Rose welcomed all and distributed an image of a fractal. Witt shared how the fractal represents Bridge Prep. It's a pattern within a pattern and a microcosm and macrocosm all in one. The part represents the whole and the whole represents the parts. Rose continued that each small section is the same shape as the larger unit. Just as with the fractal, we all make up Bridge Prep - we are all the school, represent the same mission and we are all interconnected.  
Rose distributed a document created by Witt Halle about the structure of a school. Everything that resides in a school was represented on the handout. It encompassed the organizational structure of leadership and the function of a school. They board can use this document to monitor the school.

The lottery took place on 4/9/19 and enrollment is currently underway. 15-20 families attended the lottery, we had a 3rd party conduct the lottery, it was videotaped, documented and done in accordance with State law. Thanks to Steve and RoseMarie for their prep work at the YMCA.  After the lottery, we shared with families their child's number in the lottery. No one was told if they were accepted or on the wait list. We have a wait list of 12 for the 1st grade and 36 students are wait listed for 2nd grade.  

Within 5 business days, families must come with necessary enrollment documents including proof of address and IEP, if applicable. After that process is complete, they are considered enrolled. If they do not make the 5 day deadline, they are moved to the bottom of the wait list. There are set day and evening enrollment hours. When they enroll, we are having parents complete other forms like records release, media forms, etc. 

The State has made it clear if we want to request additional seats there are two different processes. 1) If we want to add seats for a particular grade, this is a non-material change. 2) If we want the overall number of students in the school to go up from 242, that is a material change and requires Board of Regents approval. It was decided the Executive Director will call a committee meeting to discuss this when/if needed.

Finance Committee met 4/10/19 and the Executive Director (ED) is going to share with the board a development, review and submission process for the 2019-2020 School Year budget. ED will provide timeline for budget after 4/19 meeting with BoostEd. At the same time, we are making amendments to the CSP Grant Budget and the ED will provide a report on that to the board. The budget is due June 30, 2019.

Walton Foundation Grant - April/May time frame.


 

Transportation - when enrolling, we will find out if they want to apply for yellow bus service and then alert OPT. If they live under 1 mile or spend more than 45 minutes on the bus, they are not eligible. ED requested a sit-down with the Borough OPT liaison. Laura Timoney requested to be present at that meeting.
Health and Medical Record and Reporting - when students are being enrolled, we request they bring immunization records. We are in the process of creating a formal immunization policy including reasons for denial.  
FERPA and Complaint Policies - ED will share with Executive Committee.
Title 1 & Special Education Reporting - we need to provide information on enrolled students. We will provide May 1 but have until May 15 to submit this reporting to the State. The Charter Center is having training on billing for students, staff and service providers. 
E-Rate - is a grant that pays for the school's Internet service. Once we qualify for the grant and have our co-location approved, we meet with DOE and they give the school money as well. There is another type of E-Rate funding that covers technology like phones and alarms, but that is a separate process.

PEP meeting - Wednesday 4/17/19 - will vote on Bridge Prep's co-location at Petrides. ED will keep everyone advised throughout the meeting.  There is a live webcast of the meeting.

An offer is being extended to a Director of Teaching & Learning.  Full time start date is 7/1/19 but expect her to be involved before that in teacher hiring.
LittleBird HR is providing us with benefits portfolio to share with prospective candidates aside from compensation.  
Dean of Specilaized Instruction is posted on Bridge Prep's website.  We are getting responses and ED will reach out to Hiring Committee week of 4/15/19.

Rose Kerr introduced Mary Petrone - former Principal of PS 19 who was brought in by Superintendent Cugini to turn the school around. She also worked at Lavelle Prep Charter and launched their elementary school. She is very experienced in the area of curriculum. Mary was Maria Casale's mentor.
Mary will be a curriculum consultant and adds nothing to our budget as we will use the salary for DTL to fund this. After July 1, we may move Mary to the role of Literacy Specialist.  All this to be determined at a later date.

There is going to be a curriculum launch on May 7 to dig into recommendations with the ED. Thanks to Maria Casale for all of her work on this. The Academic Committee working on the curriculum is Witt Halle, Mary Petrone, Maria Casale, Amy Margolis, and Rose Kerr. 
Mary has been in touch with vendors regarding curriculum. We will keep the DTL in the loop and she will be part of this curriculum launch. It will be an aggressive effort. The Academic Committee will report to the Board at the May 8th Board meeting. ED will share the curriculum budget with the Academic Committee. Vendors want to vet us too as we have no formal school and are a start up. Per Mary - the goal is to grow a specialist in the school George to be added to the committee list to be included.

A bid went out for Orton-Gillingham training and professional development and Ann Edwards is a sole vendor in that she is the only one who meets all of our requirements. 

Clarification was given in terms of Open Meetings Law regarding attendance on telephone and attendance and voting via video conference. If you are not going to be in attendance, let the Board Chair or Secretary know. 

Matthew Langella, Amy Margolis and Frank Santarpia have been officially approved by NYSED and are Trustees of the Bridge Prep Board.  We now have 11 board members in total.

The finance committee is identifying the needs and long-term planning of the school. The Finance Committee is not the Fundraising Committee.  Fundraising needs to be done across the board and requires a different brain trust.

An audit is underway and an initial examination of financial controls for the school. The audit was triggered by disbursing more than $50K and is being conducted by Schall & Ashenfarb. They look at the statement of controls and select certain transactions. 

We must have 12 board meetings over the course of the year from July 1 - June 30.  We need to decided if we are going to be meeting over the summer.  May meeting - come back with comments and we will be setting calendar for 2019-2020 school year.