R. Kerr welcomed the attendees and thanked everyone for their dedication to the school, students and board. She reminded everyone to review the meeting packets that are distributed before each board meeting; this month's packet contains a comprehensive overview of the authorization timelines; she thanked the Executive Director and his staff for putting together the timeline. Also, she emphasized reading the executive director's report each month, it is an informative overview which can help the board to keep our meetings moving forward. She wishes everyone a very happy holiday season and new year; remember our children during this time; there are many children who have real pain and sadness during this season.

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R. Kerr added that as we end this year, we want to thank outgoing Borough President James Oddo for his support of our school and the many things he has done for Bridge Prep; BP Oddo and his team were involved in supporting our school even before our charter was written; he often speaks of Bridge Prep fondly; he is responsible for helping to site our school at Petrides and supported our expansion; for the record, we just want to say that we could not have done it without him; thank you, James Oddo.

F. Santarpia stated that without Jimmy Oddo there would be no Bridge Prep school; he financed us and he fought for us every step of the way.

T. Castanza added that he knows the Borough President is humble and does not want to draw attention to his good deeds, but he is our school's champion; we want to honor him at the school soon and show our thanks with a small token of our appreciation; he is welcome to visit at any time and we are looking forward to hosting him and celebrating the work he has done for Bridge Prep.

R. Kerr said that she does not think it necessary to cover the individual committee reports from the last Executive Board Meeting, since that information will be offered by each committee chair at tonight's meeting; instead she would like to move forward with tonight's report by the ED Support & Evaluation Task Force.

The next Executive Committee Meeting will be January 11th at 7:45 AM.

L. Timoney gave the following report on the ED Support & Evaluation Meeting held on December 8th to check-in with the Executive Director; they discussed key areas of focus for the ED this year and the paradigm shift of the ED taking the reins and driving the agenda for board meetings. We plan on having the official goals to the ED by next month; we will also be meeting next month with Board on Track to review the formal annual evaluation for the Spring. We will check-in with the ED again in March to support him, see what he might need and keep the dialogue going.

R. Kerr thanked L. Timoney and M. Harmon-Vaught for agreeing to work on this task force and to coordinate with Board on Track.

M. Harmon-Vaught has agreed to co-chair this task force; he said he was excited to be engaged in this area; he added that one of the topics discussed last week was making sure that the ED reports given at board meetings are substantive and useful for ED, his team and the board; we may see some changes in the reports to make sure that they are most effective for what the board is trying to accomplish. L. Timoney added that we discussed interim reports from ED regarding what is happening at the school.

M. Harmon-Vaught said there are 3 kinds of information that the board needs from the ED:

L. Gyimesi reported that the following was discussed at the Board Development & Governance Committee Meeting of 12/02/21: a debriefing from the special board strategy meeting held in November and finalized goals reached at that meeting; creating a more structured approach to board development and lock down the fundamentals; create a "job description" that we can post online to reach out to more people and broaden our search; we'd like to make this an annual process and do a self-evaluation of the board's needs each year; Pasek Consultants will be coming on board in January and will be doing a monthly check-in with us; they will provide us with timelines, tips/hints regarding our charter renewal, so we can focus on academics; looking forward to working with the consultants; we also need to get all policies and manuals reviewed, updated and vetted by our legal advisor.

The next Board Development & Governance Committee Meeting will be January 13th at 8:00 AM.

G. Winn reported the following was discussed at the Finance Committee Meeting on 12/13/21: there are some things important to our planning of the budget cycle; as we look at the overall operation of the school from a compliance standpoint; the budget cycles begins in January for June 30th; ED and staff are developing a "compliance planner" containing a timeline on tracking deliverables; the Financial Policies & Procedures Manual was reviewed and is more effective than we thought it was.  

Regarding double signatures needed for purchases over $5,000, the board already approves contractual expenses over $5,000; the board can pre-approve those outlays in the beginning of the year for recurring expenditures, which then would not require an additional approval signature when repeated during that year; we discussed checks & balances regarding monthly expenses.

L. Timoney spoke about the "Check Request" form being revised to show whether something is a contractual expense or non-contractual expense, indicating the approval budgetary amount for the expense, and what we've paid year-to-date, so that the person signing off on the expenditure will know more about the situation regarding the check request. These kinds of checks and balances will put tighter controls in place. The ED will share the 3-5 year outlook also discussed at the meeting.

The next Finance Committee Meeting will be January 10th at 4:30 PM.

R. Kerr & M. Casale gave the following report: the highlights of the Academic Committee Meeting of 12/08/21 are contained in the Executive Director's Report; review the ED report for more information on what was covered; we are looking forward to working with the new Director of Teaching & Learning (DTL) Christine Volpe, especially regarding data, meaningful use of data, significance of data and how to intervene using what data tells us; also what does data tell us regarding readiness for re-authorization by NYSED; this May we will have a NYSED mid-level visit and report.

M. Casale added that we really want the data to be about what goes on throughout the academic school day; data collecting will go on simultaneously with teaching and be concise so that it can be a natural extension of the learning day; collecting data can be a daunting task.

The next Academic Committee Meeting will be January 12th at 9:15 AM.

T. Castanza will cover some of the bigger items in his report during monthly board meetings, but asks the board to read the entire report for specifics; we had a terrific ED Support & Evaluation Committee Meeting last week; we are moving forward and working well together; especially found the 3 points mentioned by board member M. Harmon-Vaught very helpful. 

Met today with R. Illuzzi to discuss where we are going, our external partnerships; our admissions launch; how we are doing outreach in the community; what types of events do we need to hold; looking forward to working with our new DTL, Christine Volpe, who will start working officially on January 3rd; Ms. Volpe will attend the OG refresh training in January led by Jill Edwards; Ms. Otterbeck will  take on the role of Director of Specialized Instruction.

Attended Finance Committee Meeting with board member G. Winn to discuss where we are now and where we are going with our 3-5 year financial plan; this is also part of the charter renewal process; have been working with Josh Moreau of boostED Finance, our financial partner, and would like to have a special board of trustees meeting in January to review our financial strategies for now and in the future; we need to find out where we are before we make any decisions on our annual budget due June 30th; want to involve the board members fully in the planning of financial decisions. Further information to follow.

T. Castanza said the 3-5 year budget plan is our long-term finances; the monthly financials are the snapshot of where we are in a given month; we are looking at the format of monthly financial report; Josh Moreau and ED will be working on giving a clearer overview narrative and will revamp the first page of the monthly financial report; the report shows budget vs. actuals where we expect to be in a particular month and where we actually are; we have more of a surplus in November; we can use these savings for more professional development; to offer training to teachers before the NYSED visit in May; board of trustee members are invited to attend the training where they can learn about how data affects our goals. Looking forward to 2022.

A. Volpe met with the NYS Charter Parent Council on 12/06/21; spoke to National Parents Union and will meet monthly with both groups to discuss advocacy and how to organize charter school parents here and in Albany; the families of our school are donating money so we can purchase gifts and breakfast on 12/20/21 as a Holiday Breakfast event for the teachers at our school.

R. Illuzzi added that next week is School Spirit Week; Tuesday, 12/21/21 is Pajama Day at school and also "PD with a Twist", a painting party for staff - board members are invited to attend. 

T. Castanza said that Parent/Teacher Conferences and report cards are being offered this week; teachers need a break and appreciate what the Parent Association does.