J.Lopez-Molina opened the floor to any public comments. 
No public comments. 
J. Lopez-Molina asked if the Board meeting is not a password-protected meeting. 
Concern presented because of the absence of public attendees since the onset of virtual meetings. 
Board meetings should be open to the public and when posting the link should be listed on the posting.
Courtney Russell confirmed that the Board Meeting is both available on the portal and posted at the school with the password and link information included in all postings. 
 

Principal Brown introduced Jacqueline Young, LA Academic Staff Member.
Ms. Jacqueline Young, when first meeting Principal Brown expressed the desire to be Teacher of the Year. 


Jacqueline Young provided a brief history of her personal growth from a youth who grew up in the Bronx, a scholar of PS156, a law school student to an academic staff member at Bronx Lighthouse Charter School.  Ms. Young provided her history from TFA, leading up to 7 years of teaching. She expressed the challenges and steps that she has taken to successfully navigate through this season of transition due to COVID 19.

The Board complimented and asked if the Board can do anything to help and support her during this season at Bronx Lighthouse Charter School. 

Ms. Young feels very supported and would like the Board to continue to support the school leadership team.

Innovation Award /Culture Committee 
On hold 

BLCS Board Term voting activity.  Approximately 2 years ago the Board worked with Susan Briggs to revise the bylaws, as part of that process the Board wrote in that annual elections would occur.  There are 2 classes (Class A & Class B)  that will term in June of 2020 and 2021. 
Voting is needed for the following positions: 

Classes & Term Renewals: 
Terrence Underwood 
Adrian Adderley 
Nikali Jobes
Robb Granado
Sara Jean-Jacques
Alexandra Abreu 

Officers: 
Javier Lopez-Molia
Nikali Jones
Sara Jean -Jacques
Robb Granado 

Committees:
Executive:
Javier Lopez-Molina
Nikali Jones
Sara Jean-Jacques
Robb Granado 

Finance: 
Robb Granado
Tom Wethington 
Johan Reyes

Education and Accountability: 
Nikali Jones 
Stacy Sutherland 
Briar Thompson
Adrian Adderley 
Alexandra Abreu 

Ad Hoc Work Groups :
CEO Support and Evaluation: 
Nikali Jones 
Javier Lopez-Molina
Rober Granado 
Vilma Caba

School Culture: 
Vilma Caba
Adrian Adderley 
Stacy Sutherland 
Terrence Underwood 

Courtney Russell - Bond counsel on 1005 Intervale Avenue deal 
There will be activity for the July Board Meeting, to work around the transition related to the name change and the LHA transition. 

Courtney Russel 
1005 Intervale - Urban Futures, Jon has left Urban Future and has started his own company. 
He has offered to continue to partner with us or we can stay with Urban Futures.
No vote needed but the Board has been made aware of a change in the dissemination agent.

Link for doodle, the Board needs to fill out the doodle. All board members are encouraged to be involved in this meeting. Board needs to take a good look at the alignment of the Charter, Leadership Philosophy and the activates we are currently supporting on the ground.  
 

No follow up items to discuss.

Presentation provided by Jennifer Clayton 
Consulting Work that Jennifer Clayton has projected: 
GAP Analysis report presented in detail the results of the analysis. 
GAPS discussed and categorized  in 3 areas:

1. Operations
2. Talent Management
3. Board/Leadership 

Operations Gaps: 
1.  Mission- 
2. Curriculum- not meeting state standards
3.  Academic Intervention- program for struggling students is underdeveloped
4.  Fingerprint 
5.  Complaint Procedure authorizer missing 

Talent Management: 
1.  Job Descriptions tied to performance evaluations
2.  High Teacher Turnover - common in Charter Schools 
3.  Lack of in house expertise (curriculum selection, teaching, coaching, etc) - Mismatch of expertise and teacher certification. 

Board/Leadership Team Gaps
1.  Expectations and evaluations of leadership is unclear and unmatched
2.  Improvement Cycle - a commitment to continuous improvement 
3.  BLCS Developed Products - install process that is evaluated against student outcomes 
4.  BLCS Language - not intelligible to outsiders 

Growth Opportunities Priority Tool provided the following suggested improvement: 
1.  Fingerprint Clearance
2.  Authorizer
3.  Update Charter 
4.  Leadership Job Descriptions
5.  Curriculum Planning
6.  Improvement Planning
7.  Plain Language 

Strategic Investments 
1.  Academic Intervention (RTI- Response to Intervention)
2.  Expertise/Credentials - Teacher certification 
3.  Turnover - Employee turnover, retention and engagement 
4.  Product Development and Testing

Project Ownership, Deadlines & Costs 
Jennifer Clayton provided a table to address the areas presented in project format with ownership and cost details. 

Stacy Sutherland provided an update on committee activity.
Phone call with Ms. Mosby and Ms. Mosby has agreed to stand in as the direct contact to the school. 
Full meeting was not held due to attendance, rescheduling is in the works.

Robb Granado provide finance committee update: 
Prepared financials are available in the Board packet.  
BLCS remains on budget, on track for a balanced budget, and in compliance with all covenants. 
Would like to include in the next board meeting packet a year-end reflection. We will have a balanced budget and hit all requirements in doing so.  Line by line assessment will allow the Board to review all areas of the budget. 
Pre-Audit underway with w 3rd party independent auditor. 
Approval of financial policies will be held at the next board meeting. 

 

Nothing specific to add at this meeting.  To be discussed at the next month's Board Meeting.

Check signers from LHA to Javier, Lopez-Molina , Travis Brown and Courtney Russell. 
Credit Card with Chase Inc Business Card -
Request for the Board to approve Maria Dorsey as the primary cardholder.

Nikali Jones provided updated related to: 
Meeting was held last week: 
K-8 Summer School for Math & English- 1 hour of live teaching each day. 
For scholars who are at risk of promotion or having trouble over the past few months. 
Graduation updates estimated to approximately 70% of students to graduate by June.
15% to graduate by August.  These are the best estimates, the possibility of being less. 
Difficult to get all students to adapt to online learning and complete the work they need to do. 
To be fair, it is across the board in the state in general.  Online learning was an immediate transition due to the current situation. 

This has been a great challenge for everyone in the country, 

12 Grade students hit the hardest.  A group that was already struggling as a cohort before the transition.  Online learning created an extra barrier, which has created the 70% June graduation expectancy.  Possibility of being a little lower,  but as a school, we have to continue to reach out and match the people with the students to assist the scholars in getting over the humps and challenges. 

Teacher vacancies remaining but confidence is high in filling these vacancies, 
Power event of the year, staff zoom call to discuss the George Floyd tragedy and the surrounding events of police brutality. It was good to encourage the interaction of scholars and staff members.  
The school will continue to support these issues of equality, diversity, and race in the organization. 

Student tracking, assessment NWEA K-8  scheduled for next week. 

Graduation concerns, across the country.  Our school reacted quickly, ahead of the curve to get things set up.  Possible a comparison of how we did across the board will provide a better sense..

Adebunmi Savage provided presentation around:  

1.  Online Learning  - Attendance 80% 
2.  Upcoming Testing Information: 

•         Grades K-8 NWEA Reading & Math & Grades 9-12- Final Exams 
•         Report will be available at the next meeting 

3.  Testing results will be available for the July 2020 Board Meeting 

4.  BLCS State Test Proficiency Report presented and discussed. ELA & Math percentages discussed in detail from 2015 to the present date. 

5.  Regents Pass Rates compared for 2017-18 and 2018-19 School Year 
6 out of 10 Exams showed an increase in pass rates and 4 of 10 showed a decrease whether slight or significant.  This will provide instruction or curriculum adjustments are needed. 

6.  Class of 2020/2021 March 2020 Scores compared 
Last Year 2 Scholars scored above 1200.
This year 6 Scholars scored 1200 above on the first attempts.
Travis Brown enlisted an outside partner with the SAT preparation. This may be one of the leading factors for this years SAT results.
 
7.  Assessments next week will be available at the July 2020 Board Meeting 

8.  Assessment Focus, Summer Instruction and Culture Focus - We encouraging all scholars to attend.  Attending live instruction Week A & Week B scheduling.  All teachers have been hired for the Summer School activities. 
​​​​​​
9.  Culture Focus:  Become more responsive instead of reactive to the current events surrounding School culture. 

End of Year assessments - comparisons will be available at a later date.  Online learning may have an impact but the data will be valuable as we may have to continue to utilize online learning in the future. 
 

Graduation Plans - Plans will be sent out to the Board.  It will be a virtual service, where everyone can attend. 

To be discussed at the next Board Meeting. 

Courtney Russell provided update transition plan: 
LHA transition and Name Change are  moving smoothly
Tuesday evening public hearing was held and all went well.  19-20 people attended, almost all spoke favorably in terms of both changes.
NYC Dept of Education and State - July 13-14 expected date of state-level review. 
Link to the transition plan is shared and available for the Board to review.

Little Bird HR implementation process working well with positive feedback from staff members. 
Moving into next phase of payroll with Paylocity. 

HR compliance
Standard procedures and processes draft will be available by mid-July.

Board requested the availability of recording of the public hearing and the Chancellors review of the transition process.  Courtney will look into the recording accessibilt and contact Robb & Javier with details. 

Personnel Handbook provided in the Board Packet. 
  
Courtney provided updates related to the changes in the handbook. 
Handbook Comparison - Pages provided a listing of the changes. 
Highlights noted around the major changes and additions to the handbook: 

1. In House Expertise available for legal review and compliances. 
2. Legal Requirements for part-time employees.
3. Sexual Harassment Policy 
4. Paid Parental Leave - Six Weeks of Paid Parental Leave 

New form will be sent out to all board members.  State reporting requirement that needs to be completed and presented in August 2020. 

Requested that Board Members complete within a month and send back to Courtney Russell. 

Cleaning Services- FY21
RFP presented to cleaning vendors, received 8 strong proposals. 
Recommended vendor:  ProClean Janitorial Services 
Comparison of current vendor and ProClean Janitorial Services presented and discussed.  

Board Questions: 
Discount availability 
Multi-Year Contract 

Will a multi-year contract be wise during the current conditions.  Variables may not require the same form of maintenance. We need to factor in COVID within the cleaning contract agreement. 

 

Outside of the BLCS Building- Signage 
RRP created by Courtney Russell.
2 Recommended vendor(s):  $ 25,000 and $34,000 
Wording/Signs will need to be down by a certain date as per Lighthouse Agreement

Paul Signs proposal provided to start the process.  Decision meeting delegated to Courtney Russell