November 5, 2009 Regular Meeting

 

 

In attendance:  Emil Ronchi, Cathy Vaucher, John McEnaney, Dr John Sullivan, Cynthia Canavan, Bob Sousa, Matt Cronin, Nina Cullen Hamzeh. Cynthia Canavan arrived at 7:10 PM Dr. de Koning arrived at 7:45. Not Present: Chris Fauci  

 

Location: Eighth Grade Science Classroom at the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, 17 Lime St, Marblehead MA 01945

 

The Board of Trustee Chair, Mr. Emil Ronchi opened the meeting at 7:08 P.M.   He began by reciting the mission of MCCPS. 

 

He went on to call for public comment. Noting there was no public comment, he continued.

 

Yeas: 6 Nays: 0 Abstain 1 Motion Passes

 

 

Yeas: 6 Nays: 0 Abstain 1 Motion Passes

 

Mr. Ronchi provided Trustees with an update on the Expansion Task force, and provided for the record the official appointment letter for the Task Force, a copy of which is attached. He noted that the Task Force is comprised of nine appointed members and three ex officio members, and that he has appointed Lauren Jalbert to be the Task Force’s Chair. He noted that there is room for up to two more appointed members if necessary. He went on to say that the Task Force’s first meeting is set for November 12 at 7 PM, and he asked the Clerk to formally post the first meeting. 

 

Mr. Ronchi recognized Dr. Argenziano for the Managing Director’s report, a copy of which is attached. Dr. Argenziano also briefly discussed the public stances of both Marblehead and Swampscott relative to our Charter Renewal. Additionally, he highlighted the view of the DESE relative to the our last inspection report and their criteria for renewal. He offered in his opinion that the School is in very good position relative to the State’s position. He also briefly discussed the recent press relative to the State Ethics Commission report recently publically released. 

 

Mr. Ronchi followed up by making the following statement on behalf of the Board of Trustees. 

 

 

Mr. Ronchi recognized Ms Cullen-Hamzeh for a curriculum review from the Academic Director, a copy of which is attached. Ms Cullen-Hamzeh shared with Trustees a review of the School’s MCAS results, highlighting the Growth Rate Metric – that is comparing the growth of particular students year over year. She also compared the results with the School Administered Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessments. She entertained several questions from Trustees about the analysis of the data presented.   

 

Mr. Ronchi called on Mr. Sousa to provide a Personnel Committee Update. Mr. Sousa summarized the Personnel Committee goals for the year, as well as the activities of the Committee over their last two meetings. He provided Trustees copies of the minutes for both meetings, which are attached below.  

 

The Chair then called on Dr. Sullivan for the Treasure’s Report, a copy of which is attached. Dr. Sullivan also shared with Trustees that in his discussion with several banks relative to refinancing the outstanding note that matures in mid 2010.  He relayed that the general theme is that the banks want to hear the results of our charter renewal first, and also seem more interested in seeing the School purchasing the building.

 

The Chair called a recess at: 7:49 PM

 

The Chair called the meeting back to order at 7:58 PM 

 

Mr. Ronchi reminded the Trustees that the Charter Renewal Site visit will be conducted on November 17 – 19. He also noted that the public was invited to participate in the discussion during this segment. He called on Ms Cullen Hamzeh to lead a discussion with Trustees about the preparations for the Site Visit and the role that Trustees will play. There was an extended discussion among Trustees reviewing the anticipated agenda and protocol for the Site Visit. 

 

The Chair then called on Ms Vaucher to provide an update from the Governance Committee. She noted that the Committee has met and determined that several key goals for the year include preparing the Charter Amendment Application for the Expansion, which Nancy Buczko will be responsible for, as well as Board of Trustees Training, which Cindy Canavan and Kay O’Dwyer will be responsible for. Ms Canavan then provided the Trustees a brief overview of the Committee’s current thinking regarding Trustee Training.  

 

 

 

Ms Canavan, Yes; Ms Vaucher, Yes; Mr. Ronchi, Yes; Mr. McEnaney, Yes; Ms Cullen Hamzeh, Yes.   Mr. Cronin, Yes. Mr. Sousa, Yes. Dr Sullivan, Yes. Dr de Koning, Yes  Motion passes

 

The meeting adjourned to Executive Session at 8:46

 

Respectfully Submitted

 

John T. McEnaney

Clerk

 

Thursday, November 05, 2009

RE: 2009 Expansion Task Force

 

As Chair of the MCCPS Board of Trustees, per the motion passed at the regularly scheduled October, 2009 Board Meeting creating the Expansion Task Force, I hereby appoint the following individuals as Members of the Expansion Task Force and appoint Laura Jalbert as Chairperson:

 

 

 

*ex officio members do not count towards quorum or membership number or type required, but may vote if quorum otherwise established.

 

**Individuals who have expressed a willingness to serve, pending resolution of schedule limitations, etc., subject to maximum membership of 11.

 

 

Emil Ronchi

Chair, MCCPS Board of Trustees

 

To: Board of Trustees

From: Dr. Albert F. Argenziano

Re: October Monthly Report

 

The highlights for the month of October 2009 are as follows:

 

- October 1, 2009 enrollment set at 230 students. Any out migration of students during the month of September, a concerted effort was made to inmigrate fourth graders to those open slots.

 

- The Foundation meets the first Wednesday of the month. We are moving ahead with our plans to seek other sources of income. I truly feel that our plans are moving forward for this school year.

 

- The Marblehead School Committee has voted 4-1 to submit a letter to the Charter School Office in opposition to our renewal application. This is their right and we have an obligation to respond when required. It contains some half truths and leaves out the aspect of reimbursement to the town. It also leaves out the large savings to the town in 2007, when the charter school lost 38 students. This allowed the town to cover negotiated agreements without expending taxpayer’s money. Another important omission from their letter. For us, a successful product is our major selling point. If we continue to do that, we will meet out goal.

 

- Also, the Marblehead School Committee had Dr. Paul Dulac, Superintendent of Schools, send a letter to the Charter School Office. That letter is attached.

 

In closing, the first two months have been successful. November brings the Annual Auction, Exhibition, Election Day and most importantly, Charter Renewal. We are looking forward to all four.

 

As always, I thank you for the opportunity to serve.

 

 

MCCPS administers the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) each year as required by state law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Sousa, Emil Ronchi, Molly Wright, Doug Plympton, Jonathan Lederman, Katie Sullivan, Elizabeth Lutwak 

Guests: Nina Cullen-Hamzeh

Not Present:  

 

Location: Room 8S at the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, 17 Lime St, Marblehead MA 01945

 

The Chair opened the meeting at 7: 30 PM and welcomed new PC members, Elizabeth Lutwak and Jonathan Lederman. The meeting began with Ms Cullen-Hamzeh proposing a calendar for the year. After some discussion, the following was proposed and agreed upon:

 

Nov.3 

Dec.1

Jan. 5

March 9 (late because Exhibition falls on 1st Thursday, so Board meeting will be on 2nd Th)

March 30 (April meeting; Board meeting Thurs April 1)

May 4

June 1

 

Next, the Committee developed five main goals for Academic Year 2009-10. They are:

 

1.      Develop process for advertising next year’s full time Managing Director position

2.      Recommend a Managing Director candidate to the Board of Trustees

3.      Evaluate the current Academic Director

4.      Develop evaluation tool for and evaluate the Interim Director

5.      Develop full time Managing Director evaluation tool and process

The Committee discussed the process for evaluating the AD. They decided to review the current goals/indicators for the PC next meeting and adapt them for the term of the AD contract. Molly Wright suggested that the evaluation take place over the term of the contract with feedback/evaluation sessions in Jan-2010, May-2010, Dec-2011 and a final evaluation in Mar-2011 prior to the time of contract renewal. Committee members concurred with this timeline.

Action Item: Members will review Interim AD Goals/Indicators to adapt for 2009-10.

 

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:15 PM. The next meeting will be held on Nov 3, 2009 at 7:30 PM.

 

Respectfully Submitted

 

Robert Sousa

 

  

 

Robert Sousa, Emil Ronchi, Molly Wright, Jonathan Lederman, Katie Sullivan

Guests: Nina Cullen-Hamzeh, Dr. Al Argenziano

Not Present: Doug Plympton, Elizabeth Lutwak 

 

 

Location: Room 8S at the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, 17 Lime St, Marblehead MA 01945

 

The Chair opened the meeting at 7: 30 PM. The Committee reviewed and updated the Goals and Indicators for last year’s Interim Academic Director. Mr. Lederman suggested the indicators should have a metric reflecting MCAS proficiency improvement. After some discussion, the chair asked Mr. Lederman to develop a specific metric to present to the committee at the next meeting. The Committee, under the suggestion of Mr. Ronchi, also discussed providing better metrics for the “innovation” goal. Once again after some discussion, the Chair asked members to develop specific metrics and bring them to the next PC meeting for discussion.  

 

Next, the Committee began the process of developing Goals and Indicators for the Interim Managing Director with the collateral purpose of having an evaluation document in hand for when the Board of Trustees hires a full time MD. Committee members had been given the MD job description at the October meeting for review. The Chair suggested the Committee members brainstorm and select key areas defining the MD’s performance. The identified areas were:

 

1.      Budget Management

2.      Facility Management

3.      Personnel Management

4.      Community Relations

5.      Development

6.      Legislative/Policy Compliance  

After identifying these areas, members began to brainstorm sub areas which were captured by Molly Wright, to be distributed to the members for the next PC meeting

Action Item: Jonathan Lederman will develop an MCAS metric for consideration in the AD Goal/Indicators

 

Action Item: Members will try to develop “innovation” metrics for consideration in the AD Goal/Indicators

 

Action Item: Molly Wright will submit the MD notes to PC members in preparation for the next meeting

 

Action Item: The Chair, using PC member input, will begin creating a MD Goal/Indicator for Committee use.

 

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:15 PM. The next meeting will be held on Dec 1, 2009 at 7:30 PM.

 

Respectfully Submitted

 

Robert Sousa

 

To: The MCCPS Board of Trustees 

From: John Sullivan, Ph.D., Treasurer 

Date: November 5, 2009 

Re: Finance Report 
 
 

      The Charter School completed the first fiscal quarter of the year on a positive note.  Presently the school is running a surplus of $81,930 versus a first quarter planned surplus of $12,989.  We are presently $68,941 ahead of plan, but some of the budgeted expenses such as snow removal and utilities have not yet been realized.  The administration will need to watch the expenses closely as we move through the second quarter to ensure that we’re within budget.   

      I suspect that the payment for the second quarter ending December will be within plan.  Currently, the state has indicated that local aid, including education, will not be the table for reductions.  However, the Governor has also stated that local aid may experience cuts in funding depending on tax collections in the future.  By November, the school should have a good idea about revenue for year-end.  Depending on how the Finance Committee feels about the third quarter, I would recommend a raise to the faculty and staff with the percentage to be determined by a majority vote of the Finance Committee and approval of the Board of Trustees. 

      In the past two weeks, I met with three banks regarding the refinancing of the school’s long-term debt that comes due in June 2010.  The most attractive financial institution happens to be the same institution that currently holds the note.  Mass Development has been working with Jeff and I, collecting data on the school.  It looks as though the note will simply be rolled into a five year note that would start and the conclusion of the current debt.  Other lenders, including Bank of America and National Grand Bank, have expressed interest in developing a relationship with a particular interest in the purchase of the building and the potential expansion of the school.  The one issue that each of these institutions have with refinancing our current debt has to do with collateral beyond the cash that we have on our balance sheet.  We would need to either shift a significant amount of cash to these institutions to be held in certificate of deposit or come up with a creative solution to the pledged asset problem, such as moving all of our working capital business to these institutions.  Regardless of who the school finally refinances with, the key to our survival will be the charter renewal.