The Chair welcomed guests Holly Bonner & Steve Cucchia to the board meeting. She then stated the protocol for public comment is at end of board meeting. 
All items from the Executive Committee call will be discussed during the meeting, primarily in Executive Director's update. 

We tabled the update until G. Winn arrived. The financial policies and procedures manual were reviewed, finalized and uploaded to NYSED. There was a question regarding donations and securities and changes were made to the manual to reflect the outcome of the answers. Bridge Preps CPA Firm reviewed the document twice with positive feedback. NYSED will review after the CSP Grant is activated. 

At 7:16pm

We are close to meeting our goal of 11 board members with 3 potential trustees. Proposed trustees are:

1. Matthew Langella, a bank executive on Staten Island and member of SIUH Foundation Board.
2. Amy Margolis, a neuropsychologist who is transitioning from founding board member to trustee.
3. Frank Santarpia, a planning team member with a solid background in business, finance and operations. 

All potential trustees are getting fully vetted, followed by a vote at March's board meeting and then pending NYSED approval.

T. Castanza has gotten us a table at the Harvard Club's non-profit board recruiting event in April. 

Financials are in your board packet and available tonight at the board meeting.  The financial reports include monthly and year to date.  Any questions can be directed to T. Castanza and G. Winn.  
501c3 - Filed. No word from IRS but will keep the board posted on status. 
CSP Grant - We received the final 54 page contract from NYSED and just need to send back proof of disability insurance. We are 90% complete in the process and once approved we will get 20% on funds deposited in the school's operating account. The line of credit will be billed back interest free for the first year. The finance committee will discuss how best to use grant funds. 

We are awaiting a proposal from the NYC DOE which should come very soon. The timing of this is out of our control and the request for co-location was made March 2018. Any NYC DOE co-location proposal will require PEP approval. Once approved, there will be a campus governance meeting and the school would be available to us after July. We have a Plan B for a possible private location on the South shore which we are exploring.  

Meeting with a finalist candidate and plan on making an offer for the Family and Community Engagement Coordinator position. She is a parent of a child with dyslexia.  She will start part time and then come on full time in April. We have another candidate for Office Manager which we will hire in the summer. 
Director of Teaching and Learning - we have phone screened several candidates for this critical academic position requiring global curriculum perspective. We have viable candidates we can move forward to in-person interviews. 

We have weekly student recruitment calls every Monday at 8:30 pm using the conference call number. We still need to focus on 1st grade recruitment. We are in touch with speech and language pathologists and have sent material directly to them. This is a good network for recruitment and targeted recruitment seems to be working best.  There is still work that needs to be done for people to fully understand the school's academic design.  This sentence, developed on the student recruitment calls, encapsulates the target student we seek - "Do you know a bright student who struggles with reading?"  When we speak to people directly, they fully understand our school.  Info sessions are being attended by parents who have already applied. March will be very targeted recruitment of students. Direct marketing going out with SI Parent email to 12K emails, Vanguard mailing to 8K parents of Kindergarten & 1st grade students, and email blast to 490 families who completed the survey about Bridge Prep last year.  Advertising in SI Parent March Camp edition and four 6.6 foot tall standees in the mall for 1 month. Everyone who has applied has gotten an email response from Bridge Prep.  

It is important that all school marketing and branding be consistent with Bridge Prep name and logo. 

1. FERPA Policy and the Complaint and Grievance Policy for Staff and Families are upcoming policies the ED will present. 
2. By-laws update - next month we will have by-laws updates regarding specific language pertaining to Education Law, Board of Regents ability to terminate trustees, attendance, etc. Bridge Prep is in full compliance and this language is being added because our attorneys feel it will provide necessary clarity.
3. M. Casale wants us to reach out to Ann Edwards regarding July OG training. This is an Academic Committee item. T. Castanza to reach out to Ann Edwards.  

 

Initial Statement of Controls - the board needs to vote on and submit a letter to NYSED stating the school's financial controls. This letter is to be signed by Board Chair.  Since the letter was just introduced at the meeting, it was decided that the Executive Committee would review at the March EC meeting, finalize and upload to NYSED.  The board authorizes the Executive Committee to review, finalize, upload and share in the March board packet. 

Holly Bonner