Urban Montessori Charter School
Minutes
Regular Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday December 1, 2022 at 5:30 PM
Location
4551 Steele Street, Oakland, CA 94619. Signage on campus will direct you to the correct room, generally the Sun 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. Please make that intention clear in your email.
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Meeting ID: 825 9285 5160; Passcode 510 842 1181
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Meeting ID: 825 9285 5160
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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: Kara Fortuna, Greg Klein, Davis Leung, Sarah Morrill, Ann Rhodes, Donald Williams
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
A. Rhodes, D. Leung, D. Williams, G. Klein, K. Fortuna, S. Morrill
Directors Absent
None
Directors who arrived after the meeting opened
D. Williams
Guests Present
D. Bissonnette
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance
C.
Review of Action/Discussion Items
D.
Board and Community Appreciations
Sarah appreciated Davis for tonight's dinner and for helping as a great emeritus chair.
Davis appreciated his time on the Board.
Ann appreciated Kara for helping her get involved in volunteer service.
Ann appreciated Daniel's subbing in her daughters classroom.
Greg appreciated the staff for how they collaborate and help one another.
Greg appreciated Iris's attention to detail
Sarah appreciated Daniel and Krishna for meeting and dreaming together about the future.
Daniel appreciated the staff who helped checked in with
Daniel appreciated Greg helping while Rosi has been out.
Daniel appreciated Krishna, in particular realizing how much she does as she's been out sick.
Parent Jillian appreciated her student's teachers and Davis for bringing cake.
E.
Board Member Comment
Davis is very excited for the USA Men's team making it to the World Cup Round of 16.
F.
Presentations from the Floor
None.
II. Head of School Report
A.
Head of School Report
Daniel gave the Head of School Report, which is a part of "Other files" on BoardOnTrack.
Virtual enrollment tours have begun and the first in-person tour is tomorrow. Winter break, and student, family, and staff Panorama surveys are live.
Instructional updates: PMiA coach is coming next week, observing and following up with teachers who began training last summer. Coaching conversations have been following up on Math skill building using recent NWEA data.
Greg asked about 8th graders learning about High Schools. Daniel shared that ARISE HS is coming to share about their program and an Oakland Tech HS tour is being organized.
No other questions or public comments on this item.
III. Finance Committee
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report, including year to date financial report
Greg gave a brief Finance Committee report. Operating income is now at $350,000, but if holds, will likely recognize some revenue in the out years where allowed. Cash on hand remains strong. The committee also recognized Davis for all of his service to the committee and the Board.
No other questions or public comments on this item.
IV. Academic Oversight Committee
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report
Kara shared the Committee's report. There is a slide deck of NWEA data attached to the agenda. Kara highlighted Fall to Fall growth data as shown on the slides. Kara also highlighted slides starting at 14 around age-band data analysis and by race/ethnicity. Right now, students who are older and been more impacted by school closures show the greatest need for further academic improvement.
Daniel shared that the After school program is seeking to hire tutors right now, and supporting teachers to find ways to present material in similar, natural ways as it appears on the assessments.
Daniel shared that another strategy is helping teachers see and experience the assessment items, too, so they are more familiar.
No other questions or public comments on this item.
V. Family Advisory Council
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report
Kara shared the FAC report. Jillian is here and is the new FAC VP. There's a morning coffee in the morning and an FAC meeting in the evening. Marcela, the FAC President, put together FAC Goals and Objectives 2022-2023
● BiMonthly Coffee and Meetings
○ FAC Fridays: Dec/Feb/April/Jun. AM Coffee, PM Meeting
● Upcoming Events (some dates tentative)
○ Friday Dec. 9th: 4:30-6pm Staff Yoga & Sound Bath Healing @ Left Coast Yoga
○ Friday Mar. 17th: Clothing, book and toy swap at pickup
○ Saturday Mar. 18th: Campus work day
○ Friday May 12th: End of year student talent showcase?
○ Saturday May 13th: Move-a-Thon and Arts Festival
● Looking Ahead to 23-24
○ Recurring cultural exchange, Fall Festival, Winter Celebration, Spring Parade
No other questions or public comments on this item.
VI. Executive & Governance Committee
A.
Discussion Item: Committee Updates, including candidates for board service, Form 700, and training
Sarah shared the committee's report, which was that the committee worked to clarify the retreat agenda, clarify goals, and that Sarah and Greg continue to participate in DCSC's cohort around equity in governance. Krishna and Daniel are also in a DSCE community of practice. Sarah reminded everyone about their Forms 700.
No other questions or public comments on this item.
B.
Board and Committee Officers and Members
No changes needed.
VII. Other Business
A.
Oakland and California Updates
Greg shared about Measure H and Measure S both passing, new OUSD Board members and new County Superintendent starting in January, and about the new resolution just introduced that would rescind school closures at the end of this school year in OUSD.
No public comments or questions on this item.
B.
Approve Minutes from October 27, 2022 Regular Meeting
No public comments or questions.
C.
Action Item - Vote on General Consent Report
No questions or public comments.
D.
Collect New Business items for Future Meetings
None at this time.
VIII. Closed Session
A.
Closed Session Items
At 6:25pm, Sarah shared that the Board would go into Closed Session on Public Employee Performance Evaluation - Head of School. There were no public comments on this item.
IX. Return to Open Session
A.
Report out of any closed session action(s)
The board reconvened, all members present, at 6:35pm. Sarah reported that no actions were taken.
B.
Board Retreat - Part 1
Sarah introduced the purpose of the retreat, including getting to know one another better and aligning on our work and role moving forward. Each Board member took a few minutes to introduce themselves and how they came to serve on the Board.
The Board discussed the a brief and high level of the history of the school's governance over the years, including today's current context of the school.
The Board recessed at 7:20pm to take a break to set up the next piece of the retreat.
C.
Board Retreat- Part 2
The Board returned at 7:29pm, all still present.
Daniel shared his professional career starting as a middle school teacher at Montera MS, which is where he and Krishna first met. While there, Daniel's wife was working at a Montessori pre-school, and realized that Montessori was the right thing to go get trained in. First trained with age 3-6 year olds, and taught at a Montessori Primary, started a Montessori Elementary program at another school, and joined the board here at UMCS. Daniel got a grant to help cover his salary to work at UMCS, and left the Board to do so, and then was hired on as the full time Assistant Head of School. Daniel wants to stay in Oakland and wants to be in public Montessori, and so UMCS is the place for him to be and dreams of public Montessori being available to any family who wants it.
Daniel shared 3 Strengths of the school: Teacher/Staff Diversity; Financial Management and Stability; and School/classroom Environments. 3 Challenges Academic Achievement Gap; Attendance; facilities. 3 Opportunities are the Teacher/leadership Pipeline (Oakland Montessori Training Program)!; Renewal!; and Extended Learning!
Looking Forward
* What would success look like in 5 years when we are wildly successful towards our vision?
Daniel and Krishna worked on and the Board read through six big themes:
- We have security in our facilities that allows us to continually invest in preparing all environments. (facilities)
- Our Anti-Biased/Anti-Racist Commitment and Land Acknowledgement are integrated into all the facets of our work with students, staff, and families. (ABAR)
- We are a community institution where all families, especially families of the global majority, feel connected, involved, and have access to resources. (community)
- With a full complement of diverse students at every grade level with a healthy waitlist because we are a model Public Montessori program and we share our story broadly. (public narrative/enrollment)
- We have clear, compelling, rigorous whole child growth data that demonstrates all students are thriving. (instruction)
- The community of the global majority, with a commitment to Oakland students and families, have pathways to viable careers in public Montessori education that are typically denied to them through other avenues. (training center)
These are all shared in the slide deck attached to this meeting's agenda.
The Board split up into groups, each worked through three of the above, brainstorming metrics and the board's role in achieving these outcomes.
The Board then took five minutes to read the other group's work.
Sarah shared next steps of finalizing with Daniel and Krishna, and then at Executive committee to work on how all the committees can take on this work and support.
The Board closed with one word closings, going around the circle. Appreciation, Hopeful, Inspired, Engaged, Community, Connected, Learning.
No other questions or public comments on this item.
X. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
- UMCS_October_2022_Forecast.pdf
- UMCS_October_2022_Cash_Flow.pdf
- UMCS_November_2022_FC_Presentation.pdf
- UMCS_October_2022_Balance_Sheet.pdf
- Fall 2022 NWEA UMCS.pdf
- 2022-12-1 FAC Board Report.pptx.pdf
- 2022_09_22_board_meeting_minutes.pdf
- PMAI_Contract_-_Urban_Montessori_22-23_updated_10.20.22.pdf
No changes needed.