Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees
April 3, 2008
Kay O’Dwyer, Cynthia Canavan, Dr John Sullivan, John McEnaney, Cathy Vaucher, Pam Wheaton Shorr, Emil Ronchi, Robert Sousa, Christopher Fauci, Nina Cullen-Hamzeh. Dr. Sullivan departed at 8:45 PM
Also in attendance, Dr. Albert F. Argenziano, Interim Managing Director
Location: Community Room at the
The Chair, Ms Kay O’Dwyer opened the meeting at 7:15 P.M. She began by recognizing Ms Vaucher, chair of the Governance Committee. Ms Vaucher announced that she had received word today from the State Office of Elementary and Secondary Education that our By Law Amendment has been approved and as a result, Mr. Fauci has finally been approved
Ms O’Dwyer next called for public comment, and noting that there were no individuals wanting to address the Board for public comment at this time.
Decision: Mr. McEnaney moved and Ms. Sousa seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the March 13 2008 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Yeas: 10 Nays: 0 Abstain 0
Decision: Mr. McEnaney moved and Dr Sullivan. Vaucher seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the March 27 2008 Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Yeas: 10 Nays: 0 Abstain 0
Ms O’Dwyer continued by stating that she felt that the manner in which the March 27 meeting had been conducted and ended was unsatisfactory for everybody involved. She asked each Trustee to take 2 minutes to explain how they felt the process was broken and how it could be improved. She asked that Trustees not engage in dialog and to let each Trustee state their opinion uninterrupted. Further, she asked the Personnel Chair to take notes about the issues and suggestions raised by the individual Trustees. The Trustees took several minutes to share their thoughts on the positives and negatives of the process with a look towards continuous improvement.
At the conclusion of the Trustee’s comments, the Chair tasked the Personnel Committee to take the suggestions, and incorporate them into an updated process.
Action Item: Personnel Committee to review the school leader review process, incorporating Trustees’ suggestions, and to prepare an update on their review for the May 1 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees. The Chair also asked the Personnel Committee to look at how the process is conducted at other charter schools.
Ms O’Dwyer continued by noting that the Board passed a motion on March 27 with the intent of continuing Ms Cullen Hamzeh in the position of Interim Academic Director. Ms O’Dwyer noted the Board’s commitment to continuing the current leadership model, for the 2008 – 2009 school year, and specifically envisions the current incumbents returning in their director roles. However, Ms O’Dwyer noted that in her opinion the motion passed did not accurately reflect the all that needed to be in the motion, and she suggested that the motion need to be restated.
Decision: Ms Canavan moved and Mr. Ronchi seconded to extend the position of Interim Academic Director for the 2008 – 2009 school year. Further, the Board of Trustees authorizes the Board Chair, or her designate(s), to enter into negotiations with Ms. Helena Cullen-Hamzeh for the purpose of negotiating a contract to continue to serve as the Interim Academic Director for the Marblehead Community Charter Public School for the 2008-2009 school year, commencing July 1, 2008. The Chair, or her designate(s), shall report on the status of negations no later than regularly scheduled May Board Meeting (May 1, 2008). Further, the Chair shall secure approval of the negotiated contract by a vote of the Board of Trustees no later than regularly scheduled May Board Meeting.
Yeas: 7 Nays: 0 Abstain: 2 Mr. McEnaney, Mr. Fauci abstained. Ms Cullen Hamzeh recused herself. Motion Passes
Ms O’Dwyer then provided a formal letter of notification to Ms Cullen Hamzeh. A copy of the letter is attached.
Ms O’Dwyer then recognized Ms Cullen Hamzeh, Interim Academic Director, who provided her report, a copy of which is attached.
Ms O’Dwyer recognized Dr. Argenziano, Interim Managing Director for his report. Dr. Argenziano shared his report as well, which is attached. Dr. Argenziano spent several minutes discussing recent discipline issues in the school. Ms Shorr asked if there was a way that the School could be doing something more active to be ahead of these problems, and leading the way in how to proactively head off such issues.
The Chair recognized Dr. Sullivan, Treasurer, who provided his monthly report, which is attached. Additionally, Dr. Sullivan offered an opportunity for the Board to visit the remaining space in the building with an eye towards a future purchase or lease. The Chair recognized Mr. Bob Erbetta who provided a general description of the space in question.
The Chair recognized Ms Vaucher, Chair of the Governance Committee for her report, a copy of which is attached. Specifically, she reiterated she was notified today by Cliff Chuang at the State ESE that Chris Fauci was approved to serve as a Trustee by the ESE effective today. She noted that our By-Law change was also approved by the Commissioner of ESE on April 2, 2008. Letters stating same are forthcoming and they will be submitted for the record upon their receipt. She noted that Governance continues to look for Committee members and potential Trustees.
The Chair recognized Mr. McEnaney to provide his monthly report, a copy of which is attached. Mr. McEnaney noted that he had already received several replies from press members expressing intent on participating in next Wednesday’s outreach meeting.
Ms. O’Dwyer recognized Mr. Ronchi to provide the Foundation report. He noted that the Foundation has begun actively working with the School to coordinating fundraising activities, and the best ways the Foundation can support the academic needs of the school.
Ms O’Dwyer moved into Ongoing Business and recognized Ms Vaucher who noted that on April 8, 2008 the Marblehead League of Woman’s Voters is hosting an event with the newly elected State Representative that we may want to attend.
Mr. McEnaney noted that he liked receiving the reports of the committees ahead of the meeting and that it made the time in the meeting more effective. There was general agreement among Trustees that it was a sound idea.
Action Items: The Interim Academic Director, Interim Managing Director and all committee reports to be submitted to the Board electronically by two days prior to each Regular Meeting. Trustees will be responsible to read the reports prior to each meeting in preparation.
In new business, Ms O’Dwyer began the discussion about looking at the vision of the school. She reminded the Trustees of their homework from last month – to come prepared to discuss the question “It is five years from today’s date and you have, marvelously enough, created your most desirable district. Now it is your job as a team to describe it – as if you were able to see it, realistically around you.” and to bring a list of five items that describe their vision of the future.
Trustees began sharing a wide variety of ideas about future visions for the school. There was extensive discussion about many of the ideas, as well as a need to agree on a process for developing a vision, and identifying who needs be involved in this process. Ms O’Dwyer expressed that she was impressed with the wide variety of ideas, but they represent just the beginning of a process. She went on to say it is important to recognize that they are just that at this point, ideas, and that we will need to work through a process involving many people in the community to determine which ones best represent what our vision will be.
There was also some discussion about the relationship of the vision with the need to update the Charter for the renewal. It was the sense of the Board that we should not undertake significant new changes to the Charter at this time, but we should clarify where it differs from either our By Laws or current practices. Ms Vaucher asked for clarification of the roles of the Board and the Governance Committee in updating the Charter. In response to Ms Vaucher’s specific question, the sense of the Board was that the Governance Committee will be responsible for making decisions on which changes are necessary to align with practice and By Laws, changing the Charter to reflect those decisions, and updating and presenting the completed Charter to the Board for approval.
Action Items: All Trustees read the current Charter prior to the May 1 2008 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Decision: Chair moved and Mr. McEnaney seconded that the Board adjourn to executive session under exception three of the Open Meeting Law, MGL Chapter 30 Section 11A1/2, “to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation.”
Ms O’Dwyer, Yes; Ms Canavan, Yes; Ms Vaucher, Yes; Mr. Ronchi, Yes; Mr. McEnaney, Yes; Ms Cullen Hamzeh, Yes; Ms Shorr, Yes; Mr. Sousa, Yes. Mr. Fauci, Yes
The Chair noted that the Board did not expect to return to open session at the conclusion of the Executive Session.
The Chair adjourned the meeting to Executive Session at 9:35 PM
Respectfully Submitted
John T. McEnaney
Clerk
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Board of Trustees |
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Tel: (781) 631-0777 Fax: (781) 631-0500 marbleheadcharter.org |
April 3, 2008
Ms. Nina Cullen Hamzeh
Interim Academic Director
Swampscott MA 01907
Dear Ms. Cullen Hamzeh:
At its regular monthly meeting, held on
At this meeting, the Board of Trustees agreed to offer you the position of Interim Academic Director for the school year 2008 -2009, and authorized me (or my designates) to enter into negotiations with you to secure a mutually agreeable contract for this position. I will be contacting you to carry out those negotiations and report upon same to the Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting on
Please accept this letter as a formal notice of extending your position of Interim Academic Director as called for in Sections 7 and 12 of your current Employment Agreement.
Sincerely,
Kay O’Dwyer
Chair
MCCPS Board of Trustees
Report of the Interim Academic Director, April 3, 2008
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Tel: (781) 631-0777 Fax: (781) 631-0500 MarbleheadCharter.org |
4/3/08
State of the School Report
Submitted by Nina Cullen-Hamzeh, Interim Academic Director
Expected Enrollment for 2008-2009:
08-09 Enrollment Report attached
- full enrollment expected for opening day
- to date, 106 on waiting list
Working to get class size back to 23 per Advisory
Current Enrollment:
218 students
Facility:
Chef Phong Tong of Sticky Rice has been teaching a cooking Enrichment, and he will be growing a garden of specialty vegetables beside the tomato garden.
PTO:
The PTO is planning a Teacher & Staff Appreciation Luncheon for Friday, May 2nd. Teachers Appreciation Week is actually the following week, but 6th & 7th grades will be away at Nature’s Classroom. Everyone really appreciates being appreciated. Thank you!
Athletics:
Mr. Ruth was appointed Northern Division League Director (basically the 8-10 schools in the northern area report to him directly and then he reports to the league director)
MCAS:
Testing will completed by Friday and all materials will be returned per DOE guidelines. Many thanks to Mr. O’Connor who has facilitated the testing, to all the teachers, inclusion specialists, and teaching assistants who administered the tests, and to all the administrators who gave up their offices during testing. The results will be made available to schools in October of next year. The 2nd round of testing (Math, History, & Science) will begin in May.
Professional Development:
Endicott graduate class begins at MCCPS on Friday led by Dr. Argenziano.
On March 28th the teachers visited other schools/programs (primarily charters). Many shared their experiences at a recent faculty meeting. Many stated that “you don’t know how good you’re got it, ‘til you go somewhere else.” Everyone benefited from the experience and several were inspired by what they saw/did. The math/science teachers attended the National Science Conference in
Fundraising:
Cookie dough sells generated over $2000 in profit.
Extended Day, Homwork Club, Enrichment, Charter Hall - report attached.
Challenges/Successes:
The transition of new students continues to be a challenge. They are learning to understand and accept the MCCPS level of expected behavior. The teachers at all grade levels have committed an enormous amount of energy to helping the new students assimilate and most have made tremendous progress.
New activities have been designed by volunteer teachers to invigorate the daily Community Meeting. MCCPS CSI and the science teachers’ mixed group activity were very popular. Stump the Staff continues to be a hit with kids and adults.
Report of the Interim Managing Director, April 3, 2008
To: Board of Trustees
From: Dr. Albert F. Argenziano
Re: March Monthly Report
The highlight of this month was receipt of the cities and towns per pupil assessment to our school. This year we had a large number of
As we prepare for FY09, we have our enrollment, staff, and income set for a successful 2008-09 school year. We have made great strides and anticipate quite a different opening in September then the one that just passed.
My monthly meeting with the town fathers reinforced my thoughts as they pertain to our three sending communities.
We continue to work on a Summer School package that will be marketable to our parents.
Our goal is to have this be an annual offering to our parents.
The highlights of the month were:
- Exhibition Night
- waiting list for 08-09 continues to grow
- strong per-pupil assessment numbers
- 230 students for 08-09
The
Fincom meeting scheduled for April 1, 2008 will discuss FY08 Budget, FY09 Budget, Space Issues.
In closing, as the month of April appears on the calendar, I would hope the leadership of the
As always, I deeply appreciate your support, confidence and cooperation.
Thank you.
Report of the Finance Committee, April 3, 2008
Fin Com Report
April 2008
John D. Sullivan, Ph.D.
FinCom met on April 1, 2008 to discuss the budget for the upcoming 2008/2009 academic year. The budget will be finalized during April and available for board presentation at our first meeting in May.
Jed O’Connor has expressed an interest in participating on FinCom. I welcome his involvement on this important committee, but will need to be approved by the entire FinCom committee at our next meeting.
Student enrollment is forecasted to be at 230 for the upcoming academic year. We have a long waiting list and our commitments are near complete.
Revenue on a per student basis will increase so that the majority of towns will be paying more than 10,000 per student. Prior to 2008, there were only a select number of towns that paid at this level. The school should experience a slight upswing in revenue for the 2007/2008 academic year of approximately 90,000. Given the financial challenges local communities face in the near term, the budget for next year will conservatively assume no increase from the prior year on a per student basis.
On the expense side, budgets have been raised to pre 2007/2008 levels reducing the need for outside support in terms of supplies etc. for the upcoming year. We will still require strong support from the auction.
Our largest expense is still being worked on. We are close to calculating a final personnel figure. We have budgeted an overall increase of 3% for next year in salaries with no offset in revenue reimbursement. We are also looking for additional funds for equity distribution, but this will be dependent on the cost of hiring two to three new employees. I suspect that there will be some funds found for distribution to be reflected in annual salaries.
Our line of credit has been approved for the upcoming year.
The school survived a very difficult year, but it still needs to rebuild, financially. We have set aside at least 50,000 as a surplus to begin the building of our cash position. I hope to increase this for the 2009/2010 academic year. Even with careful cash management, it will take us at least two years to get to where we need to be financially. The good news however, is that each day this task will become easier. The financial difficulty and challenges of the 2007/2008 are behind us. The
Report of the Governance Committee, April 3, 2008
I have spoken with Cliff Chuang at the DOE. Our By-Law change has been approved by the State Ethics Commission. We need to amend Chris' contract to state that he is required to be on the Board to be in alignment with the By-Laws. The next step is for Chris and the By-Law to be approved by the Commissioner simultaneously. Supposedly happening tomorrow; if so Cliff is supposed to call/email me. More to come tomorrow night. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Cathy Vaucher
Governance Chair
Report of the Community Relations Committee, April 3, 2008
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Community Relations Committee |
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Tel: (781) 631-0777 Fax: (781) 631-0500 marbleheadcharter.org |
TO: MCCPS Board of Trustees
Kay O’Dwyer, Chair Cindy Canavan Dr. John Sullivan
Emil Ronchi Cathy Vaucher Pam Shorr
Bob Sousa Chris Fauci Nina Cullen-Hamzeh
CC: MCCPS Community Relations Committee
Kathy Cormier Mary McRae Joanne Osborne Ryan Redmond
Cathy Vaucher
Dr Albert Argenziano, Interim Managing Director
DATE: April 1, 2008
SUBJECT: Report of the Community Relations Committee, April 2008
Community Coffee
We hosted our March Community Coffee on March 26, 2008. We had a reasonable turnout, including several new parents. Thank you to Kay, Cindy, and Cathy for joining us.
Our April Community Coffee will be April 16 immediately after Community Meeting. You are all welcomed and encouraged to attend.
Press Outreach
We will be hosting a Press Outreach day on April 9, 2008. We have invited media members from the Marblehead Reporter, Swampscott Reporter, Salem News, and Lynn Item to join us at Community Meeting on that morning. Immediately following Community Meeting, the press has been invited to sit down and talk with Ms O’Dwyer, Dr Sullivan, Ms Cullen Hamzeh and Dr Argenziano. The purpose of this Press Outreach is to facilitate a constructive and direct dialog between the local press and School leadership. The Community Relations Committee believes that this is in our best near and long term interest as a school to have an active and healthy relationship with the local media. Several members of the Community Relations Committee will observe the meeting taking notes, and will provide summary to the Board the evening of April 9.
Next Steps: Hold a preparatory meeting with the participants to identify common focus themes
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Positive Press
- Faculty achievements & recognition – e.g. Ms. Dowdell’s role in the state writing program
- Emerging partnership with
- Moving on from Charter – transitioning eighth graders to high school
- A Year of Change at Charter:
- Spring sports at Charter – photos, game write-ups, spotlight on role model athlete
- Eighth grade trip and dodgeball tournament to raise funds
- Band’s participation in a competition at Six Flags
- Nature’s classroom
- Latin Dance party, possibly tied into a closeup of Latin Dance enrichment
- Going Green at MCCPS: saving the world, CSL, aquaponics, school garden
- New faces at Charter – spotlighting new faculty and what the bring to the school
- Integrating Art: Highlight how well the arts curriculum is integrated into the other learning disciplines
- June Exhibition
- Joint teacher development with
Please forward additional ideas to Kathy Cormier and Mary McRae.
Some stories may be extended “feature length” stories and others may be shorter “news item” stories. Regardless of the length of the story, the goal will be for a continual stream of stories in a variety of press outlets that accentuates all of our positive achievements and upbeat events. The Committee will draft the stories, and provide the Administration an opportunity to review them prior to submittal.
Next Steps: Place the stories on a calendar to plan target dates; Select and draft our first story.
Committee Business
Mary McRae has volunteered to serve a Clerk for the Community Relations Committee. We will begin forwarding our minutes to the entire Board effective with our next meeting. Please let me know if you find them useful once we have begun forwarding them to you.
It has been difficult to find meeting times where all committee members can attend. We are working now to schedule our next meeting, and will let you know once we have scheduled it. We are working on alternating between AM, and PM meetings to allow our various members to have an opportunity to actively participate.
Next Steps: Develop a meeting calendar for the remainder of the school year.
Respectfully Submitted
John T. McEnaney
Chair, MCCPS Community Relations Committee
Sample Invitation to Press for Press Outreach
Sent to:
Kris Olson,
George Derringer, Swampscott Reporter
Jack Butterworth, Lynn Item
Alan Burke,
Ms Kay O’Dwyer, Chair MCCPS Board of Trustees
Dr. John Sullivan, Treasure, MCCPS Board of Trustees
Ms Nina Cullen Hamzeh, Interim Academic Director
Dr. Al Argenziano, Interim Managing Director
Please join us for our daily Community Meeting from 7:45 until 8:00 in the Community Room at
Chair, MCCPS Community Relations Committee
