Welcomed everyone and said she is grateful that the person who caused such a tragic incident in Brooklyn was apprehended; it makes us thankful for the safety of our families and our health.

She welcomed the Ellen Rabin, a parent attendee to the meeting.

L. Gyimesi added that a potential new board member may also be attending tonight's meeting.

L. Gyimesi shared a document showing the results of the Board Self-Evaluation results and now wishes to go into further details; responses had to be stated in absolutes or by “I don’t Know” which could have resulted in lowering scores in certain areas.

Basic Level 1 areas requiring significant improvement include: Board Meetings; Board Composition; Board Recruitment; Finance; Fundraising; Academic Oversight/Comparative Data; and Succession Planning. We need to grow our board; we have 8 board members and would like 11 members; we would like more involvement by E.D. in board recruitment; financial audits have never been a problem but the board needs more education on financial matters and academics. We are just beginning to get a strategy in place for fundraising; do we want to bring in people to help with fundraising? Succession planning is also needed. In other areas we did better: board meeting content; open meetings compliance; accountability; financial compliance; and support of the E.D.; we rated excellent in board structure and academic oversight. What are our board's plans and goals for the future? We have dedicated committees and are trying to move forward and improve in all areas. We need to decide what role we want to play in fundraising. 

T. Castanza said he is encouraged by what he heard and he wants to focus on what's ahead; his printed E.D. April report was shared with the board; NYS ELA exams were on March 29th & 30th and kids did a fantastic job; the entire staff met afterward and were proud of the students pushing through and handling the test well; we also discussed what didn't go well so that we are better prepared for the NYS Math exams on April 26th & 27th; Science tests will be June 1st & 26th. 

We had a very successful visit by Chancellor Banks, Regent Cea, David Frank of NYSED Charter School Office, and a large group of other people on April 1st and we are pleased with how we showcased our school; we want to focus on the future, meeting our commitments to the state and forming new partnerships.

We are now in the middle of budget season and our updated budget/version 2 was discussed in the Finance Committee Meeting; the full board will be given the final draft for a vote in May; we have targeted allocations based on student outcomes, training of staff, and professional consultants, which will be put into a highlighted narrative for the board to review.

Renewal of our charter to be discussed in May after the NYSED Mid-Term virtual visit, we are confident that we will do well; the visit has been pushed back to the end of May but we don't have a confirmed date yet. 

Our admission lottery was successful and we made offers for open seats; our retention formula adds to the number of open seats; we have a faster acceptance rate this year than ever before; 70% of the acceptances are for dyslexic students in our target population; Waitlist is 68 students at this time. Registration is next. He thanked his team for their hard work during this month.  

T. Castanza reported that his team looked at the existing budget and upcoming budget and specific lines where we have not hit our target spending; we have additional funding available in professional learning, curriculum and materials; our Writing Revolution writing program will use funds for professional learning; and additional expenses exist for MAP professional development just held. 

An end-of-year analysis will be done of what funds were used, what fund not used can be moved into another area. This will all be presented to the board for approval before end of fiscal year on June 30th. 

The following parents of 4th grade Bridge Prep students spoke individually about how their children are thriving at the school, how much better their children are reading and socializing, how much better their children are doing at Bridge Prep vs. the other schools they previously attended, how amazing the experience of learning has become for their children and how much they appreciate the staff, teachers and administrators of the school.

The parents also spoke about their fears for their dyslexic children attending a regular DoE middle school for 6th grade and that they are afraid that their children will regress. The parents all made the same request of the Board of Trustees: to support expansion of Bridge Prep to middle school with 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes so that their children can continue to attend Bridge Prep throughout middle school grades.

SPEAKERS:

Ellen Rabin

Heather Thomassen

Diane Spicer

Amber Zick

Karen Smith

Amanda Wolowitz

Joshua Sussman

Bara Zahavi

M. Harmon-Vaught thanked them for attending this virtual board meeting and speaking with us.

R. Kerr thanked everyone for reminding us of who we care about and thought of when we founded Bridge Prep; we know what the school means to you. Some of our board members are founders of the school, and working along with former Borough President Jim Oddo, it took many hours and a lot of hard work to get our school established.