Dr. Bobby White:

• I want to start by saying Happy boss's Day to you guys for taking on this role of governing us in leading, particularly Mrs. Cathey, with the time you spend with me and helping me refine my leadership and think through things and always try to get better. I appreciate the time you all are giving us for an organization that it's a pivot into remembering the vision. As an organization, it does mean a lot to the community and families that we serve. 
• Today, I shared with our Strategic Planning Committee that Mrs. Cathey would be with us this morning. Yesterday the vision came full circle for me that this is year ten for Frayser Community Schools, not year ten as an operating school, but year ten; I left Shelby County Schools and started to build FCS. My humble beginnings have always been about the kids. It was about the parents and the community always putting them first. And yesterday, we had a young lady at MLK who has been in trouble all year long; she's a senior. She has some challenges, things at home, or what have you; instead of expelling her, we suspended her for 14 days and asked her mom to come back on Monday after fall break for a meeting. And we had what we call a support team in that meeting. At that table was about a million dollars worth of salaries. You had the principal, the assistant principals, the dean of students, the ACEs Coordinator, Mrs. Gibson, myself, and the list goes on and on.
• We began to build a plan for her, so she would be successful and get her through the doors of MLK to graduate in May. That was worth telling because we ensure that every student succeeds. Not just that baby that comes to school and does what they're supposed to do. I hope she'll be able to adhere to everything the team put together for her but for us all to show up and be supportive of that mom who was practically in tears, understanding that we didn't have to do that. That's where we are. That's where we always have been. And if we ever get to a point where that's not how we see the work, then it means that we know that we no longer need to do the work. So that was a special moment for me. Coming full circle about who we are as an organization by ensuring that we stay true to who we say we are, putting students and families first for their success.
   

Mr. Greg Thompson:

Financial Report October 18, 2022

Current Enrollment for BEP Payments:

• 
  Cash Balance: At 9 -30 -2022: ~$1.9M (~ 4 2 days of cash) 
   
• Cash at 10 -17 -2022: ~ $2.5M (~ 55 days of cash) 
   
• FCS has approximately $750 K in grants receivables for which it is waiting payment from the ASD. 

• MLK: 547 vs. (Budget 550)
• Westside: 328 vs. (Budget 335)
• Humes: 207 vs. (Budget 205)
• Total: 1,082 vs. (Budget 1,090)

BEP funding

• Currently calculated at $10,366.43 (less 2.5% fee from ASD). This slightly lower than what was projected in the budget ($10,587) but the number is likely to change during the year.
• True-up calculations happen throughout the year (based on actual enrollment).
• Enrollment is slightly below Board Budget.
 

School                                 MLK         Westside        Humes         Total
Enrollment under Board      550            335               205             1,090
Approved Budget 
Enrollment on which BEP is 547            328              207             1,082

currently based 
Current Enrollment Count    547            323              190             1,060
(per internal FCS records) Summary of Federal Grant Funding

Non-recurring Grants  MLK HUMES WESTSIDE NOTES

• ESSER 2.0 $697,946.39 $545,258.93 $440,243.66 Rollover funds- will have to spend all of these funds in FY 2022-2023
• ESSER 3.0 $540,521.81 $274,871.42 $170,605.01 Remaining – will have to spend all of these funds by the end of FY2022-2024. A portion of these funds will be spent this year.
• ESSER 3.0 Learning Loss $401,459.35 $218,045.21 $197,895.65 Remaining – will have to spend all of these funds by the end of FY2022-2024. A portion of these funds will be spent this year.
• TN Dept of Education-Facility Grant $68,750.00 $41,875.00 $25,625.00 To be spent FY2022-2023

Turnaround Grant (TAG) $307,292.01 $181,809.79 $112,655.15 To be spent FY2022-2023
Best of All $7,812.50 $7,812.50 $7,812.50 To be spent FY2022-2023
   
Recurring Grants    

• Title I $652,429.80 $352,857.18 $253,482.66 To be spent FY2022-2023
• Title II $39,049.29 $25,501.58 $27,095.43 To be spent FY2022-2023
• IDEA $211,878.28 $94,703.17 $59,390.12 To be spent FY2022-2023

Rollover ESSER funding amounts are subject to change based on final reconciliations from ASD on prior submissions from FCS.
 

Mr. Brett Lawson:

• I want to talk about where we are in the school year, and the first nine weeks end right before fall break. And our report cards are set to go out tomorrow. We are also in the middle of our case assessment, finishing up with any outstanding students this week. So that first case assessment is over a narrow band of standards that students will be tested on at the end of the year. And it's our first look at how you would do that. And so, we've been monitoring and trying to get a reasonable participation rate from everybody on this first case assessment. All indications we've had good participation. It will still be another week or so before we get all the data back, and we will officially close it out—two weeks from this Friday. We'll have enough data for the principals to develop their plans. And their next step is to take the iready diagnostic data they've had from earlier this year along with their case assessment data and craft a real plan with real student names and classes and be able to tell the network staff how they're going to move our achievement needle in the direction it needs to go to the level. 
• Everybody is super aware of the necessity of increasing that achievement and doing whatever is necessary to make that happen. So that's where we are; we've got the ship out of the harbor. We sailed it around for a while, and we're starting to see the data.
  We will adjust and prepare for the rest of the year. And we'll have two more good semesters, but they're broken up between now and the Christmas break. We have the Thanksgiving break, and that will interrupt us as well. And then when we come back, we have a few eruptions. And it's imperative to keep everybody focused through all that and any opportunities for the interruption. We have to keep our focus on student achievement and raising. We should have one of the principals do their STI report for you guys so you can see the level of planning that we asked them to do at our next board meeting. It would be an excellent opportunity for you guys to hear from one of them and see how that works. 
• The other thing I wanted to tell you about is that the ASD has started its desktop monitoring and that means they send us a whole gamut of documents and evidence they want us to collect, gather, and share with them to show that we are meeting state law and state school board policy. So we're in the middle of gathering right now. They have a deadline of October 31st for us to get all that in. And so we've divided that out; this is our first part of that process. We'll do a whole additional round of that before Christmas. And that data collection and desktop monitoring will be part of our score for the end of the year in their SPF process, so we want to do an excellent job on these. But the team has gotten their marching orders on the different parts they need to gather together, and I'll be formalizing all that and then submitting it to the ASD, which is pretty organized. They are new in their spots, but this was better than it has been in the past. In the past, they called it the beginning of the year documents, which were all done at once and weren't spread out. It wasn't well thought out or communicated to us and we really appreciate having those monthly touch points with them where we can ask questions and dig in. They've been very responsive when we've emailed and asked further clarifying questions. So we feel good about where we are in our dealings with the ASD right now that is all I have.
   

Mrs. Arlinda Cathey:

• Earlier today, I was a part of the strategic planning process that we are embarking on as a whole for FCS. And this six-month strategic planning process will involve everyone on the committee: our teachers, our staff, our parents, our surrounding community members, our stakeholders, and most importantly, board members. We'll participate in this strategic planning process over the next six months as we are building out a three-year strategic plan for FCS, which is at a pivotal moment for the organization. Of course, given that only Westside Middle is preparing to transition back into Memphis Shelby County Schools. We will be making the same preparations for MLK and Humes. So, Mr. Lawson and Dr. White, if there are any remarks you would like to share, you can provide a brief synopsis of what this process will look like.

Mr. Lawson:

• We are not using a consultant, we've never done an actual strategic plan in the last five years, so it's time to do one and have actual documents. Things are lining up now after COVID. We can think about some of these more significant strategic questions we need to address. And one thing we brought out in our discussion today was that as we transition if we don't remind ourselves of all of the big ideas that this organization is founded on, we have the propensity to begin to lose them and so this strategic plan will help us to hold on to that while planning for more future improvements down the line. So I'm excited that we're doing the process. I think it will be great for us—many brands and other organizations, including ASD, ask for our strategic plan. And so after doing this process, we'll have one. 
• We attempted a couple of years ago, but it's not nearly as inclusive as this. And involving someone familiar with journalism, publishing, and a great writer will help us to have a fantastic final product. So hopefully, she'll (Erica Williams) be able to come on and get some updates as we go through the process. I can say that there will be a series of retreats, longer meetings where we'll get into the details, one will be around data, around the vision, and then there will be some working sessions of the smaller group. And later, more extensive group sessions of sharing some of the data sessions that we'll be doing involve distinct groups, either through surveys or town hall-type meetings. We might gather folks around the whiteboard and gather ideas through exercises. So that will be another excellent opportunity for us to connect with some of our community.

Dr. Bobby White:

• Regarding Ms. Jackson's question about consulting, we wanted to take a stab at this, believing that we have the expertise on our team. As you are brought into the process, your expertise is added if we see that we need to get someone. That will not be something that we'd be opposed to. That should be something that the board could support us with. I'm sure many of you know someone who always does this. But we have the right person in our organization. We're going to store it. And we're all excited about the beginning of the process, and today was an excellent start. And now the process starts, we have to bring you all in and keep you updated. 

Arlinda Fair Cathey

• The next item on the agenda is our training requirements. I'm hoping that everyone has received my email and that we are on a schedule to ensure that we all complete our training requirements by November 15. All of the modules are an hour at the maximum. Many of them are somewhere between 40 to 50 minutes, and some are a little over 55 minutes. 
• All new board members will need to complete six hours which is at least six of those modules. All returning board members will need to complete four hours, which is at least four of those modules, and you'll need to complete an evaluation form after and view each of those modules to gain credit for it. I'll be checking to make sure everyone is in progress on it. And we generally will receive some reports showing a specific amount thus far as we're leading up to November 15. But like I say, October has passed us by, and now we are in a space where November's literally around the corner, and before you know it, we're getting ready for Thanksgiving, and November 15 will be here. So please prioritize this so I want tap anybody on the shoulder. It's a requirement that we've got to meet, so if you have questions, please reach out and let me know. 
• Next is the one-on-ones I'm doing with all our board members. Thank you to everyone who has already completed your one-on-one with me or is scheduled to meet with me soon. I have added some new dates to my booking calendar, and I've been adding dates and blocks of time that you know I'm generally free to hop on a call. If by chance, none of the times work, send me a quick text saying this doesn't work and let me know times that work for you, and we'll knock it out. We're halfway through all of our committee assignments and there are a few people I still need to get assigned to a committee so once we chat, we will make sure that you're very clear on where you will be joining and serving for the remainder of the year. So if you still need to do that, I ask that you please do so, and I'll send out a reminder email. So then, that way, you can get scheduled to meet with me.