Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter Schools

Minutes

September Monthly BOARD Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday September 21, 2022 at 6:00 PM

Location

82 Lewis Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11206

Trustees Present

Cecelia Russo, Doris Givens, Joseph Sciame, Josue De Paz, Kevin Nesbitt, Mikhael Edouard, Shawn Carson, Victor Rivera

Trustees Absent

None

Ex Officio Members Present

Nicholas Tishuk

Non Voting Members Present

Nicholas Tishuk

Guests Present

Cynthia Aker, Lisa-Renée Brown, Patience Brown, Patricia Bramwell

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

Victor Rivera called a meeting of the board of trustees of Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter Schools to order on Wednesday Sep 21, 2022 at 6:07 PM.

C.

Approve August Minutes

Cecelia Russo made a motion to approve the minutes from August Monthly Board Meeting - Wednesday, 8/17 at 6PM on 08-17-22.
Joseph Sciame seconded the motion.

Approved with any needed corrections

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Academic and Family Life Committee

A.

Committee Update

The school opened on August 29th and it went really well – the administration invited Trustees to visit the school in person. Patience Brown mentioned that the school is in full swing of activity, Freedom Riders project has continued, and her team has put an emphasis on family engagement. Had first successful PFO meeting of the  year, had 33 parents show up and they were very engaged. The school has also ramped up their marketing efforts to continue strong enrollment.


 

The school was allocated $60K for a Title III grant, primarily for ELL students who are migrants. Mikhael asked about the overall testing nationally and the results compared to NY students to understand learning loss during the pandemic. Nick and Patience will present more once City and District scores are released, so that school’s relative academic performance can be reviewed by the Board.


 

III. Governance Committee

A.

Committee Update

Doris Givens mentioned that board orientation was the focus, in order to strengthen it. We’re putting together the finishing touches on an orientation packet for new trustees who are being onboarded. This will be sent to the full board for feedback. We also discussed providing new board members with a Board mentor to ensure that new trustees are able to easily get up to speed.

 

Board Chair nominated Cynthia Aker to join the board and commended  her candidacy, for the subsequent vote of the full Board.

Josue De Paz made a motion to nominate Cynthia Aker to join the board as a Trustee.
Kevin Nesbitt seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

IV. Finance Committee

A.

Finance Committee Update

Doris deferred to Lisa Renee, who talked about current revenue and expenditures – nothing is out of the ordinary.  The Board reviewed the current bank account balances and per pupil numbers.

 

The team is continuing to focus on recruitment and marketing efforts to ensure students know of our school. We had low turnover of educators and students. The finance and HR team went on one of their first retreats ever – it helped them to think about how to be more strategic overall. We are preparing for the finance and audit meeting in the fall, which is open to the public.

V. Public Comments

A.

Public comments

 Patricia asked about how a community member can get in touch with the school. We’ll be providing the email for Patience Brown. 

 

Nicholas Tishuk mentioned that he met with Per Scholas, a nonprofit that focuses on technical training – we will be sending out the information to our alumni. Joseph Sciame asked about alumni data, specifically about college graduation rates for different cohorts that graduated from BSNBCS, which was discussed in the context of our alumni network. 


 

Joseph Sciame made a motion to move into Executive Session.
Doris Givens seconded the motion.

The board discussed legal and real estate matters.  

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Mikhael Edouard made a motion to adjourn the executive Session.
Shawn Carson seconded the motion.

The  Board returned to regular session after discussing legal and real estate matters.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

VI. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

Mikhael Edouard made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Cecelia Russo seconded the motion.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm. The next meeting is Wednesday, October 19th.

The board 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 8:30 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Josue De Paz