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Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting will be called to the order, beginning with the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence.

Approval of Agenda

So that there is agreement between board members on the agenda, and the amount of time spent on the meeting, the board shall vote to approve an agenda for the meeting. To the best of its ability, it will follow that agenda, and allow for the chair to move the board through the agenda as specified.

Approval of Minutes from Oct 12, 2020

Public Comment

Our Public Comment period is for members of the public to address the board. Each member of the public may sign up by clicking this link (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmByyDFcXLkdWUUncl8ynAHaqjsgZqi1PARoJijLz9tyRk-Q/viewform ) to comment at the meeting. The board may read the comments during the meeting, but may not directly respond to any comments. Our meetings are open to the public and public record. As such, if your comment is about a private matter, please contact the board via email, or speak to the board chair privately.

Seneca Rivers

Comment- I do not need to speak. I read the agenda, and I do not understand why the new members are not being sworn in tonight. This does not follow the charter policy and procedure. This has been done every year, for years. As a community member I am not ok with this not being done correctly.

Megan Barbee

Comment- After looking at the agenda, other staff and I are curious as to why the newly elected Board Members -- Mrs. Melanie Millar and Mr. Carson Stewart -- are not attending the meeting this evening and being "sworn in" as members of the BOD, as was stated in previous communications. I understand that there is a run-off for the parent seat and that the Board may not make officer elections until the results are in, but not including newly-elected Board members to get sworn-in feels out of accordance with our charter.

2nd Comment- I just watched an ad from Senator Sandy Senn, running for re-election, which features Melanie Millar (incoming board member). A label under Mrs. Millar's name states "James Island Charter High School," which leads viewers to assume that she is a teacher at JICHS. I understand that she is to be confirmed to the Board of Directors, but as of the date/time of the ad release, she is not legally affiliated with JICHS. While it is certainly okay for Mrs. Millar to endorse a candidate publicly or privately, I find it misleading and troubling that she does so under the impression of being a current educator at JICHS.

Prestige

Presenting JICHS monthly Financial Statement.

Updates from Finance meeting 10/12/2020

Revenue

Page 1:

• Student Fees was decreased $50,000.00. Monthly averages for Bus and Parking fees were pulled since 7/1/2018 and the annual amount was decreased by 33 and 66 percent respectively. This resulted in a $43,876.80 annual total decrease. Mr. Drake proposed decreasing to 180k during finance meeting which was very close to this number so the adjustment was made to decrease to 180k total.
• Other Pupil Income was decreased $150,000.00. Monthly Averages for Athletic Gate Receipts was pulled since 7/1/2018 and the annual amount was decreased by 80 percent resulting in $105,608.17 of the decrease. The other $45,0000 decrease was a result of taking out the larger field trip revenue which is going to be almost non-existent during COVID-19.
• Rentals was decreased $18,000. The Crossroads Community Church typically rented JICHS space for $1,610 per month which is currently happening as a result of COVID-19.

Expenses

Page 8:

• Athletic/Field Trip Student Transportation and travel  was decreased for a combined $45,000. There will be less Field Trip and Athletic travel this year with all the restrictions in place. This decrease also offsets some of the decrease in revenue for these same items.
• Athletic Other Purchased Services was decreased $35,000. Monthly averages were pulled since 7/1/2018 and the annual amount for athletic security and officials was decreased by 50% to arrive at the budget change.
• $500 Net Bonus- 130k of bonuses on page 6.

Bottom Line- 522K in the black

Review of Medical Metrics for Charleston County

https://scdhec.gov/covid19/resources-community-covid-19/covid-19-cases-associated-staff-students

Charleston Coalition for Wireless Safety Standards

Spekers:

Alison Price

Amy McLeod 

Karen Beard

During the meeting I will briefly speak to introduce our concerns about the Milestone Communications agreement with CCSD and its implications for the school community. Amy McLeod, legal counsel for the Charleston Coalition for Wireless Safety Standards will briefly speak about recent legal developments and liabilities. Karen Beard, a James Island resident and co-founder of the CCWSS will give an overview of our group’s participation and observation of what has transpired with the Milestone contract and school communities in Mt. Pleasant.

Last test was done in 1996. Issues from cell tower , insomnia, cancer, brain issue in children. Cell towers are concentrated microwave radiation. Exposure accumulate over a life time and biological disruptions. Wanted to discuss the importance of letting them know. It's important to start the conversation now. Fiber optic cable is an option without health concerns.

McLeod Law Firm 15+ years the cell towers is the negligence as tobacco and asbestos. People who make the decision have to look into the science and make a reasonable decision.

November 2019 Moultrie middle school . Mile stone parents must have input. You have to pull parents together to issue a call to action to oppose the tower. Mildstome communication can propose a tower at any CCSD school.

Leadership Report

Presented by Leadership Chair Sheli Ballard.

LEADERSHIP TEAM: 

• The leadership team is beginning the process of reviewing our 2019-20 Charter Goals action plans.  We will use this to create action plans for the 2020-21 school year in the coming weeks, too!
• Charter Goal #1
• Charter Goal #2
• Charter Goal #3
• The leadership team has distributed a faculty survey to gauge the climate at this point in the semester and to make sure that we are meeting the needs of teachers.  These results will be published no later than Friday, Oct. 23.

PERFORMING ARTS:

• Please enjoy the Performing Arts Slide Presentation!

ROTC:

• As stated in last month's ROTC report, we continue to adjust to the COVID restrictions as much as possible and are striving to keep as much "normalcy" in our program for our cadets. The hybrid schedule is a definite improvement over remote learning; however, all is not well. As a department we are observing a significant decrease in expected performance by many students--too many--early in this first quarter. We are greatly concerned by the profound apathy exhibited in too many of our students as compared to their performance last fall and are actively brainstorming ideas to motivate and instill optimism in our students to turn their much poorer performance around. Being hybrid now, some of our co-curricular activities are getting off the ground such as our "Raider Team", Color Guard, E-Sports, etc. which is helping to attract some cadet involvement, yet the decrease in enthusiasm and participation rates due to COVID fears and apparent outright psychological depression is profound. 

Athletic Report

Presented by Athletic Director Jeremy Holland.

Athletics Report October 19th

Individual Sports Reports:

Football - Varsity football is 1-3 overall and in Region; JV Football is 0-3; C Team Football is 1-1

Volleyball -  Varsity 7-5 (5-3 in Region)

Girls Golf - Team finished 4th in Region and will play in Lower State 

Cross Country - Girls won Region and Hannah Vroon set a school record and won Individual Region with a time of 17:58. Boys finished 4th in Region but were without their second-best runner.

Boys and Girls Swim - Boys and Girls finished 5th in the State. The boys team set 3 new school records in relays. You can check out all results here: http://schsl.org/index.php/brackets-state-champions-2/

Both teams did a wonderful job this year as they competed in the best Region in the state in 4A. Of the top 5 teams in the state 4 of the 5 teams came out of our region in the girls and 4 out of top 6 in the boys state. 

Girls Tennis - 6-3 in the region and didn’t get the at large bid.

Athletic Director Report

1. COVID Procedures: check out the website for information: https://jichsathletics.com/
2. All ticketing will be online this year. 
3. Fall season has gone well. No positive Covid cases with athletes so far. 

Concerns:

Budget after losing out on gate money from spring sports. 

COVID!!! This still remains a concern with ticket sales barely covering our expenses for operating games. 

Maintenance Report

Presented by Mr. Thorn

Oct 19th, 2020

1. Roof leak repairs have been completed over the office area at the rear of the gym, ROTC storage, Room 309, and upstairs book room. 

1. Additional sanitizing stations have been installed campus wide. 

1.  Lighting damage to the turf field irrigation system has been repaired and all irrigation systems are operational.           

1. The updated software has been installed in the Annex air units that provide makeup air for the PAC building. 

1.  JICHS Facilities Maint. Dept. has received and processed 84 work orders from Sept 21st, to the present.   

               Marty Monette

               Facilities Director, JICHS

School Leader Report

Presented by Mr. Thorn

Academics/School Update of Events

Hybrid Model Update

From a building and student management perspective, the school still seems relatively empty. The students have been very compliant with regard to COVID-19 protocols. The two most concerning times of the school, arrival, and lunch, have gone extremely well. Students are wearing their masks and sitting in designated seats. Occasional prompts to wear masks correctly or to stay socially distant are needed, but that has been very manageable. 

The plexiglass dividers have been tremendously successful. Mr. Edwards invented the design, which is safe and low cost. The breezeway is used by teachers for masks breaks or to have a class outside for the part of the lesson.      

Virtual/Remote/In-person Requests

We are doing our best to work with parents on their requests to change. Parents were informed if they chose the Virtual Academy that it was a one-semester commitment. Regardless, we have received several requests to transfer to in-person/hybrid. This is an extremely complex request because we are essentially running two schools, virtual and in-person. We can only make the change if we can replicate their schedule. There needs to be a seat available in each course on the same Orange or Blue team, which is complete luck. No other students’ schedules will be adjusted for these requests.

We had over 50 requests for students to remain remote once we transitioned to the hybrid schedule. We’ve allowed students to remain remote on the condition that certain activities or assessments require them to come to the school to complete. It is not reasonable to require teachers to create assessments or recreate activities that cannot easily be replicated in a remote setting. These assessments can be administered in a learning center with only a proctor in the vicinity of the student (Cafeteria, Media Center, Fine Arts Lobby).

FYI- A student requesting to remain remote cannot just give their seat to a Virtual Academy student. They would need to have the exact same schedule for that to occur, which is virtually impossible.   

Drop Class Deadline

CCSD changed the deadline to drop a class from within the first two weeks of school to November 10, 2020. This is typically for level changes (Honors to CP). The rationale is to show grace before grades during this unusual time. JICHS is following this policy.

Town Hall Meeting 10.6.2020 

The Town Hall went well. We had 47 attendees. 10.6.2020 Town Hall Q&A

WIN Testing

Make-up WIN from last spring is on October 21&28. Students that score silver and above are considered College and Career Ready by the state department. 

Technology Update

The technology team has been committed to providing support to students and their families and to faculty and staff.  

Technology, with the additional support of the JICHS media specialists, has responded to incoming phone calls and emails.  

Technology has supported classroom teachers with setting up cameras and installing instructional apps and software to help promote social distancing and safe sanitary care for equipment.

Technology has also assisted a number of families with assistive technologies so that learning can remain as optimal as possible in the remote setting. 

Safety Update August 2020

Installed plexiglass in offices and classrooms.

Fabricated plexiglass dividers for outdoor tables.

Working with CCSD to get quotes for plexiglass dividers for student desks.

Planning safety drills for the hybrid schedule and to meet district protocol for COVID-19.

Supplied all classrooms with hand sanitizer, spray disinfectant, and paper towels.

Construction Update

CTE

Preconstruction has started on the CTE wing. Trailers are currently being removed or relocated. The TWD and We CARE trailers will hopefully be ready for use in late October or early November.   

Outdoor Science Classroom

Final plans for the outdoor classroom are being drafted. The project is expected to be completed by April 2021. 

District 3 Bus Lot

The district agreed to use the band practice field for student parking, which preserves the practice field behind the home grandstands. Approximately 80 student parking spaces will fit in that space, which is 40 less than the previous plan. This will reduce our student parking lots down to approximately 390s. The athletic drive can be used for overflow parking. We may have a walking problem, but not a parking problem. We have not received an updated version of the plan. I have not been given a timeline for this project. 

JICHS Board of Directors Meeting Dates 9.21.2020

2020-21 Board of Directors- 5:30 pm on the third Monday of the month.

8/17/2020, 9/21/2020, 10/19/2020, 11/16/2020, 12/14/2020, 1/25/2021, 2/22/2021, 3/15/2021, 4/19/2021, 5/17/2021, 6/14/2021.  

2019-20 Finance Committee- 4:00 pm on the second Monday of the month.

8/10/2020, 9/14/2020, 10/12/2020, 11/9/2020, 12/7/2020, 1/11/2021, 2/8/2021, 3/8/2021, 4/12/2021, 5/10,2021, 6/7/2021. 

Executive Session

• Contracts- CCSD Charter Contract Update
• Personnel- 
• Legal- 
• Student Privacy-  

Motions From Executive Session

~ No Motions

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:17 pm