Urban Montessori Charter School

Minutes

Board Meeting

Date and Time

Thursday February 27, 2025 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: Lana Butler, Kara Fortuna, Greg Klein, Sarah Morrill, Amy Ng (Chair), 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. The board uses Robert's Rules of Order.

 

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, E. Sequoia, G. Klein, K. Fortuna, L. Butler

Directors Absent

S. Morrill

Guests Present

D. Bissonnette

I. Opening Items

A.

Call the Meeting to Order

A. Ng called a meeting of the board of directors of Urban Montessori Charter School to order on Thursday Feb 27, 2025 at 5:36 PM.

B.

Record Attendance

C.

Review of Action/Discussion Items

No changes needed.

D.

Board and Community Appreciations

Greg shared appreciation to UMCS and Brookfield staff.

Lana shared appreciation to Brookfield staff, and to UMCS teachers for conferences.

Daniel shared appreciation for Brookfield staff; and UMCS staff for supporting family conferences and hosting visits here at school.

Amy shared appreciation for Daniel for navigating these conversations about the future.

 

No public comments on this item.

E.

Board Member Comment

No Board member comments on items not on the agenda.

F.

Presentations from the Floor

Ms. Lo joined and shared comments about issues with communication and fairness regarding a CalSTRS issue, and how it's been resolved, and what is still left to resolve.

II. Head of School Report

A.

Head of School Report

Daniel shared recent and upcoming events including UMCS hosted observation week, and families conferences were this week. Families and staff from Brookfield Village ES visiting UMCS, and UMCS families visiting Brookfield Village ES. There's a meeting this coming week with OUSD and UMCS admin about potential next steps, about what might happen over the upcoming school years. Daniel shared what UMCS needs from the UMCS Board, which may require action to update the name of the nonprofit entity. Daniel then shared a few brief high level data points from the most recent NWEA administration, showing that overall and for black students, the school's percent of students meeting annual growth targets in both reading and math has never been higher. The Academic committee will dig into the full data at its next meeting.

 

Amy asked and Daniel shared that the County, Edtec, CharterSafe, and the SELPA all have provided checklists of tasks to complete related to charter closure.

 

Greg asked and Daniel shared that part of his work these days is also hosting those who are interested in learning more about renting the campus from OUSD in the future.

 

Lana asked and Daniel shared that families may update their interest survey related to Brookfield Village. Daniel shared that UMCS families who have visited and have provided a lot of positive feedback about their visits about the Brookfield staff, leaders, and campus. Greg shared his appreciation to Brookfield for their openness to engage about the possibility of joining, and asked about UMCS staff having the chance to visit, and Daniel shared that some have, and more opportunities are likely coming up.

 

Amy asked and Daniel shared that there isn't a current date set for updated communication on next steps to the UMCS community, but that there's a meeting next week with OUSD staff.

 

Ms. Lo asked and Daniel clarified that the he was only showing a few high level data points, and more data reports would be coming to the academic committee and to staff.

III. Academic Oversight Committee

A.

Discussion Item - Committee Report

Committee did not meet. No report.

 

No public comments on this item.

IV. Family Advisory Council

A.

Discussion Item - Committee Report

Lana shared about teacher appreciation week and kindness week, and there was an upper elementary dance party. In March, there will be Sunshine gifts for staff, including handwritten cards -- no need to buy anything. There will be a potluck and a space for families to discuss school options; and a game night. In April there will be an Earth Day clean up off site; and in May there will be a Fun-a-thon. Next the FAC meeting is Tuesday.

 

Ms. Lo shared her appreciation to the FAC and offered to connect with the School Leadership Team and collaborating more.

 

No other public comments on this item.

V. Executive & Governance Committee

A.

Committee Report

Amy gave the report, which was that the committee at that meeting mainly discussed what Daniel shared tonight in his Head of School report.

 

No public comments on this item.

VI. Other Business

A.

Approve Minutes from January 23, 2025 Regular Meeting

K. Fortuna made a motion to approve the minutes from Board Meeting on 01-23-25.
E. Sequoia seconded the motion.

Approved unanimously without objection.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B.

Action Item - Vote on General Consent Report

G. Klein made a motion to approve tonight's General Consent Report.
K. Fortuna seconded the motion.

Approved unanimously without objection.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

C.

Collect New Business items for Future Meetings

No new agenda items.

VII. Closed Session

A.

Closed Session Items

At 6:13p, Amy announced that the Board would go into closed session performance evaluation of public employee - Head of School.

 

There was a public comment asking about the head of school process and Greg clarified the past practice of surveying and listening to families and staff and along with the Board's direct feedback.

VIII. Return to Open Session

A.

Report out of any closed session action(s)

7:02pm, the board returned to open session. Amy shared that no actions were taken.

IX. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

G. Klein made a motion to adjourn.
K. Fortuna seconded the motion.

Adjourned at 7:02p without objection.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:02 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
G. Klein
Documents used during the meeting
  • UMCS 2nd Interim MYP.pdf