Update- Security posture

•  Required MFA on all staff accounts including shared accounts
•  No Admin on computers, 
•  Encrypted hard drives

New Initiatives 

•   Automation 
  • Rippling - HRIS
  •  Autotask 
•   Cyber Incident Response Plan 
•   Staff Technology Training 
•   2025 WiFi replacement

New P-Tech Network 

•   Current school WiFi 
  • Approx $20k/yr 
  • Does not include equipment
•   New system - $60k one-time cost 
•   $1,500/yr for support  - Testing out at PTECH to see how this works with STEM. 
•   Estimated cost per year: $13,500

New Project Management Software 

•   Manage all school projects in one space
•   Greater Visibility

BOD Q & A

Are there other big capital needs you foresee in the next 24 months?

- Yes, I'm expecting another server expenditure. Hope to have the government fund it

Do we have enough bandwidth for everyone?

- Yes, moving from zayo to comcast we had a reduction in cost and an increase in connection

Wifi- 60K is that for PTECH

- no that's just the school

Are our older kids using hotspots?

- We can check that. Occasionally I get a notification when those get turned on. 

Are there any updates we need to make to the STEM policies ?

 - there is probably a lot of space we can reduce on that. LK is looking at the beginning of Jan to dive into this with me . There are no changes from me right now. 

Have giving the 6th graders computers gone smoothly?

  - a few bumps with how we pushed them out, and we are working to keep track of how to make this smoother. I think it will provide more benefit than it does cost. 

Additional Staff Hired to Support Student Needs

•   Behavior Specialist (K-12)- Ken Hurst 
•   LSS Teacher (ES)- Sheila Badovinac 
•   LSS Aide (ES)- Aisha Khan

Added Dedicated Space for HS Students for Down Time

• The High School Counseling Office has been converted to a student center. 
• Students have a calm, nurturing space to do work, relax, connect with others, and access to our amazing counselors. 
• Parents and community members have sent in donations for snacks

Morning Open Gym - Tues/Thurs for Secondary

•  Every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:15-7:40. 
•  The gym is packed and the students are engaging in basketball and interacting. 
• Less students on their phones and laptops before the start of their school day. 

AI Khanmigo Pilot Program

• 8th Grade and 7th Grade Accelerated ELA classes with Mrs. Dillon
• Only Charter School Participating in the District
• AI powered personal tutor within Khan Academy
• Tutor will assist students with how to solve problems vs providing answers.

Accomplishments 

• Started the year fully staffed.
• Increase in student enrollment

Hot Topics

• Cell Phones- We are enforcing this more this year. 
• Lightning Dismissal- we want to avoid extended time, new policy went pretty well last week. 
• 6th Grade Laptops- we are able to monitor what are on their laptops, increased computer testing for CollegeBoard, next year we will adjust when we release these. We are also looking into laptop insurance.
• Early Release Schedule- starting next Friday. working on a plan for after care options

STEM Enrollment & Engagement-Laurie Veldhuizen

Provided a breakdown of the process, struggles and successes, and how we are stabilizing the process for the current year, future planning and how to move forward

August first-Transition from open enrollment to choice enrollment

1,396 students; 1,403 potential (including Choice applications and Admin Transfers) 

Tonight we are discussing the Experience portion and approving the target of Identity, Experience and Growth. 

STEM demonstrated strong school culture and operations on Bellwether’s Readiness to Grow Assessment

Campaign- REDEFINE LIMITS. UNLEASH POTENTIAL.- By exposing students to real-world problems, we ignite a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics through hands-on, collaborative learning that empowers students to become critical thinkers and innovative problem-solvers who do good in the world.

Our focus is on Systems, processes and identity over goals. 

Follow Up - Splash Graphic is an abstract element meant to evoke STEM 

Optimizing the Student Experience

BOD Q & A

Was there any discussion over industry partnerships?

That will be apate of future events and discussion

WHat areas are the most important for us to focus on when giving you feedback

Look through the initiatives, the 3 goals the executive summary and the greenlighting page

I have a question about hiring an admission/ community relations specialist- I thought that was you, and that you were the face of the school. 

When looking at a new community i.e. Sterling Ranch- I would be the face of the school. I would not be the face in the building giving the tour with all the information. I am one of the faces of the school, with LynAnn, Laurie, I am the face of the new community. Someone who knows the high level, and someone who knows the building and the people.

Focus tonight is experience- Net Promoter Score (NPS) over 60 what does that mean- How likely are you to refer- you should have a score of 60 coming out of the surveys

We should keep an eye on student outcomes- this measures student attitudes which is good. - 

We are not relying just on student survey data alone- this is just one component of this. 

What is your plan for community stakeholding-

In september you will see some of  the ways we want to meet with our logistic leads and looking how to engage student in a meaningful way. 

I think the struggle might be explaining to parents what this is, and th eimportance of it since we haven't had it done in the past and parents will need to be reintroduced. 

How about industry partners- 

We are getting a lot of interest from colleges and other STEM Industry people. 

Ish and Gina co-chairs, LynAnn and Michelle staff support, SAC UIP subcommittee

Board members will make sure to liaison at SAC and DEI

Working on one-pager for September meeting

Erin (chair), Kelly (transition), Linda, Matt

Focus on better processes for CIO evaluation and support

CIO Evaluation must have alignment to the strategic plan and how they are connected.

Next meeting is to be about firming those goals up so that we can have something to bring to the board and discuss. 

We also shifted the calendar earlier in the year. 

End of year performance meeting, we discussed disconnecting renewing his contract from the performance review so that we could give ourselves time to hash it out.  BOD will have an opportunity to vote on this. 

Greg (chair), Rudy, and Kelly, support from PTO, enrichment, and booster (athletics)

Will make sure public meetings posted according to COML 1/2 would be subcommittee work, then we would have a team of experts engaged in the discussion and driving us forward. 

Main areas of focus gala event, golf tournament, growth advisory, marketing feedback

Matt - when I see growth advisory- there is an opportunity in another town and we are thinking about whether or not to start a school down there. 

Getting buy-in and voice from our families- This could be the tool to do it. They are the perfect market to tell us whether they understand, believe, etc. 

How are we going to communicate this- these are the kind of skills we're looking at. We do have a bit of a communication plan. This is closely related. we need a strategic plan to start the targeted outreach. I would recommend attaching these things to as many existing STEM events as you can. 

We will be coming back in October to present to the board

Darrell (chair), Gina, Matt, Interim CFOs Ryan Mehaffey (budgeting process) and Cortney Crouch (compliance and audit)

Focus on cleaning up financial processes to increase transparency and accountability for Board

Update on Interim CFO strategy and transition, introduce CFO support staff

Courtney Crouch- CFO Golden View Classical Academy

• She is very familiar with Charter schools in Colorado , will be helping us through the audit process - when our new person starts, that person will have working plan 
• A more robust accounting software would not go amiss

Ryan Mehaffey - Feast Over Famine

• Fundraising and marketing Strategies- Creating, revising and implementing department budgets. Scaling so that we can replicate and grow.
• Annual Audit status
• Annual Budget and Management Process

Can you help the BOD determine the metrics that we should be looking at month to month?

How is the Audit going?

We will need to have a meeting with the Building Corp with the new CFO to check the box since we have had the major player change. 

Carla (chair), Ish, Matt and LynAnn

• Discussion on finance policy recommendations from finance subcommittee
  • Ongoing conversation about policy governance
  • Redline version has more changes
  • Focus on changes (outlined in clean version) to clarify financial processes. Rules and dollar amounts are not changing, but there was a lot of clarification added. We want to have something that is transparent 
    • Bid requirement, approval requirement. check approval
    • Make sure not overly restrictive to make sure day-to-day operations are smooth
    • The changes were added to the agenda- Board is voting on approving these changes next month. Next meeting we only look at these three additions, but I would hesitate to take anything out of the policy until we are ready to update the policy. I think we are looking at a little different timeline to what you are proposing .
    • Tabeling until next month.

• Committee One Pagers - provide for September board book
• Present draft Finance Policy and Board Q&A (with support from Finance Committee)
• Board Policies for confirmation in September Meeting (consent agenda)
  • Enrollment Policy
  • Volunteer Policy

Propose a working session in January to review operational plan to prep for budget approval in March

BOD to do: headshots 8/27, bio updates, BOT assessments, CDE non-discrimination training

BOD calendar updates/propose edits/prework needed, make sure to finalize updates and upload committee one-pagers to BOT

No public comment

Moved by RL, second by GS