Michigan Connections Academy – Sixth Board Meeting

Note that I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

The sixth Board of Directors for the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA) occurred last week. While we have a full compliment of seven board members, we did not have enough attend in person to make up a quorum.  We had three attend in person and two more attend over the conference call line (but they don’t count under our authorizer’s rules, as board members have to attend the meetings in person to be considered in attendance – and that is one of the authorizer’s rules that doesn’t quite make sense for an online school). So an informational meeting was held – which is kind of like a board meeting, although nothing can be voted on and no decisions can be made.

The first informational item that was on the agenda was the principal’s report.  We received an update on the planning for the drop back in program that MICA will be creating next year in accordance with state law to allow it to growth beyond the 400 student cap.  The MICA principal reported that count day had gone well and that we were still at the 400 student limit that the state allows.  He also provided another update on the March testing regime for juniors (which I wrote about in greater detail last month, but involved 5 sites and 15-16 students).  In Michigan all juniors must take the Merit exams, which include three days of subject area and ACT testing.  Finally, Michigan legislator Frank Foster visited the MICA offices (and that happened to occur on the same day as the first MICA field trip).  So Rep. Foster was able to interact with the teachers and staff of MICA, and some of the parents and students.  For those unfamiliar with Rep. Foster, apparently he is the first charter school graduate elected to the Michigan legislature.

In the Ferris State University, as the MICA authorizer, update we finally found out the details of the residency requirement for board members.  While there is no direct statutory requirement that charter school board members be Michigan residents or US citizens, apparent Ferris State include in the authorization of all of its charter schools the following:

“2. i. Board Vacancies. An Academy Board vacancy shall occur because of death, resignation, removal, failure to maintain residency in the State of Michigan, disqualification, enlargement of the Academy Board, or as specified in the Code. Any vacancy shall be filled as provided by the method of select adopted by the University Board.”

This is important as three of the original four board members live out of state, and have since the board was first created – myself included.  We were provided a questionnaire by Ferris State that the authorizer, in consultation with its lawyers, will use to determine if failure to maintain residency has occurred.  As such, it is entirely possible that this was my last official MICA board meeting – at least as a board member.

As most of the remaining items on the agenda required voting, that was basically where the meeting ended.  I should also report that MICA principal, Bryan Klochack, recently received two Connections Academy awards.  The first was the the Fall Employment Pulse Survey Award, where Bryan had the highest employee satisfaction of any Connections Academy school.  The second was the Principal’s Choice Award, which is based upon the votes from all of the other Connections Academy principals.  Congratulations on both accounts Bryan!!!

I would normally say until next month, but I’m not sure there will be a next month – both because of the residency issue and also because even if I was able to stay on the board I will have to take a leave of absence for three months while I travel to New Zealand for my sabbatical.  So I guess this is more of a let’s wait and see…

Again, a reminder that while I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

Michigan Connections Academy – Fifth Board Meeting

Note that I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

The fifth Board of Directors for the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA) occurred almost three weeks ago now (it has been a busy few weeks and I apologise for the delay in posting this). The meeting began this month with the appointment of another new board members, so we now have our full compliment of seven board members – although I believe that will be changing by the end of the year with new requirements for board members (and I’ll have more on that in February sometime, after I have all of the information).

The agenda was roughly the same as it has been in previous meetings with comments from the public (although we have yet to have any public attend) and some other administrative items.  We then went into a closed session for about 30-40 minutes.  When we came out of the closed session we had a series of reports from various individuals.  The MICA principal gave his report on preparations for the Winter count day coming up on 29 February and what that means for the cyber charter schools.  Apparently at the elementary level the state requires that students access at least one lesson to be considered present on count day.  MICA uses a slightly more involved measure, asking that these students complete two (2) lessons on that day to be considered present.  At the middle school and secondary level the state requires students to access a lesson in each course they have been assigned, whereas MICA asks that students complete a lesson in each course they have been assigned.  I like the fact that MICA is asking students to do more than the state minimum, particularly in the early stages of cyber charter schooling in Michigan, as it shows a higher level of engagement in their online school.  The MICA principal also gave us an overview of the next round of state testing (I believe he said Merit Exam Assessment), which will affect 14-15 juniors and probably 1 senior.  There were be 5 testing sites this time around, located throughout the state.

Next we received the financial report and an update from the authorizer Ferris State University.  This was followed by a slew of consent items ranging from approving the minutes of the last meeting to approval of invoices to approving some administrative actions for the school (including the submission of a grant).

We then came to the action items, which included approval to pay the invoices we had received to approval of a new board treasurer (as the former treasurer need to take a leave from the board).  We also considered and eventually approved the creation of a Drop Back in Program.  Under the cyber charter school legislation:

In the second and subsequent years of operation under the contract, a school of excellence that is a cyber school may expand enrollment to exceed 400 pupils by adding 1 pupil for each pupil who becomes enrolled in the school of excellence who is identified as a dropout in the Michigan student data system maintained by the center for education performance and information… The school of excellence shall maintain its ratio of pupil who are identified as a dropout. Maximum enrollment at a school of excellence that is a cyber school shall not exceed 1000 pupils. (Michigan Code-380.552 [2][e])

Basically, in order for cyber charter schools in Michigan to grow beyond the 400 student cap placed on them in year one, they need to create a program that focuses on students who have dropped out.  For each formerly dropped out student that enrolls in the program, the cyber charter school is allowed to enroll one additional student in its regular program.  The approval to proceed with this program also required us to approve that changes be made to our charter (to essentially allow for the creation of a second physical site to host this new program).

Following this presentation, there were a few more reports.  Not much on the legislative front as the new Governor was going to deliver his first State of the Union that evening.

I should note that this board meeting was held mid-day, after a morning and then following by an afternoon of board training.  A couple of items that I took after from the training.  The first was that like brick-and-mortar schools, the actual student-teacher ratio at a cyber school is higher than the official ratio.  I know when I taught in the brick-and-mortar environment, our school’s official student-teacher ratio was 17:1 – but this figure including a lot of teaching staff that didn’t actually teach students (e.g., guidance, administration, technology, library, special education, etc.).  Personally, in four years at the school my class sizes ranged from a low of 21 students to a high of 33 students, with the average being between 26-27 students.  I believe I heard the principal correctly when he indicated that the official student-teacher ratio was 33:1, and I was a bit surprised that the actual student-teacher ratio for some teachers was higher than the proportional difference that I experienced in the brick-and-mortar environment.

Another thing I took away from the training was a slide presented by one of the Connections Academy team.  The slide was entitled “How did you hear about Connections Academy?” and the bullets were:

• Friend – 42%
• Internet/Website – 39%
• Mail – 10%
• Television advertisement – 5%
• Radio advertisement – 5%
• E-mail – 3%
• Poster/Flyer – 3%
• Newspaper advertisement – 2%

Apparently the data came from those enrolled in 2010-11, and I assume nation-wide.

Finally, another interesting item that actually came from a conversation that I had with some of the Connections Academy folks following the whole session.  We were talking about legislation and what I refer to as managed growth (and most cyber charter proponents refer to as caps that prevent students from accessing a high quality education).  Anyway, one of the Connections Academy people made the comment that she felt that 750 was a good number for a first year enrollment figure.  She felt that this figure was enough students to fund the kind of personnel needed to establish a strong school, but also enough students to ensure that the program is not overwhelmed in that first year.  It was an interesting conversation, and the kind that I had hoped to be a part of when I joined the MICA Board of Directors.

As a side note, it was also interesting that the first presentation was by an external consultant that is often used by Connections Academy for their board training.  One of his early slides had these four images on it, as a way to illustrate how little the education system and the process of teaching students has changed over the past 100 years.  Two slides later he was using the Disrupting Class material as a proponent of growth in K-12 online learning – apparently unaware of the contradict that in order to belief the Disrupting Class predictions, you have to accept the premise that the education system is a nimble and ever changing entity.  I mentioned it to him afterwards, but didn’t get much of a response (possibly the venue and possibly our crunch for time).  Anyway, I found it funny myself.

Again, a reminder that while I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

Michigan Connections Academy – First Semester Reflections

Note that I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

So, after four meetings and five months on the Board of Directors for the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), I wanted to post some thoughts about the experience this far…

When I was first approached about this opportunity I saw it as a chance to gain a better understanding of the cyber charter school community.  And I’ll be honest and say that I have begun to understand the operation of cyber charter schools a bit better – but not as much as I expected I would have.  This is not the fault of the cyber charter school or my own efforts, but the result of one of the things that I have learned about being on the Board of a cyber charter school.

During the Virtual School Symposium last month, I happened to have a hallway conversation with someone who was about to being the chair or president of a Board of Directors for a newly created cyber charter school in another state.  In the course of this conversation, we both talked about our experiences with being on the boards of volunteer organizations, elected school boards, not-for-profits, and even for profits.  She asked me, based on my experiences, what could I compare being on the Board of Directors of MICA to – and my only response was that it was very similar to being on the board of a for profit company.  Reflecting upon it, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me…  And I don’t say that in a negative sense.

My experiences on the board to date have had less to do with education, as it seems that the MICA administration and the folks at Connections Academy are the ones directly involved with that.  Again, reflecting on this it makes a lot of sense, as the Board contracted Connections Academy to essentially administer the school and Connections Academy hired a staff (including the administration) to be the boots on the ground.  Even the various policy decisions that the Board has made since that first meeting (i.e., when we decided to contract Connections Academy to administer the school), have largely been things recommended by Connections Academy that have been accepted without amendment and with little discussion beyond an initial explanation for why the changes are being requested.

I’m not saying that this is a bad thing.  I know that I receive the printed materials for each meeting three or four days before the meeting, and that I read through all of it before the meeting begins.  I try to ask questions when there are things I don’t understand – although most of those questions are based on my own curiosity, and not because I am questioning things in my role as a board member.  I suppose the original decision to select Connections Academy to administer the cyber charter school means that as a board we should allow them to do what they feel is best for the school.  It is kind of like an elected school board that hires a superintendent, and then the superintendent is responsible for the oversight issues within the school board and the elected folks focus on governance.  In this instance, Connections Academy is our superintendent.

In the big picture, I’m not sure what these first semester reflections mean yet.  I suppose they’ll become a little clearer, or at least a little more definitive, when I do this again at the end of the school year.  Until then, I’ll continue to post my notes from the board meetings (and to see the previous ones, along with other entries from this past semester, look below).

• Meandering Out Loud: Cyber Charter Schooling in Michigan
• First Board Meeting
• Online Information Session (1)
• Online Information Session (2)
• Second Board Meeting
• Third Board Meeting
• Fourth Board Meeting

Again, a reminder that while I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

Fun Learning Activities for Winter Break

Note that I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

From my inbox a day or two ago.

Fun Ideas to Keep Learning Alive During the Winter Break

Dear Michael, Forward I Blog It’s hard to believe, but students will soon be off from school and enjoying winter vacation. Winter break offers a terrific opportunity for students to enjoy quality learning time together with their families. This year, educators from Connections Academy suggest adding a healthy dose of learning fun to winter break by creating your very own mini-camp, filled with affordable, hands-on, entertaining, and educational experiences close to home. Each creative mini-camp activity below offers an opportunity to reinforce valuable skills and educational concepts. Just remember, the key is to make your winter break mini-camp fun for your kids, so they won’t even realize they are learning while school’s out!   “Campify” your Mini-Camp – What’s a camp without a camp song, a mascot, a T-shirt? Kids will love to customize their camp with these brain boosting activities. For your song, incorporate rhyming, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. Have each camper write a verse. When choosing a mascot, research its meaning. And show your artistic side by making camp T-shirts (fabric paint or Sharpie markers will do the trick). Get Cooking! – Cooking and baking offer numerous learning opportunities. Preparing a recipe uses math and fine motor skills by measuring, counting, sifting, sorting, and pouring. Want a challenge? Ask your child to double the recipe! Or, on your next shopping trip, have children compute the costs of ingredients to determine the price of a given recipe. Looking up culinary words in the dictionary targets reading, writing and vocabulary skills. Various cooking techniques, like boiling, even offer an opportunity for a science lesson. We are Family… Tree – Here’s a wonderful and personal project that incorporates research, writing, storytelling and history – record your family tree! Start with your immediate family and research the answers to questions like, “what were the top news stories when grandfather was born… who was the president… where did they live and how did they live?” Chronicle your family’s story on paper or on the computer. A Spoonful of Science! – Conduct exciting, safe, science experiments in your own kitchen like the students enrolled in Connections Academy’s Science in the Kitchen club. Check out experiments like “Balloon Blast Off” ,”Goop Galore” and “Hot Air Aricraft”. Visit our website for details and instructions. Signed, Sealed, Delivered – Holiday cards and letters offer a great opportunity to practice writing skills. Talk about the parts of a letter including the salutation, body, and closing. And, P.S., talk about what “postscript” means. Give a nod to geography and explore a map to identify where your card recipients live – who lives the farthest away? Who lives north or south of your home? How many different states or countries are you mailing to? Wrap it Up – When wrapping gifts, build math and measuring skills by asking kids to measure gifts with a tape measure or ruler to determine the correct amount of wrapping paper needed. Or get creative (and green) and ask kids to design their own wrapping paper out of reused brown paper grocery bags. Homemade Museum – Everyone in the family has items that they treasure. Whether it is a special doll or photograph or found object like a feather or crystal, showcase treasured objects in your family museum (aka living room). Designate a curator to direct the exhibit, gather and write detailed descriptions of the objects. Encourage public speaking by having children conduct “tours”. Business-savvy kids will be waiting for visitors in their homemade museum gift shop. Road Trip! – Escape camp life for a day with a road trip. When traveling in the car, test geography knowledge by trying to name all 50 states and their capitals. Play the “license plate game” and take along trivia questions like those from our Quiz Bowl Challenge. Have fun developing and asking questions like, “how much will it cost for 10 gallons of gasoline if the gallon price is (fill in the blank)?” Or, “If we drive 60 miles per hour, how long will it take us to go 10 miles, 100 miles, 139 miles?” Recess – Get out and play! In addition to the countless health benefits of physical activity, active games and sports can help strengthen social skills, memory, and analytic abilities. From Red Rover, Red Rover, and Red Light. Green Light to Touch Football and Soccer, kids will enjoy a game that all can play and feel successful playing. Younger children enjoy making their own games. Why not suggest that they invent their own game and then play as a family. You’re sure to be amazed at their creativity. If you live in colder climates, enjoy what the weather offers – go sledding and ice skating and talk about the science behind snow formation, and the properties of ice. And everyday…read! – Stock up on “camp reads” and use vacation time to immerse yourselves in good books. Visit your local library as a family and spend the afternoon exploring the shelves and selecting books. Read with your children everyday. This is one habit you’ll want to keep and one of the most valuable educational gifts you can give to your children.   Have a great winter break, Bryan Klochack Principal, Michigan Connections Academy

Michigan Connections Academy 2140 University Park Drive, Suite 270 Okemos, MI 48864 888-816-5750 Copyright © 2010 Connections Academy ® All rights reserved.

Again, a reminder that while I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

Michigan Connections Academy – Fourth Board Meeting

Note that I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!

The fourth Board of Directors for the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA) occurred last week. The meeting began this month with the appointment of two new board members, who have been added to the initial four. There will be one more to follow at the next meeting to the full compliment of seven board members.

The first item was an announcement that Dr. Wells of Ferris State (i.e., the organization that authorizes MICA) was elected to lead the Michigan Council of Charter School Authorizers.

Next was the principal’s report, which included an enrollment update and some discussion of the initial planning for the next round of student testing (which will take place sometime in the Spring). At present it looks like there will be a need for five test sites Finally, there was a conference earlier this month for the Michigan Association of Public School Academies where three MICA teachers were part of a booth at the conference and had many positive comments about their experience at the conference and the reception that they received from the attendees.

The next thing on the agenda was the financial report, followed by an update from Ferris State University as the MICA authorizer. The Ferris report largely focused on the fact that four individuals from Ferris State attended the annual Virtual School Symposium and their impressions of the conference, along with the presence of Connections Academy.

As with previous meetings, we moved to the consent items and approved those items (i.e., approval of the previous meetings minutes, recommended revisions to the school and student handbooks, etc.. This was followed by the action items (e.g., payment of bills, appointment of an external auditor, and revised board meeting schedule for the remainder of the academic year).

The next thing was a legislative report from Connections Academy. On the legislative front, the big news was the election of a new Governor – whom Connections Academy had been in contact with in an attempt to educate about K-12 online learning and cyber charter schooling in the state. The legislature seems to stay relatively positive for the cyber charter school environment within the state. There has been some interesting legislation that has been discussed, including a proposal to reform teacher tenure from all teachers to only high performing teachers (not that it necessarily applies to MICA, but interesting all the same). It was added during the meeting that one of the aspects of this proposed measure was that teachers who aren’t evaluated won’t be assumed to be satisfactory. If they haven’t been evaluated, the proposal would have them going back into a four year provisional status.

Again, a reminder that while I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Connections Academy (MICA), however, my comments here are as a private citizen and NOT in any official capacity as a board member!