As per Public Officers Law, Article 7, § 103-a (Videoconferencing by public bodies) board members L. Gyimesi, M. Harmon-Vaught, R. Kerr, G. Winn and G. Kuriakose are attending via videoconference from locations posted on the public meeting notice/agenda and therefore open to the public; they are considered to be in attendance for purposes of quorum and are permitted to vote. QUORUM IS MET FOR THIS MEETING.

L. Gyimesi welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending this meeting so early in the morning. E.D. T. Castanza will be attending remotely today to give more information about the Superpower Mentors Program. Committee reports can now begin.

R. Kerr stated that the Academic Committee has not held its June Meeting yet; the next committee meeting is scheduled for June 13th. She does anticipate that the following topics will be discussed:

• School staffing needs
• Finance Committee suggestion that 4th grades and 5th grades have additional sections added so that fewer students would be in each class; considered a good idea by all. L. Gyimesi added that she also likes the idea of making classes smaller for 4th & 5th graders; when T. Castanza arrives at today's meeting, he can be asked about adding sections to 4th grade and 5th grade.
• Finding a Math Coach
• Goals for the summer program
• All teachers having supervision; who will be doing teacher mentoring and intervention? 

The next Academic Committee Meeting will be June 13th at 11 AM.

G. Winn stated that the Finance Committee met on May 30th and the following was discussed:

• School Budget - We added the head count into the budget so that we have the flexibility to make decisions on what we want in class sizes and section counts. This will also give us more flexibility for staffing when we add Kindergarten classes next year.
• Cash Investment Plan - Has been implemented for $2.5 million; $1.25 went into a CD at Bank of America and the $1.25 million went into Northfield Bank using the IntraFi Network. FDIC insurance coverage for $250,000 applies to a single tax ID number and since we have only 1 tax ID number, we are covered for the FDIC limit; however the banking institutions we are invested with are strong and there does not seem to be any risk. Also we are using the IntraFi Network, which keeps large deposits insured by interspersing the funds across many banks and staying under the FDIC insurance limit of $250,000 per depositor per bank. It allows deposits larger than $250,000 to effectively become FDIC-insured. We will have no more than $250,000 in each bank. He will be attending a conference in July and speak to some attendees about what other schools are doing to protect large cash balances.

R, Kerr asked about the interest rates the accounts will be earning; G. Winn responded that the CD is earning 4% and the IntraFi Network funds earn 2.9%. R. Kerr suggested asking other successful Staten Island charter schools how they protect their school's funds and she offered to reach out to the Hellenic Classical Charter School for their advice. G. Winn thanked her and suggested that they follow up with that in early July. We are unable to come up with a major investment plan right now and we think about growing our school and the fact that we don't need to construct our own building is why we have so much money available, but he would love to just put the money back into the classrooms. L. Gyimesi added that part of our strategy for our July meeting would be to discuss the use of the funds because we have a heavy cash-on-hand balance and as a public school this is a conversation we need to have regarding long-term plans for using the money for our school. G. Winn said that he would like to look into a NYC teacher retirement plan for our staff instead of locking them into employment contracts.

M. Harmon-Vaught gave the following update:

• NYSED approval of our 2 new potential board members, Becky Peters and Traci Frey, should be coming through any day now.
• L. Gyimesi reminded everyone that board of trustee officers' elections will take place at our June board meeting; M. Harmon-Vaught will be reaching out to current officers to see if they are willing to continue to serve in their positions. 
• Discussion followed regarding changing the date of the June board meeting from June 13th to June 20th; the 20th appears to be the more convenient date for most members.

The next Board Development & Governance Committee Meeting will be June 6th at 7:45 AM.

M. Harmon-Vaught shared with board members some possible dates for an E.D. check-in; the Board on Track E.D. evaluation documents are available - please complete them by next week so we can have them back before our check-in with T. Castanza.

L. Gyimesi gave the following update:

• We will be voting at the June board meeting on the 3 remaining renewal resolutions
• There have been changes to the renewal narrative which is being updated by Nora at Pasek Consulting and will be shared with the entire board soon. If anyone wants to have a further meeting to discuss the renewal documents, please let her know.
• The schools chancellor made some supportive remarks about our school at the Panel for Educational Policy meeting and we can include a copy of his comments with our renewal documentation; T. Castanza attended the Dyslexia Awareness Day in Albany in May and NYS Education Commissioner Dr. Betty Rosa mentioned our school in her speech that day - her comments also be submitted with our renewal documents.

Our school received a $25,000 grant from the Staten Island Foundation for the teacher practicum program. 

T. Castanza gave an update on the Superpower Mentors Program that was discussed at last month's meeting. If approved by the board, this would start in the Fall of 2023 as a pilot program, for 12 students, at a cost of $1,500 per student. It would include 15 hours of mentorship, family meetings and reports at mid-semester and end-of-semester. It would start on August 21st and end on December 31st. The themes covered are Building Trust, Skills Building (including self-discovery & self-awareness, self-esteem & self-confidence, communication skills & building relationships, emotional self-regulation & stress management, time management & study skills, problem-solving & resilience), Mindset Check and Wrap Up. This will also look good in our charter renewal documentation.

A question and answer session followed regarding how the students would be selected, how the fees are determined and what funds are budgeted for this, how we could expand the program if we really like the program. The board members agreed that it would be good to try this program out first as a pilot and see how it goes.