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Young Scholars Charter School

Minutes

Regular Board Meeting

Date and Time

Thursday June 8, 2023 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. Harrison (remote), B. Young (remote), D. Dwirantwi (remote), E. Kaplin (remote), G. Singer (remote), I. Brind (remote), J. Wang (remote), L. Pressman (remote), S. Midha (remote), T. Rebar (remote), V. Schwartz (remote), W. Churchill (remote), W. Weisman (remote)

Trustees Absent

E. Ashe, J. Brown, V. Hanraty

Guests Present

Aubrey Wang, B. Chazin (remote), C. Freyer (remote), J. Amenda (remote), K. Corcoran (remote), K. Lamilla (remote), K. Tini (remote), Shakira Smith (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

W. Churchill called a meeting of the board of trustees of Young Scholars Charter School to order on Thursday Jun 8, 2023 at 4:00 PM.

C.

To approve the resignations of Board members, Valerie Hanraty, Sanjeev Midha, Lois Pressman, and Blair Stambaugh

W. Churchill made a motion to To approve the resignations of Board members, Valerie Hanraty, Sanjeev Midha, Lois Pressman, and Blair Stambaugh.
W. Weisman seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Board Discussion Topics

A.

Open Discussion/Q&A from Narrative Update

John Amenda gave a brief update on the following items:

  1. The building project is moving forward with the project management agreement being moved to signature. Ideally have access to a gymnasium by winter 2025. 
  2. We received a very good renewal report and have a final report within the next few weeks.
  3. Shakira Smith, current Co-Principal and long-time team member, will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer in support of YSCS and Paul Robeson Charter School. She will start in this role in July and this will bring a lot of added capacity to for next year and beyond given her extensive talents and skills in operational excellence. 
  4. Board Transitions: After years of dedicated service, we will accept the resignations of Blair Stambaugh, Sanjeev Midha, Lois Pressman and Valerie Hanraty from the Board of Trustees/ We are deeply grateful for their commitment and their talents and dedication to our students school and mission will be missed. 
  5. We have an alumni intern starting next week who will start doing more intentional outreach to alumni on this effort.
     

B.

Talent Update

Becca Chazin gave a talent update.  We have achieved 92% staff retention for next school year and are almost fully hired.

C.

Final ACE-R Review

We met standard for most all organizational compliance and viability. 

D.

Committee Reports

High School Admissions & Alumni Engagement- 100% of 8th grade class has accepted an offer. It's been a strong year for high school placement.

 

School Performance- John presented the year-to-date dashboard. Growth remains positive for the school overall. 

 

Development- Reminder that the 25th Anniversary event will be on October 18th.

 

Governance & Planning & Property- None

E.

End-of-Year Board Feedback Survey

In planning for next school year, Board members were asked to fill out a brief survey with thoughts on 2022-23 and any recommendations for 2023-24.

III. Approval of Minutes

A.

Resolved that the Board approve the Regular session minutes from the May 2, 2023 meeting.

W. Churchill made a motion to approve the minutes from Regular Board Meeting on 05-02-23.
W. Weisman seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

IV. Motions for Approval- Policy / Governance / Operations / Miscellaneous

A.

To approve the 2023-2024 Board Meeting Calendar

W. Churchill made a motion to To approve the 2023-2024 Board Meeting Calendar.
W. Weisman seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B.

Be it approved that the board approves the submission of the rental reimbursement forms for the 2022-23 school year to the PA Department of Education when the forms become available.

W. Churchill made a motion to approve the submission of the rental reimbursement forms for the 2022-23 school year to the PA Department of Education when the forms become available.
W. Weisman seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

V. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

W. Churchill made a motion to There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 PM.
W. Weisman seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
K. Lamilla