Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees

March 13, 2008

Minutes

In attendance: 

Kay O’Dwyer, Cynthia Canavan, Dr John Sullivan, John McEnaney, Cathy Vaucher, Pam Wheaton Shorr, Emil Ronchi, Robert Sousa, Christopher Fauci, Nina Cullen-Hamzeh 

Also in attendance, Dr. Albert F. Argenziano, Interim Managing Director

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

The Chair, Ms Kay O’Dwyer opened the meeting at 7:07 P.M. She began calling for public comment, and noting that there were no individuals wanting to address the Board for public comment at this time.   

Decision:  Ms Vaucher moved and Ms. Shorr seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the February 7, 2008 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees.

Yeas:  8 Nays: 0 Abstain 0 Mr. Fauci did not vote  Motion Passes

Decision:  Mr. McEnaney moved and Ms. Vaucher seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the February 25 Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees.

Yeas:  8 Nays: 0 Abstain 1 Mr. Fauci did not vote  Motion Passes 

Ms O’Dwyer 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.          

The Chair recognized Dr. Sullivan, Treasurer, who provided his monthly report.  He noted that we have turned a corner from a budgeting perspective, and that we will be financially sound through the FY 09 school year.    At Monday’s FinComm meeting, the first priority will be to work on the FY 09 Budget, with special attention to rebuilding cash reserves.  The FinComm will also be working on the selection of an auditor.  Dr. Sullivan also noted that he is activiely seeking a faculty member to serve on the FinComm.

Dr. Sullivan noted that he and Jeff Barry have been  doing detailed studies of school expenses and revenues for the year.   Expenses appear to be running below budgeted amounts, and it has been more difficult getting a handle on the revenue based on quarterly funding mechanism. 

The Chair recognized Ms Vaucher, Chair of the Governance Committee for her report.

Ms Vaucher began by noting that the Department of Education is no longer called that, and is now the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or ESE for short.  For the time being, there is no change to the organization structure of the Charter School Office. She provided an update on the status of our proposed By Law Change, and the impact on the approval of Mr. Fauci’s position as a Trustee.

Ms Vaucher also noted that the Governance Committee is recently in receipt of the he newly-revised Charter School Administrative and Governance Guide and of the newly-revised Application for Charter Renewal.  The Governance Committee will be reviewing both and will provide the Trustees an overview of the key changes at the April regular meeting.  She noted that the ESE will be hosting a governance seminar on April 16th in Malden, and May 6^th in Worcester.  Ms Vaucher will seek out the agenda for this training session and determine if it makes sense for anyone to from MCCPS to attend. 

Ms Vaucher went on to report that the Governance Committee is still working on its review of the Charter.  One key area that the Committee has decided to ask the Board for guidance on is in determining if the school should change to be a regional district school instead of a Marblehead Charter School.  There was extensive preliminary discussion among the Trustees about the benefits and drawbacks of regionalization. 

Decision:  Ms Vaucher moved, and Ms Cullen Hamzeh seconded that the Board of Trustees schedule a Special Meeting to discuss the vision of the School. 

Yeas:  8 Nays: 0 Abstain 1 Mr. Fauci did not vote  Motion Passes

Action Item:  All Trustees come to Apr 3 meeting prepared to address  the notion “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.

Action Items:  The Interim Academic Director, Interim Managing Director, and all committee reports be submitted to the Board electronically by April 1^st for Trustee Review.  Trustees will be responsible to read the reports prior to the April 3rd meeting. The goal at the meeting is to allot 45 minutes at the beginning of the meeting to address questions from the Trustees about the reports, and to spend two hours beginning the Visioning exercise.

Ms O’Dwyer recognized Ms Shorr for a Personnel Committee updated. Ms Shorr noted that Ms Cullen Hamzeh has provided the Trustees a copy of Rubric for School Leadership with her specific evidence in each category.   Ms Shorr reported that both the Parent and Faculty surveys have been sent out and that the results will be summarized for the Trustees by March 24.  She thanked Katie Sullivan of the faculty for her hard work in putting together the two surveys and their results.   Finally, she confirmed with Trustees the process to conducted at the March 27 meeting for the Interim Academic Director Evaluation. 

The Chair recognized Mr. McEnaney for an update from the Community Relations Committee.  Mr. McEnaney informed the Board that the committee would be hosting its monthly coffee in the next week or so, and that we were working to finalize a date.  He also noted that the committee will be having its next meeting shortly.

Ms. O’Dwyer recognized Mr. Ronchi to provide the Foundation update.  He noted that the Foundation will be sponsoring the initial funding required to support the evolving partnership with Endicott College. He also reported that Foundation Trustee Mr. Newhall met with Ms Cullen Hamzeh to identify ways to streamline the process for requesting funding for School needs. 

In new business, Ms O’Dwyer reminded the Trustees of the March 27 meeting for conducting the Interim Academic Director evaluation.

Ms Vaucher noted that in her recent observations, the influx of new students this year has created an environment where the newest students have not assimilated the best way possible, and that it may be taking its toll on the faculty, and wanted to begin the discussion about how we can get help for the school and the faculty.  There was some discussion among the Trustees about how to recognize and address this issue.

Mr. McEnaney asked Dr. Argenziano for his opinion of how the new Secretary of Education position would relate to the Commissioner of Education and what that impact would be on Charter Schools. Dr. Argenziano provided the Trustees an overview of the new structure of State’s Education hierarchy.

Mr. Sousa moved and Ms Cullen Hamzeh seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Yeas:  8 Nays: 0 Abstain 0 Mr. Fauci did not vote  Motion Passes

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:50

Respectfully Submitted

John T. McEnaney

Clerk

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Report of the Interim Academic Director, March 13, 2008

Marblehead Community Charter Public School
	17 Lime Street Marblehead, MA   01945 Tel: (781) 631-0777   Fax: (781) 631-0500 marbleheadcharter.com

State of the School Report

Submitted by Nina Cullen-Hamzeh, Interim Academic Director

3/13/08 

Expected Enrollment for 2008-2009:

Classwork by prospective student, currently a 1^st grader

08-09 Enrollment Report attached

• full enrollment expected for opening day
• to date, 91 on waiting list

 Current Enrollment:

220 students 

Parent Satisfaction Survey:

Given the responses, parents seemed generally very pleased with MCCPS. 

The overview is attached, and the comments are being summarized.   

Personnel:

Deb Galiel has announced that she will be moving to the west coast at the end of the school year.  Deb has been a valued member of our school community for many years.  She began as a parent volunteer, shortly after was hired as a teaching assistant, then became the Community Service Learning teacher, then the Enrichment Coordinator, and now she serves the school as Community Partnership Coordinator.  We extend our sincere thanks for Deb’s many years of dedicated service to the families of MCCPS.  Her contributions to our program are greatly appreciated, and we are excited for her as she begins a new adventure, but her presence will be missed.  

Facility:

A mechanism in the front door was jammed for a few hours after school last week.  It was repaired by a locksmith, but the door may need to be replaced over the summer.  

PTO:

Congratulations and many thanks to the PTO for everything that they have done to date to support the children and the teachers.  Their efforts have resulted in numerous donations to every classroom.  Their members are continually working on multiple tasks including planning an outdoor classroom beside the sixth grades, caring for the gardens, writing grants, soliciting donations for the Nature’s Classroom Scholarship Fund, and planning this year’s Film Festival.  The PTO is barely a year old, but already they have contributed so much! 

Athletics:

An awards banquet for the basketball players is being planned. 

Track & cross-country will begin next week.   

Grant Award:

Through DOE Grant 252, $2500 has been granted to MCCPS.  The funds are a result of a grant request written by Jed O’Connor in response to our most recent Coordinated Program Review.  With this grant, two special education teachers and 2 regular education teachers will work together over the summer to plan professional development opportunities for next year that will support our full-inclusion model.  Co-teaching, effectuating differentiated instruction, and addressing behavioral challenges are some of the topics that will be explored. 

MCAS:

Testing will begin in less than 2 weeks.  Schedules are attached, will be sent home, and will be posted on our website. 

Classroom Commentary:

The faculty, staff, and administration extend our heartfelt congratulations to the students of MCCPS.  New and prospective families were astounded by the quality of work produced at each grade level.  The students rose to the challenge presented to them by their teachers, and they proved again that a public Exhibition of Student Work is an extraordinary way to demonstrate what they have learned.  We are so proud of all of them!

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Enrollment Report 2008 -2009

	Grade 4	Grade 5	Grade 6	Grade 7	Grade 8
Marblehead	37	17	29	18	9
Swampscott	4	17	7	14	3
Salem	5	3	7	7	5
Lynn	3	7	1	3	20
Peabody	1	0	1	1	1
Beverly		0	0	2	1
Gloucester		0	1	0	0
Nahant		6	4	2	1
Saugus		0	0	0
Winthrop		0	0	0
TOTAL	50	50	50	46	40		236
		WAITLISTED
Marblehead		1	2	1
Swampscott	18	9	7	3	2
Salem	8		7		1
Lynn	6	2	1	1
Peabody	1		1
Beverly				1
Gloucester		3
Nahant	3		1
North Reading		2
Saugus	3		1
Winthrop	1		1	1
Carlisle(moving to MHD)				1
Dorchester					1
Revere		1
TOTAL	40	18	21	8	4		91

Enrollment Report 2007 -2008

 

	Grade 4	Grade 5	Grade 6	Grade 7	Grade 8
Marblehead	17	29	18	9	16
Swampscott	17	7	14	3	5
Salem	3	7	7	5	8
Lynn	7	1	3	20	2
Peabody	0	1	1	1	3
Beverly	0	0	2	1	0
Gloucester	0	1	0	0	0
Nahant	6	4	2	1	0
Saugus	0		0		0
	50	50	46	40	34	220
rev 3/12/2008

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