HCCS School Board Business Meeting Minutes Hope Chinese Charter School 9100 SW Wilshire Street Portland, OR 97225 October 8, 2014, 6:30 pm ­ 9:15 pm ATTENDEES: Board: Sanjay Reddy (chair), Molly Heywood, Deborah Dang, Grant Foster, Victor de Pablos, Shannon Tocchini Present at the request of the Board: Julie Rickman, Debi Lorence, Jennie Dunaway, Caroline Li Additional attendees: Dean Waters PROCEEDINGS: 6:30 Call to order. 6:30 Approval of Agenda. Moved PTO budget discussion to next meeting per request of PTO. Resolved: Updated 9/14 minutes with corrected 2014/15 budget total, $158K deficit before fundraising; fundraising level met for 2014/15. September 10, 2014 minutes and September 14, 2014 minutes approved. 6:35
Principal’s Report ­ Julie Rickman (see presentation slides for detail) ● New Teacher Assistant Arrival ● Volunteer training (all who missed ­ connect with Marcella for tutorial) ● Will create school brochure using a similar format used by BSD schools ● BSD Progress Report ­ we are being compared to the average scores of other dual immersion school scores (we are doing very well); complimented us on our report on evidence of love and care for the kids at our school; appreciate our transparency; John Bridges/BSD ­ positive evaluation of scores and teacher strategies (draft report) ● Received significant donation of Chinese education and cultural materials as part of our grant from Confucius institute. 6:50 Treasurer Report ­­ Deborah Dang (see presentation slides for detail) ● Net income ­ break even from month to month for last two months 6:55 Committee and Task Force Updates: Charter Renewal Task Force ­ Molly Heywood (see presentation slides for detail) ● Everything on track 1 ●
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Potential BSD Topic ­ proficiency in upper elementary grades/language proficiency considerations ○ Public school examples (Hillsboro ­ two dual immersion schools) Grant ­ caveats ­ linguistically gifted kids; recommendation ­ have assessment in place Recommend ­ consider and discuss dual immersion versus one way immersion (future Board or committee discussion) Recommend ­ Update enrollment Plan K ­ 3 and going up to 8th as of 2020 ●
Middle School Task Force ­ Julie Rickman (see presentation slides for detail) ● In process of evaluating what a middle school would look like for us ● K­8 model determined to be the best option ● Potential to share resources with another Charter (such as Arco Iris) ● Challenge with ISB option ­ lottery school; Chinese as a foreign language versus immersion ● Still brainstorming a financially sustainable model and other programs/resources that would be a draw (STEM, etc.) ● Next meeting ­ October 16 ● December Board meeting will report out on next steps 501c3 Task Force ­ Deborah Dang (see presentation slides for detail) ● Direction changed, 501c3 with teacher hire and PTO creates conflict ● Need to explore options and discuss with BSD before pursuing a 501c3 ● Exploring LLC option for private programs ● Looking at Executive Director for private programs ● PTO will continue to work under the current school 501c3 Comments (Caroline) ● Use the benchmark numbers (DRA) from other schools ­ as part of what we communicate on performance ● Brand identity ­ we exude love and care for our kids 7:40 PM Branding Strategy for HCCS ­ Overview for the Board ­ Caroline Li (see presentation slides for detail) ● Mission and Values ● Brand Promise ­ accurate and consistently executed in order to be authentic ● Consistent/positive brand experience ● Brand Standards/Guidelines/Strategies ● Wisdom Seekers/PBIS ● Secondary Brands ● Common Language; Proof Points ● Branding Roadmap ● Next Steps: Sanjay to work with Caroline to integrate into Community & Culture section of HCCS Strategic Plan. Develop guidelines and/or policy for Board approval. 8:15 PM Development Plan ­ Debi Lorence (see presentation slides for detail) ● Deliver the value ○ put out the seeds ­ get the name out and connect ○ Mission statement ­ “immersion” is a more powerful word than “bilingual” ­ Mandarin is the unique ■ Strength: Academics; finance 2 ■
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Weak: young, small; not a strong wait list Opportunities; teachers; Threats: state testing; reduced attendance/attrition in upper grades; charter renewal Planting (many ideas, including) ○ Increase local awareness ­ get district in the building; build rock solid relationships ○ U of O ­ Chinese Flagship Program (school partnership program) ○ Open to donors/community touring ○ Parent ambassadors (Welcome Wednesdays) ○ Partner with other Mandarin spelling bee ○ Mandarin Teacher’s & Principal’s Conference ○ Starting Clubs ­ Destination Imagination examples ○ Donor recognition ­ table sponsors ○ Concordia as an outreach school Growing: Secure annual events sponsors ●
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Harvest: Set­up endowment and alumni association 2020 Vision ­ for those of you here now… what is the legacy you leave? What do you put in place for the next gen of school leaders and volunteers... 9:05 New Business / Upcoming Agendas ● November Board Meeting (11/12) ○ HCCS Strategic Plan Review: Student Success (Julie Rickman) ○ Board Governance Policy Approval (Sanjay Reddy) ○ Grievance Policy Update (Shannon Tocchini) ○ PTO Budget & Event Proposal (Jenny Lee Berry) ○ Middle School Task Force (possibly) 9:15 Meeting Adjourned ________________________________________ Sanjay Reddy, Chair ________________________________________ Shannon Tocchini, Secretary 3