Young Scholars Charter School
Minutes
Regular Board Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday December 13, 2022 at 4:00 PM
Location
Zoom
This meeting is being held in compliance with Open Meeting requirements of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act and is open to the public. Notices were duly posted and the meeting was advertised in The Philadelphia Daily News. Formal action will be taken.
Trustees Present
B. Stambaugh (remote), D. Dwirantwi (remote), E. Kaplin (remote), I. Brind (remote), J. Brown (remote), L. Pressman (remote), S. Midha (remote), T. Rebar (remote), V. Hanraty (remote), V. Schwartz (remote), W. Churchill (remote), W. Weisman (remote)
Trustees Absent
B. Harrison, B. Young, E. Ashe, G. Singer, J. Wang
Guests Present
B. Chazin (remote), Beth Birnkrant (remote), C. Freyer (remote), Ellyn Saft (remote), J. Amenda (remote), K. Tini (remote), Shakira Smith (remote), broderickdhl@aol.com (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
II. Board Discussion Topics
A.
Welcome and School Leader Highlights
B.
Specific Commentary or Questions from Narrative Update
C.
Data Highlights and Response
CEO Amenda shared the Board Dashboard including encouraging preliminary ANET assessment data, strong staff attendance, current staffing challenges, student chronic absenteeism, financial overview as related to student enrollment and special education population, and parent engagement in conferences.
CEO Amenda also shared the PA FutureReady statewide portal, highlighting the high rate of student growth and projections for student achievement in relation to ESSA targets through 2033, as well as comparison of student achievement trends across the charter sector, city of Philadelphia, and state of Pennsylvania.
Kristen Tini reviewed the Draft Organizational Compliance and Viability Report, which showed evidence of a strong rating overall.
D.
Active Shooter Insurance Policy
Becca Chazin provided a brief overview of our current insurance policy as well as three proposals for more comprehensive options. General consensus is to move forward with Option #3.
E.
Land Bank and Building Update
CEO Amenda confirmed that we we submitted the Land Bank application to purchase the land and are awaiting approval within the coming months.
F.
Transportation Update
CEO Amenda commented that additional inequities within transportation to charter schools in Philadelphia were discovered. As such, we have submitted Right to Know requests to the district to determine whether any additional information can be gathered and leveraged to obtain transportation from the school district.
G.
Renewal Site Visit Mission Elements Review
CEO Amenda confirmed that the Renewal Site Visit will take place on February 9th. The focus will be on mission-specific elements that we highlighted in our renewal application.
H.
Finance & Audit Update
CEO Amenda and T. Rebar provided an overview of the financial report in K. Corcoran's absence. The school is anticipating a small deficit and have options we can take to adjust as necessary. Options for providing transportation for 6th grade students were also discussed as well as potential impact on budget.
E. Saft informed the Board of her decision to resign and reflected on her years of service to the school.
Co-Principal Beth Birnkrant shared Q1 highlights since the November board meeting including honors ceremonies benchmark assessments, and upcoming student-led conferences. CEO Amenda shared additional information about the upcoming student-led conferences as well as a video of a conference.
Co-Principal Shakira Smith shared a school culture and operations update including the Q2 PRIDE reward trip, student attendance and aligned individual and group incentives/initiatives, and relaunching PRIDE steps to embody school core values.