09 Aug, 2022
Presented by KAPS Board President, Cynthia Millonzi I wanted to take this opportunity, before we get into the Board meeting, to address our community since the format for board meeting and open forum do not allow for two-way interaction between all of us. As many of you are aware this past week, we had several Special Board meetings once we knew that our Superintendent Select had withdrawn from our selection process. I hope to address some of your questions with this statement. Since the board meeting at the end of January 2022 the Katherine Anne Porter School (KAPS) has definitely been in a position that has required significant effort to keep KAPS a viable and necessary educational option for our community. With that, the Board of Directors has had to dig deep into Finances, Operations, Administration, and Enrollment to assess, revise, and re-vision KAPS. Rest assured the Board has put in extensive hours assessing all aspects of operations of KAPS. The subjects I will address are Superintendent, enrollment, staffing, and social media. Let’s start with the Superintendent. As many of you are aware the Superintendent that was employed when this current board assumed responsibility resigned. The board then started the hiring process for a new Superintendent which included interviewing and selecting an Interim Superintendent. The board received many applicants for the Superintendent position and a selection committee conducted a series of interviews with those applicants to narrow the candidate field to 3. There was a final round of interviews, during which the board selected, by majority vote, to move Nadine Pabst from Interim Superintendent to Superintendent, effective August 1, 2022. We announced our selectee for Superintendent as required by law, which entailed a 21-day notice to allow for public comment prior to the Superintendency becoming effective. As you may be aware, teachers and Superintendents may apply for several positions during their job search and that was no different for our Superintendent Select. We know we had a viable candidate because she received multiple job offers and one, in particular, that was worth her further consideration. Even though we did our best to keep our Superintendent Select, she eventually made the personal decision to accept the other position. What does that mean for KAPS and the Board? We start the process again, which is exactly what we are doing and have been doing for the last two weeks. We had many good candidates during our previous selection process, and we have reached out to those candidates, and we have posted the position vacancy to our website. In fact, we were conducting interviews prior to this statement. Rest assured the board is taking all actions to fill this vacancy. In the meantime, you have a dedicated Board taking the required actions as the trustees of the Katherine Anne Porter School to continue to move forward despite any perceived setbacks. The Board has been asked if the Superintendent had the full support of the Board and the answer is Yes. Although our individual votes may have varied, the majority vote determines the direction and support o f the entire Board, and we will continue to fully support any duly selected Superintendent. On to Enrollment. Increasing enrollment is still our number one challenge. KAPS is a public charter school, and our primary funding is based on enrollment. Last year our numbers were down to the 60’s. That is not a number that can sustain the operations of the school. We need to have enrollment at double that. 120-150 is our goal for a healthy and financially stable school. If we don’t reach that goal, the viability for KAPS is limited. Right now, our projected enrollment is 81 for the start of school on Aug 17. We are actively recruiting, we have banners strategically located in the surrounding areas, we attend events and have our promotional materials in various locations, we have done a mail campaign, we are on social media, and we are hosting several open houses and we have one scheduled for tomorrow from 9-3 where prospective students and parents can come to tour our facility. In fact, this year we have opened enrollment to 8 th grade, and that has helped with our numbers. Enrollment is a challenge, and we continue to refine our strategies for outreach. You ask, “have all the changes impacted enrollment?” and the answer is Yes. There is no way to sugarcoat this. Covid, administrative and staff changes, board decisions, financial concerns, etc. all have played a role and there is no magic fix to everything at once …but that doesn’t mean we don’t try, and it doesn’t mean we will all agree. It means there is always work to do, and I assure you this board is doing the work, even when it is hard and even in the face of scrutiny. Regarding Staffing. Yes, staffing levels have decreased. Why? Numbers, plain and simple. Staffing is directly correlated to enrollment, enrollment to funding, and funding to staffing. It’s not because teachers aren’t loved or that we don’t care because, believe me, we do. It’s not easy cutting a program, class, or teacher but sometimes it is necessary. In addition, in light of uncertainty about the factors addressed above, some beloved teachers have made a personal choice to leave KAPS. Our goal as a board is to rebuild, provide a solid foundation for growth, and bring students and teachers to KAPS. Finally, Social Media. Social Media, specifically Facebook, is a wonderful way to connect and share. It also a place for misinformation and attempts to disparage or hurt others. KAPS and members of the Board will not use social media in a negative way, nor will they respond to negative attacks or attempts to undermine the sometimes-difficult work or decisions of the Board. In Closing. Although we can not address your questions in this format, we encourage you to email board@kapschool.org to send us your comments, compliments, and concerns. We have posted a section at the bottom of the homepage of the KAPS website with a question/answer section to the board. You will find that under the “contact us” section. We may not reply individually, but we can address questions/concerns in a format similar to this public statement. The members of the KAPS Board of Directors thank you for your continued support as we continue to work to keep KAPS an educational option for our community. While we can not guarantee any outcome for KAPS, what we can do is assure you that our board is made up of people who believe that KAPS is needed in our community, who care deeply about the future of KAPS, who work tirelessly and wholeheartedly to do what is best for students, and whose own lives have been monumentally impacted by KAPS.