Brooklyn RISE Charter School
Minutes
Brooklyn RISE Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday May 24, 2023 at 7:00 PM
Location
9 Hanover Place, Brooklyn, NY 11201
"Brooklyn RISE builds the knowledge, habits, and mindsets for academic success, ensuring all kindergarten through fifth grade students are on the path to college.”
Trustees Present
B. Cabrera (remote), B. Herbst (remote), C. Hu, J. Ni, K. Zaunbrecher
Trustees Absent
E. Waite, G. Han, L. Tomana
Ex Officio Members Present
C. Finnegan
Non Voting Members Present
C. Finnegan
Guests Present
B. Wilson (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve Minutes
D.
Public Comment
II. Finance Committee
A.
Dashboard
Roll Call | |
---|---|
C. Hu |
Aye
|
B. Cabrera |
Aye
|
L. Tomana |
Absent
|
G. Han |
Absent
|
J. Ni |
Aye
|
E. Waite |
Absent
|
K. Zaunbrecher |
Aye
|
B. Herbst |
Aye
|
III. SLT Update
A.
Cary presented school updates. Enrollment has been the main focus for the remainder of the year. Bringing 6 new staff; 100% returning staff. Also briefly discussed facility updates from Scott with new lease updates for additional floors.
Ben brought up to also ask Ed Tech to also review the new lease schedule from Scott. Cary will consult Ed Tech.
B.
Katie brought up question around staff pay scale. Cary discuss the pay range that was set up previously for our pay policy.
IV. Academic Committee
A.
No Academic Committee updates this month. Cary will keep the board updates next month on assessment results. Also looking to discuss other assessment test options.
Board suggested if we can update charter to allow for more options for assessment tests. Bianca suggested to get the assessment test option list and Academic committee can research further.
V. Governance Committee
A.
Updated Attendance Policy
Make another attempt to reach out to Laura re: attendance/engagement, but we should plan to take potential action.
B.
Charter Renewal Progress
Cary conveyed that the work with consultant continued to progress. School Works (Catherine) is completing the application based on previous application questions as current year application has not been published yet by NYSED.
We are looking at July for a review of application draft. Cary is still optimistic that middle school expansion despite we have seen other expansion being denied - citing those expansion were for younger grader levels unlike our expansion for older school levels.
However, depending on when NYSED can actually provide approval that may impact our first year enrollment for middle expansion. Katie raised the question also for our existing school on how would delays on approval may impact existing school enrollment period.
We will make sure we have completed application on time to ensure there are limited back and forth to hopefully prevent any delays for the final approval process.
C.
Bylaw formal updates in documents
Cliff provided some feedback on bylaw amendments and we are waiting on code of conduct feedback. Katie will circle back with the Board next month.
D.
Open Meeting Compliance
Continuing to ensure we are in open meeting compliance.
E.
Terms Updated in Board on Track
Ben and Grace have terms ending in December and Christina in May, so we need to do some more recruiting.
F.
fingerprinting requirement
Christina went through the fingerprinting process! About $14 and Christina will share the info and everyone can get it done.
VI. Facilities
A.
Forever Facility Lease
Cary brought the updates from Scott on the new lease. We will look to review and discuss more in June. Katie brought up the question on the process. Cary will need to discuss with Cliff for language to allow the board to approve for resolution to allow for Friends of to approve of the lease.
Cliff is reviewing the amendment and will provide the red-lines. Cary will provide the Cliff's red-lined version when available. We will need to find out more when is the final deadline along side of the approval process.
We discussed Brittney's willingness to extend our current lease, but she is holding out on confirmation until we know more about our middle school expansion approval.
VII. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
- Brooklyn RISE - Mar 2023 Balance Sheet 05192023.pdf
- Brooklyn RISE - Apr 2023 Cash Flow 05222023.pdf
- 2023.04 BRCS Combined Board Ck Reg Apr23.pdf
- Brooklyn RISE - Apr 2023 Budget vs Actuals 05222023.pdf
- Brooklyn RISE - FY 2024 Proposed Budget Overview - 05222023.pdf
- Brooklyn RISE - Apr 2023 Financial Update 05222023.pdf
- Brooklyn RISE Project Plan.xlsx
- Fingerprinting Scheduling Steps.docx
- 1st Amendment School Lease Rent Schedule1.docx
- 1st Amendment School Lease.docx
- Brooklyn rise 4 story.pdf
Bryson presented on April revenue and expense updates. Presentations attached to the agenda.
Bryson presented 2024 FY budget. Budget detail presentation attached to the agenda. Budget was presented in April meeting as well. For May, second review of the budget, we had updates to the enrollment count from April. Per pupil rate updated because NY state finalized the per pupil revenue. We adjusted full time staff count from 44 to 46. Overall revenue projection looks to be conservative, especially looking at special ed number counts. Budget is based on the overall enrollment at 285 students.
Final budget has been reviewed in the past three months by the finance committee and the presented twice to the whole board.
Committee discussed on the question on balance which numbers are more conservative and if on balance budget is on target.