MCCPS Board of Trustees
Minutes
MCCPS Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday September 27, 2022 at 7:00 PM
Location
17 Lime Street
Marblehead, MA
Trustees Present
Artie Sullivan, Ian Hunt, Jessica Gelb, Nick Santoro, Paul Baker (remote), Peter Cohen (remote), Rodolphe Herve (remote), Tim Wadlow, William Rockwell
Trustees Absent
Jessica Xiarhos
Guests Present
Andrea Barlow (remote), Katie Hult (remote)
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 Sep 27, 2022 at 7:06 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes
Jessica Gelb made a motion to approve the minutes from MCCPS Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting on 08-30-22.
Nick Santoro seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Peter Cohen |
Aye
|
| Jessica Gelb |
Aye
|
| Nick Santoro |
Aye
|
| Paul Baker |
Abstain
|
| Rodolphe Herve |
Aye
|
| Artie Sullivan |
Absent
|
| Jessica Xiarhos |
Absent
|
| Tim Wadlow |
Aye
|
| Ian Hunt |
Aye
|
| William Rockwell |
Aye
|
II. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
- Lindsey Smith, parent of 5th grader who's worked with CA and LA Charter schools, introduced herself
III. Opening Comments From Chair
A.
Opening comments
- Thanked both Lindsey and Katie for joining tonight's meeting
IV. Board Annual Items
A.
Upcoming Meeting Agenda Items
- HOS Evaluation Process
- Personnel Committee leading this
- Meeting Schedule
- BOT is currently a month behind, schedule will therefore need to be updated
- ex: Dr. Cohen sharing HOS goals this month (supposed to be August)
- BOT is currently a month behind, schedule will therefore need to be updated
V. HOS Report
A.
Monthly Report
- Kitchen Project
- Project now complete (kitchen up and running) after snafus with subcontractors
- New Signage
- New sign on exterior, another coming soon above front door
- First Month of School
- Establishing routines, relationships, expectations and now transitioning into more rigorous academic work
- Note: Students seem to be in much better place this year than last with more normalcy
- Clean Up Crew back
- Enrichments begin 10/3
- First coffee event conducted 9/24, giving community chance to meet with MCCPS leadership
- Upper (Grades 6-8) & Lower (4-5) School Development
- Lower grades adding foundational reading/literacy components to curriculum to help students that, because of COVID, are lacking foundational skills
- Establishing routines, relationships, expectations and now transitioning into more rigorous academic work
- Enrollment, Staffing & Retention
- Enrollment
- Current enrollment at 226
- Note: One student moving out of state this month
- One more enrollment lottery to be conducted, afterwards focusing on SY23-24
- Dr. Cohen to connect with districts' PTOs to share more about MCCPS
- MCCPS also advertising for SY23-24 with yard signs, postcards, banner(s), parent ambassadors
- Current enrollment at 226
- Staffing
- 7th grade teacher has resigned (resignation date 10/7), currently recruiting
- Interviewing for long-term substitute teacher positions to account for a couple upcoming parental leaves
- Ongoing attention not only on staff numbers but organizational structure- want to be sure faculty isn't too "top heavy" with administrators
- Dr. Cohen working with MCCPS' HR Manager on this
- Retention/Class Sizes
- Returned to discussion begun during last month's BOT meeting regarding whether 230 students is appropriate target for MCCPS- this is moving from Agenda Item 5D
- Current class sizes higher in grades 4-6 solely due to pursuit towards 230
- Could smaller # improve classroom experience and/or help with budgeting?
- Ian- has Peter gotten feedback from faculty yet?
- Dr. Cohen- haven't gotten staff feedback yet, we would likely want to revise MCCPS' charter should we make this change
- Nick- in early Sept, I know the topic had been raised as a potential long-term possibility... has anyone else brought this up?
- Dr Cohen- have spoken individually and informally ab out the topic but given how nuanced the topic is (budgetary, staff/student experience, changes to school charter, etc.) this isn't something I want to bring up for discussions until we have more information
- Jess G- budget is of course a primary concern.... is there an opportunity to also expand (ex: adding third grade or having three classes per grade instead of two)
- Dr Cohen- I'd suggest 220 as study point. Every class would have 22 students, a good size, and if we were unable to meet 220, larger 4th/5th grade classes wouldn't be so large as to overwhelm staff
- Note: from a budgetary standpoint, using current numbers, this would mean $70k delta
- Artie- worth noting that the $70k change could eventually affect things like the warehouse expansion
- I think we need to decide on a firm target number in order to make more accurate predictions as to potential charter/budgetary ramifications
- Could student expansion help offset the costs of a multimillion dollar expansion into the warehouse?
- Rudi- I think 215-220 is probably the floor, as current expenditures including new admin staff plus planned capital improvement projects will necessitate certain level of funding
- Nick- want to echo what Paul said (larger appetite for lower grade levels), as parent feedback gained from strategic planning has said that parents value MCCPS' younger grade education in particular b/c it provides education for the entire person that then helps students "come out of their shell" and succeed in MPS
- Artie- also worth keeping in mind that some districts divide middle school into grades 6-8, whereas MPS is 7-8... offering exclusively grades 4-6 could affect enrollment from other districts
- Peter- glad this discussion has been raised in consecutive meetings, this may be worth keeping as standing item
- Current class sizes higher in grades 4-6 solely due to pursuit towards 230
- Returned to discussion begun during last month's BOT meeting regarding whether 230 students is appropriate target for MCCPS- this is moving from Agenda Item 5D
- Enrollment
B.
Head of School Goals
- HOS Goals
- Implementing system of observation/feedback for teachers
- This is in Year 2 of 3- this year is about peer-to-peer feedback (ex: Teaching Force) as we aim for a complete 360 degree feedback system
- Implement criteria for excellence and portfolio system
- Year 2 of this goal- this year, all 5 grade levels will have portfolios in place and we'll aim to get students more engaged in conferences
- Community engagement
- Bringing the community back into the building and supporting BOT's goal of increasing Board/Committee participation
- Facilities oversight
- First year of a long-term goal, this is focused on HOS' role as point person on ongoing building maintenance and future projects
- Implementing system of observation/feedback for teachers
- Discussion
- Ian- are there ways we could make the goal more quantifiable? Specifically the community engagement/BOT recruitment goal?
- Peter- difficult to quantify this goal both because the baseline for things like parent involvement is much different than last year (b/c of COVID) and because this goal overlaps with the Board's goal for recruitment (ex: if someone joins Board, does BOT or HOS "get credit" towards their goal)
- Nick- do we measure success based on achievement of Measures outlined in HOS goals?
- TIm- also important to note that if we were to focus on solely acquiring a certain number of BOT members, we may lose sight of the underlying point of the goal (getting quality involvement from the community)
- Jess G- are we keeping Teaching Force
- Peter- yes, we're keeping it and have found some success... would be willing to include more detailed discussion on lessons learned/what's worked and hasn't on future meeting agenda
- Tim- we'll vote on these goals during next month's meeting
- Ian- are there ways we could make the goal more quantifiable? Specifically the community engagement/BOT recruitment goal?
C.
Bullying Plan
- Intro
- Peter- every school needs to have bullying plan that should be updated annually and ours is due for a review... over the summer we looked at other schools' bullying plans and sought out advice from DESE to make the changes we've made
- Discussion
- Peter- the changes made are largely focused on tightening up the collaboration between various parties in response to bullying incidents
- Jess G- has this been reviewed by attorney?
- Peter- yes, this has been reviewed by both an attorney and our DESE contact
- Peter- the Dean of Students has access to this plan but I cannot confirm whether she's read it
- Subsequent discussion- should we hear from Dean and potentially get her feedback on this before voting?
- Peter- should BOT not approve this plan tonight, I'll have to go back to DESE and let them know
- This would mean scheduling additional meeting prior to next BOT meeting to approve
Rodolphe Herve made a motion to Fully Approve updated Marblehead Community Charter Public School Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan.
Nick Santoro seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Jessica Gelb |
Abstain
|
| William Rockwell |
Aye
|
| Ian Hunt |
Abstain
|
| Rodolphe Herve |
Aye
|
| Peter Cohen |
Aye
|
| Jessica Xiarhos |
Absent
|
| Paul Baker |
Absent
|
| Artie Sullivan |
Abstain
|
| Nick Santoro |
Aye
|
| Tim Wadlow |
Aye
|
- Peter- before next meeting, I will bring the MCCPS School Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan to the Dean and others and will let the Board know if there's any feedback
D.
Discussion About Enrollment Target
- Please see above in HOS Report
VI. Other Business
A.
Review of Board Self Assessment
- Variance between HOS and BOT feedback on Board Goals & Accountability
- Peter- I think Committee Chairs need to establish actionable goals and be more active in achieving them... low committee membership also affects our ability to accomplish goals
- Peter- onboarding systems for new BOT members could also bring a lot of value
B.
Update on recruitment of board and committee members
- 10-12 people have expressed interest in getting engaged in some way, shape or form
- 5-6 have expressed interest in joining a committee
- Rudi- process of being voted into a committee?
- Artie- vote and approval from the committee
VII. Committee Updates
A.
Governance Committee
- Reviewed self assessment and looked at DESE report (especially the part about Board compliance)
- Would like to consider training(s) to ensure Board members are familiar with compliance
- Two people have expressed interest in joining the committee
B.
Finance Committee
- Will potentially be adding a new member
- New HR Manager discussed adding HR software and after exploring options, will add one (cost approx. $5k)
- FinCom will have to retroactively approve this
- MCCPS has paid first installment for Teaching Force, balance due for rear mural and initial payment for general liability insurance among other things
- FinCom will provide new forecast in coming months
C.
Personnel Committee
- Two things ongoing
- New rubric being put forward by DESE for HOS- going through adjustments/changes on new version and will be prepared to share findings at later date
- Working on HOS evaluation process
- Typically Personnel would come before BOT in Oct/Nov
- Personnel will come before BOT next month (Oct.)
D.
Academic Excellence
- Will meet in Oct.
E.
Development & Communications
- Two new members joining the committee
- Discussed capital campaign and events to get community involved
F.
Strategic Plan Committee
- Will be reaching out to various committees involved in components of Strategic Plan
- Facilities, Academic Excellence, Development committees
G.
Facilities Task Force
- Didn't meet in September, rescheduled for 10/6
VIII. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
- N/A
IX. Board Member Comments and Resolutions
A.
Board Member Comments and Resolutions
- N/A
X. Closing Items
A.
Recap Action Items
B.
Adjourn Meeting
Tim Wadlow made a motion to Adjourn tonight's meeting.
Nick Santoro seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Tim Wadlow |
Aye
|
| Nick Santoro |
Aye
|
| Ian Hunt |
Aye
|
| Artie Sullivan |
Aye
|
| Jessica Gelb |
Aye
|
| Paul Baker |
Absent
|
| Jessica Xiarhos |
Absent
|
| William Rockwell |
Aye
|
| Rodolphe Herve |
Aye
|
| Peter Cohen |
Aye
|
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 9:37 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
William Rockwell