No changes.

Krishna appreciated teachers and staff for all their time and work, and love, energy, and care to launching this school year.

Olivia also appreciated teachers on this amazing transition to a totally different thing. And to Admin for all the summer work. And to all the parents working hard to support their students at home. And to students working so hard.

Loren also shared similar appreciations -- for teachers, and administrators, to parents and kids.

Parent Kara added on a particular appreciation for special education staff.

Greg updated the board that we recently received a public records request.

No public comment on non-agendized items.

The slides of the report are on the "Documents" section for this meeting on Board on Track.

Upcoming assessments and trainings for assessments later in August and September. DIBELS across the entire school, and upcoming NWEA assessment as well. Future engagement on Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan on September 3. Family Nights getting scheduled -- all will be on the calendar.

Summer PD included anti-bias anti-racist training, Montessori at a Distance, staff planning.

Learning everywhere! 406 currently enrolled -- still fluctuates, attendance at 97.4% so far this year.

Mr. Bagaason showed the middle school classroom, new humanities teacher at the school, from Minneapolis. Shared about setting community agreements with students, and about some of the student work during the opening weeks of school.

For current enrollment, the school continues to closely reflect Oakland's racial groups and percentages.

Ms. Krishna shared about a summer strategic planning process. Lots of helpful templates and support, much of which facilitated the back to school Learning Everywhere plan. Still much more to do in terms of longer term strategic planning, along with full and complete engagements with all stakeholder groups.

Staffing -- 91% of all current staff returned from last year. (so 9% new this year). Ms. Krishna shared staff position updates.

Hae-Sin asked for demographic data for the staff. Krishna agreed and is missing data, so needs further collection for future meeting.

Greg and Stacey shared acknowledgements for all the work and appreciations.

Jan asked about device access. Krishna shared that not all devices have been delivered -- not all kids have *great* access, but kids do have something right now, and it will improve as delivery happens. #OaklandUndivided devices have arrived, and are being deployed. Parents can still complete the Tech Check to get a free device.

Hae-Sin asked for a specific number of needed devices right now. Kids have something, but want to get them better options right away. Hae-Sin commented about the option of buying devices from OUSD and will follow up on that idea.

No public comment.

Davis opened the public hearing on the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan.

Krishna shared about what the LCP is, where it comes from, and what it must include.

Daniel shared the Guiding Principles of the Learning Everywhere program -- the distance-learning portion of the LCP. There's a slide deck in the "Documents" section of this meeting on BoardOnTrack.

Daily and weekly schedule is very similar over time. Feedback from Spring was to make it all more predictable. Also, aligned schedules across a level, and when lessons will be given on what content -- major support for when teachers are absent -- kids get an updated zoom link and can still attend an academic lesson at the same time! Nearly 9,000 assignments turned in over 9 days of school...Almost half of all families have already accessed Seesaw and seeing student work, too.

Daniel shared about the work being done in classrooms at each Level.

Daniel shared about how the school will keep track of student engagement daily in instructional minutes offered, along with attendance. Krishna shared a focus of understanding students with the most need and then meeting those needs. Daniel shared how a teacher's schedule allows for teachers to pull two ad hoc small groups each day, in addition to daily leveled lessons for all students. Support teachers also have tiered supports in their schedule.

For families, teachers holding office hours, administration is holding office hours, future family information nights, tiered technology support.

Again, so many appreciations for all.

Greg shared about the process and timeline for future work on the plan, and adoption next month, and then ask about the return to in-person learning. Krishna responded that much of the distance learning plans are designed so that they can flow back into in-person school -- like still using Seesaw, and aligning lessons and schedules across classrooms.

Hae-Sin commented it's really important to focus precious teacher time on students most in need, and that may be the template for future learning back in a school building -- maintaining that same focus.

Parent Jeremy shared that the school "Nailed it" -- so much growth in my son. Hopes that some of the distance learning going on right now never goes away, even after the pandemic.

Olivia appreciated the information about the work at each developmental Level. Appreciates the daily tasks. The amount of screen time can be a lot, so glad to know there are options away from screen. 

Daniel shared about setting expectations for the amount of work, and then opening up to larger, longer projects over time. Olivia wondered about helping kids managing technology plus other learning -- focus on one or the other at a time.

No other comments, Davis closed the public hearing.

[See Documents for last year's unaudited actuals, and presentation slides in BoardOnTrack]

Alejandra shared how FY 2019-2020 ended with a positive $7k operating income.

Hae-Sin asked about the cash balance, and when we might know whether the PPP loan will be a loan or whether it will be reclassified as a grant. We are actively monitoring to see whether there will be automatic forgiveness for loans under $2M. We expect to find out more about proposed legislation in the next 2 weeks. It is a loan.

FY2020-2021 forecast update through end of July 2020. We currently show an increase in operating income in the forecast as some funding for education has been restored and there has been one time funding instituted. Therefore, we currently have an increase in our budgeted income from $6k to a new updated forecast of $101K.

Stacey left the call at 7:33.  Stacey returned to the call at 7:38.
Jan asked about the timing of when LLM funds have to spent by, and we anticipate to spend by December 2020.

2020-2021 budget comparison of forecast to adopted budget. Having a positive income is important as we would like our fund balance to build up in order to have a "rainy day" fund.

Daniel shared about the new Quest Foundation $25k challenge grant being awarded. Thank you, Quest! We have a $78k goal for our families to give to the school this year across all fundraising, those donations will help us meet the match as they come in.

Krishna shared about the Plant sale fundraiser this Saturday. Come buy plants!!

Alejandra shared more about the latest current assumptions and open items related to future budget forecasts.

State deferrals refer to funds that are earned this year that will be paid in the following fiscal year. If every current assumption/variable goes the "wrong" way, then cash may be a problem early in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

Prop 51. We have had ongoing discussions around a facility use agreement to go before the OUSD board. We are supposed to have the offer by December in order to be on time for the state's bond sale. Prop 51 funds have been awarded to UMCS by the state, but the funds can only be accessible if we have a long term leases in place, and only spent on an OUSD-owned facility -- so OUSD benefits, too. We are continuing our efforts to get a long term lease in place (currently at the Tilden/John Swett campus).

No other questions or public comment.

Hae-Sin gave a report for the committee. The committee spent time learning about the Learning Everywhere plan, and appreciated again the staff. In this crisis, it's important to live our values that equal is not equitable, and we need to give more to those who need more. Hae-Sin shared how the work of presenting a strong case for renewal and supporting our currently lowest performing subgroups -- growth data, and also student and family satisfaction. We must share data that shows us dramatically closing achievement gaps. It's not the year to save money just to save, if we're not delivering on education for students who most need it then instead must invest on behalf of kids. Good alignment from the committee and staff on the goals of serving student subgroups most in need.

Stacey offered Finance committee's support. Davis thanked the committee for the renewed energy.

Parent Anna asked about the committee schedule. All on the calendar!

No other public comment.

Loren shared the FAC report. Met in August and focused on supporting community with distance learning. Helping people get set up and comfortable with Konstella, and also outreach to families to get new room parents, FAC members, and volunteers. Planned meeting next with FAC and Room parents.

Biggest concern now is figuring out how the FAC will do its work remotely, i.e., not meeting at pick up and drop off times. Sent out survey last weekend to collect feedback on the first week and identify anyone who still needed help with something, and also what was working well and not working well.

Loren shared some data on the feedback survey [in the Documents section of this meeting on BoardOnTrack.] 76 respondents, 10 folks needed more help with something and FAC is already reaching out to them. 19 respondents only had positive appreciations to share.

Greg asked about supporting kids to make connections with other kids during the day. Hae-Sin responded about pairing students and giving them a choice.

Loren asked about if the support teacher zooms are working to support the spontaneous connections and it is some ways -- can put kids into breakout rooms to work together.

Parent Jeremy asked about virtual Back to School Night. Krishna responded about wanting to collaborate with FAC on that.

No other public comment.
 

Board assessments.  BOARD MEMBERS, PLEASE COMPLETE YOUR BOARD ASSESSMENT!!  
Training opportunities available for Board Members.  Please attend a training at your earliest convenience.  Slides have been added and more trainings are being calendared.  
Please fill out your Form 700.  A wet signature copy should be sent to Yolanda Bullock at Steele Street.
 

Nancy McAffee Flemming has served UMCS since before the first day of school.  She has been a parent, board member, board officer, committee member, she has been through the highs and the lows. So, we as a board and a community member cant say enough thanks!!!  Greg, Hae-Sin, Davis, Krishna, Stacey, Jan, Loren, all shared personal stories of appreciation for Nancy.

Nancy challenged the Board to stay focused on the kids who need us the most -- and to be specific about serving Black children, not forcing them to grow up to fast or treat them as adults, and also to support the needs of English Language Learners, Foster Youth, and other students with documented needs.

No action needed at this time.

Hae-Sin shared that there is an upcoming school board election in November. We shared our directory information so we can help support register eligible voters, and then support folks to actually vote. We are legally allowed to support people to register and vote. We do not tell people *how* they should vote -- that's their decision. Voter education is important.

Lots of frustration from parents across the city with schools writ large. Many wondering about amounts of synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Our local experience at UMCS may be a lot different than what is happening other places.

Lots of misinformation about profit and nonprofit schools, and it's important that families have the facts. Nonprofit charter run schools are public schools. We are accountable every five years through renewals, and follow all other relevant public/sunshine/good governance laws, just like school districts must do.

Loren asked about what engagements might look like. Hae-Sin responded about possible upcoming communications, or engaging the FAC with voter registration campaigns at school events, or promoting candidate forums for parents to participate in. Many families are not eligble to participate by voting but they still need quality schools. Folks need to understand the facts and vote.

No other public comment.

No new specific items at this time.

Davis made an announcement that the Board would go into Closed Session on both topics.

Davis reported that no action was taken by the Board during Closed Session.