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The Neighborhood Charter Network

Minutes

NCN Board Meeting

Date and Time

Tuesday June 15, 2021 at 3:00 PM

The Neighborhood Charter Network is hosting a board meeting every other month as posted on the news/events of the Enlace and Kindezi Academy websites. 

Directors Present

C. Byczko (remote), D. Casey (remote), K. Britt (remote), M. Dezelan (remote), P. Castaneda (remote), T. Baker (remote)

Directors Absent

R. Hall, R. Zavaleta

Guests Present

B. Anderson (remote), D. Castellanos (remote), K. Kubacki (remote), Katherine Dulay (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

C. Byczko called a meeting of the board of directors of The Neighborhood Charter Network to order on Tuesday Jun 15, 2021 at 3:06 PM.

II. Approval of Minutes

A.

May Meeting Minutes

P. Castaneda made a motion to approve the minutes from NCN Board Meeting on 05-24-21.
M. Dezelan seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
M. Dezelan
Aye
K. Britt
Aye
P. Castaneda
Aye
D. Casey
Aye
R. Zavaleta
Absent
C. Byczko
Aye
R. Hall
Absent
T. Baker
Aye

III. Public Comment

A.

Public Comment

No public comment. 

IV. Finance Committee

A.

Finance Update

Budget Update
  • Brian reported that the team is in the process of entering the budgets into QuickBooks for the 21-22 school year. 
  • Brian presented the financials through May to the board. The financials are in good shape. Revenue is lagging a little but will catch up by the end of the school year. 
  • The original budget submitted and the amendment cover us in terms of having the approved budget submitted to OEI. All the detail on where we will increase expenditures will be captured and submitted by 6/30.

V. Governance Committee

A.

Organizational documents vote

Bylaws Update
  • Caitlyn reported that any changes to the bylaws need to be published first.  This will be revisited at a future date. 
NCN Employee Handbook 
  • Kevin presented the board with an updated electronic copy of the NCN Employee Handbook for board approval. 
  • Kevin reported that NCN hired a new HR generalist. 
  • Audits on HR documents are completed yearly. 
  • The HR team spoke with other charter schools and researched what is common practice to align NCN to what other schools in Indianapolis are doing. The team also took into consideration language from SHRM policies. 
  • At NCN the staff review the employee handbook yearly and sign off on it electronically through our HR system, Paycor. 
NCN Financial Policies and Procedures Manual
  • The NCN Financial Policies and Procedures Manual was presented to the board for review and approval.  
  • The finance team created a finance policies and procedures manual to codify all the processes that take place already. 
  • The board will review the handbook and approve the handbook at the August meeting. 
P. Castaneda made a motion to approve the NCN Employee Handbook as presented.
K. Britt seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
T. Baker
Aye
C. Byczko
Aye
R. Zavaleta
Absent
M. Dezelan
Aye
P. Castaneda
Aye
K. Britt
Aye
R. Hall
Absent
D. Casey
Aye

B.

NCN Board Assessment

NCN Board Assessment Update
  • The board must submit a self-assessment to OEI. 
  • Every board member must complete the assessment through Board On Track
Executive Director Evaluation 
  • Caitlin reminded the board members that an assessment for Kevin needs to be completed and will be coming through Board On Track.
  • The ED evaluation completed will be submitted to OEI.

C.

Board Dashboard Review and Planning

20-21 Academics
  • Kevin reported that in a typical year the goal is for 70-79% of students to be on track or make sufficient gains using NWEA. Which did not happen this year as we are not on track to meet this goal. 
  • The jump to iLearn and lack of data has been tricky.
  • NCN has hired an assistant director of academics to help focus on this.
Challenges:
  • Exacerbated learning gaps
  • Foundational reading skills deficits
  • We have many families who struggle to support reading, particularly in English, at home. 
Strategies
  • Robust summer academy for the next four summers with federal funds
  • High dosage tutoring after school programs
  • Focus on Tier I instruction
    • Curriculum implementation 
    • Planning meetings
    • Data Analysis
    • Home literacy initiatives
      • At Enlace the Latino literacy program works with parents and helps them learn how to support literacy while at home. 
      • At Kindezi, they had a Springboard collaborative and it also helps families track literacy at home. 
Student Culture
  • Attendance was stronger during the in-person learning environment
  • The Kindezi Attendance Plan we submitted to OEI made significant strides.
  • IPS' district-wide attendance average was 83%
  • Having students back in person after the shutdown at Kindezi led to more students with discipline issues. Moving back and forth from high structure to less structure was difficult. 
Challenges
  • Many students have lingering local emotional trauma from the 20-21 school year. 
Strategies
  • Social-emotional learning Specialists
  • Focus on the implementation of Second Step Curriculum
  • Restorative practices training
  • DEI training with Virtuoso
  • Implementing City Connects at both locations. 
Finance 
  • The financial metrics are all meeting expectations. 
  • NCN received a clean audit for the 20-21 school year. 
Board 
  • The goal was to have two or more board members join the NCN board. There is still time to make that happen. 
  •  Engagement and recruitment have been difficult due to the pandemic. 

VI. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 4:36 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
C. Byczko