Young Scholars Charter School

Minutes

Regular Board Meeting

Date and Time

Tuesday December 10, 2024 at 4:00 PM

Location

900 North Marshall St.

Philadelphia, PA 19123

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

A. Wang (remote), B. Young (remote), E. Kaplin (remote), G. Singer, J. Brown (remote), T. Rebar (remote), W. Churchill (remote), W. Weisman (remote), r. Halpern (remote)

Trustees Absent

B. Harrison, E. Ashe, J. Wang, S. Piltch

Guests Present

J. Amenda (remote), K. Corcoran (remote), K. Lamilla (remote), Laura Umbrecht Gulick (remote), S. 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 Tuesday Dec 10, 2024 at 4:05 PM.

C.

Nomination and Appointment of Trustee of Laura Umbrecht Gulick

W. Churchill made a motion to accept Laura Umbrecht Gulick as a new Board Member.
B. Young seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Board Discussion Topics

A.

Dashboard

John Amenda went through the school dashboard showing our progress to goal. The team is piloting standards-based grading as part of our grant work. We have stronger results than we've seen in the past. Students are taking growth assessments and we will know more data at the end of December. We have had strong attendance.

 

B.

Committee Designations

There will be four committees moving forward- Finance/Audit, Development, Governance, and School Performance. 

 

C.

Facility and Capital Campaign

The school is still working on land acquisition which is a large part of the upcoming capital campaign. All schematics for the facility will look like are complete. After the new year, the team can move forward. 

 

D.

Fundraising Status and Strategy

The school has already exceeded its annual funding goal. Capital campaign planning is underway.

E.

Finance

Kevin Corcoran from Charter Choices presented the annual and independent audit. There were no findings or issues. The school has a positive net income for the year.

 

F.

Statement of Financial Interest forms due March 1, 2025

G.

Project-based Learning Opportunity

The school team is beginning to reach out to organizations that help with financial literacy to come to school for workshops with students as part of the school's project-based learning programming. 

III. Approval of Minutes

A.

Resolved that the Board approve the Regular session minutes from the October 29, 2024 meeting.

W. Churchill made a motion to approve the minutes from 10-29-2024 minutes Regular Board Meeting on 10-29-24.
W. Weisman seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

IV. Motions for Approval

A.

FY24 Audit

W. Churchill made a motion to approve FY24 audit.
G. Singer seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

V. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

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,
W. Churchill