MCCPS Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

August 30, 2022, 7:00-10:00 PM

Minutes Approved

MCCPS Board of Trustees

Minutes

MCCPS Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting

Date and Time

Tuesday August 30, 2022 at 7:00 PM

Location

17 Lime Street

Marblehead, MA

Trustees Present

Artie Sullivan, Jessica Gelb, Jessica Xiarhos, Nick Santoro, Peter Cohen, Rodolphe Herve, Tim Wadlow, William Rockwell

Trustees Absent

Ian Hunt, Paul Baker

Guests Present

Andrea Barlow (remote), Carol McEnaney (remote), Elizabeth Burns (remote), Stephanie Brandt (remote), Tom Commeret

I. Opening Items

A. Record Attendance and Guests

B. Call the Meeting to Order

Tim Wadlow called a meeting of the board of trustees of MCCPS Board of Trustees to order on Tuesday Aug 30, 2022 at 7:05 PM.

C. Approve Minutes

Nick Santoro made a motion to approve the minutes from MCCPS Monthly Board Meeting on 07-26-22.

Jessica Gelb seconded the motion.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

Rudi
- Minutes have taken a step forward since Will Rockwell started as Clerk

II. Public Comment

A. Public Comment

Tom Commeret
- Here to say a few words in tribute to Bob Erbetta
  - Bob was one of three people who were responsible for making this school happen… it was the most extraordinary experience of my life
  - Bob- “we do tough things in the Navy all the time, impossible things just take time"
  - Ex: Bob moved school walls back 16 inches a month before school opened
  - In reverence to Bob, I think keeping the Bob Erbetta award - or something like it - would be well worth while

III. Opening Comments From Chair and Review of Previous Meeting Action Items

A. Review of Previous Meeting Action Items

Tim’s opening comments
- Thank you to you all
Reviewing previous action items
- Tim’s draft of BOT goals
  - 1) Generate engagement from the community
  - 2) Increase participation with BOT and subcommittees
- Involvement in BOT
  - Four different people interested- Tim has had email exchanges with all and Paul Baker just sent Tim the name of a fifth individual
  - Ndack no longer on BOT
  - Tim- BoardOnTrack running event on 9/14 about attracting and retaining board members
BOT 2022-2023 Goals

Artie Sullivan made a motion to Approve the MCCPS Board of Trustees' Goals for School Year 2022-2023.

Jessica Gelb seconded the motion.

Discussion
- Measuring Board goals
  - Tim- aim for full cadre of 15 BOT members?
  - Artie- addition of committee members
    - Number of different areas to measure… student success funds raised, committee engagement are different measures
    - Also mentioned increasing enrichment involvement
  - Peter Cohen- we can revise Artie’s motion to approve those goals with acknowledgement that these are going to be refined in coming weeks
  - Discussed on whether community engagement should be HOS, BOT and/or PTO goal
    - Peter- this could include HOS, BOT and PTO
Will Rockwell made a motion to revise Artie's previous motion and approve the Board of Trustees' second goal for School Year 2022-2023 of increasing Board and Subcommittee participation on the condition that the Board revisit next month how it will measure this goal and whether it would like to add the generation of community involvement as a second Board goal for School Year 2022-2023
- Artie accepted this ammendment
- Jess G seconded

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

IV. Board Annual Items

A. Upcoming Meeting Agenda Items

Board Annual Items
- Upcoming meeting agenda items
  - HOS goals
    - Coming next month- Dr. Cohen needs to meet with Personnel before bringing to the Board (which didn’t meet in August)
  - BOT self-assessment
    - Peter Cohen- members need to submit once we agree to deadline
    - Tim to get this initiated in BOT on 8/31 and send assessment to Board members
    - Due Wednesday 9/7
    - Results to be shared with Governance Committee

B. Board Welcome Letter

Welcome Letter Draft
- Artie- add contact information- (Paul and Tim’s email)
- Jess- worth adding names of committees that need engagement and/or a line about replying to this email and include Tim’s info?
  - Will Rockwell to add line requesting direct reply to make responding easier for community members
- Email to come from Tim
- WR to update note and share with BOT by end of next week

V. HOS Report

A. Monthly Report

Projects
- Roof now complete, company has been terrific
- Spending additional 2500 to get upper roof sealed up, which will add 5-10 years to it
- Fire panel complete and tested, putting closure on offices that were installed
- Kitchen- need to upgrade hood vent to pass inspection, should be resolved by next week
- Landscaping done- paving project done, took down a couple trees that were showing signs of disease
Staffing
- Fully staffed
  - Hired assistant office manager (School parent)
  - Office manager getting opportunity to serve as assistant art teacher
Annual report, which we approved in July, has been approved by state and posted
Last week's faculty meetings
- Multiple presentations
  - Academic excellence, teacher presentation by individual who won Teacher of Year award w/ BPS in 2017, Megan McCoy w/ Mass. Aggression Reduction Center ("MARC")
    - Note: Megan coming back in couple weeks to talk with students, students will go to Bridgewater St. for anti-bullying education
Recruiting
- 228 students as of this morning
- Budget
  - Budgeted for 224 students with $16.6k per pupil expenditure
  - Per pupil expenditure ended up being over $1,000 more per student
- 80% rule
  - Term in 2022 renewal charter stated 80% of students must be from MCCCPS’ municipality
    - We then added Nahant and Swampscott to MCCPS' district, which allowed us to hit this
  - This year, 69% from MHD, NHT, SWST
- Given that MCCPS' current class sizes (50 students in 4th, 51 in 5th), which we pursue to hit the 230 number, are larger than those in MPS (Village has 18/class) do we explore changing the goal for student number from 230?
  - Peter Cohen- I’d like to play around with budgets over the next few months and see what our options are
    - Budgetary, teacher experience, salary ramifications?
      - Peter Cohen- not willing to go backwards w/ salary progress we’ve made
  - "Dream" is 20-22 students per class- want to explore how we could get there
  - Tim- understanding declines likely more important than getting message out at this time
    - Jess Z- maybe an anonymous survey?
      - Peter Cohen to look into having this created

VI. Other Business

A. Staffing Updates

Please see above in Head of School Report

VII. Committee Updates

A. Governance Committee

Didn't meet in August, will do so in Sept.

B. Finance Committee

August meeting
- Didn’t review July financials
- No claw backs from DESE on FY22 results so the numbers as published should be approximately correct
  - FY Surplus of $530k
    - Paid for roof, kitchen, fire panel
      - Now finding out what excess can be put to BOT restricted fund
    - PPE came out $1k more per student
    - Will review new budget during next meeting to include new PPE, enrollment and student needs and get this to Board- should be in strong position

C. Personnel Committee

Didn't meet in August, will do so in Sept.

D. Academic Excellence

August
- Molly Wright and Jess Z met over summer, reworked global studies criteria
- Jess Z, Molly, Ellen gave presentation to faculty last week w/ Matt Cronin summarizing work and explaining how to proceed with unit planning

E. Development & Communications

Committee Next Steps
- Jess G- need details for meeting (when, where, who)?
  - Connie, Ellen Lodgen, Beth are members (Beth there b/c she helped with online auctions, Jeff Barry attends sometimes)
  - Jess G- will send note to committee members thru BoardonTrack

F. Strategic Plan Committee

Didn't meet in August, will do so next week

G. Facilities Task Force

Warehouse expansion project
- Facilities Task Force drafting RFP to be sent to architectural firms
  - Selected vendor will create renderings of new space to be used in fundraising campaign and provide guidance on which building codes will need to be addressed as this construction begins
  - Artie- there’s a limit on how much money MCCPS can offer in an RFP for before we need to put something in Reporter/Salem Evening News
    - Can also look at State bid list (list of state-approved vendors)
    - Artie to share with WR where to go to find details on this

VIII. Public Comment

A. Public Comment

IX. Board Member Comments and Resolutions

A. Board Member Comments and Resolutions

Agenda to be changed to reflect that Artie didn't adjourn tonight's meeting

X. Closing Items

A. Recap Action Items

Board
- Revisit BOT STY22-23 goals next month
- Complete self-assessment
- Review updated welcome letter once received from Will Rockwell
Finance Committee
- Bring revised budget to BOT

B. Adjourn Meeting

Jessica Gelb made a motion to Adjourn August 30, 2022 meeting of Board of Trustees.

Rodolphe Herve 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 9:30 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

William Rockwell

Documents used during the meeting

2022_07_26_board_meeting_minutes.pdf
Welcome to SY22 Note.docx
HOS Report to Board of Trustees 8_30_22.pdf