No public comment received. 

The board reviewed the outcome of the December board meeting as to date. No minutes have been published. Action | Ian Hunt to follow-up with Lindsay Smith and upload minutes of the December meeting for review at February meeting.  Ian also to follow-up with DESE on approval of pending Board Members. 

Enrollment | Currently enrollment is currently 191 students. Since last meeting, 4 have left (including 2 to homeschooling settings + 2 sent back to home districts.) Awaiting placement for two additional students to return to home districts.  New students have expressed an interest in attending MCCPS.  Expect to be back at 192 by end-of mid-Feb with offers pending on 3 new students from sending districts. 

Staffing | Recent departure of 5th grade staff member. HoS has built out a plan to support 5th grade through to the end of the year. This has been shared with parents / pupils. Board shared perspectives on feedback received from parents. Prompt communication from HoS was well received from parents. Staff moral remains positive despite changes. 

Admissions | Record number of applications received (100 + more applications in this round)

230 applications were received. However, only 19% from sending districts. Potential drivers include new Swampscott school.  Open houses well attended, but low interest from sending schools.  HoS shared that while we currently 120 from sending districts. This is slated to decrease  based on projections from applications.  While school can realize target of 230 pupils, target is  not aligned with 80/20 sending rato requested by DESE in Charter Renewal. HoS to discuss with DESE potential options school may have. Board shared perspectives on potential strategies to increase number of sending pupils. 

Charter Report | The preliminary DESE Charter report has been received.  Key Challenges - governance, open meeting law and academic oversight from the board. Board discussed topics and solutions to mediate challenges (e.g onboarding strategy for new board members).

Culture & Climate | 18 of 19 staff members completed recent survey. Collaboration, speak-up, communication were key topics. Positive findings shared by the HoS. BoD congratulated HoS / LT. on findings. 

Camera Surveillance Policy | Installation of additional cameras  in unstructured spaces to support pupil / building safety and align with district norms. Key changes include access for MHD police (e.g ALICE), video recording moved to cloud storage etc. These changes require updated policy documents which were shared with the board. Staff have been informed. Parents pending presentation to Board. Board discussed the policy and supported HoS strategy to implement / share these changes

Adhoc Topics

• Mid-Year iReady Testing Completed (data evaluation is pending). HoS Personal Development strategies and Staff Evaluations were also shared with Board (e.g Teach Point).  ALICE training between HoS / parents is planned. Additional ALICE training is also pending.
• DESE shared continuous performance review is now complete.
• HoS shared documentation on ongoing progress against goals. 

The board discussed the annual mid-review process for HoS and next steps.  HoS agreed to share documentation with Board to begin mid-year evaluation. Key topic was to include school improvement goal to evaluation. 

Action Item | Identify dates for board retreat. 

MCPPSA encouraged board to explore opportunities to adopt a legislation policy 

Agreed not to pursue

No update provided. 

Discussed recruiting new members to the Governance Committee. The committee is currently below target numbers. Eric Neagle expressed an interest to join the committee. Immediate action. 

The board discussed refreshing this committee. This includes a new chair and increasing numbers. The board recommended chair is an acting staff member. HoS to reach out to potential candidates. Board also strongly suggested increasing cadence of meetings. 

Four fund-raising events are pending, including the 30-year Anniversary and Annual Fundraiser which is on May 10.. The board discussed how to engage local community members in fundraiser and build on success of 2024.  

No update provided. 

Update on Head of School EoY review proccess. 

No public comment.