Forte Preparatory Academy

Minutes

Forte Prep Board Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday November 17, 2021 at 7:00 PM

Location

Forte Prep 51-35 Reeder Street OR on Zoom 

Directors Present

A. Rothman (remote), E. Winn (remote), F. Lin (remote), L. Friscia (remote), L. Rodriguez (remote), W. Yip (remote)

Directors Absent

D. Moskowitz, V. Escobar

Ex Officio Members Present

G. Browne (remote)

Non Voting Members Present

G. Browne (remote)

Guests Present

Justin Smith (remote), Rachel Ksenyak (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

L. Friscia called a meeting of the board of directors of Forte Preparatory Academy to order on Wednesday Nov 17, 2021 at 7:10 PM.

C.

Approve Minutes

L. Friscia made a motion to approve the minutes from Forte Prep October Board Meeting on 10-20-21.
A. Rothman seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Governance

A.

Committee Update

Down to 8 board members.  Would be great to get back to double digits

III. Academic Excellence

A.

Committee Update

Review of dashboard findings for Oct 2021 data

IV. Development

A.

Committee Update

Discussion of changes to pitch deck, contact to foundations. 

V. ED Update

A.

General Update

- Students went to hotel to meet to Peter Riezebos from Amsterdam, asked questions, and took tour of hotel property
-Trimester exams tomorrow; want to give teachers realistic expectations for results
- Review of data from BES comparison with other BES schools re: MAPP testing
- Slightly better than half of schools for ELA
- Highest conditional growth and overall percentile for math'
- Still waiting for final word from SUNY renewal; SUNY asked for additional narrative context regarding HS placement etc.
- Giving Tuesday is after thanksgiving; $4-8K in past raised; will do personal match for donations
- The Giving Bloc - crypto currency charitable giving, allow people to give crypto that converted to cash, then donated to schools.
-Costs about $2000 for annual membership

VI. Other Business

A.

Rachel Ksenyak from Board On Trak gave presentation on Board On Trak.

Review of results of Board assessment.  Key takeaways

 

- Board meetings should be forward looking not retrospective
- Should work to grow size of Board
- Some misalignment with Board Goals between ED and Board
- Some room for growth with financial policies
- Need for plan for long term fund development
- Need to think about succession planning
- Suggestion to digest survey in committees over next year
- Membership also comes with Board coaching
- Should focus December meeting on survey analysis

VII. 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 8:23 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
L. Friscia