Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting

   February 22, 2022 ● 6:30pm ● Creative Arts Classroom #202

1601 Turk St. San Francisco, CA 94115

VIRTUAL MEETING

Notice of Virtual Meeting - English ● Aviso de Reunión Virtual  - Español

Publish-to-web version of these meeting minutes.

A meeting of the Board of Directors (“Board”) of CREATIVE ARTS CHARTER SCHOOL (“CACS”) was held at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 1601 Turk St, San Francisco, California via a virtual meeting.

[2022-02-22] Meeting Notice & Agenda - English

[2022-02-22] Aviso de Reunión y Agenda - Español

The Spanish version of this document was translated using Google Translate, apologies for errors.

La versión en español de este documento se tradujo con Google Translate, disculpas por los errores.

Following are the minutes of the meeting.

Welcome & Check-in Eric T. & Janina

• Call to Order:

• Motion to call to order: Eric T.

Meeting called to order at 6:33 pm

• Motion seconded: Grace

• Roll Call and Establishment of Quorum -  Yes

Approve Consent Agenda =

This meeting's agenda + Prior meeting minutes - Eric T.

• Consent agenda items:

[2022-2-22] Meeting Notice & Agenda - English

[2022-2-22] Aviso de Reunión y Agenda - Español

[2022-1-18]_CACS_Board_Meeting_Minutes__English_Draft

[2022-1-18]_CACS_Acta_de_la_reunión_de_la_Junta_Directiva__Español_Borrador

2020-2021 School Accountability Report Card (SARC) as of February 1, 2022

Informe de responsabilidad escolar (SARC) 2020-2021 a partir del 1 de febrero de 2022

• Motion to approve:  Eric T.
• Motion seconded:  Justin
• Vote - Approved:  Passed by: All present

Public Comment on General Matters - Eric T.

Board actively listens to comments shared by CACS community members.

No public comments.

AB361: Ralph M. Brown Act

Vote on board meetings to be virtual or in-person due to covid

Motion to stay virtual for the next 30 Days.

Eric: I would like to know how people feel about meeting in person for the next board meeting on March 15th on campus at CACS.

Maria:  Would the online option still be available?

Eric: Yes.

Manda:  I am ok with either option but if we continue to meet online I would like to request that everyone turn their camera on so they can show their engagement and participation in the meeting.

Jenny: After 6pm we could go without mask if there are no children on campus

Fernando: Open to in person, but thinks we should still have the online option and make sure we continue to do translation well.

Justin: I am ok with it.  Can we require anyone in attendance in person to be vaccinated?

Jenny: Yes as long as we offer another option; since we will have the zoom option we are ok with asking for it.

Grace: I would like to be in person; I have never been in a meeting with everyone and am looking forward to it.

Janina: I am ok with it as long as the recording option will still be available for review so I can ensure accurate meeting minutes.

• Motion to approve:  Eric T.
• Motion seconded: Manda
• Vote - Approved:  Passed by: All present to remain virtual for the next 30 day

Vote yes to keep the remote option available but the Board has agreed to meet in person next month March 15th.

Essential Question (EQ) & Sharing - Eric T.

Reflections from this podcast interview with Resmaa Menakem

Grace: I enjoyed the podcast, our history is not just ours but generations before us and it’s not just the stuff we talk about everyday, but also all the things we carry around with us inside that we may not express.

 *Manda shared another resource in the chat which is a book called My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem.

Eric: Thinkinking what Black History Month means - Beyond 28 and more, and  talking to other white community members about anti racism as a part of my role on the board.

Fernando: Started the book My Grandmother’s Hands about 6 months ago, and I would recommend starting a book group to get others reading this book.  It will help others gain that same sense of understanding I was able to gain.

Executive Directors Report - Fernando

Important Upcoming Dates

• Friday, February 25th: 5th Grade Community Meeting @9am
• Friday, February 25th: African American Honor Roll Celebration @9:30am
• Thursday, March 10th: Black and POC Family Meeting @5pm
• Covid testing will continue for free, no insurance needed, 2X/week

COVID-19 Updates

• Covid Relief Fund - $15k raised - $15K distributed
• MOU with Union Leadership is finalized
• No changes to masking policy; masks NOT required outside, students NOT required to wear K95/KN95, etc
• Overall the numbers look great; https://sf.gov/data/covid-19-cases-and-deaths

Special Education Update

SpEd Personnel:                                        

• Reassigning central office special education staff to cover classroom vacancies

Covid Recovery Program:                

• 3rd session starting in March - Weekdays by zoom and Weekends in-person
• Talk to your case manager - J.M., A.V., D.B. or https://www.sfusd.edu/sped-crs

Extended School Year:

• June 8th - July 14th
• Talk to your case manager or visit https://www.sfusd.edu/sped-esy

African American Achievement Initiative

Successes :                                        

• Observed 90% of the school to identify ways to support students
• Hosted African American Honor Roll
• Greater sense of belonging with Black students
• Black History Month History Facts, events & projects  ( Equity Audit for classroom libraries, Living museum, Black History Month resources, etc.)

Next Steps:                

• Black & POC Family Meeting
• Developing Black student union & mentor groups
• Interviews w/ Black, Indegnious & Families of Color about their experience & opportunity gaps

Looking Forward:

• Cultural Conversations in middle school (Language, scenarios & discussion)
• Data based system and strategically identifying and supporting

Jenny and Laura showed great appreciation for Ja’Melia.

Manda is also very excited to have her on board and appreciates all she brings to the table and looks forward to collaborating with her and supporting her.

LCAP Updates - Fernando

Supplement to the Annual Update to the 2021-22 LCAP

Update on any changes to the Budget Overview for Parents

Update on all available mid-year outcome data (21-22 LCAP Metrics)

Update on Mid-year expenditure and implementation data (21-22 LCAP actions) 

LCAP Supplement and Mid-Year LCAP Update

LCAP Update Slides

Eric N: Special Education is covered by the district which is why line 7 has no funds

Laura: Does Curriculum and instruction include teacher salary?

Fernando: Yes. Instruction materials ($47K) and salaries.

Laura: Can we explain more about what’s included in the academic support and instructional coaching?

Eric N.: Academic support is a percentage of staff time, you have more people than required by the state so it covers additional staff time, a percentage of credential teaching.

Fernando: Instructional coaching is two parts, one is partly my salary, the other is for a support person for when someone is on leave.

Laura: So like a stipend for a teacher covering maternity leave for instance?

Fernando: Yes, that is my understanding.

Manda: The numbers from the SARC report do not match /align with what we are reporting we are spending. It's not about pointing fingers but collaborating as a group to improve so we can support our students.

Laura: What are the social, emotional and restorative practices funding going to?

Fernando: Staffing, origins, responsive classroom, admin salaries.

Strengths / Opportunities

Jenny: Strength Math Interventionist

Continuing to support our students who are struggling with math especially our Black students

Laura: Suggestion Instruction for teachers for culturally responsive math instruction would be helpful which is meant to help guide your instruction to reach all the students in your classroom not a certain group.

Attendance is a huge issue where students are leaving early and missing important classroom instruction.  What can we do about enforcing attendance policy?

Manda: When we speak about the students who are struggling, we should stay away from the negative narrative that students are missing school.  Some students are at school every day and still have difficulty in math.  

We need to come up with measurable goals so that moving into the new school year we can see our strengths in what we have accomplished and not focus on the negative.

We don’t have to do a 180 degree change but we need some degree of change, A measurable realistic improvements so we can see our progress.

Laura:  I was not saying students missing school is the dominant issue but that is my perspective as a teacher.  I agree we need to focus on those students who are in school, it is just frustrating when you have students who miss regularly.

Fernando: I am happy we are fully staffed and have the ability to be flexible and have the needed resources to cover everyone, that has definitely been one of our successes. Being mindful and sensitive of Covid and those who are not comfortable being in person.  How do we continue to support everyone socially and emotionally through these changes, while welcoming new students to our community.

Finance Presentation -  Eric Noll (w/EdTech)

February Financial Update

• The $340K deficit still remains.
• Primary reason - we budgeted for 448 students and only have 431 enrolled and we are still staffed as though we have 448
• $600K in cash is expected in June.
• $800K is expected in July.
• Projecting the enrollment will go back up to 448 next year.
• Some progress has been made in fundraising due to recent increase in outreach.
• Budget season just started so we have a lot of time to work on it. In the next coming meeting we will be having conversations about it.
• SB579 - Proposed bill that would allow us to use prior year enrollment to drive our budget, not approved but we will know by mid summer which could reduce the deficit to about $170K.
• ELOP (Expanded Learning Opportunities Program) will need to add 30 additional intersession days running full steam by the 2023 school year.
• We will be getting $52K in funding for these additional instructional days which is to be used for planning of the program. $225K will be received next year to do a soft opening to see what will and will not work.  We would continue to receive that $225K annually for this program and it’s related costs.
• Opportunities and uncertainties

- Enrollment

- Prop G (City)

- ELOP (State)

- Final Signed State Budget (State)

Feel free to contact Eric T or Fernando with any further questions or ideas about this.

Committee/Task Force Updates - Eric T.

Anti-racism:

Grace: We have a meeting next week (3/3) hoping to speak with Ja’Melia to see what the committee can do to best support the school.

Teacher/ Staff:

Laura: Send out a similar survey to the teachers that we did last year.  Anyone interested in helping out on the committee would be appreciated.

Development:

Melanie and Janice:

COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING

 - FA / Fall Fair co-chairs working together to put on an outdoor event, likely to be held in April. Tentative plans are for a kite building / flying event at Heron's Head Park.  Need to find event chairs and volunteers.

ANNUAL FUND

 - Working on sorting out a system of tracking donations. Will hopefully have a totals to report on at future board meetings

 - Mailing sent out to all families via snail mail / email

 - schoology messages planned to go out weekly in the coming months, some all-school messages and some grade-specific messaging to come through class reps

AUCTION

 - Save the date: Saturday, May 7th

 - Hybrid event to be held at SOMArts Cultural Center and live-streamed on zoom

 - Will include live and silent auctions. Stay tuned for details on auction items. We'll need help getting donations!

Facilities:

Jenny: Working on a comprehensive safety plan which is an algorithm of all our safety practices into one document.

Finance:

Justin/ Manda: No updates

Governance:

Eric T: Vote to appoint Manda Mora Simpson Board Vice President

• Motion to approve:  Eric T.
• Motion seconded: Justin
• Vote - Approved:  Passed by: All

Annual retreat - looking for April date options for us to meet.

Looking to recruit more Board Members

Negotiation Updates and Sunshining - Justin

Formal negotiations with the teachers and their union are inprocess so they can speak on what they want and don’t want.  There are three different articles going through the Sunshining process right now.  (See below)

UESF Sunshining reopening negotiations on the current 2020-2022 certificated contract

UESF Sunshining articles for negotiation on proposed contract

CACS Sunshining articles for negotiation on proposed contract

Closed Session - Eric T.

Personnel

Open Session - Eric T.

Report back from Closed Session

• Nothing to report back

Closing check-in and action items

Action Items - Next Board meeting will be March 15th, recruitment for committees and board, annual retreat in April

End of Meeting

Adjournment - Eric T.

Adjournment 10:03:pm

• Motion to adjourn:  Eric T.
• Motion seconded: Grace
• Vote - Approved by all present.  

If any questions come up after the meeting please reach out to Eric T. or Fernando.