PCSB Monday November 17 meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now there is a closed meeting about Capital Village scheduled for November 21-- Friday.

I wonder if that's the only school they are discussing.

EdFest is coming so maybe this scheduled meeting indicates that the PCSB is actually taking seriously the need to review schools in trouble and make decisions while parents have sufficient time to determine where their students might be for the upcoming school year. But that’s only true if the PCSB has information that makes them confident that the school can make it through this school year.

Or maybe this is just another instance of the PCSB ignoring data too long for a school that is in real trouble.

The PCSB put Capital Village on a financial corrective action plan that included a number of metrics the school had to meet monthly and quarterly. Yet in NO meeting has the PCSB transparently reported if the school is meeting each of those metrics each month. In fact, in the last meeting, the PCSB reported that the school was in compliance with the FCAP. If the school is meeting the days cash requirement, cash flow from operations, enrollment strategies etc weren’t those designed to show they were financially stronger? Enrollment closed more than a month ago. The first week of school was almost three months ago and few kids move after the first week. Seems like the PCSB has all the information needed but they not being transparent with the public. Or they don’t have the competence to assess the information they do have.

They have explicitly said they want to pull the annual review timeline up so it's before the lottery. So making closure decisions in December, January, and February.

I don't think the timeline with Capital Village is that bad, these decisions should be deliberative and there are a lot of logistics to consider. It may be they're considering a merger or other schools are preparing to make offers to take the students as a group. Who knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now there is a closed meeting about Capital Village scheduled for November 21-- Friday.

I wonder if that's the only school they are discussing.

EdFest is coming so maybe this scheduled meeting indicates that the PCSB is actually taking seriously the need to review schools in trouble and make decisions while parents have sufficient time to determine where their students might be for the upcoming school year. But that’s only true if the PCSB has information that makes them confident that the school can make it through this school year.

Or maybe this is just another instance of the PCSB ignoring data too long for a school that is in real trouble.

The PCSB put Capital Village on a financial corrective action plan that included a number of metrics the school had to meet monthly and quarterly. Yet in NO meeting has the PCSB transparently reported if the school is meeting each of those metrics each month. In fact, in the last meeting, the PCSB reported that the school was in compliance with the FCAP. If the school is meeting the days cash requirement, cash flow from operations, enrollment strategies etc weren’t those designed to show they were financially stronger? Enrollment closed more than a month ago. The first week of school was almost three months ago and few kids move after the first week. Seems like the PCSB has all the information needed but they not being transparent with the public. Or they don’t have the competence to assess the information they do have.

They have explicitly said they want to pull the annual review timeline up so it's before the lottery. So making closure decisions in December, January, and February.

I don't think the timeline with Capital Village is that bad, these decisions should be deliberative and there are a lot of logistics to consider. It may be they're considering a merger or other schools are preparing to make offers to take the students as a group. Who knows.

You are right -- decisions in December through February are much better than what happened in the past especially if they can make the decision and still keep the school limping along until a normal end of the school year closing. The big issue that's not addressed IMO is that the PCSB is not reporting publicly on the targets they set in the financial corrective action plan -- targets which this school may have missed. They report that the PCSB finance committee meets regularly to review progress but provide no detail. This same committee met with Eagle repeatedly but also provided no public detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now there is a closed meeting about Capital Village scheduled for November 21-- Friday.

I wonder if that's the only school they are discussing.

EdFest is coming so maybe this scheduled meeting indicates that the PCSB is actually taking seriously the need to review schools in trouble and make decisions while parents have sufficient time to determine where their students might be for the upcoming school year. But that’s only true if the PCSB has information that makes them confident that the school can make it through this school year.

Or maybe this is just another instance of the PCSB ignoring data too long for a school that is in real trouble.

The PCSB put Capital Village on a financial corrective action plan that included a number of metrics the school had to meet monthly and quarterly. Yet in NO meeting has the PCSB transparently reported if the school is meeting each of those metrics each month. In fact, in the last meeting, the PCSB reported that the school was in compliance with the FCAP. If the school is meeting the days cash requirement, cash flow from operations, enrollment strategies etc weren’t those designed to show they were financially stronger? Enrollment closed more than a month ago. The first week of school was almost three months ago and few kids move after the first week. Seems like the PCSB has all the information needed but they not being transparent with the public. Or they don’t have the competence to assess the information they do have.

They have explicitly said they want to pull the annual review timeline up so it's before the lottery. So making closure decisions in December, January, and February.

I don't think the timeline with Capital Village is that bad, these decisions should be deliberative and there are a lot of logistics to consider. It may be they're considering a merger or other schools are preparing to make offers to take the students as a group. Who knows.

You are right -- decisions in December through February are much better than what happened in the past especially if they can make the decision and still keep the school limping along until a normal end of the school year closing. The big issue that's not addressed IMO is that the PCSB is not reporting publicly on the targets they set in the financial corrective action plan -- targets which this school may have missed. They report that the PCSB finance committee meets regularly to review progress but provide no detail. This same committee met with Eagle repeatedly but also provided no public detail.

I agree 100%. And I want a retrospective of Eagle so we can see exactly how these children's learning was neglected and public funds squandered.