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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.

Approve the minutes Feb 22nd

Public Comment

Click for Public Comment

Our Public Comment period is for members of the public to address the board. 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 records. As such, if your comment is about a private matter, please contact the board via email, or speak to the board. Any individual who desires to appear before a regular meeting of the board shall sign in prior to 5:30 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE: This meeting will be broadcast via Zoom webinar, and open sessions will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the public comment submission deadline occurring one-hour prior at 4:30 p.m. After this time, the form will no longer be able to accept responses. The board may or may choose to read or respond to public comments.

No Public comment at the start of the metting.

Prestige

Presenting JICHS monthly Financial Statement.

There is a lag from CCSD billing-

Waiting for the bill from program school ex. Early College

Waiting for the bill from CCSD for Transportation.

Staff Bonus

- $500 net bonus, the estimated cost is $130 K

JICHS Instructional Plan- Leadership Recommendation

Leadership recommends that the Board consider the following recommendation:  To retain Wednesdays as an e-learning day and offer a 4-day option to hybrid students to finish the year. On the e-learning day, instruction should be synchronous on that day.

Review COVID DATA

DHEC Reports, JICHS Covid Connect, CCSD Covid Dashboard.

DHECh-Rate medium overall trending downward

JICHS- March total so far is 12 total

CCSD-

Leadership Report

Presented by Leadership Chair Sheli Ballard.

LEADERSHIP TEAM: 

• The LT has distributed a faculty survey to (1) have a more informed perspective when making decisions & (2) better understand the climate of our school. These results will be discussed among the LT and our response will be shared at the April BoD meeting.
• The LT has approved revisions to our existing charter document and will submit those to the JICHS BoD for approval.  If approved, they will be submitted to CCSD for consideration.
• The  LT recommends that, when looking forward to the remainder of the school year, JICHS continue reserve Wednesdays as an early-release eLearning day:
• Teachers will continue to plan, teach, grade, & communicate in a “double” capacity -- hybrid & in-person as well as virtual academy students.  This schedule permits teachers time within the school week to conduct meetings, attend PD, plan, grade, & communicate with students/families.
• This maintains some consistency with class schedules which students & families have organized outside obligations around (e.g., student jobs).
• Most departments report eLearning days as opportunities for catching up on work, SEL, individual/small group tutoring.
• Teachers will offer synchronous instruction during eLearning days except under extraneous circumstances (e.g., testing).

PERFORMING ARTS:

• PA Presentation

SOCIAL STUDIES:

• IB Anthropology: We finished our ethnography on Chernobyl and have moved into one that explores the culture in El Barrio (NYC) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This ethnography is more challenging as it shows us the dirty underside for our own culture, and the problems that our policies and culture can create. In the coming weeks, we will be attending a virtual field trip walking tour through El Barrio, which we will be excited to share with you for your next meeting in April. In the meantime, please check out an essay and a presentation two of  our students wrote and created regarding our exploration of the Ukraine and the Chernobyl meltdown from our last ethnography. Here & Here.
• AP European History: We are learning about Industrialization and the growth of cities during the 19th and 20th centuries. Next week, we will hold a debate about the pros and cons of child labor from the perspectives of people who lived during that era. Some examples can be seen here & here. This week we also met with former AP Euro students who took full IB or partial IB/AP tracks in their Junior & Senior years to help current AP Euro students determine what type of classes they might want to choose next year.
• US History 2nd Semester Courses: We are moving through the colonization period, learning how the countries along the Atlantic ocean influenced the formation of revolutionary ideas that eventually led to republicanism and federalism in the Americas. At the moment, we are looking at how the first government under the articles of confederation did not solve all of the problems the new country was facing.
• US History Year Long Courses: Students are learning about Progressivism, which was a reform movement in 20th century America. Students why Americans sought reforms for governmental policies during a period of rampant economic inequality.
• SS Department Virtual Open House - Click HERE

SCIENCE

• (Epps, Reeves) Earth Science students are using technology to bridge the gap between those working remotely and those who are physically present during activities like the rock cycle lab. In this lab, students put a sugar cube through the wringer to demonstrate some possible pathways rocks take over millions of years.

• (Lyles) IB Biology HL Year 2  We are in our FINAL unit of instruction before beginning to review for the IB exam in May.  This group of students have been with me for 2 years and have learned a lot of Biology!  Our final unit is a tough one.  Students created visual representations of cellular respiration based on IB style questions.  Students worked Wednesday in breakout rooms to present their work to each other.  Afterwards, each student emailed Mrs. Lyles with 1 positive and 1 improvement for 2 of their classmates’ work. Samples of their work are linked below:

Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3

• (Evans, Schoen, Barrett) In Honors Biology the students are moving into a new unit where they will focus on cell transport and cell division. The students will also be participating in planting marsh grass here at the school. Virtual students will be choosing and designing their own plant experiment to carry out over the course of the semester. All classes will also be taking part in the egg osmosis lab. 
• (Evans) Marine science students went to DNR-Fort Johnson earlier this week to collect plankton and identify species under the microscope. The students also discussed with DNR staff the importance of plankton and of monitoring plankton in our local marine ecosystems. 

On Thursday the students met once again at DNR to help plant smooth cordgrass into small pots. These will be transplanted later in the spring season to the marsh to help restore damaged salt marsh ecosystems. 

• Reeves (CP Biology) Students took time during class to enjoy the fabulous weather and draw models of plant and animal cells with chalk on the sidewalk outside the science building!

• Lyles (Biology 2) Students performed an experiment with slime molds to test for characteristics of living organisms.  Slime molds are members of Kingdom Protista.  They have no brain or nervous system yet they can navigate mazes to find food.  The links below show a timeline of 9 days of slime mold growth.  Oats were placed on the agar as a food source.

Slime Mold Timeline 1

Slime Mold Timeline 2

• (Lyles) Biology 2 students cultured bacteria and then performed gram-staining to identify the bacteria as either gram positive or gram negative.  This is a common test used in microbiology labs to help with bacterial identification.  Students also took pictures of what they were viewing under the microscope.

• (Barrett) H Chemistry - being virtual didn’t stop these chemistry students from being able to identify emission spectrums of elements. Early last week students observed the different “fingerprints” of elements and then were able to identify those same elements based on the colors they saw during the flame test!

• (Barrett) H Biology - Students started the egg lab today. This lab will span 4 days during which students will take measurements and be able to explain the processes of diffusion and osmosis across the cell membrane!
• ’
• The Science Department made this video to highlight the courses and activities that take place in the department every day.  The video will be part of the Spring 2021 Virtual Open House

Spring 2021 Science Open House Video

• IB Sciences

Total Students enrolled in IB sciences

Total Seniors Enrolled in IB Sciences

66

24 (there are 5 seniors enrolled in more than one IB science course)

Notable Information

19-20 School  Year

AP/IB Chemistry and IB Biology HL Year 1 - Sophie Bartosh, Andrew Farell, Matthew Grenier and Camp Hagood.  All earned qualifying scores on the AP and IB Chemistry May 20 exams

HR Forensics and HR Physics - Andrew Levy (enrolled in IB science 20-21 school year)

20-21 School Year

AP/IB Chemistry and IB Biology HL - Katelyn Wyandt (IB Bio Year 2), Claudia Baicu (IB Bio Year 1)

AP/IB Physics and IB Biology HL Year 2 - Andrew Farrell, Matthew Grenier and Camp Hagood

IB SEHS (Sports Exercise and Health Science)  and IB Biology HL Year 1 - Josie Overcash

IB Biology HL Year 1 and HR Marine Science - Abigail Clum

IB SEHS and AP/IB Chemistry - Hudson Graham (Chem 19-20/SEHS 20-21).  Hudson earned a qualifying score on the IB Chem May 20 exam

IB SEHS and CP Marine Science - Jackie Rutan 

LIBRARY:

• We hosted a Project Lit event along with UBASA and representatives from English & World Languages.  The theme was social justice - we celebrated all historically underrepresented populations.  The event was student led by Teacher Cadets and UBASA members.  Members of the community were invited to participate and to lead discussions on causing Good Trouble.

• Ms Crumpton collaborated with Mr. Hilyer and helped his students produce StoryBoard presentations to help them with learning vocabulary.
• Freshman English and Health classes came in for orientation and learned (finally!) where the library was and what services we offer.  We offered complimentary virtual and in-person sessions for both orange and blue students.

ROTC:

• Our ROTC unit had another successful “Curriculum In Action” field trip to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, GA, on 2/25/21. Some cadets were able to enjoy a guided tour of the museum while others took a self-guided tour. All cadets learned about how the men and women of the Mighty Eighth Air Force contributed greatly to the Allied victories in the European Theater of Operations in World War II.

• On 3/01/2021, Trojan JROTC cadets were able to begin to learn and demonstrate the capabilities of one of their newest science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, teaching and learning tools--the multicopter, or quadcopter--a remote-controlled aircraft propelled by four rotors.
• The quadcopter was introduced into the Junior ROTC program to modernize the curriculum and invoke excitement by providing an opportunity for those cadets interested to have some "hands-on" fun that supports the aerospace science curriculum of the JROTC classroom. With the older cadets teaching the newer ones, JROTC is letting cadets become teachers themselves.

WORLD LANGUAGES:

ENGLISH:

• Broome: my 10th grade Honors English classes are studying Thoreau and will be reading his essay "Walking" while actually walking around our JI campus today. We will be looking for an outdoor area that we can possibly turn into an amphitheater for our English and Drama classes. We are going to be using our writing skills to obtain a grant in order to get supplies for the amphitheater. Stay tuned for more details. 
• Our literary magazine is being built. This highlights our students as writers. They will be published through Amazon available for purchase in May. We are also collaborating with Visual Arts to pair the writings with images that are artistically aligned. 

GRANTS & ACCOLADES:

Athletic Report

Presented by Athletic Director Jeremy Holland.

Individual Sports Reports:

• Boys Lacrosse- Second in Region 4-1
• Girls Lacrosse- 0-5 in Region 

• Boys Soccer -  Been in Quarantine but start back Monday. 
• Girls Soccer- 1-0 in Region. Just started Region play this week. 

• Track - Hannah Vroon set a school record for the mile. 5:08

• Baseball - Starts Region Play this week
• Softball- Starts Region Play this week

• Boys Tennis - 1-1  in Region play

Positive Student News

Signing Day : 5 kids had their ceremony this past Wednesday.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/107KtMX5xOqI-nMD7h9DyP-dtPJfFBwRJerPuJ74awC0/edit?usp=sharing

Concerns:

• COVID issues and contact tracing
• Baseball field draining issues and new infield needed

Strength Coach Needed

Game Field may need middle resodded after the season (holding up good right now but getting a lot of play on it)

Practice fields behind the stadium need to be re irrigated, laser leveled, and resodded (hopefully the district will do this)

Working on getting Booster Club running the way it should be. 

Maintenance Report

Presented by Mr. Thorn

 March 15th, 2021                                                                                

• The annexair - fresh air unit serving the fieldhouse had 2 hot gas bypass valves replaced, and is operational again.                
•  The natural gas valve in the hot water heater serving the PAC has been replaced, it is operational again.
• The bad compressor in WHP#2 in trailer #7 has been replaced. 
• The construction team received authorization this week to have power restored back to the track shed.        
•  The JICHS Facilities Maintenance Dept. has received and processed 59 work orders from Feb. 22  the present.    

               Marty Monette

               Facilities Director, JICHS

School Leader Report

Presented by Mr. Thorn

Academics/School Update of Events

Instructional Model- 2-day/4-day Week Options

We created a 3-phase approach in response to parent requests. Phase 1 was for parents that had already requested a 4-day week option prior to the parent survey. Most of these students attended school 4-days a week during the second quarter. Phase 2 was for parents that indicated they wanted a 4-day from the parent survey. Phase 3 is working through new parent requests. Phase 1 began March 1st and Phase 2 began on March 8. Phase 3 is ongoing.       

Covid Vaccinations 

It was great news to hear that group 1B, which includes educators, was eligible to receive a Covid vaccine starting March 8. CCSD met with all school principals on Thursday to discuss their plan to vaccinate all CCSD employees. They are receiving 2,000 vaccines a week over those three weeks. The initial batch of vaccines is the Pfizer vaccine, which takes two shots three weeks apart. They do not know which vaccine they will receive in the weeks to come. Schools were randomly selected from across the county, including charter schools, to begin receiving the vaccine. Those selected were in phase 1, which began last Monday. Unfortunately, we were in phase 2 which included all remaining schools and started today and goes through tomorrow.  

On the days school staff are getting vaccinated, CCSD made those days eLearning days. If you are getting vaccinated, your workday is to get vaccinated and return home for the remainder of the day. Teachers were expected to give students an assignment to do at home, which was reasonable to complete. Synchronous teaching, live teaching via Zoom, was not expected that day. Those that chose not to get vaccinated or have been already vaccinated are expected to report to work as normal. We will follow this plan for our school.    

Advisory

As a Leadership Team, we are exploring ways to improve our Advisory program. In recent years, we visited River Bluff HS and Lucy Beckham HS that have successful advisory courses. We plan to visit one or both of these schools again with a team working on this initiative.  

Main Objective- Structuring an Advisory (CREW) course to be held multiple times each week with an integrated curriculum that includes team building, academic check-ins, goal setting, SEL, service-learning projects, and school spirit.    

Big and Beyond

Thanks to Michelle Johnson, Equity and Access Coach, Charity Scruggs, and Lashel Graham, JICHS will be partnering with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Low Country (BBBSL) to start a mentoring program next year. The program description is below. We are still working on an MOA with BBBSL and CCSD.

BBBSL commits to provide a virtual, curriculum-guided, one-to-one mentoring program designed to prepare high-potential, under-performing JICHS students of color for life post-graduation as part of its overall equity and social capital-building efforts.  In addition to twice-monthly virtual mentoring sessions, the BIG Beyond pilot will provide quarterly in-person opportunities for family, mentor, and mentee engagement, as well as paid internships for all qualified BIG Beyond participants in the summer prior to their senior year of high school.  JICHS commits to supporting this program through qualifying students for the program annually, connecting BBBSL with students and families, hosting student and parent information sessions, dedicating Advisory and Lunchtime blocks for student participation, sharing agreed-upon data at agreed-upon intervals, and ensuring active involvement of Advisory teachers and school counselors over the entire agreement term. 

The overall goals of the BIG Beyond are congruent with JICHS’ charter goals:

1. Show an annual increase in the percentage of graduates that are college- and career-ready as defined by the state of South Carolina
2. Show an annual increase in student participation in additional rigorous coursework through positive relationships, community-building activities, family engagement, and student support
3. Show an annual decrease in the achievement gap for historically underachieving populations

Branding Committee

The Branding Committee has resumed meeting recently. Below is a list of what they have done so far and ideas they have for our school. 

-Created market research for rebranding

-Conducted in-house Market data collection on the logo, JI, and TROJAN images

-Conducted "all stakeholder" Market data collection on the logo, JI, and TROJAN images

-Logo, JI images, and TROJAN images were selected based on all market research data

-We examined getting committee leaders trained on the Jostens Renaissance program

-We examined making our school a Renaissance school (student recognition program) based on our charter goals and Equity and Access committee

-Conducted a school pulse survey

-We met with a rebranding vendor for the entire school. 

-We examined painting the walls of the entire school prior to the rebrand.

-We want a historical gallery of our school in the front atrium with special lighting

Facility Upgrades for Consideration

We are trying to secure quotes for the following items:

• Update original student restrooms
• Repair and replace stairwell treads and handrails
• Repair spalling walls on the northside of the school and repaint (ongoing issue)
• Repaint the cafeteria
• Repaint the building 

School Choice

We received 369 total applications through the School Choice Application process. That is approximately 100 more than last year. 239 are first-choice applications.   

See below the important dates related to the CCSD Magnet/Charter online application cycle for the 2021-2022 school year. Due to COVID-19 regulations, paper applications will be mailed upon request (More information coming soon)

January 26, 2021 -  Online and paper application window opens at 12:00 p.m. (Noon)

January 30, 2021 -  School Fair

February   4, 2021 - Registration for this date is now closed- 5:30 pm, 6:00 pm, 6:30 pm

February 11, 2021 - Registration for this date is now closed- - 5:30 pm, 6:00 pm, 6:30 pm

February 18, 2021 - Application Assistance Opportunities - 5:30 pm, 6:00 pm, 6:30 pm

February 26, 2021 - Online and paper application window closes at 6:00 pm.

April 2, 2021 -         Families notified of acceptance.

April 22, 2021 -       Offered seat must be accepted by 11:59 p.m.

Technology Update

Technology is working with approved vendors to purchase and license Chromebooks on the network. The technology committee is also examining a number of models for distributing and maintaining Chromebooks as we move forward.   The pandemic created a national shortage of Chromebooks - one where supply and demand took until March for the major companies to manufacture enough to meet the incoming demands from schools across the country. The recent shipment was ordered in August.    

We have moved forward with two recent purchase requests to procure an additional 300 or so devices from a vendor that has them in stock at an appropriate price.  (This is ahead of the price increase that is now in effect.)

Technology is also looking at the daunting task of updating the existing network so that it can keep up with the dynamic changes taking place in the way instruction is delivered in the modern classroom. eRate filings have been completed for competitive and deeply discounted hardware purchases.  JICHS is looking at the following areas of network updating: (1) network hardware (replacing the existing switches and related equipment);

 (2) replacing the existing WiFi network with modern access points; (3) considering a backup IPS like the rest of CCSD (a circuit with COMCAST); and (4) updating the antiquated phone system along with tie-in services related to sound, panic buttons, and PA system.

Construction Update

We recently discussed door set-ups and technology needs and set-up for each classroom.   

Executive Session

• Contracts-  2% Charter Contract issue update, Leadership Team recommendations for revisions to charter contract, charter application for board consideration (vote), 470 eRate bids- select a vendor (vote)
• Personnel-
• Legal- 
• Student Privacy-  

Motions From Executive Session

~

Leadership Team recommendations for revisions to charter contract for board consideration- This item was discussed but the vote was tabled till next month's BOD meeting.

470 eRate bids select a vendor - The item was discussed but the vote was tabled till next month after the Finance meeting looks into it further.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:30 pm