Download minutes PDF Minutes Approved

Frayser Community Schools

Minutes

FCS Board Meeting (Web Meeting)

Date and Time

Tuesday December 8, 2020 at 5:30 PM

Location

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
You can also dial in using your phone.
(For supported devices, tap a one-touch number below to join instantly.)
United States: +1 (872) 240-3412
Access Code: 293-556-557
Join from a video-conferencing room or system.
Dial in or type: 67.217.95.2 or inroomlink.goto.com
Meeting ID: 293 556 557
Or dial directly: 293556557@67.217.95.2 or 67.217.95.2##293556557

Directors Present

A. Cathey (remote), C. Houston (remote), E. Henneghan (remote), J. Thornton (remote), K. Adams (remote), M. Matthews (remote), M. Shepherd (remote), R. Dowell (remote)

Directors Absent

T. Hartwell

Ex Officio Members Present

B. White (remote)

Non Voting Members Present

B. White (remote)

Guests Present

B. Lawson (remote), Chiquita Perry (remote), G. Thompson (remote), K. Potts (remote), Katie Wise (remote), L. Warren (remote), R. Peterson (remote), T. Hervey (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

A. Cathey called a meeting of the board of directors of Frayser Community Schools to order on Tuesday Dec 8, 2020 at 5:36 PM.

C.

Approve Minutes

C. Houston made a motion to approve the minutes from FCS Board Meeting (Web Meeting) on 11-10-20.
M. Matthews seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

II. CEO Updates

A.

Remembering the Vision

Bobby White: 

 

There's so much that has gone on since our last board meeting.
  • We would like to recognize Humes Soul food Kitchen Cafe's Thanksgiving edition. The families pulled up or walked up to get their plates. We are the center of our community; the families had a good time. Dr. Robinson and her staff did an excellent job with social distancing. I left Humes and logged on to MLK literacy night, nd the teachers were enthusiastic; Ms. Perry and her team did a great job. 
  • We're still grinding to get the parent engagement in times of COVID, but you can tell that the staff is committed. MLK is connecting with the community.  Being enthusiastic, empathetic, kind, and doing all of the things we always discuss relating to our families. 
  • But at the same time, we have had some tragedy. One of our students who was murdered in the Humes community, his mother, was recently killed in a car accident last Thursday. The other son, who was in the car accident, is still in ICU.
  • So, the FCS family has had to be front and center again for the Humes community. Dr. Robinson, her team, and the FCS family are pitching in to lend a hand; however, we can. 

III. Academic Excellence

A.

Academic Excellence Committee Updates

Dr. Rodney Peterson: 

 

  • Westside Presentation
    • We have a lot of great things going on at Westside. Despite everything this year, like COVID, and all the challenges, we have had a fantastic school year. I am so proud of my staff.
    • The ASD chose Westside for the fall milestone which went fantastic.  I think they were blown away with some of the data we showed and what could still be accomplished during COVID.
    • We have been working a lot on our parent engagement piece. Every second Monday of the month, we have coffee and conversations with myself.
    • Our school enrollment is 337 students, which is pretty impressive; based on where we started. In two years, we gained 100 students, which is phenomenal.
    • With Dr. White, Mr. Lawson, and Mrs. Hervey's fantastic plan, we're in the remote model. We have started our virtual cafe with our functional skills students in the building and our teachers coming in the building one day a week. We made some changes after Thanksgiving due to COVID; we are still in the remote model.
    • We have a full day schedule for our students and teachers provide individual breaks to make sure the students are zoning out. The students are never left alone in a class as the teachers wait for the next teacher to control the classroom.
    • We have been helping our parents with some challenges, including attendance and technical issues. We also have a support system set up for our parents such, as monetary systems, funding grants for rental assistance, and food assistance.
Dr, Marcus Matthews:
  • The Academic Excellence committee will be meeting on the first Thursday of the month at 5 pm. Mrs. Dowell will serve as our Committee Secretary, 
  • I am the committee chair. Ms. Adams, Mrs. Cathey, and Mr. Lawson are apart of the committee. Everyone is welcome to join the meetings.
Mr. Brett Lawson:
  • In terms of our re-entry plan for January, you know, we are still watching the COVID numbers. We discovered that the city of Memphis has a better dashboard than Shelby County in terms of numbers. We have another round of benchmark assessments coming up after Christmas break. Our principals are working on scheduling to ensure we have  95% participation.

 

IV. Finance

A.

Finance Committee Updates

Greg Thompson:

 

Cash balance at 12/4/2020: $4M. 
• PPP loan of $1.525M – anticipating forgiveness and recognition as income in 2020-2021. 
• Total State and Federal Grant Revenue in 2020- 2021: 
Federal and State Grants 
• Title I: $981.2K
• CTE 21st Century: $293.6K 
• Title II: $62.6K 
• IDEA: $275.9K 
• District School Improvement: $319.7K
• Total: $1.9M 
COVID-19-related Grants 
• CARE Act: $606.5K 
• Internet Connectivity: $96.6K 
• Remote Learning: $42.5K 
• Total: $745.6K

V. Development

A.

Development Committee Updates

Mr. Erik Henneghan:

 

  • I would like to thank everyone for participating in Giving Tuesday fundraising efforts. 
  • We were able to send out a link for board members to create their own personal fundraising webpage, that allows them to garner donations from their family, co-workers, friends, and network on behalf of FCS. 
  • This goes right along with our goal of tracking our $1,000 fundraising goal for each board member. So I'm encouraging everybody on the board to create their fundraising webpage, it's very easy. This would be a great way for us to keep up with donations and individual fundraising goals. 

VI. Governance

A.

Governance Committee Updates

M. Matthews made a motion to Adopt the 2020/2021 amendments to the FCS Bylaws.
C. Houston seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
Roll Call
K. Adams
Aye
J. Thornton
Aye
E. Henneghan
Aye
A. Cathey
Aye
R. Dowell
Aye
M. Matthews
Aye
M. Shepherd
Aye
T. Hartwell
Absent
C. Houston
Aye
Arlinda Cathey: 
  • I want to thank everyone on their completion of the of the Tennessee Charter Board training requirements. Each board member was able to satisfy the required amount of trainings - so as a special thank you - we have special holiday gift bags each board member will receive. 
  • Pastor Floyd and Steve Lockwood have rolled off the board, so we will resume board recruitment efforts and identify new board candidates starting in the New Year.
  • We're prepared to vote on the 2020-2021 amendments to FCS bylaws. Each board member was asked to review the amendments ahead of the meeting and submit any questions to the Governance committee. The committee did not receive any questions, so we are prepared to move forward with a vote tonight. 

VII. Network Updates from the CEO

A.

Pertinent Network Updates and Developments

Dr. Bobby White: 
  • Recognition of Erik Hennghan's proclamation from Mayor Lee Harris for his work in leading Shelby County Young Professionals Council for the last two years. It was an honor for him to work alongside so many other great young professionals in the area. 
  • Recognition of Cedric Houston, who was promoted to detective within the Shelby County Sheriff's Department. 
Mr. Brett Lawson:
  • We're approaching the deadline to submit our letters of intent for charter applications this year.
  • There are different types of charter applications you can submit. When we were looking at our different options. We're interested in re-entering our LEA, Shelby County Schools. We're going to attempt to do this for Westside since it will be the first school with a charter contract that expires. The current legislation says that no ASD schools will be forced to exit the district and return to LEAs sooner than 2024-2025.
  • If our charter contract ends before then, do we still stay in the ASD until 2024-2025? The answer is yes. But what if the legislation changes? With that kind of uncertainty, we felt like we had to protect our turf and get our name in the hat to move Westside into SCS. This charter application will be submitted. 
  • We are submitting a second application and this is for a new start charter. It's a program that we've talked about since FCS took over a Humes - and that is for a school of the arts located in Humes. we're submitting a new charter application for a school to be located inside Humes, titled the Memphis Academy of Visual and Performing Arts.
  • Thanks to Mrs. Harvey we have a lot of language for the application we're currently drafting,

VIII. 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 7:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
M. Matthews
Documents used during the meeting
  • FCS Financial Update 12-8-2020.pdf
  • Copy of Excel version of FCS budget update (12.8.20).xlsx
  • FCS Advisory Council Framework.docx
  • 2020-2021 Proposed FCS Bylaws Amendments.docx