CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW COMMITTEE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW COMMITTEE KEVIN INGRAM, CHAIR Joyce Mallory, Vice-Chair Melinda Scott Krei, Desiree Pointer-Mace, Gayle Peay, and Glenn Steinbrecher CSRC Clerk: Jarett Fields, (414) 288-1540 Staff Assistant: Linda Elmer, (414) 286-2231 Fax: 286-3456, lelmer@milwaukee.gov Thursday, August 13, 2015 5:30 PM City Hall, Room 301-B Meeting convened: 5:33 P.M. All members present. 1. Roll call. 2. Election of a Chair and Vice-Chair. Ms. Pointer-Mace moved, seconded by Ms. Scott Krei, for the nomination of Kevin Ingram to chair. There were no objections. There were no other nominations. The Vice Chair will be elected once a fifth member is appointed to the Committee. 3. Review and approval of the minutes from the June 2, 2015 meeting. Ms. Peay moved, seconded by Ms. Scott Krei, for approval of the minutes. There were no objections. 4. Presentation by City Clerk Jim Owczarski. The City Clerk's Office has been assigned the responsibilties of staffing this body. The meetings need to meet open meetings laws and open records laws and will be using Granicus for its records and IPads during meetings. The meetings will be televised and archived. The City Clerk's office will also maintain the records of this body. 5. 150544 Communication relating to administrative matters of the Charter School Review Committee. Sponsors: THE CHAIR Ms. Susan Gramling from the Children's Research Center (CRC) came to the table and said CRC has been providing analysis to this body through its contract. She is present to address the renewal of the 2015/2016 contract, which would be an extension to the current contract. The memo contained in the file details what City of Milwaukee Page 1 CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW Meeting Minutes August 13, 2015 COMMITTEE contractual duties are performed by CRC. CRC makes recommendations as to what the committee should do in terms of renewal, monitoring, or suspension of a school and renewal of school contracts. The memo does detail the costs of the contract as well. This contract year will include interviews with students, teachers, parents and board members at each school, which increases the cost. The sealed surveys from parents are returned to the schools and then forwarded, still sealed, to CRC. Three phone attempts are made to contact parents who didn't respond to the survey. Ms. Pointer-Mace commended Ms. Gramling on the work of CRC. Ms. Scott Krei moved, seconded by Ms. Pointer-Mace to accept the contract. There were no objections. Mr. Jarett Fields presented an overview of the Marquette University contract for 2016-2018. Mr. Fields said that these funds are not city funds, but are the 2% authorizer fee charged to the schools authorized by the Common Council, which is calculated per pupil. The changes from 2012 include: Mr. Fields acting as the liaison with the CRC, city staff, elected officials, schools and authorizers. Working with new CSRC members to bring them "up to speed". Developing opportunity for board member development and relevant conferences. Ms. Scott Krei commended the work of Mr. Fields during his first year in this role Ms. Pointer-Mace moved, seconded by Ms. Peay, for acceptance of the 2016-18 contract. There were no objections. 6. 150541 Communication relating to the 2015/16 activities of King’s Academy. Sponsors: THE CHAIR The letter from Pastor John McVicker was read by the chair noting that King's Academy intends to become a choice school for the 2016-17 school year. Mr. Jennie Dorsey came to the table as the new leader of King's Academy and she supports the vision of Pastor McVicker. This year the school is putting systems in place to look at the culture of the building and create a culture of learning, focusing on positive behavior with an appropriate system of supports. The goal is to teach the expectations that you want your students to have, which is a continual process. The instructional time will increase. The fifth grade will join the middle school and all will teach reading and a core subject. There will also be compass learning twice a week for all students K5 through eighth grade. They will focus on literacy and data-driven learning. They have a new position of "Dean of Students" and will really focus on the academics and what the students will be doing. The chair wished her success in her endeavors and asked that she work with Mr. Fields. Ms. Pointer-Mace moved, seconded by Ms. Scott Krei, for acceptance of the letter from Pastor McVickers. 7. 150542 Communication relating to the 2015/16 activities of Milwaukee Collegiate Academy. Sponsors: THE CHAIR Ms. Judith Parker came to the table and she is the new principal of the Milwaukee Collegiate Academy. For this year, the overarching message is around "Bs are better" and focusing on higher standards for students rather than just getting a 74 or better. There are key letters the school intends to push: teacher excellence and working collaboratively with other teachers to identify students potentially at risk and support the teachers; and focusing on getting students to be self-directed and persistant in reaching goals and self-correcting if they are not attaining these goals. City of Milwaukee Page 2 CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW Meeting Minutes August 13, 2015 COMMITTEE Ms. Pointer-Mace would like Ms. Parker to come back and report on how "Bs are better" is progressing. 8. 150543 Communication relating to the 2015/16 activities of North Point Lighthouse. Sponsors: THE CHAIR Ms. Debb Lins, the new principal and Ms. Lalenunat Johnson, the new assistant principal, came to the table. and provided handouts relating to their plans for upcoming school year. (contained in the file). Ms. Lins said a lot of time was spent interviewing candidates (about six hours per candidate) and she has a 4" stack of candidates that didn't meet their standards. There will be a new curriculum and there will also be a new school-wide behavior plan which will provide consistent standards for student behavior. The second handout lists events that are scheduled or have been held. Seventh grade has been added, so the school now has K4 through 7th grade and has 400 students enrolled. The target enrollment is 412 students. They have started their first Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and the parents are energized. This is Ms. Johnson's second year at the school - last year she was primarily working as a substitute teacher. She began her teaching career at Milwaukee College and Prep and has two Master's degrees. She feels that the students in her school should and will enjoy the same high education standards that her own kids, who are now in college, did. The school hired 13 new teachers and retained 8 from the prior year. Ms. Pointer-Mace pointed out the administration needs to support the teachers and should provide hope to teachers, rather than a source of despair or stress to teachers. Meeting adjourned: 6:36 P.M. LInda M. Elmer Staff Assistant City of Milwaukee Page 3