Mr. Greg Thompson:

Financial Update

FY2023 Cash Flow Projections:

Cash Balance: At 1-31-2023: ~$1.56M (~ 34 days of cash) 

Cash on 2-19-2023: ~ $2.07M (~ 45 days of cash)

FCS is still waiting on ASD for the budgeting process and approval for ESSER 2.0 and 3.0 spending for FY23.

Cash will most likely be significantly lower at this point (~$1-2M) due to delays with Federal Grant Reimbursements.

BEP funding 

• Currently calculated at $10,366.43 (less 2.5% fee from ASD). This is 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 approximately 44 students below Board Budget.

Mr. Brett Lawson:

• It's test time. And the whole team is on that and we have Dr. Clark and Dr. Harvey on here who have been involved in getting everybody prepped. And so one of the things that's different this year is the middle school being online. And we have devices, ensuring they're all working and everything and this will take place on Monday morning. So, Dr. Clark has been taking the lead on working with the BTC's, ensuring they had what they needed, and learning how to get in and check on students being in the system and the platform. So let me let her come off mute for just a minute, and she can talk to us about some of the preparations we've done for testing. And then also she visited Forrest City School last week, which you can share with us.

Dr. Lawanda Clark:

• Good evening, everyone. So we are four days away from testing. The BTC build and test coordinators have worked very hard, as well as Vic from ASD, to make sure that our computers and our testing tickets are ready for the following Monday. I believe everyone is testing on a different day than Monday. Monday is typically not a good day for testing. But we are raring and ready to go on Monday. So we did a device stress test last week and identified some areas of concern, which is great because we wanted to know them in advance so that we wouldn't have those next week. And the BTCs, Vic, the help desk, and myself have been working hard to ensure a smooth testing period. So we met with them, and all the BTCs they're sending us their schedules. We've allotted time for the extra minutes of testing. We have a big push for makeup testing to ensure we get about 95% of the students tested. So Mr. King and I will monitor that closely to identify students who have yet to test. I want to get that information to the school leaders and BTCs so they can make sure they get those kids tested. I'm encouraging them to utilize the full three weeks of testing to ensure we take time, but we want to ensure we get every student. So we want to ensure every student is tested within those three weeks. 
   
• My visit last week was inspiring. I love to see practices in place. I learned so much helpful information regarding our coaching model, an opportunity culture how it works at the middle and high school levels. Comparing it to what we do at FCS, I've devised a plan to prioritize some of the work we need to do to get the most significant impact by getting those MCLs in the classrooms more. And so that is the focus for this year. And I presented that to the academics team for their thoughts. 
   
• I also had an opportunity to visit Henley Middle School to see their City Year in partnership. And it was great to see that as well. They have good thoughts on how to link their RTI program, which is a response to intervention with City Year to make it work. But they have a lot of movable cars, which is what we don't have at Westside. And so I'll note that in my record that I also send it to the academic team. Dr. Peterson is not looking forward to having City Year with him next year. He wants to focus on getting staff to a better state academically before he brings on additional resources. However, if we continue using this partnership, Humes will benefit. As with them, having a good rap on RTI and their staff is the same. That will help them get their RTI program where it needs to be, so I'll also put those recommendations in my plan. Other than that, and that is a lot, we are pushing. We're excited. They're doing pep rallies. Parents pep rallies and everything to get the students and the parents ready. They're making phone calls. They're talking about going out and picking up students. We will ensure that every student is tested and every parent knows we're testing and will celebrate. I'm still determining what we will do in areas of proficiency, but I am expecting some significant gain and exciting gains for FCS this year. 
   

Dr. Tonya Hervey:

• Our enrollment, as was mentioned earlier, is better than we thought it would be. So we're pleased about that. And I agree with everything Dr. Clark said about the principals and RTI team being willing to go out and pick up students from home to ensure that we get 95% for test participation rates for our kids. Attendance has been low this week, but we are contacting parents as we speak to ensure kids continue to come to school. With discipline, we are dealing with, spring has sprung, so we are experiencing the usual activity level when the temperatures rise. However, like at both middle schools, we have an excellent school culture at Hume's and Westside. At the high school, we continue to work with our students and parents as best we can to ensure that we try to create a very positive school culture. Today actually, we had a pop-up shop for the seniors. And it's like a civics course, and the seniors created their pop-up shops. And one student said she was so happy that we gave her this opportunity because she didn't know how she would be able to afford her prom dress. And because of her entrepreneurship abilities today, she has enough money for her prom dress and everything she needs. So it was a joyous day, and I was very excited to see the students involved in entrepreneurship because I believe in the African American community. We need to teach children more about what they can do as entrepreneurs, and we know that you can make a lot more money being your own boss than working for somebody else. So today was a very successful day in entrepreneurship for our seniors.

Mr. Brett Lawson:

• I am updating attendance and discipline to some changes we've already got in the works for next year. I mentioned it at the last meeting, but we purchased a product called parents square, a communication tool for parents. And one thing that boasts is improvement in attendance because of the back-and-forth communication. So right now, we use a product called Swift- K 12. And it's one-way communication. We send messages out to parents square, which will allow parents not only to indicate that I got the message but also if there's an absence, they can indicate the reason for the absence and get excused in the system. That will save them a bit of work but also help us be more exact and focused on the details around student attendance. It's also a much better tool for communicating with teachers to parents. It also gives us 10,000 slots to make community connections to communicate with them in groups. You might think about recruiting as we become Memphis Shelby County Schools charters. We can recruit beyond our neighborhood and even within our neighborhood. We have yet to have a system for capturing phone numbers and immediately calling them; it's been Teddy King doing the phone calls at night. And this system will allow us to build a bank of interested folks we want to continue to contact. So you might think of it in terms of Salesforce or something like that. It's more like that for schools. So that's one thing. 
   
• We're doing other things to improve discipline because we're not happy at all right now with how our schools are going. Dr. White and I are still formulating the final plan that will roll out. We're coming across some individuals who can help us set up more of the restorative practice model we have in our mind that we've fleshed out. We've said what it shouldn't be but have yet to see it come to fruition. And last week, when we were at Teach 901, a great candidate came up who had done this work before, and her husband is a science teacher, which we need desperately. We're trying to get them on as a dual package and get them set up. And Mrs. Gipson will be talking with her tomorrow and learning more about what she knows, what she has done, and where she might fit into this picture. And make some changes that will make a real difference in how we do this next year. 

Mrs. Arlinda Cathey:

• This month we will begin the process of our annual CEO evaluation, and I shared information about this during our last board meeting in March just to initially prep everyone that we are gearing up for this experience that we move through every year to evaluate Dr. White's performance. We conduct the CEO evaluation through BoardOnTrack, so everyone can access the evaluation there. The process takes a minimum of 30 minutes and it may take longer if you have some additional feedback that you would like to provide. But we do move through this annual evaluation, so we can share how we appreciate Dr. White's leadership as well as areas where we would like the organization to focus, including what are the top things we believe FCS needs to do to move forward. So it's an in-depth evaluation and we would like to receive everyone's responses by the first week of May, which Friday, May 5 is our deadline. 
• The first component of this evaluation is Dr. White completes a self-evaluation. And that self-evaluation is then distributed to network staff and the board. And as you're moving through the actual evaluation, you will see Dr. White's responses to his self-evaluation. So the self-evaluation happens first, then we'll move through everyone completing their evaluation within the three weeks of April 18 to May 5, and I will be sending out reminders to everyone just asking you to complete your evaluation because we do want all responses to be reported by May 5 once we have all of that information. We then move through the process of building out an overall CEO evaluation report, which provides a high-level synopsis of the responses in terms of Dr. White's performance. We also use that information when evaluating potential salary increases and things of that nature. So, this evaluation process is essential because not only does it provide Dr. White with sharp feedback on areas he's doing exceptionally well, it also in offers an opportunity for us to provide some constructive criticism too. So I want everyone to take this evaluation seriously. If there are areas where you can provide additional information, please use the evaluation as a space to do so because it's all helpful, especially to the Governance Committee, as we then have to compile all responses and develop the report. Your responses are anonymous. So the information that you share through the evaluation, your identity is not attached to it at all. We're sharing this so you can be honest and provide some vital feedback. If you have questions about the evaluation process, which is done online through the BoardOnTrack, please let us know. 
• Next, I want to provide some updates and talk in terms of where we're at with the board recruitment process, which is a process we step into as we enter the latter part of the spring every year because we have board members that will roll off after the academic year and we evaluate the gaps in board representation evaluate who's ideal for being able to step in and support us in this work as a board member. 
• As a heads-up, Kirby Tucker will be rolling off at the end of this academic year as she is enrolled in an MBA and doctoral program and she's been trying to finish up for some time now and needs to dive in deep to make sure that she's getting her dissertation finished. So, unfortunately, she is going to be rolling off. She should be joining us next month if you want to wish her well and thank her for her board service over the past two years. We always seek individuals to join us in this work with various areas of expertise, which has been listed on the agenda. We're looking for individuals that can bring not only specific insights but also meet our time commitment. I have put a link out there for the nomination form if, by chance, you're thinking of someone.

Dr. Bobby White:

• For years, we've been an ASD organization. And now, people knowing that we are a part of Shelby County may be seen a bit more positively as it relates to us being able to recruit board members. I am getting more of a positive response, or we're getting more of a positive response at the job and charter fairs, with people knowing that there are ten additional years that you're going to have these schools. Indeed, they will be a part of Shelby County, the large district right. And so they may have boats they were attempting to want that could add value to our family. That would encourage them even more, to want to be a part of our team.

Mr. Brett Lawson:

• I just wanted to give you the updates I did find on the charter application. So on April the fifth, the charter school office sent an email saying our office wanted to provide an update on your application review. All applications are still under district review. You will be notified of potential meetings where your application will be discussed and when it does designate a timeline. As always, please don't hesitate to contact me now. So they have yet to have a definite academic meeting that they're going to do the discussion. When we get that, we'll let you know.
• The other update is about the strategic plan. Thursday night is going to be a data retreat. And the data that we're looking at is from the surveys we sent out. So it's a two-hour meeting instead of a four-hour meeting. And it will be in person at Westside. So, we are looking forward to that. And from that meeting, there will be another meeting to craft and cast the vision for the next few years that will be encompassed in the strategic plan. But this one will be reviewing the data and noticing any trends.

Mr. Theodore King:

• I wanted to update you on Frayser Community School Day. FCS Day is scheduled for May 20th. That's a Saturday from noon to 3 pm at MLK. The day's theme is to highlight career, college, and community. It will be a block party. And it will have a service component to it as well. So I'm also working with our CTE program to highlight our MLK offerings. I'm also working with the culinary arts students; they will probably cook something for that day. The welding teacher is going to do a demonstration that day. Our AV department will do videos, interviews, and things of that nature. We highlighted the CTE programming that day. Working with Ms. Gibson and the ACES department, her students will volunteer to help serve food. We also will have community partners who provide resources for our families to allow them to set up booths at our event or send us fliers that we can pass out on their behalf. We will also have a component of inflatables and DJs.
  I'm also trying to find a wow factor. Mrs. Cathey, you were there last year, and we had live wrestling the previous year. I'm bringing something that usually doesn't come to Frayser so my parents can enjoy those things. And we are also looking at a household items giveaway and a food giveaway. So I've contacted Mid-South Food Bank to see if we can get a mobile food bank on that particular day. Many things are going on, and we will ask the Board to come out and volunteer on that day and build relationships with our community partners in the neighborhood.