Pharos Academy Charter School Board Meeting Minutes

February 18, 2021, 6:30-9:00 PM

Minutes Approved

Pharos Academy Charter School

Minutes

Pharos Academy Charter School Board Meeting

Date and Time

Thursday February 18, 2021 at 6:30 PM

PHAROS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL
BOARD of TRUSTEES MEETING

All meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Pharos Academy Charter School are held in compliance with New York State Open Meeting Law.

Date: February 18, 2021
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Zoom:

https://bronxlighthouse.zoom.us/j/5239033349

Meeting ID: 523 903 3349
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Meeting ID: 523 903 3349
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ALL ARE INVITED TO ATTEND!
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PHAROS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL
DE LA JUNTA ADMINISTRATIVA

Realizamos todas las reuniones de la Junta Administrativa de la escuela Pharos Academy Charter School conforme a la Ley de Reuniones Abiertas del Estado de Nueva York.

Día: 18 de febrero 2021
Hora: 6:30 p.m.
Lugar: Zoom:

¡TODOS ESTAN INVITADOS!

Trustees Present

A. Abreu (remote), B. Thompson (remote), J. Lopez-Molina (remote), K. Shah (remote), N. Jones (remote), R. Granado (remote), S. Jean-Jacques (remote), S. Sutherland (remote), T. Wethington (remote)

Trustees Absent

J. Reyes, V. Caba

Guests Present

C. Russell (remote), Lyann Arias, M. Dorsey (remote), M. Rousseau (remote), T. Brown (remote), T. Perez (remote)

I. Opening Items

A. Record Attendance and Guests

B. Call the Meeting to Order

J. Lopez-Molina called a meeting of the board of trustees of Pharos Academy Charter School to order on Thursday Feb 18, 2021 at 6:34 PM.

II. COVID-19 Updates

A. COVID-19 Updates

Principal Brown:

3rd Quarter everyone was remote, excluding a little less than 50 kids reporting to school for POD services. There was a small issue with largest POD due to

Monday testing with parents, students and staff members is going well.

III. Pharos Academy Charter School Staff Presentation

A. Pharos Academy Charter School Staff Presentation

Lyann Arias - College and Career Team Member

Employed at Pharos Academy Charter School a little over 2 years.

Provided the Class of 2021 of College Application Overview

34 have applied and 50% have received acceptance notifications.

Several scholars are in the process of financial loan applications.

Alumni data is currently in progress and in the works

School currently using 2 models to assist with alumni - Employment & Crew

Database creation for Alumni Scholars

Shared Data Presented:

82% Projected Cohort Graduation Rate

68% Scholars Applied to 6+ Institutions

50% Completed FAFSA/Alternative Form of Financial Aid

141 Reported College Acceptances

IV. Board Governance

A. Approve Minutes

J. Lopez-Molina made a motion to approve the minutes from January 2021 Pharos Academy Charter School Board Meeting on 01-21-21.

R. Granado seconded the motion.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B. Mentoring Opportunity

Next step is the resume workshop.

Travis and Sara will catch up on this within the next weeks.

Recommendation for mentoring alumni with resume support.

C. MWC Recommendations - Project Plan/Next Steps

Final phase working with consultant. Will have final document ready for review within the next weeks.

D. Principal MOY Evaluation

Renewal and Evaluation planning and resources discussed.

Board to review different methods of evaluations to complete the Mid Year and Renewal documents.

Mid Year- February- March 2021

End of Year - June 2021

School Performance could be one of the matrix to use .

Evaluation Dates make sense: 3-8 Test Scores comes out in August and High School end of June.

Javier ,Briar, Sara to work with Courtney to assemble and prepare evaluation documents.

V. Follow Up Items

A. Follow Up Items

Principal Brown to present follow up items at the next Board Meeting

VI. Culture Committee Report

A. Culture Committee Report

No items to discuss- Meetings not held.

Members previously on this committee - Adrian and Vilma. Committee membership needs to be re-established. Committee is not required monthly but can meet quarterly to keep the Board current on parent and culture activities.

Stacy provided update related to the last activities of the Culture Committee

Culture Committee Volunteers:

Sara
Alexandra

VII. Finance Committee Review

A. Finance Committee Report

Robb Granado provided an update with

Core financials remain very strong. On budget and on track with all financial lines. Everything tends to be on strong footing. PPP forgiveness activities are still in progress and prepared for submission.

Annual investment meeting went well and no concerns or issues were presented.

Updating financial policy and will be presented at the next Board Meeting

No expense over 50K to discuss.

R. Granado made a motion to Approve the Pharos Academy January 2021 Financials.

K. Shah seconded the motion.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B. Investment Account Update

C. Pharos Academy Charter School Scholarship Program/Fundraising Monies

No updates as of the last Board Meeting

Funds and application process discussed as first steps.

Funds are available immediately, which will allow awards to be presented to 2021 Scholars.

Scholarship awards to be granted to more than one scholar and for the full 4 years as long as scholar maintains enrollment and average grade requirements.

Recommended requirement: In order to apply for scholarship, scholars must complete FASA.

Briar, Javier, Robb will work on the scholarship procedures to be presented to the Board.

D. Expenses Over 50K

VIII. Academic Committee Report

A. Academic Committee Report

Due to COVID - the DOE policy of "no scholar failing" was shared and discussed with the Board.

DOE document presented to the Board related to the passing policy.

Principal Brown requested feedback from the Board and their suggestions and support on where the school stands with this policy.

Should Pharos Academy stick with the existing grading policy or convert to the DOE policy.

Dual GPA reporting discussed and the possible ways to report the passing/failing grade policy.

Pre-COVID passing policy discussed and compared to the options presented.

HS passing required 10 credits a year and passing grades in ELA & Social Studies.

DOE is saying - Course in Progress should be used as an indication that the credits were not earned and this will not have a negative impact on the scholars GPA.

3-8 - Promotion policy reviewed and discussed with the Board. Policy should and will be clearly presented to the parents.

BOARD in agreement with the following policy:

If a scholar passes a course the parent can choose numeric value or a "P" for Pass. If a scholar gets a 68 the parent can choose if the 68 will be factored into the GPA or if they prefer a "P" to indicate a passing score for the scholar.

If a scholar does not pass , we will not give scholar a 55 but CP (Course In Progress). The 55 will not factored into the GPA.

Board would also like to gather additional information before finalizing the best policy decision.

What policies are other schools utilizing

DOE Contacts, Metropolitan presented as other resources to gather information regarding the policies they are following.

IX. Principal's Report

A. Principal's Report

Follow up items and a full Principal report will be discussed at next Board Meeting.

X. Benefits Update

A. Benefits Update

Updates related to PEO and Broker provided and Board to expect a report regarding the major updates during the months of June and July 2021.

XI. Facilities

A. Facilities Update

No major facility update. All operations are current and moving as expected.

XII. Closing Items

A. Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:52 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

J. Lopez-Molina