Urban Montessori Charter School
Minutes
Regular Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday December 2, 2021 at 6:15 PM
Location
4551 Steele Street, Oakland, CA 94619. Signage on campus will direct you to the correct room.
The public may comment and participate via Zoom if they prefer. The public may also email comments to board@urbanmontessori.org to be shared by the Board's Secretary during the meeting.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5102904005?pwd=M1kxU2hXSzRSN1dCL3QwYVEzdkJ3Zz09
Meeting ID: 510 290 4005; Passcode 5102904005
Additional teleconference locations: 1623 Sunhill Ct, Martinez, CA 94553; 3125 School Street, Oakland, CA 94602; 5701 Oak Grove Ave, Oakland, CA 94618
This meeting will be audio recorded. The public can find documents related to this agenda either linked directly on the agenda or under "Other files" after selecting the meeting in BoardOnTrack prior to viewing the agenda. Downloading the "packet" may not include all of the "Other files" that are still otherwise available to the public.
Members: Jan Faraguna, Kara Fortuna, Christina Greenberg, Greg Klein, Davis Leung, Maru Salazar, Stacey Wang
Urban Montessori Charter School welcomes your participation at Board meetings. The purpose of a public meeting of the Board of Directors (“Board”) is to conduct the affairs of the organization in public. Your participation assures us of continuing community interest in our school and assists the Board in making the best decisions for our school. To assist you in the ease of speaking/participating in our meetings, guidelines are provided at the bottom of this agenda. All materials for all board and committee meetings, including audio recordings of Regular Board Meetings, are available on our BoardOnTrack public portal and also through the UMCS School Calendar.
Directors Present
D. Leung (remote), G. Klein, J. Faraguna (remote), K. Fortuna
Directors Absent
C. Greenberg, M. Salazar, S. Wang
Guests Present
K. Feeney
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
D. Leung called a meeting of the board of directors of Urban Montessori Charter School to order on Thursday Dec 2, 2021 at 6:18 PM.
B.
Record Attendance
C.
Review of Action/Discussion Items
No changes needed.
D.
Board and Community Appreciations
Greg appreciated Stacey for her Board Service.
Jan appreciated Stacey for her Board Service.
Kara appreciated the Fundraising Committee.
Sarah appreciated the opportunity to join the Board.
Greg appreciated new and prospective board members and Sita for her new FAC leadership.
Daniel appreciated teachers for their continued enthusiasm.
Greg appreciated teachers for great conferences.
Krishna appreciated Marcela for support with traffic.
E.
Board Member Comment
None.
F.
Presentations from the Floor
No public comment on items not on the agenda.
II. Head of School Report
A.
Head of School Report
Krishna shared her Head of School report, including recent and upcoming events: online auction, free COVID-19 testing, our attempt to host a vaccine clinic (if we get to 50 sign-ups), Winter Break, and Staff PD Day on Jan 3, 2022.
Daniel shared instructional updates that included coaching conversations with teachers looking at recent DIBELS, NWEA data with teachers, as well as student work and classroom observations.
Daniel shared about the work to support the Amethyst classroom to shift the schedule to structure a bit more to maintain small student:teacher ratio, and to increase teacher prep to be ready with new lessons. Work to clarify and codify systems for transitions, lunch, recess, and in the classroom, along with communication.
Krishna shared recent enrollment numbers for this year, up to 357 as of today. 65 applications received so far for 2022-2023, mostly in TK and K. Outreach underway at HeadStart, and hosting tours here virtually.
Krishna shared information about OUSD's COVID-19 mandate for students 12 years old before December 1, 2021. Operations staff are supporting all families with students subject to the mandate to help. As of last night's OUSD Board meeting, it looks like enforcement of the new policy will be delayed until the end of January 2022. The school currently needs to make contact with eight remaining families whom we haven't yet made contact with on this issue.
Krishna shared staffing updates and that Coach Kelly resigned just before Thanksgiving. Two interviews are scheduled for tomorrow for PE and 2 applications for ELD specialists. Interim staffing plans are already in place. And staff recruitment for 2022-2023 begins in January 2022!
Kara asked about instructional materials in middle school. Daniel shared that he met with an organization just today to start a pilot of new curricular materials in language arts. Also using math materials that Daniel and Krishna used in the past.
Sarah asked about TK/K enrollment, and Daniel responded about recruiting from HeadStarts, and Krishna shared that it's a lot of word of mouth. We get applications from all over the city.
No other discussion or public comments.
III. Finance Committee
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report, including year to date financial report
Greg shared this month's report from the Finance Committee. Forecasted operating income as of the end of October improved over the previous months. The budget deficit projection was reduced from $160k to $91k. Cash on hand continues to be forecasted at 3 months of expenses. Likely that the deficit will continue to shrink as some sources of funding may be added to the budget as we get more clarity from the state.
Greg shared that the finance committee reviewed the first interim report data. The board will be voting on the first interim report on this year's budget later in today's meeting.
Greg shared an overview of a long-term operating budget model produced without any one-time funds. Model is built on a student count of 429 students years from now (2025-2026). This extends the trend of UMCS students staying longer and actually reduces the number of our classrooms by one. Enrollment modeling is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_SrQev7CKOHosHcAu4C9hhesXBF1f9YFjqzJ6MNiUSA/edit#gid=1667473348
Greg shared that the committee reviewed the Educator Effective Plan and discussed the audit as well.
Deb commented that having a facility plan in place helps long term budget planning.
No other discussion or public comments.
B.
Vote First Interim Report on 2021-2022 budget
G. Klein made a motion to approve the first interim report.
K. Fortuna seconded the motion.
Jan asked about the template not being ready. Greg responded that on advice from Edtec, we can approve the underlying numbers/information, they can then populate the template when it's ready, and if County wants us to re-approve, we can do that later. There was no other discussion or public comment.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| G. Klein |
Aye
|
| K. Fortuna |
Aye
|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
C.
Vote on Educator Effectiveness Plan
J. Faraguna made a motion to approve the educator effectiveness plan.
G. Klein seconded the motion.
Greg shared an overview of the plan and how feedback was incorporated to add more details for Focus Area #2. No other discussion or public comments.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| G. Klein |
Aye
|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
| K. Fortuna |
Aye
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
D.
Vote to Accept the Financial Audit for 2020-2021
Greg and Krishna explained the audit is still being prepared, not yet received. So we cannot take action tonight to accept it. Audit on target to be completed by 12/15/2021. We will take action on the audit in January. The Measure G1 audit was received and there were no findings. The Board can take action to accept the G1 audit when we also take action on the regular audit.
No other discussion or public comment.
IV. Academic Oversight Committee
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report
Jan shared an NWEA MAP analysis from Fall assessment. 53% of students are scoring average or above in Math. 63% of students are scoring average or above in Reading. Scores are higher than last Spring, but not yet recovered from the prior Fall (when it was administered remotely).
In Math, younger students are more likely to score average or above than older students.
For Growth, 36% of students met fall-fall targets in Math and 33% of students did so in Reading. Seeing lower growth rates than we had prior to the pandemic.
Gaps between White, Black, Latinx, or Two or More races exist in both ELA and Math. Instructional coaching acknowledges these data, teachers have all this data, and families have received reports. Work is already well underway to support students currently not hitting growth targets. Winter testing starts at the end of January. Average test times were very good.
Jan invited all to the December committee meeting.
Donald asked about trends from students new to UMCS and students who entered earlier. Jan responded that she can do that analysis. Donald asked about work underway to support Black and Latinx students to achieve on this assessment as well as any other groups of students. Daniel shared about work underway with two new teacher working groups on instructional practices and also on outreach to families with additional resources including before their student would enroll.
No other discussion or public comments on this item.
V. Family Advisory Council
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report
Kara shared the FAC report, including updates from recent FAC meetings and Dr. Rogers-Ard's most recent parent information night. Kara shared upcoming events, which are all on the School Calendar. The online auction has begun and looking at a few new virtual fundraisers later this year. And FAC meetings are calendared through the rest of the year, along with upcoming workshops with Dr. Rogers-Ard.
Sita shared about parent enthusiasm for volunteering, just hard when larger in-person gatherings are still difficult.
Donald asked about joining meetings. Sita responded about emailing her and joining any of the committees in ParentSquare.
No other questions or public comments.
VI. Executive & Governance Committee
A.
Discussion Item: Committee Updates, including candidates for board service, Form 700, and training
Greg shared the committee report, including the committee reviewing OUSD's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students. The committee discussed the process for Head of School evaluation process. There were no changes to the process. Krishna will begin mid-year reflection either in January. Finally, in terms of board membership, Stacey Wang will finish her second term on the board at the end of December. Sarah Morrill nomination is recommended by the committee for a new term beginning January 2022.
Greg reminded Board members about Forms 700, Board Clearance, welcoming those interested in board service to reach out and join meetings and start participating.
No other discussion or public comments.
B.
Vote on Board Membership Term for Sarah Morrill
G. Klein made a motion to nominate Sarah Morill for a 2-year term starting January 1, 2022.
K. Fortuna seconded the motion.
Greg shared that Sarah has been attending board meetings for the past couple of months.
Sarah made a brief statement. She work and led at Lazear Charter Academy for 5.5 years. She has been in education since she graduated college. Went back and got her MBA at UC Berkeley. Currently works at a non-profit helping scientists bring their environmental discoveries to market. Sarah has two children and lives in the neighborhood surrounding the school.
No other discussion or public comment.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| G. Klein |
Aye
|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
| K. Fortuna |
Aye
|
C.
Board and committee officers and members
G. Klein made a motion to make Kara a member of the academic oversight committee starting immediately.
J. Faraguna seconded the motion.
No discussion or public comments.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
| K. Fortuna |
Abstain
|
| G. Klein |
Aye
|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
G. Klein made a motion to Maru joins the finance committee as of January 1, 2022.
K. Fortuna seconded the motion.
Greg shared that Maru will accept this nomination. No other discussion or public comment.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| K. Fortuna |
Aye
|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
| G. Klein |
Aye
|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
G. Klein made a motion to Sarah joins the academic committee as of January 1, 2022.
K. Fortuna seconded the motion.
No other discussion or public comment.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
| G. Klein |
Aye
|
| K. Fortuna |
Aye
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
Greg happily resigned from Academic Committee effective after December 31, 2021.
D. Leung made a motion to make Greg Treasurer of the board, which is also Chair of the Finance Committee, starting January 1, 2022.
K. Fortuna seconded the motion.
Greg shared that Davis is ineligible to serve as Chair and Treasurer at the same time per our bylaws. Greg encouraged Maru to be Treasurer but she would prefer not to at this time. No other discussion or public comment.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
| K. Fortuna |
Aye
|
| G. Klein |
Abstain
|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
VII. Other Business
A.
Oakland and California Updates
Greg shared a few updates. First reminding everyone about OUSD's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students who are 12 before December 1, 2021 and the recent 30-day delay in enforcement. Greg shared an OaklandSide.org article with the most recent information.
Greg shared that the Governor's first draft budget will be released in January. The preliminary news is that revenue is ahead of schedule, which is generally good for school budgets.
Greg shared about the County's Letter of Going Concern issued to OUSD related to their finances, OUSD's appeal to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, who denied the appeal. OUSD still encourages the county Superintendent to rescind her letter or that the State Superintendent grant an appeal. They are also working to have a balanced budget and they disagree with the timing of this action by the county.
No other discussion or public updates.
B.
Approve Minutes from October 28, 2021 Regular Meeting
J. Faraguna made a motion to approve the minutes from October 28, 2021 Regular Board Meeting on 10-28-21.
D. Leung seconded the motion.
No questions, discussion, or public comments.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| S. Wang |
Absent
|
| K. Fortuna |
Aye
|
| C. Greenberg |
Absent
|
| M. Salazar |
Absent
|
| G. Klein |
Aye
|
| D. Leung |
Aye
|
| J. Faraguna |
Aye
|
C.
Action Item - Vote on General Consent Report
Tabled. No items.
D.
Collect New Business items for Future Meetings
No new items.
VIII. Closed Session
A.
Closed Session Items
The board went into closed session at 7:55 on two announced topics. No public comments.
- Public Employee Performance Evaluation - Head of School
- Conference with Real Property Negotiator (§ 54956.8)
- Property: 4551 Steele St, Oakland, CA 94619
- Agency Negotiator: Krishna Feeney, Head of School
- Negotiating Parties: UMCS and Oakland USD
- Under Negotiation: instruction to negotiator will concern price and terms
IX. Return to Open Session
A.
Report out of any closed session action(s)
The board returned to open session at 8:23pm. No actions were taken.
X. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
Adjourned in honor of victims of the Ghost Ship fire, including teacher Sarah Hoda.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:23 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
G. Klein
Documents used during the meeting
- UMCS 1st Interim Report 2021-2022.pdf
- Urban Montessori Charter Signed Financial Report.pdf
- Morrill_Resume.pdf