The board Chair welcomed the team and open the floor for reflections. Folks shared both personal and professional reflections. 

Lauren shared the wins, challenges, threats and opportunities at the Board level. 

Board Wins :

• Four new Trustees : Shakenna, Azanda, Laurie and Nick! 
• Solid fundraising year in a difficult climate (over 400k raised!! )
• High Trustee attendance at meetings ; engaged & committed group who respect each other yet not afraid to share perspectives
• Completion of a Succession Plan and major improvements regarding the ED evaluation process  
• Continued strong financials 
• Swift decision making (ie. phased reopening) ; staying out of the “weeds” and trusting LACS leadership team guidance 
• Evident that the group as a whole truly cares for Libertas and its students, families , and staff.

 
Board Challenges:

• Still meeting via zoom :( 
• 1 ½ years without physically getting into the school to interact with each other or with teachers, staff and students .  
• Unable to bring in potential donors and Trustees into the building 
• Have not been able to secure another Trustee with a financial background/expertise. This is a must! 

 
Board & LACS Uncertainties:

• Reopening school for Fy22 ; looking better than last year but what will actually pan out?
• Charter Renewal Process & Results 
• Gathering as a Board in person?!  Fall 2021?! 

 
LACS and Board Opportunities:

• High school expansion -
• Securing a permanent building to support our continued growth 
• Charter Renewal process: an opportunity to reflect on our progress and make any necessary adjusts to our program so that we continue making positive gains across all metrics
• Continue to grow & diversify our Board!

We continue to hit 7 of 8 metrics as we have all year.  No concerns. Common for new schools to not hit the Tuition ratio mark.  

Reviewed numbers. On track to finish with a small surplus.  Tuition per student expected to remain the same and salaries to remain consistent for 2021-22.  

3rd party auditor will get started as we come to the end of the fiscal year - June 30.  Expect the report by November 30.  

Second account - Friends of Libertas - reviewed.  Combined accounts show positive position.

Reviewing results of the Board survey from Dec 2020 - biggest feedback was that we need a succession plan, which we have completed.  Yay!
    Student Achievement - lots of positives.  Need to focus more on data and school outcomes to clarify more.
    Leadership - lots of support for leadership.  Need to focus on progress to goals and areas for growth and support toward growth.  New focus for the ED committee.
    Governance - good responses on our board commitment.  Need to work on recruiting trustees: Facilities, Finance, HR & Communications 
    Strategy - sets goals and works on them.  Need to work on board engageing with stakeholders (mostly due to COVID) and discussing the impact of racism and bias with outcomes, evaluation and egagement.  It is addressed in the school but not at the board levell.
    Finances - very solid
    Compliance - open meeting laws and legal council good.
    Advocacy - positively communication.  May want to focus on advocating more on supporting charter schools as a whole. 
Dana B asked Lauren as board leader if anything struck her specifically for goals - Lauren noticed the getting to know each other and carryover between committees and how all could support every committee.  Also, needing more board members.

Review of Board Goals - similar to last year but more concrete goals. 
    Dana B - encourages that we assign people to find the various new board people. Has volunteered to take on the Finance category.
    Lauren  - reminder that people can join a committee if not ready to take on the full board. 
    Shakenna - has someone in mind for HR
    Modesto - working closely with Gary Jennison, Katie and Mike Gronin to creating a formal commitee for the building transition. 
    Kari D - brought up topic of capital campaign and making sure that this is on the list.  Modesto responded: Timing is still in the air and planning is still being determined based on decisions on the building.  Will be a milestone for the school once happens. Going into our charter renewal next year and there is a facilities piece to this that will impact it as well. 
    Hector Z. suggested focus should be recruitment and ED Evaluation.
 

Modesto's report:
    - All school leaders participated in a retreat to look at the state of the school (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
            - Most pressing challenges:
                    - Chronic academic underperformance especially in literacy, especially the students who are furthest behind and making the least amount of progress.
                    - The lack of Organization Infrastructure: the lack of the right people, doing the right thing, at the right time, at a high level.  Need to be focused on what we need. 
            - Went though the 5 Whys:
                    Academic underperformance - must establish a goal that is grounded in literacy growth.  #1 goal and expect to be held accountable!  Created sub goals to support this goal and make sure that we have the leaders to do this.  Created a focus for this goal - 100% of students will read at or above grade level.  This is a big goal but now that the school is in a good place (infrastructure, hiring, etc) so this is now the #1.
                        Next year's goal: improve literacy levels for all students - 90% of students on track to reach their individual goal buy the end of the school year. Need to really focus so that 90% of students reading 2 or more years behind will also reach this.  
                        Dana B asked if this literacy is a risk for our charter and if we can actually do this given the challenges our kids face?
                        Modesto responds: yes, literacy is a risk to our charter.  We are making progress so I'm not concerned about our renewal.  But more importantly it the mission of the school and we need to be able to do what we say we're going to do. And yes this is a very challenging goal but it is something we have proven we can do and we need it to be true for every student. It will take a lot of work and support but we and they can do it!  If we're not able to do it, we need to look at the team and make sure we have the right people on the team. 
                        Nick B asked about where we've been in past years.  Modesto answered that we've been in the 70% ranges. For some kids it's going to be very challenging but he is really passionate about doing this. 
                        Hector Z. - fully supports these goals and announced that he has been contacted by a group who wants to make a large book donation.  Thank you Hector!    
    - There are other things we will be working on as well:
            - Middle School key metrics:
                    - MCAS proficiency, Organizational Health (teacher retention), Academic health, Student Culture (attendance, behavior), & Family investment 
            - High School metrics:
                    - Academic Achievement (AP Classes), Teacher retention, GPA, Student Culture), & Family investment 

Schedule for 2021-22 board meetings: If in person (hopefully!) 5:30 on Tuesdays, with Friday in June board retreat.  Calendar holds will be sent by Modesto. 

Dana B. Question about monthly board and committee meetings?  Lauren/Modesto replied that there is a certain amount of meetings for the board that are required in our bylaws (10).  Committees can do what they feel is appropriate for their committee work. 

Review of the Executive Director Evaluation done by ED Committee and Modesto.  
   
Dana B commented that this new process is done very well and a great improvement on where we were.  May not be perfect but made huge progress.
    
Reviewed Executive Director Contract and Salary document.

Review of Executive Director contract for 2021-22
    - 2 year contract with salary determined annually

Azanda S. asked a question about succession plan and making sure that he/she is a part of our meetings if he/she needs to take over unexpectedly.  Lauren D. agreed and will ask Modesto to include him/her in the future.

Lauren is stepping down after 3 years of serving as Chair.  Hector Zavala to become Chair, Kari Diamond Kayaitos to be Vice Chair, Tony Surrette to serve as Treasurer.  

Thank you Lauren for all your hard work!!  We are grateful that you are staying on the board!

Looking for a secretary - anyone interested in taking on this role? Dana suggesting a person new to the board to take this on if possible. Lauren Davis will fill it for 2021-22.

Academic Achievement Committee - Chair by Nick Barker
    With Azanda Seymour and Tiffani Curtis

Governance Committee - Chair by Hector Zavala
    with Shakeena Williams

Executive Director Evaluation Committee - Chair by Lauren Davis
    with Hector Zavala and Tiffani Curtis

Development Committee - Chair by Dana Barrows
    with Laurie Flynn and Kari Diamond Kayiatos

Finance Committee - Chair by Tony Surrette
    with Lauren Davis and Juan

Board needs to approve the following before August 1:
    Charter Renewal application
    Annual Report to DESI
Will need a 30-45 minute meeting to approve these on Wednesday, July 21 at 5:00 pm

Thoughts from our new chair Hector Zavala:
    Thank you for the time, work you commit to the school, students, and staff.  They continue to do amazing work, especially in this challenging year.   We are in a great place and looking forward to a great summer break and being back in school in person and normal.

Closing thoughts from outgoing chair Lauren Davis:
    Thank you for your support as I've learned how to do this.  It's been wonderful to work with a great group.