fundraising

  • Add 2 more members--backgrounds in marketing; HR; fundraising are all great. 
  • Put feelers out to two people to see...report back next month
  • What about grants? SR3 funds grant...100,; ELO Grant 100,000; Quest Grant 25,000
  • Active promoters of Aurum--For example: Giving Tuesday
  • What about PR?--Where can we direct some of these accomplishments
    • Landing Page
    • Videos
    • Student Stories
    • Testimonial page--Here’s the page with our testimonials: https://www.aurumprep.org/news-testimonials
    • Blog of current events--Here’s our blog with current events: https://www.aurumprep.org/blog
    • One more page that I think is great to share: https://www.aurumprep.org/photo-gallery
    • Fundraiser Ideas:
      • Golf Tournaments
      • Dinners
      • Johnny, Vincent
    • Publications? Edsurge
    •  

IV. Action Items

A.

Review and Vote on the Independent Study Policy

We have to approve the changes ACOE suggested--
  • Board Policy:
    • We have to maintain a written file and written agreement around terms of independent study--how long; how will it be delivered; etc.
  • Same thing with written agreements:
    • suggested paragraph for a statement of a supports for special populations and the fact that this was voluntary not required and that students could come back at any time
    • +Signature page of parent and pupil 
V. Hayes made a motion to Approve the Aurum Independent Study revised as recommended by ACOE.
J. Huddle seconded the motion.
See above discussion
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B.

Review and Vote on the Independent Study Written Agreement

J. Huddle made a motion to Approve Aurum Independent Study Written Agreement.
C. Davis seconded the motion.
  • With written agreements:
    • suggested paragraph for a statement of a supports for special populations and the fact that this was voluntary not required and that students could come back at any time
    • +Signature page of parent and pupil 
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

C.

Review and Vote on the ESSER III Expenditure Plan

ESSER III Expenditure Plan
  • Certain funds that were given during the pandemic--ESSER 1 (manage safety equipment); ESSER 2 (Learning loss, curriculum, chromebooks, etc.); ESSER 3 (mitigate learning loss in return)
  • ESSER III
    • $446,378
    • Needs reporting 
    • Aligned with LCAP to show legitimacy
    • Three major sections--strategies for continuous in-person learning to keep people safe; addressing lost instructional time; community engagement)
    • Community engagement--how did we have parent meetings? etc. example: Cafesitos
    • 6,000 on medical grade Hepa filters; another 6,000 on janitorial supplies; deep cleans; etc.
    • Student supports--address learning loss of specific students--special needs, low-income. 
    • 223,000 + Dean of Student Supports salary is funded by these ESSER funds to provide additional funds...and additional funds for student supports
    • 85,000 Chromebooks
    • 20,000 Extended School Year (summer school...supplements)
    • 55,000 Tutoring
    • 34,000 Mental Health Counseling
    • 16,000 Social Emotional Learning Trainings
A. Kingsley made a motion to Approval of ESSER III Expenditure Plan.
V. Hayes seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

V. Closing Items

A.

Board Comments

Establishing our November/December Meeting Dates--
  • Thursday, November 18th-- 6-8 PM

 

 

B.

Next Board Meeting

Thursday, November 18th, 6 PM

C.

Adjourn Meeting

V. Hayes made a motion to Moves to adjourn.
J. Huddle seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
V. Toke