M. Ramasamy read the Mission Statement.

M. Dixon went over the procedures and rules regarding the Zoom Webinar meeting platform.

There were no members of the public who wished to make a comment.

A. Pieper gave the Director's Report.

Educational Program
Ms. Pieper shared the Spring standardized test scores with the Board. 
iReady and NC Testing Program: GOALS for Scholars Academy

• iReady Grades 3-8  - 80% of students will be working at least one half year above grade level ("mid+" or more)
• Grades K-2 - 95% of students will be working above grade level by the end of 2nd grade
• State Tests: 95% of students will be College and Career Ready (Level 4 or 5)

iReady results: 

• Percentage of student test results at SA Goals level consistent with performance from last year for each cohort

State Test results:

• Math EOG and EOG scores track consistently with last year's results.
• Reading State test results were not available yet due to the test being renormed this year.
• Science EOGs were at SA expectations (95% scoring 4 or 5).

Staff
New staff introduced in newsletter this past Friday. All vacancies are expected to be filled before the start of school.

Students

• New students have had orientation and placement testing this past week.
• Most new students are attending Summer camp.
• Class lists will come out August 6.

Compliance and Finance

• Contract proposal (request for vote) - Mental Health Services (more about the new mental health plan in the Whole Child Committee Update)
• NC Access Grant will require budget adjustments as we anticipate approval for the grant.
• OCS Admissions Policy amendment submitted  - review by Charter School Advisory Board in July. It will be submitted to the State Board of Education in August, with anticipated approval in September.

S. Korrapati gave the Expansion Committee Update.

SA will remain in our current home for the next school year. The Board remains committed to expansion and will continue to seek opportunities to achieve our goals.

Contract with potential new broker to be discussed in closed session.

S. Liner gave the Governance Committee Update.

The Strategic Plan Year One action items progress has been posted in Board on Track in the Public Portal in a folder labeled "Strategic Plan."

The Committee has discussed adding the words "equitable learning environment" and "highly gifted children from diverse backgrounds" to the Mission Statement in order to better reflect our goals and allow the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to tie Equity strategic goals to the Mission Statement. This will be voted on by the Board following the closed session.

The Board member slate will be presented in closed session. Officer nominations will also be presented after closed session.

Counsel has drafted new employment agreement templates which have been previously provided to the Board for review. Adoption of the templates will be voted on after closed session.

S. Dasu gave the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Update.

The Committee met to finalize progress on Year One Strategic Plan goals. The Committee has given feedback regarding the meaning of the word "Equity" as it pertains to our school. Based on that, the Committee will be drafting an Equity statement. The new Strategic Plan goals for the committee will be tied to the Equity Statement and goals.

C. Lewis gave the Educational Excellence Committee update.

The Committee met this month and spent the meeting reviewing the standardized test results that Ms. Pieper discussed in the Director's Report.

The Educational Excellence Committee would like to remind parents that the first day of school is August 24 and it is very important that all students attend the first day.

S. Schroeck gave the Whole Child Committee Update.
The whole child committee met on Tuesday, June 22 to discuss the SEL Plan for the upcoming school year and the comprehensive mental health plan.
Starting this Fall, all students will be focusing on Social-Emotional Learning at the same time. SEL will be at the beginning of the day on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8:10AM to 8:35AM. Mondays and Fridays will be lessons and Wednesdays will have a rotating schedule that will include diversity topics, small groups with guest speakers, SEL buddies – which will eventually include a service learning project, and whole school SEL (as soon as large indoor group gatherings are permitted).
The curriculum for SEL lessons will be coming from 2nd Step which is a program already in use. This Fall, teachers will assist students in making age/grade-level appropriate personal SEL goals. Progress toward these goals will be evaluated throughout the school year by teachers and parents as well as students themselves and we hope that students will feel empowered as they track their own success toward these goals.
Mental Health Plan (summary credit to Noelle Zagorski) – the Board will need to vote to adopt this plan. The Board has been given a copy of the plan to review in advance of today’s meeting.
In June of 2020, Session Law 2020-7 was approved by the North Carolina General Assembly. It is an act to require the state board of education to adopt a school-based mental health policy and to require k-12 school units to adopt and to implement a school-based mental health plan that includes a mental health training program and a suicide risk referral protocol. Following this, the NC State Board of Education adopted a mental health policy that aligns with legislation and details compliance requirements. Our plan begins with our why and vision for SEL and School Mental Health (MH) Improvement along with the names of the members of the school MH committee. The plan outlines the content, action items/status, the person(s) responsible and timeline, and helpful resources. Most of the helpful resources were provided by the state, but we have also added in our own when needed.
The plan moves forward to state the school's strengths and needs for SEL/MH prevention. The MH committee identified the needs as follows:
* develop a standards-based outline of topics to be addressed during SEL/MH instruction
* develop an SEL/MH needs assessment for all students and families
* complete a needs assessment
* develop a plan based on the results of the needs assessment and family survey results
* provide more intensive support for students if needed outside
* hire a part-time counselor to work in conjunction with the full-time counselor (this has been completed)
* implement staff training
* research suicide prevention for K-5 and training for staff
* create and distribute a mental health inventory survey for parents
The plan continues with stating our current SEL/MH prevention initiatives that are already in place at Scholars. It then lists activities to build/align the infrastructure which will consist of staff/student training. Our plan moves on to discuss the plan of action for tying the infrastructure to our academic objects. The remainder of the document lists activities and action steps in relation to SEL/MH prevention, early intervention, treatment, referral, and re-entry.
This is a working document. The committee will refer to the document throughout the implementation to ensure the action steps are being completed and we are following through with the plan. The committee will also review the plan yearly to make any adjustments if needed.

A. Young gave the Policy Committee Update. 

The Policy Committee did not meet this month. They await the approval of the NC Access Grant by OCS.

A. Farooqi gave the Development Committee Update.
As of 6/28/2021, Annual Giving campaign total received is approximately $409,000, pledges not yet received are $86,626. The total is $481,764 based on receiving 100% balance due. The Campaign expects to receive an actual amount of $452,000 after write offs.
This was the last Development Committee for this school year.

M. Ramasamy gave the Foundation Committee Update.

Annual Community Giving Campaign operations will officially move to the Foundation. The Committee is continuing to work on policies for the Foundation as well as Foundation membership.
A fundraising license application has been filed.

A. Starling gave the Finance Committee Update.

Proposed Budget amendments are to adjust the Budget to align with actual numbers for the year. The budget reflects actual dollars received from Annual Community Giving Campaign (ACGC) during the school's fiscal year (as opposed to the campaign period), so the numbers are slightly different than what was reported in the Development Committee Update. The Budget has a surplus that will roll into the fund balance for next year. 

The PPP loan that was received last June has been forgiven so those funds do not need to be repaid.

Next year's budget assumes ACGC amounts stay the same, a 2% increase in State and Local Funding, Salaries and Wages are increasing to match those of this year's CMS employees, expenses for retirement savings matching increases, expected increases in benefits costs, and expected receipt of grant money.

There will not be a separate budget for the Foundation. The school will have one budget that will have separate line items for the Foundation. There will not be additional accounting costs for the Foundation.

Budget Amendments and Budget approval for next year will be voted on following closed session.

There were no members of the community who wished to make a comment.

S. Dasu expressed thanks on behalf of the Board to Board members who have come to the end of their term.