Carol Craig, a retired IPS Board member, made a public comment. She would like there to be more community and families at the board meeting to see all the important things happening at Kindezi Academy. She also recommends on possibly moving the meetings to the evenings and provide transportation to families. This would help keep the community engaged and informed. 

There was a concern about Kindezi shortening schools days. The board explained that it was due to bussing schedules with IPS. However, the Kindezi Academy calendar is more extended and over 180 days. 

Dennis stated that he would  like to get the parents involved and would like to host some evening meetings to have the community engaged. 
 

Kevin reported that Kindezi had 62 growth points and is currently a D school. It was very close to a C school. Culture has greatly improved at Kindezi in their 3rd year.   reported what we have learned and what our response has been for Kindezi Academy: 

The curricula we chose for ELA and Math, while highly rated, were not the best choices for our students and staff. 

• We reached out to leaders across the country to get an understanding of their curricular choices and purchased new curricula for both ELA and Math (Tools)

It has been challenging to recruit the highest skilled teachers to work in a a restart, especially with the missed messaging around innovation in the community. 

• Our teachers have needed more time to internalize the curricula and analyze student work, so we changed our after-school schedule to accommodate those needs (Time).

It has also been challenging to recruit the highest skilled coaches for all the same reasons. 

• We adjusted the coaching model to give Shanae more reach into each grade level. Kevin has also begun leading coaching bootcamps for coaches (Talent)

Not having control over our enrollment creates constant fluctuations in our numbers, running concurrent with high mobility rates, which forces us to reset school culture often throughout  the year. 

• We created a student Lighthouse Team to help address cultural issues and we are beginning a parent Lighthouse Team to help address consistency at home as well (Talent). 

1. Best curricula for ELA and math
2. Common Interim Assessments
3. Network PD
4. Teacher weekly data meetings and co-planning meetings
5. Observation and feedback tools
6. Coaching tools

1. Teacher Quality
2. Coaching quality
3. Consistency with culture and routines

1. School Quality Review with IPS and OEI
2. Site visit with the Mind Trust
3. Coaching bootcamps
4. Brain development software
5. Tutoring programs
6. Teacher residencies

1. Changes within IPS
2. Breach of innovation agreement
3. Loss of charter
4. Fluctuating enrollment
5. Funding inequities
6. Community messaging

Commissioner Venita Moore stated that she believed schools should get 5 years. Elizabeth Gore and extended an invitation to David Hawkings. 

1. Academic Excellence Committee explores alterations to the school staffing model with an eye towards building our bench through teacher residency programs. 
2. The Executive Committee explores the most strategic staffing model for the network level, giving each employee the highest-leverage focus area. 
3. The Finance Committee explores areas where funding and grant writing could free up general funds for strategic initiatives or staffing. 
4. The Community Engagement committee engages the new IPS board members to ensure stability fo the network. 

Dennis wants to shoot for an April or May plan timeline. Kevin will share the quality review results with the board once it becomes available. Some recommendations will be given by the end of day tomorrow. 
 

 

• Brian reported that the financial audit drafts were released last night. Donovan is on track to meet the December 30 deadline. So far everything looks good although it took a longer to complete the audit this year for various reasons. 
• NCN received more then 750k and triggered another audit. They did an in-depth Title I audit. Things overall went really well and the final audit report will be available by the next board meeting. 
• Balance sheet - Shows the financial standing of the organization as of November 30 each school is good with cash on hand. Our cash position is healthy but not excess. Both schools do not have many fixed assets mostly because of our IPS agreement. 
  • Current loans CSDC, 1% grant loan. 
• Budget vs. actuals reflects Enlace and Kindezi combined. Shared costs are split 50/50. We have 167 net increase from July through November. The budget reflects a little short in revenue due to timing of grant funds. 
• Patricia stated that the PTA is advocating for a second count day in February. 
• Enlace continues to exceed and running well financially due to enrollment being a little higher than budgeted. 
• Kindezi was a little under with enrollment but is overall showing a little bit of a loss that will catch up. They will be close to breaking even by the end of the school year. The issue is we will always serve more kids than we get funded for. 
  • Kindezi enrolled about 15 more students from count day. 

Kevin reported that as of today only two board members have completed the assessments.