MCCPS Board of Trustees
Minutes
Monthly Board Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday January 29, 2019 at 7:00 PM
Location
MCCPS, Room 8L
Trustees Present
Artie Sullivan, Ellen Lodgen, Fred Ferris, Jen Jewell, Karl Smith, Nichole Thompson, Paul Baker, Sean Killeen
Trustees Absent
Ian Hunt
Guests Present
Carol McEnaney, Cathleen King, Christopher Quealy, Mercy Baez
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
Artie Sullivan called a meeting of the board of trustees of MCCPS Board of Trustees to order on Tuesday Jan 29, 2019 at 7:05 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes
Karl Smith made a motion to approve minutes from the Monthly Board Meeting on 12-18-18 Monthly Board Meeting on 12-18-18.
Fred Ferris seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Presentations
A.
Student Presentation
Student Presentation will take place at the 2/26/19 Board Meeting
B.
PTO Liason
There was no PTO liason representative present
III. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
There was no Public Comment at this time
IV. Review of Previous Meeting Action Items
A.
Review of Previous Meeting Action Items
Artie Sullivan ran through action items from 12/18/18 Board Meeting.
V. Other Business
A.
Update on Board Goals for SY 2018-2019
Artie Sullivan gave a brief update on Board goals.
B.
Strategic Planning Update
Co-chairs, Fred Ferris & Jen Jewell provided an update on Strategic Planning Committees progress to date.
C.
Planning for SY 2019-2020
Planning for the new school year will be revisited at next Board meeting.
D.
HOS Search
Artie Sullivan gave an update on HoS search committees formation and work.
The committee will be meeting shortly and the advertisement for the position has been shared on the Schoolspring search site, among others.
The committee will be meeting shortly and the advertisement for the position has been shared on the Schoolspring search site, among others.
VI. Committee Updates
A.
Governance Committee
Nichole Thompson presented a brief update of Governance Committee and the ongoing need to continue to identify prospective members for the various committees and Board.
B.
Finance Committee
Karl Smith presented a brief overview of school finances.
C.
Personnel Committee
Artie Sullivan stated that Personnel committee had met on 1/14/19 and had drafted an Advertisement for the vacant HoS position.
D.
Academic Excellence
Sean Killeen stated that the committee had met on January 9th and would be meeting again on 2/6/19.
E.
Development
Chair, Ellen Lodgen noted that the committee had met on January 15th and were planning a Calendar raffle to be held in either April or May.
F.
Strategic Plan Committee
Please see item B above in "other business".
G.
Communications, and Community Relations Committee
In Ian Hunt's absence, co-chair Ellen Lodgen gave a brief update on the committees progress and noted that the committee needs to attract more members.
VII. HOS Report
A.
Monthly Report
Bill Sullivan presented a very informative HOS report and noted that, to date, applications for the 2019/20 school year are down on previous years, especially those of 4th grade applicants.
Faithfulness to Charter
Coordinated Program Review; The Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Progress reports are due 01/25/2019, 03/29/2019, and 05/03/2019. There are three program areas of focus, Special Education, Civil Rights, and English Language Learners. The Summary of Required Corrective Action Plans follows this report. Updates to the board will follow as progress is made.
Not all elements for the Special Education, and ELL were ready for 1/25. A request for an extension until the February recess (2/15/19) was submitted and approved. We have put a lot of effort into revamping and strengthening our internal procedures to address the findings from the CPR. There was also some initial misunderstanding that an approved CAP status would include significantly more required elements than we had proposed. We are working with outside supports to develop and deliver certain trainings and procedures to make sure they satisfy the CAP, but most importantly, to best support our practices and the students we are responsible to.
Academic Success
It is important to support the growth of our staff as well. We are using the ½ day Friday’s for deliberate and focused Professional Development. Matt Cronin and the rest of the Instructional Leadership Team are mapping out what we are doing for the rest of year, specifically with service learning, The recent and upcoming topics include the development of grade level Exhibition overviews, available grant opportunities, grant writing support, and elements of effective meetings.
Marblehead Community Charter School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on January 31, 2019. NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, within the U.S. Department of Education. NAEP is different from our state assessments because it is a common measure of achievement across the country. The results are released as The Nation’s Report Card, which provides information about student achievement to educators, parents, policymakers, and the public.
WIDA ACCESS 2.0 Tests scheduled for early February.
ACCESS for ELLs (ACCESS) is the collective name for WIDA's suite of summative English language proficiency assessments. ACCESS is taken annually by English language learners in Kindergarten through 12th grade in WIDA Consortium member states.
Organizational Viability
Staffing/Staff Retention
Administration is working with Board Chair and Treasurer to develop a plan to accelerate the contract process for next year. Initial salary numbers with conditions and assumptions have been shared. Retention of staff is currently of particular concern. Moving up the process will serve to reassure the staff, hopefully lessen the impact of teachers leaving, and allow to Charter more time earlier in the process to interview and hire replacements. Intent to return forms will be distributed next week.
One of our Inclusion Teachers has given use his letter of resignation. We were given 2 weeks notice, his last day will be Friday February 4th. All 4th grade students and parents of those students who receive Special Education services have been informed. A SchoolSpring ad has been placed for an Inclusion Teacher. Michael Condon has been following up with appropriate candidates. Mid-year replacements and challenging as the candidate pool remains limited. A plan is being developed to reallocate internal resources in the interim. We are also evaluating a service for bridge coverage.
We are looking to hire 2 maternity subs for this Spring
- 8th grade Humanities, Anticipated start 4/22; Posted on SchoolSpring
- Part Time OT, Due 4/8; Investigating contract services for remainder of the year
On Wednesday January 30th, at 6:30PM Parents of potential and existing upper grade students are invited to attend an informational presentation by the Acting Head of School and members of the faculty, followed by a brief question and answer period. Topics will include school curriculum for upper grades and what we do to help them prepare for and apply to high school.
A student intent to return form will be sent to existing families. Last year they were distributed March 1st.
2019-2020 Admissions Update
Enrollment for next year continues to be a top priority. The application window is now open. It runs from December 15, 2018 to February 15, 2019. The lottery will be drawn on February 27th, and the applicants will be notified very soon after.
VIII. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
There was no public comment at the time.
IX. Closing Items
A.
Recap Action Items
B.
Meeting Evaluation
A great deal of material was covered, meeting stayed focused and adjourned on time.
C.
Adjourn Meeting
Karl Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Fred Ferris seconded the motion.
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 9:25 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Paul Baker
Documents used during the meeting
- HOS Ad, b.docx
- HOS Search Process.docx
- Dec-18.xlsx
- Policy for Hiring if a Potential Conflict of Interest.docx
- HOS Oversight Committee.docx