Jenny Trani presented the monthly financials. She highlighted that at then end of June 2022 there is a $127,146 surplus after depreciation much having to do with being able to expense items to various grants.

There may be funds due in reconciliation and these funds can be used for that should any funds be due.

Jenny gave examples that hotspots and intervention was able to be funded by various Covid related grants and stated that it is good to have a cushion going into next year.

Lisa reminded the board that enrollment and retention will be focus and the grants from Covid will not be part of the budget next year.

Svetlana joined the discussion and spoke about the federal grants and how they were slightly higher and that the surplus came from grants. In addition, some of the expenses came in lower.  For example, $9000 for recruitment was not used along with other lower expenses.

Lisa stated that being conservative with projections has been the pattern of the school's planning which results is surplus vs. deficit.

Jenny explained that there are currently 235 students planned for next year which is exactly the projected number.  There are an additional 30 applications in process which could result in additional students.

Jenny stated the they are doing goal-setting weekly and comparing those numbers to prior year.  The team is looking at intiatives and activities that focus on recruitment.

Elias has worked to clean up School Mint and supporting families in completing applications. He is working every day in July to do active recruitment.  He believes that he will be able to secure and additional 10 students.  

Lisa stated that some of the activities that are happening include:

Reactivated street team to flyer the community.

Farmer's market, churches and community center were visited.

Day care centers are being visited by Elias.

Health event at Wycoff houses and street team will be flyering.

There is also a Parent Information night on August 3 to discuss school logistics with families and will include a presentation and a Q & A.

Saturday, August 27 a Back to School event and include a bouncy house like a fair with community tables as well.  This will help create excitement and engage new and existing families.

They will be doing bus shelter ads - 5 shelters for 4 weeks.  Also Vanguard mailing will be done as it has been in the past.

There has also been and effort to reconnect with families in School Mint whose application was rescinded, which happens if the application sits there for 2 weeks of inactivity.

Mac asked about virtual tours and Lisa explained that in person tours will begin once school is opened.

Jenny shared how year ended with F&P assessment data.  She compared beginning of the year with how students performed in June.

8% were above, 27% in June.

44% on level, 37% on level in June

20% approaching, 16% in June

28% below, June 21%

Lisa also addressed the gains in SWD students who made significant progress.  Cristy asked about what this could be attributed to.  Jenny explained that these students are getting services consistently and additional interventions consistently.  She credited the special ed team are very experienced and Lisa said that the teachers focus on bands of students and do a combination of push in and pull out sessions.

Lisa also explained that they will be bringing in DIBELS assessment next year.  Jenny added how they are looking at data and instructional practices to be more responsive to students quickly.

Mac spoke to the need for strong professional development and how will the new endeavors be monitored and make adjustments if needed.

Lisa agreed and spoke to training before school started, along with not over burdening teachers, giving teacher's voice, and data monitoring regularly.

Cristy spoke to looking at the why components of a program work so that teachers can have best practices in their toolbox no matter what curriculum is used.

Lisa spoke to the research done by the leadership team, especially Sheila, looking at gaps in instruction.

Colleen spoke to whether or not the students know that the curriculum is being changed and why.  Ask for their feedback at the end of the year. Lisa supported the idea and will bring it back to the leadership team.

Lisa stated that Amplify is being piloted in summer school to get teacher feedback and be ambassadors for teachers in September.

There has been positive feedback about the. program.

Attendance has not been what was projected and is averaging around 75%.  There has been some Covid positive cases.  One or two families decided that they did not want to return due to Covid.

Lisa spoke about the Coney Island vouchers for summer school regular attendance.

Lisa said that it is working very well for a first time endeavor and will consider doing it again next year now that the school has air conditioning.

Lisa spoke to Amplify and how the science of reading speaks to the need for foundational skills and background knowledge.

She spoke to how Amplify meets all the aspects of the science of reading.

Colleen spoke to the schools that she has worked with and how these schools saw greater gains vs. TC curriculum. She also stated that the schools she works with have told her there was diversity in the program and Lisa said that the students seem to be engaged.

Colleen also spoke to how the daily routines of the curriculum are the same for all the grades to it is not necessary to teach everything each year.

In the training, following the program with fidelity is going to be a focus and reinforced.

There was a motion made to adopt Amplify CKLA as the literacy curriculm for the 2022-23 school year.  Cristy seconded the motion.  All were in favor and it passes unanimously.

Lisa spoke to Matt Harrington's need to resign from the board.  He was the founding director of operations and now has a family and has moved to Massachusetts.  

He emailed that unfortunately he will need to resign from the board due to his commitments in Massachusetts.

Mac spoke about the input TNAACS gained from Matt and how it is bittersweet to have someone leave who was with us from the beginning.

He will be definitely be missed and we wish him well.  The board's next step will be to find a new board member to be head of the Finance Committee.

Lisa asked if there was someone on the board who has the desire/knowledge to take on that role or if there is a need to recruit a board member with that background.

Lisa spoke about the surveys and explained the purpose of them which is to develop actionable next steps for principal and board.

Lisa reviewed that results of the survey.

Questions were asked about next steps and goal setting based on these results.  Lisa spoke to possible retreat, professional development, a consistent schedule for the retreat and these are the consistent things we will be focusing on an annual basis.

It was decided that the August meeting will be more of a retreat and look at the surveys more in depth to develop goals.

Colleen updated the board about her meeting with the attorney and spoke to some of the next steps in order to update the bylaws.

There must be a schedule for the year for all committees, it posted on the website, in the school, and to media.  We should be using school Zoom, not personal Zoom. Lisa reminded people that she will need to physically be in the building in case a member of the community would like to attend the meeting.

All the committee meetings need to be recorded and put in folders.  We need agendas and minutes.  Committees also need to be open to the public.  

Most of the time meetings should be opened but there can be a closed portion of the meeting.

Cristy asked that at the retreat we discuss the committees and making sure we have the ones that we need.  

Colleen stated that we need to vote on committees annually and each committee needs to have 3 board members on each committee.  This will all be part of the voting next month.

Colleen stated that if the committee is going to be next year, there needs to be a schedule.  Lisa said she will have the schedule ready for vote for next month.

Committees need a description and agenda needs to go out 5-10 days prior.

Reminder is that we are being recorded and that no student names should be used.

Whistleblower and conflict of interest need to be available before we can vote on the by laws. We will take the form from the attorney and use the ones that the attorney recommends.

Lisa is going to have to include these by law changes in the renewal because it is a material change.

Two votes:

1. Current term is three years and it was recommended that we change it to a 2 year term.

2. We currently say 9 members and should we have a range.  Lisa stated that the minimum is 5 but believes we can have a range in the bylaws.

Colleen will ask the attorneys about the range, possibly 5-10.

A motion was made to change current term from 3 years to 2 years

by Michelle Lynch and seconded by Colleen Kelly.

Motion was passed unanimously.

Committee met with Elias and Cristy spoke about meeting him and what his goals were such as cleaning up School Mint.

Lisa spoke to how energetic he is and asked how to keep track of his endeavors.  She suggested a log to show his work efforts and determine what activities net applications.

There needs to be capacity and documentation of all of the activities and a "how to" so that should there be a change in staffing.

Lisa shared that within the building there is a weekly meeting about Community Outreach and will share those meeting with the board.