Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter Schools
Minutes
Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter Schools Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday March 19, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Location
82 Lewis Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Trustees Present
Cecelia Russo, Cynthia Aker, Doris Givens, John Matos, Joseph Sciame, Shawn Carson, Victor Rivera
Trustees Absent
Kevin Nesbitt
Guests Present
Lamar Renee Garcia, Lisa-Renée Brown, Patience Brown, Vishal Gupta
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve February Meeting Minutes
II. Academic and Family Life Committee
A.
Committee Update
Chair Cecelia Russo provided the AFL Committee report, with additional information provided by Principal Garcia and CAO Brown. The team noted that assessments were looking good for forthcoming state tests and that recruiting efforts were going full steam ahead to both backfill existing seats and prepare for next year.
CAO Brown noted that the following week would be enrichment week at the HS with various activities going forward. She further noted an expectation that a minimum of 65 8th graders would likely move to the HS after stepping up from 8th grade.
III. Governance Committee
A.
Committee Update
Chair Doris Givens updated the Board on the work of the Governance Committee and reminded everyone to ensure that they log into Board on Track to RSVP to meetings to allow for better tracking of quorums and attendance, and that they go through the site to look at the other offerings available to the Board.
Chair Givens then presented the candidacies of Vishal Gupta and Simone Pratt for consideration of the Board. After a brief discussion, on a motion made by Chair Givens, seconded by Treasurer Carson, the Board voted unanimously to add Mr. Gupta and Ms. Pratt to the Board for an initial probationary term ending on June 30, 2026, subject to the approval of SUNY. The Chair welcomed Mr. Gupta to the Board, and DG advised that she would contact Ms. Pratt regarding her election.
IV. Finance Committee
A.
Finance Committee Update
Treasurer Shawn Carson and CFO Lisa-Renee Brown provided the report of the Financial Committee and advised that finances continued to look good. CFO Lisa-Renee Brown noted that the organization was looking to secure a higher credit limit with its bank going forwarded to provide additional financial flexibility.
The Board was reminded that the event to honor Dirk Tillotson was scheduled for 5/30 at 6:00 pm at the High School, including Mr. Tillotson’s family. Board members were encouraged to attend.
V. Public Comments
A.
Public comments
There were no public comments.
The Chair dedicated the meeting to the memory of Beverly Nesbitt and requested a moment of silence.
The Chair thanked the Board and the SMT for overseeing and conducting a review and interview with SUNY’s new schools team.