MCCPS Board of Trustees
Minutes
Monthly Board Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday November 30, 2021 at 7:00 PM
Location
MCCPS
17 Lime St
Marblehead, MA 01970
17 Lime St
Marblehead, MA 01970
Trustees Present
Artie Sullivan (remote), Jessica Gelb (remote), Jessica Xiarhos (remote), NDack Toure (remote), Nick Santoro (remote), Peter Cheney (remote), Peter Cohen (remote), Richard Doron (remote), Rodolphe Herve (remote), William Rockwell (remote)
Trustees Absent
Ian Hunt, Paul Baker
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 Nov 30, 2021 at 7:03 PM.
C.
Accept Remote Participation
Peter Cheney made a motion to Accept remote participation.
Rodolphe Herve seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Ian Hunt |
Absent
|
| Jessica Gelb |
Aye
|
| Peter Cohen |
Aye
|
| William Rockwell |
Aye
|
| Paul Baker |
Absent
|
| Jessica Xiarhos |
Aye
|
| Peter Cheney |
Aye
|
| Rodolphe Herve |
Aye
|
| Artie Sullivan |
Aye
|
| NDack Toure |
Aye
|
| Richard Doron |
Aye
|
| Nick Santoro |
Aye
|
D.
Approve Minutes
Rodolphe Herve made a motion to approve the minutes from Monthly Board Meeting on 10-26-21.
Richard Doron seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Nick Santoro |
Aye
|
| William Rockwell |
Aye
|
| Paul Baker |
Absent
|
| Artie Sullivan |
Aye
|
| Ian Hunt |
Absent
|
| Peter Cohen |
Aye
|
| Jessica Xiarhos |
Aye
|
| Rodolphe Herve |
Aye
|
| Peter Cheney |
Aye
|
| NDack Toure |
Aye
|
| Jessica Gelb |
Aye
|
| Richard Doron |
Aye
|
II. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
No public comments.
III. Student Presentations
A.
Student Presentations
No Student presentations this month.
IV. HOS Report
A.
Monthly Report
Peter Cohen presented his monthly report. (Details in the pack)
- Exhibition was a success, with positive feedback received. Staggered start times enabled easier logistics for parents, students and faculty and will be repeated for the foreseeable future.
- New enrichments are available (Chess, intro to investing etc).
- The discipline around the proper notification of committee meetings and posting of relevant agenda and documents needs to be approved. Board-on-Track is the system of record that DESE uses to track that we comply with Open Meeting Law rules and meet our obligations. A training for all Committee Heads will be organized to remind all of the proper process. As a reminder, state notifications need to be made and meeting materials need to be posted 48 business hours before any Committee meeting.
- Enrollment as of 11/30 was 227, reflecting 1 attrition and 1 addition (net zero compared to previous month). However, a few more attritions are expected that will bring enrollment to 224-225 by end of 2021. Because our 2021/2022 budget is based on enrollment of 220, this will not be an issue.
- Recruiting season is open and early application numbers (49) are promising.
- 3 estimates for the roof repairs were received ranging from $780-$1M. In 2017, the bids were in the $300K range. New bids will be sought in the spring, or later, as the supply chain issues that have led to this price increase subside.
- The Board also spent time discussing a parent email from 11/8, which led to revised policies posted on the MCCPS website. Peter Cohen commented that the school is better equipped to deal with this type of situations going forward.
V. Other Business
A.
Presentation on HOS Mid Year Review
Katie Sullivan presented the process that the Board will follow for the Head of School Evaluation. Details are available in the pack.
- Board members are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the published HoS goals, read the HoS monthly progress reports, social media posts, school communications and attend school events, with a view to form their opinion
- Mid-cycle reviews will be collected in January
- Full-year reviews will be collected in May
Katie reminded all that filling out the HoS evaluations is the single most important duty of a Board Member.
B.
Presentation of Spring 2021 MCAS Report
Matt Cronin did a very thorough presentation on the MCCPS MCAS results, which is available in the Board pack. Matt reiterated that results have to be taken in the context of:
- the school's unique student makeup and small size (adequate comp schools against which to measure MCCPS are actually provided by DESE)
- changes in the MCAS methodology due to the pandemic
- MCAS being only one of several metrics used by MCCPS (IXL etc) to measure student progress
A lively discussion followed. Board members are encouraged to reach out to the Academic Excellence Committee for more information. That Committee can direct more questions to Matt Cronin or Peter Cohen.
It was determined that the Board should agree how much weight needs to be given to MCAS scores in the general assessment of the performance of the school. February was mentioned as a potential Board meeting to do so.
MCAS metrics for Massachusetts are available at https://profiles.doe.mass.edu/statereport/nextgenmcas.aspx
VI. Committee Updates
A.
Governance Committee
No update.
B.
Finance Committee
Rudy Herve led a short review of the School's financials after 4 months, noting that the current net income excess is due to receiving DESE funds for enrollment of 230 students. As in previous years, there will be an adjustment in the coming months, which will bring our financials closer to budget.
The account for the Board-restricted fund has been set up and currently holds $105K.
Artie Sullivan mentioned that the Finance Committee will likely be asked to review and potentially send to the Board a recommendation for necessary upgrades to the fire alarm system.
C.
Personnel Committee
No update
D.
Academic Excellence
No update.
E.
Development & Communications
No update.
F.
Strategic Plan Committee
No update.
G.
Facilities Task Force
No update.
H.
Covid/Pandemic Response Task Force
No update.
VII. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
No Public comments
VIII. Closing Items
A.
Recap Action Items
B.
Meeting Evaluation
It was generally thought that not having to depend on Mr. Baker's very slow typing and patchy note-taking skills considerably enhanced the fluency of the discussion.
C.
Adjourn Meeting
Rodolphe Herve made a motion to close the meeting.
Richard Doron seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| William Rockwell |
Aye
|
| Nick Santoro |
Aye
|
| Richard Doron |
Aye
|
| Jessica Xiarhos |
Aye
|
| Peter Cohen |
Aye
|
| NDack Toure |
Aye
|
| Paul Baker |
Absent
|
| Ian Hunt |
Absent
|
| Peter Cheney |
Aye
|
| Jessica Gelb |
Aye
|
| Artie Sullivan |
Aye
|
| Rodolphe Herve |
Aye
|
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,
Rodolphe Herve
Documents used during the meeting
- HOS Report to Board of Trustees 11_30_21.pdf
- HOS Evaluation Training21-22.pptx
- MCAS Board Presentation.pdf
- FinCom notes October 2021.pdf
- Oct-21.pdf