Contra Costa School of Performing Arts
Minutes
Board Retreat
Date and Time
Saturday September 23, 2023 at 9:00 AM
Location
Contra Costa School of Performing Arts - Conference Room
The public may address the Board regarding any item within the jurisdiction of the Board of Directors of ChartHouse Public Schools. To ensure an orderly meeting and an equal opportunity for each speaker, persons wishing to address the Board must fill out a speaker’s card. Cards should be turned into the Board Chair/Vice Chairperson prior to the Call to Order. Speakers will be given three minutes for items on the agenda, and two minutes for items not on the agenda. When translation services are utilized to support the participation of a primary Speaker, the translator will be afforded the same duration of time as the primary Speaker. Time may not be yielded to other speakers. In compliance with the Brown Act, the Board may listen to comments from speakers and provide direction to staff, but may not engage in discussion or take action on items that are not already on the agenda.
All Board agendas and minutes will be published at cocospa.org. Any disclosable public records related to an open session Board meeting agenda item and distributed by staff to a majority of the Board of Directors shall be available for public inspection.
The Board of Directors will provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities planning to attend Board meetings so long as notice is provided at least one hour prior to the start of the meeting by contacting the Executive Director’s Office at (925) 235-1130.
Directors Present
A. Mbonisi, D. Wendt, G. Ponikvar, H. Vega, L. McPhatter-Harris, M. Hennessy
Directors Absent
C. Hill
Ex Officio Members Present
C. Foster
Non Voting Members Present
C. Foster
Guests Present
C. Tirlia, Caprise Young
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
II. Status of the School
A.
Review Student Data
Board reviewed a graph of the data from the CAASSP test from previous year
Board reviewed a graph of the iReady test scores taken this year
There was a discussion about how we can better increase our test scores.
The school is reshaping their schedule to have no block schedule and have students see teachers everyday. The school expects the teachers to use Wednesdays as a "workshop" day to review iReady skills and test scores. This was reviewed by teachers and ultimately accepted and is being put into place October 11th.
Board reviewed a graph that compares CoCo SPA to other arts schools that are in a radiance distance of CoCo SPA. There was similar data from other schools compared to CoCo SPA.
Board discussed what are the next steps we can take to increase test scores. math scores are being currently focused on and the school is making strategies to support their math teachers.
B.
Discuss Behavioral and Mental Health of Students
Strengths
- Currently 359 students total attending CoCo SPA - goal is 365 students attending
- 95% attendance rate
- Full time school psychologist onboard
- Part time counseling intern - 2 days a week
- Second Part time counseling intern - 1 day a week
- Students can fill out incident reports with QR codes displayed around the school
- Full time Climate and Culture Specialist
- There is support with our Special Education Team and Instructional Assistant Support
Needs
-Currently have 70 IEP students and 30 504 students attending
- The Assistant Principal needs an additional Education Specialist so she can continue her duties as Assistant Principal
- The school needs community assemblies so that the students can better improve their goals and behavior
- The school needs alternative options for Arts for students who are here and do not have artistic interest
C.
Major Governance Questions
Main questions
-How do we manage needs for students who come to CoCo SPA and do not have artistic interest
-How do we manage a fluctuating enrollment while feeling like a right sized small school
-How can the board support the vision
-What can the board do to help drive enrollment?
-What can the board do to help raise funds to offset operating costs?
D.
Executive Director Goals
-Increase academic performance
-retain and recruit teachers and students
-develop and implement instructional strategies to improve diversity
-manage operations for fiscal sustainability
III. Board Training
A.
Role and Responsibilities of the Board
Part 1 -The Board Duties & Expectations
- Charter Schools are created for a diversity of reasons and CoCo SPA is actively meeting the majority of those reasons.
- California has a set list of requirements for a Charter School to make them public to all students
- Board member participation is key to maintaining school status
- The board member job is to represent the public in the governance of CoCo SPA.
-Safety, compliance, finance and academics are the top 4 things that keep a charter school open or closed
-Board members needs to be accountable to uphold the public trust of your charter
- The board has a list expectations and responsibilities to uphold for the operation and fiscal affairs of CoCo SPA
- The board discussed what hats every person takes on and the importance of making sure you know which hat you are currently wearing in a given situation
Part 2 - Management Vs. Governance
- The board discussed what are the board vs. the government's roles, responsibilities and principles
- The beard participated in an activity to identify what is the responsibility of the board vs. the executive director pertaining Enrollment & Recruitment, Fiscal Sustainability, and Arts & Academic Integration. The Board is in charge of governing and making large decisions regarding the school while the Executive Director manages the internal responsibilities to keep the school running.
- The board discussed how it sets the culture of the school. Each board member picked 5 "norms" that they want the school wants to represent. Each board member's norms were discussed to create a unified, organic list.
- The October Board meeting will include a segment on creating a unified set of norms that can be publicly shared as faces of the community.
B.
Major Issues
IV. CCSPA’s Future
A.
Priorities
Board Training Part 3 - How are you doing?
- The board each filled out an Individual Trustee Appraisal to self reflect on how effective they are as a trustee
- The board discussed way to better utilize BoardOnTrack as a tool for the board
- The board discussed ways to implement committees to help make changes in the school.
- The board discussed trying to make sure to be more present to the teachers and students and attempt to come to at least 1 event a quarter
- The board discussed ways of fundraising like having a thermomotor on the website
- The board went back and re-reviewed the questions that Catherine had laid out for the board at the beginning of the retreat
V. Closing Items
A.
Gratitude
- The board reviewed their commitments going forward to each member
- Catherine gave the board tokens of appreciation created by herself and students of the school
Call to Quorum at 9:23am