Principal Kurt Davidson shared current enrollment numbers (21 scholars above).  Attendance is still lagging slightly as compared to last school year, meaning within .4 of last year's attendance rate.  We are not where we want to be with our 95% goal (at 94.38%).  The school is reinstituting parent phone calls and meetings regarding attendance.  The school is nearly fulled staffed.  Mr. Darius Hawkins joined the school last week as the K - 8 Dean.  Additionally Ms. Jomari Nunez joined the team as a School Aide.  Bili Scott is a teacher who was hired via School Professionals and is teaching 3rd/4th grade writing.  The SpEd Coordinator remains vacant.  The school recently conducted its first Interim Assessment at the 3 - 8 level.  Principal Davidson distributed the IA scores for ELA and Math.  He shared that comparative data for Math does not exist as the assessments are new this year.  There is ELA comparative data.  Grades 4 - 8 showed improvement from last year while there was a small dip in 3rd grade.  Principal Davidson shared some positive highlights, particularly at the middle school level.  Additionally the chart includes data to include the percent of scholars scoring at 75% or above, anticipating that this is the proficient rate for the New York State test.  The school has been engaging in goal setting (such as K - 2 reading level performance).  Principal Davidson feels confidence about 3rd grade's ability to increase their performance.  The Board can expect to see more academic data in January of 2020.
  The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

Academic data will be more robust at the December 2019 Board meeting.  The school is preparing to analyze data from its recent administration of the Interim Assessment.  The teachers will be looking at trends for which questions scholars are not able to answer and then demonstrate how they will reteach.  Teachers create PowerPoints and have to present to the admin team as to what they will be doing and how it will be different.  The School Leadership Team does weekly walkthroughs and share feedback with the staff via "glows and grows".  Enrollment is progressing and the K - 11 is short only three scholars.  Scholars coming in tend to live in the Highbridge area.  Principal Williams meets with all scholars and families as they come to enroll.  In terms of attendance the school is meeting its goal.  The challenge tends to be with on time arrivals (8:30 a.m. start).  Scholar culture continues to be strong.  The last staff vacancy was filled yesterday.  Mr. James Kinsey was hired as a high school English teacher.  The school is ELA teacher heavy to ensure literacy is promoted at the school.  47% of MetCPA parents attended Parent Teacher Conferences which is a strong number for the high school level.  A letter is being prepared to go out to parents regarding scholars' Grade Point Average and what their GPA means.  This will be implemented for sophomores and juniors.  The Thanksgiving feast is upcoming next week (Wednesday), Board members are invited. 

Moving forward the Board would like to request a monthly update on the computer lab (9 - 11) and Design Elements (K - 11).
  The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

Education Committee Chair Ellen Chen discussed the MetLCS K - 11 Leadership Succession Plan which was emailed to the Board.  LHA as well as the school collaborated in order to develop this plan.  The Board will review this between now and the December meeting and approve at the December meeting.

The team met with Ms. Megan Whitehead.  She is not able to add onto the current dashboard so she is duplicating the dashboard to create a K - 8 version and a 9 - 11 version.  She will be working to align the formatting where appropriate. 

The Board can expect a draft of the dashboard for the December meeting.

Manager, Operations Melissa Alston provided an enrollment update. 

For the K - 8 the school is overenrolled by 20 (488)
For the 9 - 11 the school is underenrolled by four (152).

Enrollment efforts will continue.
 

Controller Mary Beth Rousseau reviewed the financials.  The school remains in good shape in terms of the balance sheet.  The year to date surplus is over $900,000.  There are several new reports in the Board packet as related to the financials.  Financial Edge, the school's new financial system, has allowed us to produce additional reports such as the one-month expenditures and how this aligns to the year-long budget, as well as the year-to-date (revenue, budget, variance, etc.).  As we are four months into the school year we would expect to be showing approximately 1/3 in terms of both revenue and expenditures, with some variances depending on the line item. 

Everything is on track in terms of finances and all covenants are being met.  There are no exceptions or major outliers to expect. 

The MetLCS Finance Committee agreed to a 3% surplus last year and will continue to maintain this.

The school leaders, LHA, and Finance Committee will work together to prepare a budget amendment for further discussion in December. Courtney Russell and Karin McGuire will work with the Principals to identify any priorities for the school that may need to be addressed via this budget amendment.

There were no findings on this year's audit.

Monica Rivera, Director of Facilities, provided a Facilities Update.

The rooftop project remains on schedule.  The roof joists were delivered over the weekend and the roof will start to be placed at the beginning of December. 

Recent rain caused water to enter the school this past week.  The contractor provided a clear explanation of what happened and what would be put in place to prevent this from happening again.

The door locking monitor project required by the Department of Buildings remains an ongoing project.  The entire city is backlogged with permitting, inspections, and more.  The city may extend the required date for installation.

The Board discussed the rooftop project further.  The Principals shared their thoughts and concerns.  They will meet with the Manager, Operations to discuss contingency plans for future rain.

Board Chair Aaron Bothner asked for Lighthouse Academies (Monica Rivera and Courtney Russell) to pursue a conversation with the contractor regarding mold testing at the conclusion of the project. 

Principal Davidson requested written reassurance to scholars and staff regarding the condition of the building.

We have not yet received approval or an update from the authorizer.

Courtney Russell re-shared the Board Development with Lighthouse Academies and the Metropolitan Lighthouse Charter School Board and asked that all participants complete the Doodle no later than close of business this Friday, November 22.  Possible dates include January 11 or January 25, 2019.

Board Chair Aaron Bothner circulated a red-lined version of the by-laws.  Comments were not received so it is assumed members are prepared to proceed.  However, space will be allowed for any comments at this time.

There is one area around setting up the Board Secretary and Board Treasurer as the lead of the Governance Committee and Finance Committee, respectively.

Jessica Boulet mentioned the language around Open Meeting Law and sub-committees; he will follow up with the school's legal counsel.

A number of policies and procedures will be revisited and where applicable revised in the coming months.  The first policy that will be addressed is the Grievance Policy.  The Board will receive this to review and provide feedback on prior to the December meeting.  Feedback can be submitted via email.

The Board can expect items such as this to come out of the Governance Committee in the upcoming future.

• Board member recruitment/interviews will continue with the Nominating Committee
• The Chair of the Finance Committee will be revisited at the December meeting
• Board members are encouraged to sign up to visit the school