PPHS Board of Directors Meeting

May

PPHS Board of Directors Meeting

PPHS Englewood - 1st floor conference room

https://meet.google.com/exr-nfno-yzc?authuser=0

Wednesday, May 11 2022

4:00pm - 5:30pm EDT

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Opening Items

4:00 pm EDT
1. Call to Order
2. Record Attendance and Guests
  1. Approval of Minutes
    
    M.Weber will request a motion to approve the March 9, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes.
3. The Dismal Immersion
  
  Coach A.Vandermeer will showcase The Dismal Immersion project he has been leading.
Project Showcase
Finance
1. Approve Board Financials and APVR
  
  S.Johnson will provide an overview of the Board financials and APVR for the months of February and March 2022. S.Johnson will provide year-to-date actuals and budget. The Board is required to approve both by recorded vote.
2. Review Draft 2022-2023 Budget
  
  S.Bess & S.Johnson will review the draft budget for the 2022-2023 school year and answer questions.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
1. DEI Update
  
  K.Warren will provide an update on DEI activities and planning.
Operations
1. Human Resources Update
  
  S.Bess will provide a talent acquisition and human resources update.
2. Enrollment Update
  
  S.Bess will review enrollment numbers for the 2022-2023 school year.
Governance
1. Innovation Agreements
  
  S.Bess will review the IPS Innovation Agreements for North and Englewood. This item requires Board approval for the Board Chair to sign both Innovation Agreements on behalf of the Board.
2. Strategic Planning
  
  K.Reier will share a proposed success framework and example Key Performance Indicators and request feedback.
3. Development
  
  M.Quintana will provide a brief Development Committee update and K.Reier will share general updates on development activities.
4. Recognition of Dr. Marchand-Martella's Service
  
  The Board will review a resolution to recognize Dr. Marchand-Martella for her service to PPHS. This item requires Board approval by recorded vote.
Academic Excellence
1. Edmentum Contract
  
  S.Bess will briefly review the Edmentum contract for the 2022-2023 school year. This item requires Board approval by recorded vote.
2. 5-Year Graduation Rate
  
  K.Primrose will share an update regarding the class of 2021's 5-year graduation rate.
Facilities

S.Bess will provide a brief update regarding North and South Bend facilities.
Closing Items
1. Next Meeting Date
  
  The next PPHS Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for June 8, 2022 at 4pm.
2. PPHS Graduation
  
  The PPHS graduation ceremony is on June 10, 2022 at 2:00pm with a post-graduation ceremony with Purdue to follow.

Opening Items

Call to Order

M.Weber called the meeting to order at 4:06 PM.

Record Attendance and Guests

Directors Present:

N.Marchand-Martella (remote), M.Quintana (remote), M.Weber, K.Kobe, J.Smith, T.Reives
Directors Absent:D.Cook, R.Wynkoop
Directors Arrived Late:G.Pillow, G.Bertoline (remote)
Staff Present:S.Bess, K.Warren, K.Reier, S.Ward, S.Johnson, K.Primrose, J.Zobrosky (remote), L.Beatty (remote), R.Moore (remote), J.Pactor (remote)
Guests Present:
Andrew Vandermeer (remote), Jeremiah Sweeney (remote)

Approval of Minutes

M.Weber will request a motion to approve the March 9, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes.

M.Quintana made a motion to approve the March 9, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes. K.Kobe seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

N.Marchand-Martella Aye

M.Weber Aye

K.Kobe Aye

J.Smith Aye

T.Reives Aye

G.Pillow Absent

G.Bertoline Absent

D.Cook Absent

R.Wynkoop Absent

Project Showcase

The Dismal Immersion

Coach A.Vandermeer will showcase The Dismal Immersion project he has been leading.

S.Bess explained that immersion projects have been discussed in Board meetings and we wanted to share more information about them. S.Bess introduced Andrew Vandermeer, coach at PPHS Englewood. Andrew has done a good job of getting multiple immersion projects off the ground including the Dismal Immersion Project which is an economics cross-campus immersion that includes students from Englewood and North.

A.Vandermeer presented on the Dismal Immersion project, explaining that the project is centered around a game of international collaboration where teams of students act as different nations, learn about the various risks and rewards of each nation, and then are presented with various plot twists throughout the course, such as COVID or war, and each country must decide how to act. A.Vandermeer introduced Jeremiah Sweeney, a senior at Englewood, who has acted as a TA for the project.
M.Quintana asked whether the dismal stock market is discussed during the project. A.Vandermeer responded that the project combines economics with historical education.

M.Weber asked about the difference between the level of effort that goes into preparing for and carrying out an immersion versus a traditional lecture. A.Vandermeer responded that preparing for an immersion includes a lot more planning and adjustments than in a traditional classroom. G.Pillow arrived.

Finance

Approve Board Financials and APVR

S.Johnson will provide an overview of the Board financials and APVR for the months of February and March 2022. S.Johnson will provide year-to-date actuals and budget. The Board is required to approve both by recorded vote.

S.Bess reported that PPHS received SBOA approval this afternoon for the audit. This was the first year PPHS met the threshold for a single audit. There were a few things pointed out in the audit, but the things that popped up are not unusual for a first-year audit. The full audit will be shared with the Board to take formal action on it in June. K.Kobe asked whether the Board will have to approve the audit and S.Bess responded yes. M.Weber suggested it would be helpful for the auditor to present the audit.

S.Johnson reviewed the Board financials, including the year-to-date budget and actuals.

S.Johnson reviewed the February and March APVR.

S.Johnson reported that PPHS started getting many of the grant reimbursements in March. The last grant reimbursement to do is Title I. S.Johnson remarked that there are some things in revenues for certified high school because some staff were included in operations that should have been paid for by grants. S.Bess added that moving the salaries out of the operational side was more than expected.

K.Kobe made a motion to approve the Board financials and APVR. J.Smith seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

N.Marchand-Martella Aye

M.Weber Aye

K.Kobe Aye

J.Smith Aye

T.Reives Aye

G.Pillow Aye

G.Bertoline Absent

D.Cook Absent

R.Wynkoop Absent

Review Draft 2022-2023 Budget

S.Bess & S.Johnson will review the draft budget for the 2022-2023 school year and answer questions.

S.Johnson and S.Bess reviewed the draft 2022-2023 budget. S.Bess shared that the budget is a draft and a few things may change. The budget projects 995 students across the network which assumes Englewood enrollment remains flat and North and South Bend enrollments increase. The number of students and the per pupil revenue are the biggest budget assumptions. Rent and instructional expenses are the vast majority of the budget.

K.Kobe indicated that private funding appears low. S.Bess responded that historically, we have had XQ money, but those funds officially run out in June. He reported that he anticipates some level of continued support and expect to have more private funding, but because no funds have yet been committed, the funding is not included in the budget. The budget continues to reflect some money from New School Venture Fund and Charter School Growth Fund for South Bend.

S.Bess reported that other big changes to the budget for the upcoming year are that the network expenses have been zeroed out and all network costs are being spread out across the schools. The reason the network exists is to support the schools. Some allocations may continue to be adjusted. The fees from schools support the network expenses, including the Network team salaries, licenses, insurance, benefits, etc. S.Bess additionally reported that it is not expected to hire within the network team in the next couple of years because the team has already grown to develop the infrastructure needed to support additional growth. We can accommodate at least another 2-3 schools with the group we have now.

K.Kobe asked that those comparisons with explanations be provided next month.

N.Marchand-Martella has to leave and shared it ahs been an absolute pleasure to serve on the Board and to work with her fellow directors. She shared she is proud of PPHS and Scott. She is impressed and wants to wish PPHS the best of luck.

M.Weber added that the Board is grateful for her service.

N.Marchand-Martella left the meeting.

G.Bertoline arrived.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

DEI Update

K.Warren will provide an update on DEI activities and planning.

K.Warren provided a year-end review of DEI initiatives. Accomplishments include approving and publishing a DEI statement, convening an equity taskforce that included representation from various departments of the organization.

K.Warren shared that PPHS was recently awarded a $25,000 Teacher Innovation Fund grant from The Mind Trust that is renewable for 2 years so long as we are meeting metrics. The purpose of the grant is to increase the pipeline of teachers of color, specifically Black and Latino. The grant gets to the hears of barriers teacher of color have in getting into teaching roles.

G.Pillow suggested reaching out to the Urban League because they have a lot of national contacts.

K.Warren also reported that PPHS applied to the Urban League for a grant and collaborated with 100 Black Men of Indianapolis. School staff will be receiving stipends to support DEI work. LaTrice Black will provide support and Demita will be supporting Social-Emotional Learning.

J.Smith asked about supply diversity. K.Warren responded explaining that PPHS will continue to reconvene and draft a new Equity Work Plan for the new school year and indicated that a goal is to diversify our community partners.

T.Reives encouraged staff to think about having targets and goals around supply diversity. G.Pillow encouraged staff to reach out to the Board to ask about vendors.

K.Warren said the next DEI update will come at the beginning of next school year.

Operations

Human Resources Update

S.Bess will provide a talent acquisition and human resources update.

S.Bess reported that the network team is fully staffed except for 1 position. Laura Cope has joined the team as Director of Student Services, overseeing special education and ELL. Laura did the same work at GEI for 10 years and prior to that worked at the state. Laura will be supporting S.Johnson with federal and state grants.

S.Ward reported that the South Bend and North staffs will be expending to support increased enrollment. K.Warren added that we are ahead of where we were last year.

Enrollment Update

S.Bess will review enrollment numbers for the 2022-2023 school year.

S.Bess reported that enrollment is looking really strong and noted a correction to the enrollment report provided in the Board packet. The total enrollment for Englewood should be 674. The enrollment numbers will not be as high as what are in the report because some students who have matched with PPHS might decide to go somewhere else. Usually, we will see enrollment numbers come down by about 10%. For Englewood, if 10% of students don't come, we're still expecting about 600. We budgeted for 545 students because there will be some attrition from the first day of school. S.Bess reported that Count Day is in mid-September and we want to make sure there is some cushion from the beginning of the school year until then.

Governance

Innovation Agreements

S.Bess will review the IPS Innovation Agreements for North and Englewood. This item requires Board approval for the Board Chair to sign both Innovation Agreements on behalf of the Board.

S.Bess reported that the IPS Board of Directors voted to approve renewing Englewood's Innovation Agreement and to enter into an Innovation Agreement with North. The Englewood renewal was straightforward and essentially the same as the prior agreement. S.Bess reported that the Innovation Agreement for North allows PPHS to utilize the old Broad Ripple High School building for 1 year. North is maxed out of space at the 1405 building at 140 students. The Storefront Theater fits about 70 additional students, which doesn't allow us to grow anymore and the theater company is moving somewhere else. At Broad Ripple High School, PPHS will rent about 18,000 sq. ft, mostly on the 3rd floor. The space includes a science room and we will have some access to the gym and sports facilities. Rent is about $250,000. Because of the referendum dollars North with receive from IPS, the Innovation Agreement will allow us to be paid more per pupil for students at North as well as facility space.

K.Kobe asked whether PPHS received the same amount per student for students from outside of IPS. S.Bess explained PPHS will receive the IPS amount. J.Smith asked whether North has students from other townships. S.Ward responded that North and Englewood both enroll students from outside of IPS and are also bringing many students back to IPS who had previously elected to go to township schools.

J.Smith made a motion to approve the Innovation Agreements and approve M.Weber to sign the agreements on behalf of the Board of Directors. T.Reives seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

N.Marchand-Martella Absent

M.Weber Aye

K.Kobe Aye

J.Smith Aye

T.Reives Aye

G.Pillow Aye

G.Bertoline Aye

D.Cook Absent

R.Wynkoop Absent

Strategic Planning

K.Reier will share a proposed success framework and example Key Performance Indicators and request feedback.

M.Weber requested that this agenda item be tabled until the next Board of Directors meeting in June and asked that Board members send any feedback in the interim to K.Reier. M.Quintana shared that the list of indicators provided in the Board packet is long and suggested that PPHS staff consider fewer indicators. M.Weber shared that the list of indicators are aligned with items requested by authorizers.

Development

M.Quintana will provide a brief Development Committee update and K.Reier will share general updates on development activities.

M.Quintana reported that the she has met with Board members individually to request a list of potential donors and reminded Board members to send her their lists.

K.Reier reported on a number of general development updates. PPHS has had a number of visits from funders and stakeholders including multiple visits from XQ, as well as visits from DC Public Schools, the Kentucky Department of Education, and Charter School Growth Fund. An upcoming visit from Gary stakeholders is planned for later in the month. PPHS staff have participated in various convenings and conferences including the Carnegie Summit, Arizona State & Global Silicone Valley Summit, Education Leaders of Color, RISE, and New School Venture Fund virtual convenings. K.Reier additionally shared that 1 staff member, Gregg Nowling, received a scholarship to go through RISE training to offer Entrepreneurship as a pathway for 2023, and Andrew Vandermeer was named by Teach Indy as the OEI High School Teacher of the year.

K.Reier reported that internal development efforts have resulted in about $49,000 of funding. As K.Warren shared, PPHS received a $25,000 grant from The Mind Trust, $3,000 was donated by Kiwanis Broad Ripple for the Dream Big Academy, and a partnership with a US Patent Attorney's Office has agreed to give Eric Martinez another $5,000 scholarship for his sophomore at Purdue and another student graduating this year will receive $5,000. Since launching Network for Good, approximately $11,000 have been donated, including donations from Board members and a little over $8,000 for the Englewood robotics team.

Recognition of Dr. Marchand-Martella's Service

The Board will review a resolution to recognize Dr. Marchand-Martella for her service to PPHS. This item requires Board approval by recorded vote.

K.Kobe made a motion to recognize Dr. Marchande-Martella for her service to PPHS. G.Pillow seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

N.Marchand-Martella Absent

M.Weber Aye

K.Kobe Aye

J.Smith Aye

T.Reives Aye

G.Pillow Aye

G.Bertoline Aye

D.Cook Absent

R.Wynkoop Absent

Academic Excellence

Edmentum Contract

S.Bess will briefly review the Edmentum contract for the 2022-2023 school year. This item requires Board approval by recorded vote.

G.Pillow made a motion to approve the Edmentum contract. K.Kobe seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion. Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

N.Marchand-Martella Absent

M.Weber Aye

K.Kobe Aye

J.Smith Aye

T.Reives Aye

G.Pillow Aye

G.Bertoline Aye

D.Cook Absent

R.Wynkoop Absent

5-Year Graduation Rate

K.Primrose will share an update regarding the class of 2021's 5-year graduation rate.

K.Primrose reported that an additional 3 students from the 2021 graduation cohort will complete diploma requirements which will be counted towards a 5-year graduation rate. K.Primrose shared that the additional students should add about 3% to the graduation rate which will add bonus points to the school's letter grade.

S.Ward added that PPHS staff have processes and procedures in place that will help to improve the graduation rate for next year.

T.Reives asked whether we know where we are at this year for a graduation rate. S.Bess responded that we are working on that information.

Facilities

S.Bess will provide a brief update regarding North and South Bend facilities.

S.Bess reported that PPHS is working with a developer in South Bend. The school will need more space next year and PPHS and the developer have agreed to keep the school in its current space next year and to provide more space in the same building. G.Pillow asked what the end goal is for the school facility. S.Bess responded that the school will remain in the same building it is currently in, which is the old Studebaker complex, but the school would have its own entrance where it would have its own signage and its own bathrooms. The end plan will allow the school to have its own space and to be more secure.

K.Kobe asked whether Keystone construction for the new North facility is on schedule. S.Bess responded it is.

Closing Items

Next Meeting Date

The next PPHS Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for June 8, 2022 at 4pm.

PPHS Graduation

The PPHS graduation ceremony is on June 10, 2022 at 2:00pm with a post-graduation ceremony with Purdue to follow.

M.Weber adjourned the meeting at 6:01 PM.

Members

Name	Attendance
LaShaun Aldridge
Lacey Beatty
Gary Bertoline
Scott Bess
Dante Cook
Charli DeWhitt
Sharnell Johnson
Ken Kobe
Nancy Marchand-Martella
Ronni Moore
Jacob Pactor
George Pillow
Krista Primrose
Maria Quintana
Kim Reier
Thomas Reives
Jamal Smith
Eric Stewart
Shatoya Ward
Keeanna Warren
Maureen Weber
Rob Wynkoop
Justin Zobrosky

Guest Members

Name	Attendance
Andrew Vandermeer

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