Hope Academy

Open Items

Call the meeting to order

Janine Shopp called the meeting to order at 7:31am.

Record Attendance and Guests

Approve the Minutes

The October 26, 2023 Hope Academy High School Board Meeting minutes are approved with the following corrections: Marlon Llewellyn is not listed in attendance. He should be listed and marked as Not Present. Leah Mannweiler should be shown as being in attendance virtually.  

Public Comment

Open Comment Period

No Comment.

OEI 4th Year Report Final Presentation

Rachelle Gardner introduced Dr. Carlotta Cooprider. Carlotta thanked the board for their service to the school. Carlotta has performed 5 evaluations for the mayor's office this year, starting with Hope. She went over key points in the power point presentation of the OEI 4th Year Report Final Presentation. She made special note that there are some variables in the report: each year there are different teams that evaluate the schools. Carlotta's team went very deep vs the 2021 team. Every school evaluated by her team will have a "next steps/improvement" because she believes the point in these evaluations is to improve the school, not to be perfect. Her team also takes the rubric very seriously and follows it to the exact wording. 

Finance

Finance Committee Report

By June 30, 2024 the board will approve a balanced and fiscally sound budget that aligns with the school program needs for SY 24-25. "

Jennifer McVey stated that we have received a portion of the Alt Ed money, which was helpful and much needed. We are still waiting for the rest of the funds.

October Financials

Brian Anderson went over the Budget vs Actual Summary. As of the end of October we are ahead of revenue target, mostly due to Development. CSP funds are also all in. Overall, we are in a good position with October and November. The Expense side is the same - we are in a good position for October and November as the expenses are managed very well. We are at 64.68 percent remaining, which is close to anticipated.

Audit Update

Jane Panyard reported that we are in the process of the audit, and she hopes to have her part wrapped up by January 5th. They have offered to come in and assist but we don't know if it will be helpful at this point. Janine Shopp questioned when we expect the final audit report; Jane is hoping for January. 

2023-2024 Goal Tracker Updates

Rachelle provided copies of each committee's goal tracker, which will be gone over during their time presenting at future board meetings.  

Academic and Recovery Excellence

Academic and Recovery Committee Goal: Achieve at least 70% retention rate of eligible students by June 2024. "

School Report

Enrollment/Enroll Indy Update

Deb Leser reported that we are on track with 84 percent retention as we go into the second semester, with one new student interview today and two on the schedule.  As of today we will have 42 students starting in January.

Professional Development

We continue having PLC every Friday afternoon. We have been focused on TESA (Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement). We have a more specific target of teachers looking at data, and a focus on technology. We are planning a multicultural training for January 8th when the teachers return from winter break. 

Formative Assessments

There is nothing new to report. The PSAT's are done, and we are encouraging seniors to take the SATs. NWEA testing will be in the spring. 

Data/Goals Update

Academic Dashboard

Deb went over the Academic data provided in the board packet. She made note that student attendance was 90 percent in October, which isn't reflected on the data sheet provided. We had 94 percent attendance at Student Led Conferences. 

School Data Dashboard

Males continue to the be the higher gender. Race and Ethnicity continues to diversify. Special Ed percentages are lower than we're used to with so many graduating last year. Students qualifying for Free and Reduced lunch continues to grow. 

Collaboration/Concern

Rachelle stated that we are considering bringing in someone from Aspire to do a training with the staff due to increasing our diversity.  We have also started a multi-cultural club and currently have a more diverse staff than in previous years. 

Development Committee

Development Committee Goal: Hope Academy will raise $710,000 in FY '23-'24.

Development Committee Update

Rise and Shine

Jon Shapiro told the board that Rise and Shine was a great event that everyone enjoyed. We had a net revenue increase of $27,000 from 2022 to 2023. Rise and Shine next year will be on November 14th. 

Grants and Giving Update

Jon didn't have a lot of new updates to report. We currently have two grants that are reimbursement grants. We have received a verbal approval on a grant from the Indiana Department of Health that will offset staff expenses. We should have the contract before the end of the calendar year. We have had a lot of success with getting legislators into the building to tour, and currently have a donor retention rate at 36 percent. 

Direct Mail Update

The end of the year mailing went out last week and should be in mailboxes today. 

Marketing Committee

Marketing Committee Goal: To achieve enrollment targets of 38 students in October of 2023 and 41 students in February of 2024.

Marketing Committee Report

Marketing/PR Update

Erin Mooney has had a lot of success so far. She has been introducing herself to the local schools and has had 12 tours in the building so far, including a person working with disciplinary action at IPS.

Community Outreach Update

Erin attended Hancock County Rise Above last month and the Indiana Mental Health and Addiction Conference earlier this month. She participates in a monthly Indy Networking Lunch and attends monthly Systems of Care Meetings. She will be at Valle Vista in January for a Lunch and Learn. 

Special Projects

Linda Gagyi has been researching Hope successes since the opening of the school so that the data could be used for development, marketing, etc. She has also been focused on the middle school program, which we received funds for via the MHA Vitality Grant. Our original goal is to start this program in the Fall. We have had some good traction and are now looking to start a spring cohort. 

Collaborations/Concerns

Eric Afush asked what our max capacity is if we have success with the 8th grade program. Rachelle answered that we have the staffing capacity for 75 students but would feel more comfortable with 60-62.

Executive Director Report

Strategic Plan Update

Erin Flick has begun seeing students and is currently meeting with 10 of them. She will also be doing a group focused on trauma and will provide trauma informed strategies to staff during an upcoming professional development. 

Staffing Update

We hired a new Science Teacher, Sarah Rattner. Sarah is from New York and graduated from Purdue University. We also hired a new Recovery Coach who is set to start January 2nd, as Joseph Minnis resigned. We have an interview today with another recovery candidate. 

Facilities Update

The Becker Group recently showed the building to possible tenants, but we have not been notified of any movement yet.