Executive Directors Report

·   Public Hearing rescheduled to Thursday at 5 pm

·   Made it to the semi-finalist round / Charter School Growth Fund

·   BLACC Legacy Grant - $100,000

·   BLACC Innovation Grant

·   PEO Presentation to take place at next meeting

The School Board is statutorily required to do the hearing.

Hearing is required any time there is a Renewal or material change to the charter.

Intellectus Prep will also be present at Thursday’s hearing.

Made it to semi-finalist round / Charter School Growth Fund

BLACC Grants due 2/29 

BLACC Legacy Grant - $100,000 - Employee Experience Program 

"The Amani Teacher Care Project" 

BLACC Innovation Grant - $250,000 - Digital Creator Laboratory

"The Prometheus Project" 

We’re assembling a team.

We met with project managers, financial people, bond underwriter, developers, and there is some overlap.

Main idea is facilities plan for an elementary school which will eventually be K-8.

It’s the boards project to do this.

At the School Level, we already have School Leader, CFO (CSBM), Finance/Operations

However, also need a project manager who will focus on real estate strategy, financial advisory, acquisition, owner’s rep (represents the school in all negotiations, bidding,

Second biggest category is lawyers, real estate expertise on school law, land use attorney, bond attorney

Financial Community- CDFI lender, RE Developer, Bond underwriter, RE Brokers,

We had 6 meetings over one week span, February 2023.

Presentations available for review.

One project: Incubation space (K-2) (2 possible 3 years)(2025-2028)

Second project: permanent facilities K-8 (2028-2058)

First step is hiring a project manager.

2 dotted lines…(see timeline diagram)

1 for incubation space

1 for permanent facility

Paul:

Where is the budget for retaining the project manager?

How do we finance the expertise we need?

Costs will come from…

Charter School growth fund

Charter School planning grant…

Stephanie:

How do we move forward?

Debra:

These are important fact finding missions. As we get more clarity on what the state is doing, we will have a better idea of timing,

Starting to put together

Charlie

Establish the viability of the project.

New construction project is a four-year arc.

Project manager can help to define initial expenses.

Charter School Growth Fund is for the whole school.

Will attract some money that school will have to pay back.

Ready, aim, fire

Design financial infrastructure

Build the school.

Bond convenants

May need bond oversight committee to maintain compliance with bond.

Charlie Ortiz, Washington Heights Inwood Charter School Grades 5 – 8

Building a new building….construction to take place this summer. $500-$600

Design the whole thing

Sort out all the assumptions

Good to connect with other board presidents/boards.

Project Managers can help to add more details

See Financial Report.

We are projecting expenses to be over budget.

55K deficit

The biggest expense is compensation.

Kuo

Thurman: ON the revenue side, Mt. Vernon is slow to pay on special ed payments.

On the expense side, we have some backfills, and significant expenses for paternity leave, expecting spending on substitutes ($26,000) to decrease. Thinking about making use of building aides.

Kuo: Does this also imply a cash flow issue?

Thurman: There's no reason that I know of that this will become a cash flow issue…

Our projections include the projected revenue.

Financial Matter

Moving into a money market account.

Explore the option of diversifying across banks.

Set up a personnel account

Another would be to do work with FDIC organizations that share risks over a few banks.

Shifting our funds to where they can make more money.

• ILT did a question analysis that included a deep dive into the most commonly missed question for each grade in both contents. Looked at possible misconceptions, text complexity, question format, and reteaching opportunities. Followed up with teachers after analysis to give pointers for the action plan in response to the data.  Focus = Priority Standards 
   
• Open positions: 8th Grade Science, Special Education teacher
   
• New Hire: Art

• Hudson Museum Trip- 5th and 6th Grade  *Art/Music/Black History Month: Hip Hop Heros- through March 3rd: Featuring art and artifacts from community members, Hip Hop Heroes honors Yonkers, the Bronx, and Mount Vernon as sites of New York’s musical innovation. The exhibition also builds from artist Evan Bishop’s workshop series, Hip Hop Heroes: Create a Comic Book Cover, which was held at the Museum in the winter of 2023 and introduced participants to the relationship between social issues and Hip Hop culture
   
• BHM Challenge 2/15/24
   
• CBT Simulation was successful
   
• Officially 1:1 with Chromebooks

Students moved out of the area therefore numbers lower

59 applicants as of 2/12

Debra and the school was featured in Family Magazine.

Recruitment campaign underway.

Gina: Is this where we want to be?

Bruce: Yes, March will be a tell-time period….

Gene Johnson's Resignation 

New Board Member - Latoya Attis 

Latoya: Clinical Assistant Professor, teach graduate school,

Vote was taken to appoint Latoya to the board 

Motion to appoint Latoya as a board member…

Motion approved.

Board retreat.