HOS  presented her monthly report.
Diane Levinson has been hired as a part-time Occupational Therapist and two candidates are being interviewed this week for the still vacant Development Directors' position.
One 6th Grade student has departed for the Village school.
It appears that not all of the 40 departing students received Exit Surveys. To rectify this oversight the estimated 20% of students will be contacted by October 15th.
Judith Nunez has begun planning her study on student attrition at MCCPS.
HOS will conduct a study of "MCCPS teachers' perceptions of project-based learning in mathematics" as part of her Doctoral Studies.
Chromebooks for the 5th Grade have yet to be purchased due to concerns regarding network capacity. The $40,000 funding is available and the Chromebooks will be purchased and distributed asap.

Board chair Jen Jewell presented a Board & Committee Annual Calendar to be populated with known meetings and agendas by each respective Board & Committee Chair. The calendar will be available on Board on Track.
 

Back to School Night objectives were discussed. It was decided that getting the "word out" about parent participation in the PTO, committees and Board of Trustees was most important.

Board member Ellen Lodgens' term as Trustee is set to expire on 10/20/17. Ellen indicated that she would be happy to serve another 3 year term in the service of MCCPS.

Board Clerk, Paul Baker made the motion to reappoint Ellen Lodgen as a member of the MCCPS Board of Trustees to fill a 3 year term commencing on the 10/20/20 and expiring at the close of the 10/20/20 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees.

 

Governance Chair, Nichole Thompson gave an update on Board composition and terms 
Nichole indicated that Richard Santeusanio was keen to join the MCCPS Board and he would be present and interviewed at the  November meeting of the Governance Committee.

Finance Committee Chair, Karl Smith gave an overview of school finances including the August balance Sheet, Profit & Loss July through August as well as Profit & Loss comparisons to last year.
The only area of concern was that the employee salaries had risen even though a number of senior staff had departed over the summer.

Karl Smith made a motion to elect MCCPS Parent Rudolph Herve as a member of the MCCPS Finance Committee.
Paul Baker seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

Bill Sullivan, Assistant HOS shared that he has been in negotiations to have the building roof replaced and fitted with solar panels, possibly at no or low cost to the school. It was also noted that the installation of solar panels could be utilized as an instructional tool for students.

Personnel Committee Chair, Bill Bowden shared that he has set dates for monthly Personnel meetings.
MCCPS parent, Xhazzie Kindle has joined the Personnel Committee.
Personnel is still looking to increase the number of committee members.
HOS Goals for 2017-18 have been discussed and were shared with the Board. It was decided that the Goals would be "tweaked" at the October Personnel Committee meeting and then re-presented to the Board again at the October meeting.

Academic Excellence Chair, Sean Killeen, shared that he would be hosting a short and casual coffee meeting at 7.15am on Wednesday October 4th.
Sean hopes that the meeting will attract potential committee members who will help to define our vision of academic excellence and what it looks like both inside and outside of the classroom/school community at MCCPS.

Development Committee Chair, Ellen Lodgen noted that there were a number of ideas for future fundraisers being considered.
Jen Jewell suggested that it would be helpful to bring some of these suggestions to fruition so that any incoming Development Director would have something to "tackle" when hired.

Strategic Planning Chair, Fred Ferris shared that Strategic Planning Facilitator, Gary Bernstein had been hired. Terms of the contract were shared with the board via handouts. It is now hoped that members of both the MCCPS community and the broader Marblehead community can be recruited for committee participation going forward.

Guest and MCCPs parent Xhazzie Kindle, suggested that rather than surveying departed students and families, it would be wise to survey 6th Graders and their Parents to see what the school could do to entice them to stay for grades 7th & 8th. 
Xhazzie also suggested that the construction of a school library is much needed.