PPHS Board of Directors meeting

Sep

PPHS Board of Directors meeting

1405 N. Broad Ripple, Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46220

https://meet.google.com/rxr-ywhn-ofx

Wednesday, September 14 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
3. Approval of Minutes
  
  M.Weber will request a motion to approve the June 8, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes.
Student Showcase
1. Student College Board Recognitions
  K.Warren will introduce three PPHS students who are College Board Recognition Award Winners:
  1. Haleigh Barry (Englewood) - National African American Recognition Award
  2. Jose Quintana (Englewood) - National Hispanic Recognition Award
  3. Kyle Bloch (South Bend) - National African American Recognition Award
Finance
1. Approve Board Financials and APVR
  
  S.Johnson will present the Board financials and APVR for May, June, and July. The Board is required to approve both by recorded vote.
Diversity, Equity & Belonging
1. DEB Update
  
  L.Crawford will provide an update on DEB activities and planning.
Operations
1. Enrollment Update
  
  K.Warren will review fall enrollment numbers for the 2022-2023 school year.
2. Human Resources Update
  
  K.Warren will provide a brief HR update.
3. Furniture Purchase Update
  
  S.Ward will provide a brief update regarding furniture purchasing.
Governance
1. Board Membership
  
  M.Weber will open discussion regarding Board members.
2. Charter Application
  
  K.Reier will provide a brief update on the charter application submission to open a school in Pike Township.
3. Development Update
  
  M.Quintana will provide a brief Development Committee update and K.Reier will share general updates on development activities.
4. Recognition of George Pillow's Service
  
  The Board will review a resolution to recognize George Pillow for his services to PPHS. This item requires approval by recorded vote.
Academic Excellence
1. College Board Results
  
  K.Primrose will briefly share DOE SAT results.
2. Summer Programming Results
  
  K.Warren will briefly share results from the Purdue Summer Experience.
Facilities

S.Bess will provide a brief update regarding facilities.
Closing Items
1. Next Meeting Date
  
  The next PPHS Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for November 9, 2022 at 4pm.

Opening Items

Call to Order

M.Weber called the meeting to order to 4:04 PM.

Record Attendance and Guests

Directors Present:

M.Weber, M.Quintana, G.Bertoline, K.Kobe, D.Cook (virtual), J.Smith (virtual)

Staff Present: S.Bess, K.Warren, S.Ward, K.Reier, S.Johnson, K.Primrose, J.Zobrosky (virtual), J.Pactor (virtual), L.Crawford (virtual)

Guests Present: Jose Quintana-Montoya

Approval of Minutes

M.Weber will request a motion to approve the June 8, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes.

M.Quintana made a motion to approve the June 8, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes. G.Bertoline seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

G.Bertoline Aye

K.Kobe Aye

D.Cook Aye

J.Smith Aye

M.Weber Aye

Student Showcase

Student College Board Recognitions

K.Warren will introduce three PPHS students who are College Board Recognition Award Winners:

Haleigh Barry (Englewood) - National African American Recognition Award
Jose Quintana (Englewood) - National Hispanic Recognition Award
Kyle Bloch (South Bend) - National African American Recognition Award

K.Warren reported that 3 PPHS students received recognition from Spring national assessments: Haleigh Barry from Englewood was recognized for the National African American Recognition Award, Jose Quintana-Montoya from Englewood was recognized for the National Hispanic Recognition Award, and Kyle Bloch from South Bend was recognized for the National African American Recognition Award.

Jose Quintana-Montoya was introduced and asked to share with the Board. J. Quintana-Montoya shared that his experience at PPHS is unique because of the opportunities given to him and that his favorite project dealt with go-karts.

M.Quintana asked J.Quintana-Montoya about his family and he responded that his parents are immigrants and he has tried to form an identity around the culture taught to him by his parents and the American culture around him.

D.Cook asked that J.Quintana-Montoya share a little bit about being a part of the soccer team and he shared that he has played many different positions and has a greater appreciation for others and has learned as a leader. D.Cook shared that he wanted to give J.Quintana-Montoya pats on the back because he has matured as a leader and has done some amazing things.

T.Reives joined the meeting virtually at 4:10 PM.

L.Crawford shared that J.Quintana-Montoya has been nominated for the Lilly Endowment scholarship.

J.Quintana-Montoya left the meeting at 4:15 PM.

Finance

Approve Board Financials and APVR

S.Johnson will present the Board financials and APVR for May, June, and July. The Board is required to approve both by recorded vote.

S.Johnson reported that she is continuing with revenues to get PPHS caught up and she is working with the banking institution and law enforcement on the fraud claims that were reported at the last Board meeting. The bank and law enforcement have indicated it can take anywhere from 6-12 months to recuperate all of our dollars.

M.Quintana asked how much has been recuperated so far. S.Johnson responded that $109K has been recovered.

S.Johnson reported that we are in the middle of the new audit and this audit will not take as long as the last one. S.Johnson reported that we are in a good place for the audit.

K.Kobe asked whether S.Johnson has been able to work on budget variance and year-to-date reports. S.Johnson explained that she is working on training a new staff member. K.Kobe stated that those reports are critical to understanding where we are at.

S.Johnson reported financials. K.Kobe stated that he did not understand one item on the May balance sheet. The second page shows a deficit of $1.6M. S.Johnson responded that we are still working on moving some things around for May and getting reimbursements in.

M.Quintana asked who is Travera Holdings. S.Johnson responded is it where we purchase all of our Chromebooks.

An Englewood parent joined the meeting as a member of the public at 4:23 PM.

S.Bess shared that in November, we will have full year-to-date financials and budget variances.

K.Kobe made a motion to approve the financials and APVRs. M.Quintana seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

G.Bertoline Aye

K.Kobe Aye

D.Cook Aye

J.Smith Aye

T.Reives Aye

M.Weber Aye

Diversity, Equity & Belonging

DEB Update

L.Crawford will provide an update on DEB activities and planning.

L.Crawford was introduced. L.Crawford reported that she is working as the Diversity Equity, and Belonging Manager and has been working with colleagues across all three campuses every month. The team is working the updated language for the website that will better represent out diverse student population.

M.Weber asked if anything is needed from the Board. L.Crawford responded nothing is needed at this time.

Operations

Enrollment Update

K.Warren will review fall enrollment numbers for the 2022-2023 school year.

K.Warren reported that Friday is count day and that Englewood enrollment looks good, North has 100 freshmen, and South Bend is an area where we are putting more energy. K.Warren reported that Justin has a lot of great recruitment initiatives happening in South Bend that that one of his strengths is community engagement. Purdue's MarComm has also provided a lot of great support that will help to level up enrollment at South Bend.

G.Bertoline shared that we are at over 1,000 students and PPHS has had really healthy growth in Indianapolis. Purdue also announced its enrollment which broke enrollment records in nearly every metric. G.Bertoline reported that Purdue only highlighted a couple of things and one of them was PPHS, reiterating that PPHS is a big deal at Purdue and mission-critical to Purdue's present and future.

Human Resources Update

K.Warren will provide a brief HR update.

K.Warren reported that a new principal started at North in August, Richard Benberry. Prior to working at PPHS, Richard was an assistant principal and Ritter and was a vice principal at a school in Kokomo as well as a math teacher in prior roles. K.Warren shared that Richard has hit the ground running and things are going well at North.

S.Ward added that Lacey Beatty has done a great job providing support.

Furniture Purchase Update

S.Ward will provide a brief update regarding furniture purchasing.

S.Ward reported that PPHS reached out to other vendors for additional furniture quotes, including School Outfitters and K-12 which are minority-owned businesses. We have not yet received their quotes. S.Ward added that the furniture order is going to change because PPHS will be outfitting a new space due to now planning to occupy Broad Ripple High School.

Governance

S.Bess reported that PPHS has experienced a rough couple of weeks and has met with Maureen and Jamal to discuss. S.Bess provided that other across of the country have shared that at the high school level, the first 2 weeks of school are often the honeymoon period and weeks 3-6 are rough. Students have been bring into the school things that have happened outside of school and this is being experienced at all three schools. S.Bess reported that all schools are working on getting their school cultures back.

M.Quintana asked if the issues are with incoming students. S.Ward responded that issues are all across the Board and that Englewood has accepted quite a few students who are not freshmen and are now in our space and have not yet adjusted to PPHS. S.Ward further reported that as an immediate solution IMPD has come to support Englewood and the School Resource Officer. We are contracting with IMPD which has officers supporting PPHS in their off hours and this will continue for the next few weeks. Students and visitors have been wanded prior to entering the building. We want to continue to have the community in the school space while also making sure we heighten security. Over the next couple of weeks, PPHS will be scheduling time to talk with parents and students about the school community and strategies on how to keep the community safe. S.Ward added that we are taking this very seriously.
S.Bess shared that a lot of things have happened, some things that cannot be shared with everyone. There are certain things in the student handbook that are non-negotiables. Using restorative practices is part of our school model and although we are never going to be a "no excuses" school, there are some things that we just cannot allow. The issues have been with a very small number of students but it is a disruption to the education environment. S.Bess added that PPHS is putting a ton of resources into the school to make sure we come out of the issues by Fall Break.
M.Weber shared that we have spent a lot of time talking about restorative practices and asked if there are any policies or things in the school handbook that should be there. K.Warren responded that we revisit the handbook every year and do things our of an abundance of caution and that our policies are in really good shape.D.Cook asked if we feel like we have a good feel of what our maximum capacity is. S.Bess responded that Englewood is currently at capacity. School dismissal is an area where the school is thinking about how to ensure 500+ students aren't walking out the door at the same time to reduce the likelihood of anything bad happening. G.Bertoline asked if PPHS has thought about onboarding students. S.Ward responded that we do have a Cycle 0 that focuses on student onboarding and added that it takes some students more time than others. G.Bertoline suggested considering having students come in during the summer. S.Ward indicated that extending Cycle 0 and looking at time in the summer will be something for PPHS to take a look at.
A parent spoke and provided that there was a police officer that helped direct traffic last year. S.Ward shared that the police officer is still there, but doesn't have a car. PPHS is in the process of purchasing a car to help manage traffic in front of the school.
The parent provided that there appears to be no staff or police officer outside and students no systems regulating students crossing the street or traffic patterns. The parent added that change has to happen. M.Weber shared that we appreciate you being here and sharing her concerns. M.Weber added that PPHS absolutely needs to respond to traffic patterns and requested that an updated be provided at the next Board meeting.
The parent raised concerns about phones being answered at Englewood. S.Bess promised that an administrator would follow up.
T.Reives asked how the Board could verify the actions of PPHS. S.Ward reported that the car is being purchased today and offered to meet tomorrow with the parent. M.Quintana added that there are other schools that dismiss in areas with visibly high traffic patterns and said PPHS needs to put a lot of emphasis on this. M.Weber said the Board will follow up at the next Board meeting.

Board Membership

M.Weber will open discussion regarding Board members.

M.Weber reported that PPHS is a few Board members shy of target. As we prepare for President Daniels' transition we are planning to expand the size of the Board temporarily to 11. This will allows us to add 4 Board members. We would like to add someone from the Mitch Daniels Leadership Fundation as well to allow us to bring some up and coming talent. We have been working on a list of potential Board members with President Daniels and would like to give the incoming president the opportunity to select someone as a chosen designee to the Board. M.Weber added that the hope is to vote some new individuals on to the Board in November meeting so that we can start fresh in January.

Charter Application

K.Reier will provide a brief update on the charter application submission to open a school in Pike Township.

K.Reier reported that the charter application for a new school in Pike has been submitted to the Mayor's Office and reported that the next steps will be a capacity interview of PPHS staff and the Board chair in early November, followed by a hearing with the Indianapolis Charter School Board in mid-November. The date of the Indianapolis Charter School Board hearing is TBD.

K.Kobe asked whether a real estate search has started. S.Bess responded that PPHS staff toured4 potential sites on Monday and are also exploring a few other one-off options. S.Bess added that the goal is to have a tentative location identified when we meet with the Mayor's Office charter school staff.

Development Update

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

M.Quintana reported that the Development Committee will meet next week. We are currently trying to figure out how to best leverage the Purdue Alumni Association and hope to leverage their volunteer resources. M.Quintana added that we would like to have a major fundraiser and see if or how we can leverage President Daniels in that area. M.Quintana asked that members of the Board send thoughts to her and added that we are still looking to grow the Development Committee.

K.Reier reported that The Mind Trust's Board of Directors voted last night to provide PPHS with a $500,000 grant to support the start-up and implementation of the new school in Pike Township. K.Reier added that PPHS staff are working with a number of other funders and we hope to provide more announcements of new commitments at the next Board meeting.

J.Smith left the meeting at 4:57 PM.

Recognition of George Pillow's Service

The Board will review a resolution to recognize George Pillow for his services to PPHS. This item requires approval by recorded vote.

M.Weber directed the Board to a Recognition of George Pillow's Service in their Board packets.

K.Kobe made a motion to approve the Recognition of George Pillow's Service. G.Bertoline seconded the motion.

DECISION: The Board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

Roll Call:

M.Quintana Aye

G.Bertoline Aye

K.Kobe Aye

D.Cook Aye

J.Smith Absent

T.Reives Aye

M.Weber Aye

Academic Excellence

College Board Results

K.Primrose will briefly share DOE SAT results.

K.Primrose presented Spring 2022 DOE-SAT results. K.Primrose shared that ISTEP is no longer administered and all juniors now take the SAT. PPHS looks at our results and the results of IPS and all of Marion County to make sure we are looking at the most alike schools. PPHS is still outperforming its counterparts in most areas/

S.Bess added that PPHS always compares itself to the state and the state is a much different comparison. Our results compared to IPS are immense as well as the townships from which the schools draw. S.Bess added that no one in the state should be happy about the results. M.Weber noted that the Board would like to start seeing the same comparisons for South Bend.

G.Bertoline asked if the staff are going to take a closer look at Math. K.Primrose responded that the schools have historically used Edmentum and we've done away with it at Englewood and North, with coaches providing direct instruction in a project-based environment.

M.Weber asked what the expected lag time is for seeing improvement in Math results. K.Primrose responded that we expect to see improvement in the spring and an even greater improvement in 2 more years.

Summer Programming Results

K.Warren will briefly share results from the Purdue Summer Experience.

K.Warren presented student results for students who participated in the Purdue summer experience. This is the second year that students have had the opportunity to participate in the Purdue summer experience and some students have now participated for two years. During the summer experience, students take college courses, live in dorms, and have the option of being on campus for 1 week or 4 weeks. 143 PPHS students went to campus over the summer.

K.Warren reported that Purdue's admissions office worked really well with students. K.Warren reviewed the results and added that students reported feeling like they learned a lot and know what they need to do in order to be successful. Students have also been connected to resources.
G.Bertoline added that John Gipson has done a tremendous job and we should recognize that.

Facilities

S.Bess will provide a brief update regarding facilities.

S.Bess shared that pending IPS approval and PPHS Board approval in November, PPHS will have a 10-year lease to the third floor of Broad Ripple High School. IPS is planning facility upgrades including new HVAC and a new entrance for PPHS. S.Bess additionally reported that the South Bend campus is still planning to move to the larger building next school year.

K.Kobe asked whether PPHS needs to unwind anything from the agreement with Keystone. S.Bess responded that both PPHS and Keystone are good to part ways after this school year. PPHS will have possession of the 1405 building through this school year but gave Keystone the go-ahead to show the space to potential tenants and PPHS would vacate the building if Keystone found a tenant. Vacating the building before the end of the year would free up dollars that would otherwise be allocated toward rent.
K.Kobe asked whether PPHS will have any build-out allowance for Broad Ripple High School. S.Bess responded that IPS is only doing infrastructure work and that if PPHS would like to make changes to our portion of the building, PPHS would be financially responsible. K.Kobe asked whether PPHS would have to borrow money. S.Bess responded that if we wanted to do something quickly, then yes, and noted that PPHS does not currently have any debt, so it could be a possibility.

Closing Items

Next Meeting Date

The next PPHS Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for November 9, 2022 at 4pm.

M.Weber adjourned the meeting at 5:40 PM.

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