Brighter Choice Charter Schools
Minutes
Governance Committee Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday March 7, 2019 at 8:30 AM
Location
250 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12206
Committee Members Present
M. Snyder, T. Hanmer, Z. Nelson
Committee Members Absent
A. Smith, N. Velilla, S. Wallace
Guests Present
K. Ford, K. Mclean, L. Licygiewicz, T. Stutsrim
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
M. Snyder called a meeting of the Governance Committee of Brighter Choice Charter Schools to order on Thursday Mar 7, 2019 at 8:39 AM.
C.
Approve Minutes from February 26, 2019
Z. Nelson made a motion to approve minutes from the Governance Committee Meeting on 02-26-19 Governance Committee Meeting on 02-26-19.
T. Hanmer seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Governance
A.
Leadership Evaluation
Brief discussion of administrative evaluation. Mr. Licygiewicz will pull together job descriptions and distribute to Ms. Snyder, Ms. Hanmer, and Ms. Nelson. Current evaluating tools need to be tweaked based on changes in responsibilities reflected in job descriptions.
B.
Lottery Weight System
Discussion of Lottery Weighting System—Luke read the pertinent line from SED: “These subgroups (ELL, SPED students) will be weighted according to a method that will be established by the board annually.”
Discussion ensued about how to evaluate “weight” vs. “preference,” numbers vs. percentages. Ms. Mclean and Ms. Ford explained some of the challenges in admitting and retaining SPED students. Of the five boys who have left the school this winter, three had disabilities that the school was simply unequipped to handle without endangering staff and other students. Nor were the students being served effectively with the responses available (frequent suspensions, e.g.).
The principals also pointed out that students who are classified as ELL or SPED in their early years often improve in 4th and 5th grades to the point where they know longer fit the designation. Ms. Nelson noted that we need to make a point of sharing these statistics with SED.
The principals also demonstrated that a comparison of the percentages of ELL and SPED students at the school with girls and boys in the k-5 cohort showed that the schools were doing very well. Ms. Snyder volunteered to contact Laura Hill to clarify what cohorts were being used for comparison.
Discussion ensued about how to evaluate “weight” vs. “preference,” numbers vs. percentages. Ms. Mclean and Ms. Ford explained some of the challenges in admitting and retaining SPED students. Of the five boys who have left the school this winter, three had disabilities that the school was simply unequipped to handle without endangering staff and other students. Nor were the students being served effectively with the responses available (frequent suspensions, e.g.).
The principals also pointed out that students who are classified as ELL or SPED in their early years often improve in 4th and 5th grades to the point where they know longer fit the designation. Ms. Nelson noted that we need to make a point of sharing these statistics with SED.
The principals also demonstrated that a comparison of the percentages of ELL and SPED students at the school with girls and boys in the k-5 cohort showed that the schools were doing very well. Ms. Snyder volunteered to contact Laura Hill to clarify what cohorts were being used for comparison.
C.
Potential new Trustee
Paper work for the potential new trustee, Nicole Maresca, is finished. The board will vote on her membership in April.
III. Closing Items
A.
Future Agenda Items
- Leadership Evaluations
- Lottery weighting
- New trustee
B.
Adjourn Meeting
Z. Nelson made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
T. Hanmer seconded the motion.
The committee 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 9:09 AM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Z. Nelson