Urban Montessori Charter School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday August 22, 2024 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 and 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), Amy Ng, Ann Rhodes, Evan Sequoia
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.
Each year by April 1, and when first joining or leaving the board, board members complete and file a Form 700. Board members annually train on the CA Brown Act, Conflict of Interest, and the Public Records Act.
Directors Present
A. Ng, A. Rhodes, E. Sequoia, G. Klein, K. Fortuna, S. Morrill
Directors Absent
None
Directors who arrived after the meeting opened
S. Morrill
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
Amy appreciated for Mr. Buck.
Amy appreciated Greg and Daniel.
Ann appreciated Families who signed up to be Buddy Families , and Teacher Ana and Ms. Katie
Greg appreciated Sunflower teachers.
Daniel appreciated the admin and operations teams.
Daniel appreciated the classroom teachers.
Daniel appreciated Amy.
Daniel echoed Ann's appreciation for Buddy Families
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.
II. Head of School Report
A.
Head of School Report
Daniel shared his report, which is in the Packet for this meeting. There was welcome even last Saturday with lots of families on campus enjoying the yard together.
Daniel shared that back to school night is September 5th. NWEA testing starts in time for the September PD day, and then the PMAI coach comes in September. The second cohort began training this summer with the new training. 2 UMCS staff along with 3 Twin Oaks Staff are in this cohort. Expanded Learning program ran over the summer, and 141 students are in the program so far this school year. ELOP staff received training from Jori, the new Montessori trainer, to align more with the daytime program. ELOP staff also observe during the daytime, almost like a support teacher in those classrooms. So far the daytime classroom staff have had great reviews for how ELOP has been running in their spaces after school. Amy asked about ELOP staff serving as a pipeline to daytime staff and Daniel replied yes to some degree. During summer PD, teachers prepared classroom environments, reviewed data and planned, aligning curriculum, and developed an instructional leadership team. Daniel shared about soon re-launching school enrollment tours, particularly for current 4 year olds, that new students are joining every day, but not yet at our budgeted enrollment numbers. Attendance so far for students is 96% and staff is above 98%. Fully staffed in the daytime program and currently hiring for additional ELOP Program leaders. For Charter Renewal, the school contracted with Edtec on the charter and our data and revisiting the issue with the low tier vs the medium tier, and we may need a Special Board meeting to approve the charter or at the September Regular meeting. Daniel shared about how lead in school water has been in the news lately, and all our fixtures are below the EPA threshold, and all but one are below OUSD's more stringent threshold, which OUSD will soon add an additional filter to that one fixture. All the fixtures have other filters. The school is working with OUSD for additional retesting.
Amy asked about ACOE and Daniel shared that it's the state's designation, not ACOE's to change about the tiers. Amy asked and Daniel shared no matter the tier status, we will do the work to be ready to answer all the questions of the lower track. Sarah asked if a five year charter is allowed in the tier track, and Daniel shared he didn't know. Amy asked about other charters having hearings and when, and Daniel will follow up.
No public comments on this item.
III. Academic Oversight Committee
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report
Kara shared the committee's report. The committee had a planning meeting about what data to review at what times of the school year. The committee heard instructional updates, including the summer program and the instructional leadership team, and the work that Tobie is leading with teachers, and also about the curriculum map alignment. Sarah added the great work Tobie shared about the teachers and levels collecting data and sharing with each other each week.
No public comments on this item.
IV. Family Advisory Council
A.
Discussion Item - Committee Report
Ann shared about the great work of the Welcome Brigade, the TK/K picnic, and the whole school picnic on campus on Saturday. Buddy Families have launched with some great connections made. Could use a few additional existing Primary families to be buddy families, but was covered by other families. Ann shared about how her own child answered all the questions from the incoming family and child. The FAC will meet soon to reflect on how the back to school went in general and get organized for next year. August 28th is the next regular FAC Zoom meeting. Sept 14 is a Campus Work Day. A committee will soon meet with Daniel regarding fundraising. Ann is also working to recruit candidates to run for the FAC board seat.
Parent Emily appreciated the report.
V. Executive & Governance Committee
A.
Committee Report
Amy shared the committee report, including about the Effective School Boards framework and alignment with LCAP. Discussed board member recruitment, including the FAC board rep position. The committee discussed the Head of School evaluation and aligning with the ESB framework. Two areas of improvement Amy offered that the board focused "Goals and Accountability" and "Board Composition." This would include increasing the board size and diversity of experiences and backgrounds. Greg reviewed updating some board procedures around Robert's Rules. The Board discussed rotating dinner throughout the year.
The board discussed how Sarah will need remain officially on the board, but will need to step away from active board work for the next six months.
No other questions and no public comments on this item.
B.
Effective School Boards Framework and Student Outcome Goals
Greg shared about the Effective School Boards Framework and the Board discussed adopting it at the next meeting.
No public comments on this item.
VI. Other Business
A.
Oakland and California Updates
Greg shared about OUSD's board passing a new policy directing the Superintendent to create a district transformation plan. https://ousd.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=112861.pdf
No public comments on this item.
B.
Approve Minutes from June 20, 2024 Regular Meeting
C.
Action Item - Vote on General Consent Report
Greg commented that the regular financial reporting would return for the September Consent Report.
D.
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing
Daniel shared about the Declaration of Need document.
No public comments on this time.
E.
Collect New Business items for Future Meetings
Vote on adopt the framework to be scheduled for September.
VII. Closed Session
A.
Closed Session Items
At 7:12p, Amy 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.
VIII. Return to Open Session
A.
Report out of any closed session action(s)
The board returned to open session at 7:47p. No actions were taken.
IX. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
- UMCS Finance Training.pdf
No changes needed.