Urban Montessori Charter School
Minutes
Regular Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday September 28, 2023 at 5:30 PM
Location
4551 Steele Street, Oakland, CA 94619. Ring the front bell or call/text 510-290-4005 for entry. Signage on campus will direct you to the correct room, generally the Head of School's Office.
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 "Documents" after selecting the meeting in BoardOnTrack prior to viewing the agenda. Downloading the "packet" may not include all of the "Documents" that are still otherwise available to the public via the Meeting on BoardOnTrack.
Members: Kara Fortuna, Greg Klein, Sarah Morrill (Chair), 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
G. Klein, K. Fortuna, S. Morrill
Directors Absent
A. Rhodes, D. Williams
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance
C.
Review of Action/Discussion Items
D.
Board and Community Appreciations
Greg appreciated Krishna and Daniel for attending the Montessori conference they are currently at.
Sarah appreciated Teacher Lisa for her work to lead the school while Daniel and Krishna are away.
Sarah and Greg appreciated those who attended and hosted the Campus Workday and the Family Education Night.
E.
Board Member Comment
No board comments on items not on the agenda.
F.
Presentations from the Floor
No public comments on items not on the agenda.
G.
Community Agreements Discussion
Tabled.
II. Head of School Report
A.
Head of School Report
Sarah invited the Board to review the Head of Schools report, which is in "Other Files" for this meeting on BoardOnTrack. The report shared recent and upcoming events, information about how teachers visited other Montessori schools on the recent PD Day (including a fun photo of staff that included former UMCS teacher Teacher Emily!), about the recent Family Education Night, upcoming PD on Child and Lesson Study, and enrollment and staffing updates.
No questions or public comments on that item.
III. Family Advisory Council
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report
Kara shared that the FAC had their first meeting on Zoom last week. Marcela went over Fall plans, including a Gratitude Festival. First campus workday was last Saturday, with a leader volunteering to organize events throughout the year. The FAC launched the first fundraiser of the year, a direct giving campaign. Looking for a coffee morning volunteer. Sarah asked and Kara responded that the post of all the ways to volunteer which was shared at the beginning of the year was re-linked in the recent post about the Annual Giving Campaign. Sarah asked and Kara responded that Parent Leader Sara has volunteered to lead Campus Workdays. The Board discussed the need for parents to volunteer to organize various activities, and being in good enough coordination with school staff to be sure decision-making is clear. Sarah shared a goal of helping parent leaders get the clearance they need and any limits, and then be able to drive work forward, like around coffees, workdays, and other volunteering. Kara shared how the school has shifted out of "start up" mode, with school staff more in the lead, and that it's important to fully clarify how parent leaders still lead and "own" many of the school's events.
No public comments on this item.
IV. Executive & Governance Committee
A.
Discussion Item: Committee Report
Sarah and Greg shared about upcoming Board training opportunities on Brown Act and Conflict of Interest laws. For the Head of School evaluation process, Sarah shared that Krishna has adopted goals, and those get discussed in Closed Session. Greg asked and Sarah said she would follow up with Board candidate Amy.
Greg shared that he will be unable to attend the October Board meeting, and so the Effective School Board Framework (ESBF) work can move forward then without him, or can be pushed to November.
Sarah acknowledged that Board member Donald emailed the Board resigning his position, citing not being able to meet the time commitments of volunteering. Greg commented that it would be great to reach out to see if any other options are there to support Donald finishing his term (February), and also that part of the ESBF work is right-size the time it takes to volunteer effectively on the board. [On October 3, 2023 Donald rescinded his resignation and plans to complete his current term through the end of February 2024, and recruit a new board member for consideration. Donald remains in good standing on the board and his committees.]
No public comments on this item.
B.
Board and Committee Officers & Members
Given the possibility of having four current board members, the Board discussed how to address the Academic Committee potentially having only one board member, and also the desire to center Academic monitoring as part of the full board's work. Sarah commented that she would love to see work of the Academic committee being central to work of the full board's meetings. Greg shared that he would review our Charter and Bylaws on what may be required related to the committee meeting.
No public comments on this item.
V. Other Business
A.
Oakland and California Updates
Greg shared about this recent Oaklandside.org article https://oaklandside.org/2023/09/28/ousd-school-board-cox-academy-american-indian-public-charter/ that covered OUSD and EFC agreeing on a lease to allow state money for facilities improvements, as well as OUSD passing a resolution related to American Indian Model Schools (AIMS) needing to improve specific governance areas stemming from concerns. Greg shared that there was a candidate forum tonight for the District Five election and encouraged people to vote.
No public comments on this item.
B.
Approve Minutes from August 24, 2023 Regular Meeting
No public comments on this item.
C.
Action Item - Vote on General Consent Report
Sarah shared that this month was the first month of moving from a Finance Committee report out during the meeting, to having the materials be included as an item in the Consent Report. Folks can still ask questions on this item here at this time, and are also encouraged to attend Finance Committee Meetings, and review those minutes, as well.
D.
Collect New Business items for Future Meetings
Greg shared that he thinks the board needs to make a short-term plan on growing the board's membership, and in connection to the Effective School Board Framework.
VI. Closed Session
A.
Closed Session Items
6:08pm, Sarah announced that the board would go into closed session on Public Employee Performance Evaluation - Head of School. There were no public comments on this item.
VII. Return to Open Session
A.
Report out of any closed session action(s)
At 6:43pm, the Board returned to open session and Sarah announced that no actions were taken.
VIII. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
- Finance_Committee_Presentation_09.21.23.pdf
- UMCS_August_Balance_Sheet_09.21.23.pdf
- UMCS_2022-23_UAR.pdf
- UMCS_August_Cash_Flow_09.21.23.pdf
- UMCS_August_Forecast_09.21.23.pdf
[Please note, there was a brief audio issue with our Zoom recording, and there are TWO audio files that together are a recording of the meeting.]
Sarah tabled the community agreements discussion, and the discussion about the Effective School Board Framework.