Dr. Bobby White:

• I wanted to share the conversation about the Westside piece. I met with a board member yesterday. The board member was upset that the central Office had not moved quicker on the Westside piece. Because, as a district, they are trying to get rid of buildings. And so, from what I'm gathering, the superintendent searches have slowed down the Westside piece tremendously. But we have a bit of traction on it now. I believe we should get it done prior to the end of the school year. At this point, I was hoping we could finish it before the break. I'm hoping we can finish it before the year's end. One of the worst-case scenarios for you, Patrice Thomas, says they would give us an excellent lease rate, which Mr. Lawson and I have shared with them, we don't want that. That's a super worst-case scenario. But that worst-case scenario for them was about $500,000 a year for a living, which we also offered to purchase the building for. So again, that will be a worst-case scenario, but we'll get to that point when it comes if it comes for right now. I'm still optimistic that we can get the purchase done. 

Mr. Greg Thomas:

Financial Update 1-9-2024

Financial Notes:

• Cash Balance: 

• At 11-30-2023: $2,799,304 (63.6 days of cash) 

• At 1-8-2024: $2,307,994 (52.5 days of cash)

School                              MLK           Westside           Humes           Total 

Budgeted Enrollment       540            330                   195                 1,065 

Enrollment for FCS           492            293                   195                  981

budget projections 

The average per pupil funding for FCS is approximately $11,711 per student (net of ASD fee of 3%)

Mr. Brett Lawson:

• So, we are definitely in the middle of a transition. As Dr. White said, we've had multiple meetings. ASD and MSCs are asking for particular things from us. Some of those things are academic. And I want to thank Ms. Tolbert for agreeing to serve as our parent on transition meetings. And we have our first meeting coming up this Thursday, where she'll get to be involved. It's a virtual meeting. It will be a call on Zoom. I think the team meeting will likely be supported at that meeting this Thursday, but every month, we have at least one meeting where MSCs and the ASD are all together. And that's where they want to hear our parent's voice. They're also very interested in every activity we do that has the word transition. So we have a meeting with the parents on Tuesday next week. And I wanted to let you know about that and be a part of that. MSCS will be talking to the parents at MLK about their survey and ensuring they complete and turn it in. We are also ramping up hot and heavy the enrollment process at Westside for next year. Unlike years previous, we cannot rely on what will happen in August. We have to get everybody lined out, registered, and enrolled. Ensure they are in our PowerSchool package that we will hand over to MSCS to incorporate into their system. So, on day one, we have all our kids enrolled in the system and ready to go. We are shooting to see if we can increase those numbers by recruiting students from Humes. We know they will keep Humes open, but we don't see how or for how long. They will name a principal very soon for Humes for next year. And so that will put a spin on just the climate and culture for Humes for the rest of the year. We'll ensure our parents know they can continue to be with us, and we'll send a school bus to pick them up. We also got to get out and be involved in many more events in the city where we can meet and greet some other kids who might think of coming to us who don't know about us right now. And that's a different way and aspect of recruiting than we've done in the past. So we're going to be dipping our toes on that broader audience of recruiting.
   
• Academically, we just finished our second MBPA assessment. It's our interim benchmark assessment. You guys heard a report from Dr. Clark earlier in the year about the first assessment. And I'm asking that she come in next month and give us a report on how the second one turned out and the changes we saw. I've already heard that we've had some bright spots, and some principals are excited about some things they've seen in the data, so I look forward to hearing about them. We have a lot more work to do to prepare for the test this year. Today we were with all the ASD schools in Jackson, and we heard about the school improvement planning process again that everybody has to be involved with every year. The ASD does a district and targeted improvement plans, and each school does a plan. right now, our school's plans are complete, and they have to declare whether or not they're making any adjustments to those plans in the middle of the year. So that's a that's a deadline of the 15th. I can't tell you how many deadlines are hitting right now. We have desktop monitoring that we do for the ASD, and today, we learned that they will also be doing site visits. Because the ASD is the charter authorizer and is doing comprehensive reports, it will be able to hand over to MSCS at the transition time so that it will have that information. That is not something that we have done before. And it's a day-long visit at each one of the schools. They're starting at Westside on January 31st. Then, the other two schools or shortly after that. Within a week and a half, all three schools will have had their visits. They will ask lots of questions, go in, and watch some instruction. It's going to be thorough, more thorough than anything the ASD has done in the past. So, while we appreciate the ASD team working with us right now, It's a lot on the school staff and the network staff with desktop monitoring and in their cover sheet for the transition all the transition meetings we're doing. So a lot of things are happening all at once. This time of year is when it seems like it all crunches in at the same time. We're managing well. We have a great team. They're all pitching in. I want to thank Dr. Hervey for her assistance with doing some cover sheets for the transition plans they required to be sent on January 30th. Thank you.
   

Mrs. Arlinda Cathey:

• Thank everyone who has been able to finish their board training before the December 15 date. I'm calling to check back in with other board members to ensure it was completed on your end. So, look out for a phone call or text from me to double-check the way that the system has flowed this year. The board training takes place within the BoardonTrack portal. So it's something that you should be logging in to come in and check in RSVP for board meetings and things of that nature. By using the goals function on the dashboard, you're able to access the training that we all need to watch. I want everyone to be aware. I talked to Ms. Adams quite a bit about this when we were together for the Christmas party back in last month. If you have been on the board for more than two years at this moment in time, you've probably watched the same videos because the training modules are the same videos that were on BoardonTrack and continue to be repurposed. It feels like we have to sit through them and watch them. If they're going to be involved in this process of actually wanting to provide annual training to boards, they need to give more comprehensive training and update the training module. That way, we can get excited and not just be prepared to listen to the same video you may have listened to last year or the year before. Because I know I have done this for about three or four years, I've watched the same videos year after year. It's good to have a good refresher, but there are so many other topics. There's so much different content that they could pull together for us. So that's just something that I'm sharing and advocating. Specifically, that way, as we're going through these board training requirements, it is something that we feel engaged with, we feel excited about. And it's not just a drag. So, that's my feedback. I've heard that feedback from other board members. I'm also taking this back to the BoardonTrack team; this needs to be shared with the state body. 
   

Dr. Bobby White:

• I want to ensure that we have the broad members' thoughts on having FCS day since we're doing the 10th Anniversary Gala. There's much time, energy, and planning going into the gala. We've done FCS day the last few years, and it's pretty low-hanging fruit because Mr. King has organized that the previous years. And you know it's been a great event, and I'd love to have it again. But financially, can we do both? And were you guys thinking that we were going to do both? We have to do the 10th anniversary; this is no longer just about ten years of FCS but about the closure of Frayser High School. I spoke with Ms. Warren and Ms. Bearden today, and we're looking at trying to have an event that celebrates several Frayser High School legends as well. Many teachers who had been there for 30 - 40 years were still around, and we all still know and recognize them. We have an opportunity to set this event up as a city-wide type of event. Yes, it's about our ten years, but it's about Frayser High School in the historical context of this being the end of an era for a school that's been around for 70/80 years. So, with that being said, is FCS day something we will have the time to commit to, giving all the time we'll have to put into the gala? But that's what I want us to think about that, honestly. But I would like Ms. Warren and Ms. Bearden to talk to you about where they are and what they've been discussing and planning the gala. 

Ms. LaTisha Warren:

• Ms. Bearden, Dr. White, Mr. Audwin Pearson and I. We all got together yesterday and talked about what Dr. White's vision looks like for the 10-year so that we can accommodate and put all of those things together. So, we have a place locked in. It will be at the Bombay Ballroom, 1725 Applin RD, on May 24th. So we will do the green carpet, and Ms. Bearden and I were thinking of special guests. Everyone arrives at six or 6:30 pm, walks the green carpet, takes photos, and everything in the event starts promptly at seven. We have a few of the honorees that we know that we want to honor. We need the remaining lists from Dr. White for the honorees that he has. GloRilla is one of the people he would like to celebrate. Ms. Bearden will contact her people to see what her schedule will look like in May. And she's unable to come out and be with us. We want her to send us a video.
• Then, we will also get with Miss Perry, Mr. Thomas, and Dr. Peterson to choose some students to speak on what this year has been like, especially for the students over at MLK. We would like to hear what the closing feels like and what it means to them about the school closing. We will also get videos from Mr. Thomas, Ms. Perry, Dr. Peterson, and Dr. White. We're going to mimic the program from year five. 
  Ms. Bearden has already started creating a letter for the honorees for us to send out. She has also made the Save the date. We're waiting for Dr. White to let us know which one he likes so we can push that out to him. We want to send the save date out by the end of January or the beginning of February. So it can be on people's calendars, and they can have it saved as a reminder. We want to mail and email them out. We want to get the word out. We want the people to come out and enjoy. We are doing all we can to make this as big as possible. We will reach out to some of the old coaches Dr. White and I had the opportunity to meet with, Coach Turner, and a few others from Frayser High School. That is our starting point, and Ms. Bearden, you can pick up where I left off because I'm sure I left something off.

Ms. Felecia Bearden:

• You've touched on everything. The only big thing is the honorees trying to figure out what those awards will be so that we can get them on the letter and get those letters out to them. I'll figure out the arrival time so that they don't all bombard the carpet, and it can flow. I'll also ensure the partners and sponsors have their time on the carpet. We will do a lovely backdrop and step and repeat for that. So, I'm getting that all together and ordered so that part can look nice and fit together. There will also be photos and videos and all that fun stuff happening inside, along with the DJ, because we want everyone to have a wonderful time after the dinner and the awards. And I am also getting your guest list together. Those are the only things that will need right now regarding getting these letters and invites out.