Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter Schools
Minutes
April Monthly Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday April 19, 2023 at 6:00 PM
Location
82 Lewis Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11206
Trustees Present
Cecelia Russo, Cynthia Aker, Doris Givens, Josue De Paz, Kevin Nesbitt, Shawn Carson, Victor Rivera
Trustees Absent
Joseph Sciame
Trustees who arrived after the meeting opened
Cynthia Aker
Ex Officio Members Present
Nicholas Tishuk
Non Voting Members Present
Nicholas Tishuk
Guests Present
Patience Brown, Patricia Bramwell
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve March minutes
Roll Call | |
---|---|
Kevin Nesbitt |
Aye
|
Doris Givens |
Aye
|
Josue De Paz |
Aye
|
Cynthia Aker |
Absent
|
Cecelia Russo |
Aye
|
Victor Rivera |
Aye
|
Shawn Carson |
Aye
|
Joseph Sciame |
Absent
|
II. Academic and Family Life Committee
A.
Committee Update
III. Governance Committee
A.
Committee Update
Nick shared that we’re been working on additional Board recruits – using Boardstrong to find people interested in our school. Josue also spoke to a parent who’s potentially interested in the board. Next week we’ll discuss if we’ll be going back to meeting on Tuesdays or keeping the meeting on Wednesdays or another day that is ideal for the Trustees.
IV. Finance Committee
A.
Finance Committee Update
Shawn talked about the detailed bank statements as we do on a monthly basis and there were no subsantives updates to note. Shawn also mentioned that the time for the meeting may change moving forward.
B.
Presentation of Draft FY24 budget
The board discussed the FY24 Budget, detailing the changes YoY, especially with regard to the high school and one-time ARP funding. The state budget hasn’t been finalized yet, so we can’t finalize that until we hear about that dynamic. The after school program has helped us to retain students (professional services bucket) and will be increasing in the budget next year, along with staff professional development, which helps retain staff. Facilities also increased with our expected high school expansion and need of a new high school building. We’ll be covering the rest of fundraising next week.
C.
Board Fundraising Event
Doris explained the gala concept for our fundraising in November, where she detailed her initial plan. Victor mentioned that a gala committee would be very helpful - Doris and Cynthia would co-Chair it together and set an introductory meeting via Zoom.
V. Public Comments
A.
Public comments
N/A
VI. Closing Items
A.
Vote to Enter Executive Session
Made at 6:57 - we discussed personnel issues related to the Executive Director.
Roll Call | |
---|---|
Joseph Sciame |
Absent
|
Cecelia Russo |
Aye
|
Kevin Nesbitt |
Abstain
|
Shawn Carson |
Aye
|
Doris Givens |
Aye
|
Cynthia Aker |
Aye
|
Josue De Paz |
Aye
|
B.
Vote to Re-enter Normal Session
Kevin stepped out of the room prior to the vote.
Roll Call | |
---|---|
Cecelia Russo |
Aye
|
Doris Givens |
Aye
|
Joseph Sciame |
Absent
|
Kevin Nesbitt |
Abstain
|
Josue De Paz |
Aye
|
Cynthia Aker |
Aye
|
Victor Rivera |
Aye
|
Shawn Carson |
Aye
|
Roll Call | |
---|---|
Joseph Sciame |
Absent
|
Kevin Nesbitt |
Abstain
|
Cecelia Russo |
Aye
|
Shawn Carson |
Abstain
|
Doris Givens |
Aye
|
Cynthia Aker |
Aye
|
Victor Rivera |
Aye
|
Josue De Paz |
Aye
|
Patience sent an email detailing all of the activities from now to the end of the year. Testing started this week for ELA state tests and had a pep rally yesterday to get students excited and ready for the day. Patience gave our regular student and staff update – we are fully staffed.
Math state testing will be the first week of May. No major concerns noted. Staff that will be asked back will be going out in late May. The test is not a comparison test, as it’s been changed quite a bit from last year.
Graduation venues been hard to find, but we’ve confirmed a location and date - June 17th at 11am.