The Board reviewed the minutes. 

Academic Committee Chair Cecelia Russo shared Academic Committee's meeting minutes. October 9th Professional Development day provided teachers with access to multiple platforms to strengthen skills in remote learning. Head Principal Patience Brown shared that roughly half of students are engaged in remote learning. We are thinking of new ways to promote family engagement for those families who are remote. Students with disabilities are receiving their mandated services remotely. Any questions or concerns, please contact anyone on the Academic committee.

The Chair and Trustees applauded the accomplishments of the staff on their stellar performance during this unprecedented time. 

Finance Committee Chair Tyler McConnell met with committee and Auditor on Oct 15. The Committee received an update from the Auditor per the attachment. BSNBCS received the highest marks and a clean audit for fiscal year 20. Committee meeting minutes, financial documents and notes to financial statements were reviewed in detail by CFO Lisa-Renee. Current assets divided by current liabilities = 4.14, a great ratio reflecting our organization's financial strength.

Our Statement of Activities shows an increase in revenue and a decrease in expenses, due to conservative financial planning since March following and throughout the pandemic. 83% of expenses are dedicated to Program Services which is an excellent proportion of expense relative to non-Program Services. This means that most of our money is dedicated toward the betterment of the academic programming. We are spending 61% in teacher costs. 55% spent on teacher costs is the standard. More is better and we are doing great. 

The school took prudent steps in FY20 to manage expenses due to the large level of uncertainty for school funding in FY21 and beyond, including loss of per pupil funding, lack of availability of additional funding and general fiscal instability at the federal, state and city levels.  We do not anticipate any potential cuts in the short term,  however, the school is monitoring possible medium or long term per pupil cuts from New York State, per current guidance on the New York State budget and deficit scenarios.

The Chair and Trustees applauded the accomplishments of the CFO and leadership on their stellar performance for a clean audit with no material findings or comments.  

Development Committee Chair Tamikka Pate shared that no meeting was scheduled for Development Committee this month. However, work has been done to lock in a new date for our 10th anniversary fundraiser at Giando on the Water. It  is now set for Tuesday, May 18th. Discussion regarding the possibility of holding a virtual fundraiser were discussed and Trustees were encouraged to join upcoming Development Committee meetings.

Governance Chair Doris Givens reported on the accomplishments, priorities and challenges of governance, as reflected in attached report. Trustees were asked to 1) sign the performance agreement and give it to Board Chair Victor Rivera 2) review, update or add and submit their profiles and headshots to ED Nicholas for posting on BSNBCS's website ASAP, 3) if possible, serve up names of individuals within their LinkedIn network who indicate in their profile that they are interested in joining a non profit board, have an affiliation with Brooklyn and have the expertise we need, to help us grow our trustee prospect list. 4) if possible, have committee reports submitted to ED Nick by Thurs, Nov 12 in preparation for our Tues, Nov 17 Board meeting. 

Chair Victor Rivera shared news that our Trustee Neil Samen has resigned as Board Trustee as a result of his recent relocation.  

Nicholas Tishuk updated the addition to Chief Development Officer's family.

Trustees were advised to contact Nicholas Tishuk should they require Board on Track or email account support. 

Trustee Chair Victor Rivera reminded all Board Trustees to sign on to Board On Track monthly to RSVP in advance of meeting and to download the packet for advance review. 

No public comments