Introduction of Sydney McFadden 

4th Grade ELA Teacher- 1st Year at Pharos Academy 

Shared background, Education and Teaching Experience 

Biggest TakeAways (Instructional Practices) Supported with DCI - Ms. Pierce

1. Pre-Planning from the Students Perspective 
2. Collaborative Planning 
3. Guided Model 

A reader lives a thousand lives before they die - Anon 

Shared favorite quote, which provides encouragement in her role as an ELA Teacher at Pharos Academy Charter School.

Board on Track updates to be completed to confirm all Board Members have access to review Board meeting minutes.

Culture Committee to be added to the By Laws.  Text will be created for this task and the Board will then vote on this after the text creation. 

Javier Molina - Shared activities related to Discipline Policy

DOE Discipline Code in comparison to the Codes the School would like to review and add or remove to create the Discipline Policy that is best for Pharos Academy Charter School .

Board Member thoughts:

1.   Restorative Justice approach

2.  Different levels before reaching suspension

3.  Welcome Back Circle 

4.  Superintendent suspensions - NA for Pharos Academy Charter School 

5.  Multiple school transfers - NA for Pharos Academy Charter School 

5.  Appeal process should be a little different for Pharos Academy Charter School 

2nd Opportunity School concept explained by Principal Brown.  

DOE provides a 2nd opportunity for scholars to be moved around to another school for 1 Year. 

"BreadCrumbs Theory" discussed briefly by Principal Travis Brown 

DOE has a safety net - DOE is designed to service all students.  For Pharos Academy Charter School will to find out the appetite for the Board as what is out of bounds and the perimeters related to school expulsions. 

Suggestion to have a Smaller working group to support the goal to wrap this up by the next Board Meeting. 

Suggested approach to complete the Discipline Policy creation: Whole Sale DOE Discipline Policy and remove what is not needed for Pharos Academy Charter School and flush out what is not needed for the Appeal process. 

Expulsion/Appeals process discussed briefly as it related to the discipline Policy creation and the committee to oversee the process. 

• Appeal Process as it relates to the Culture Committees role. 
• Should the Culture Committee become a full Committee.  

The Culture Committee should have a Formal Role.  The Culture Committee would be the first to review the appeal process and discipline codes as a check and balance. 

Right now any appeal is directed to the Board Chair.  At the school leave the decision is made, if there is a disagreement the appeal is directed to the Board. 

SubGroup-Committee Volunteers 

1. Tahina Perez
2. Javier Lopez-Molina
3. Sharon Beier 
4. Briar Thompson

Schedule a meeting to review and create live edits to come back to the Board 

A student from Pharos Charter School would not have the option to go to a DOE School. 

It would be a local school as we can not determine what DOE school they would attend. 

Scholarship Update: 

11 Applications received and the link has been sent with all the responses to the Board Members who volunteered to review. 

The ask is of the volunteers to read the essays and present the top 5 selections. 

The 5 final selected Scholars will be invited to the next Board Meeting for Scholarship Presentations for the final selections to be made.  

Scholar Enrollment Role filled and a dedicated person to enrolling scholars and maintaining scholars. 

Overall in a great place for enrollment activities. 

52 accepted seats received.  Enrollment appointments will begin on Monday 4/24/2023. 

118 Available Seats  (Kindergarten & Ninth Grade) 

Approval confirmed for enrollment from 678 students to 745 student enrollment 

72 Hours time frame provided for enrollment acceptances to be confirmed.

Finance Committee meeting 

Reallocations and budget amendments discussed. 

FY24 Budget preparation discussed to present to the Board. 

990 finalizations and upcoming audits discussed. 

Nothing to report for Covid.  Lice Treatment is still current and moving forward for Kindergarten and First Grade Scholars. 

Principal Travis Brown - Culture Committee did not meet 

Parent Association - Welcome back for Kimberly Harper, former Parent Association. 

Very excited with Pharos Academy Charter School.  The community has grown and scholars have transitioned from the Elementary/Middle  School to the High School.  

Looking forward to working with the School and Parents for the upcoming school events. 

Testing season is underway with the City 

Spring Break - College Tour update - University of Buffalo 

Graduation Data:  

COHORT 2019 - Freshman 

Number  60 

On Track 45 (June) 75% 

On Track 10 (August)  91.60%

Not graduating - 5 Scholars 

Graduation Rate above 90% - Industry Marker for doing well as a School 

College Commitment Day - May 1, 2023 

College Commitment will be shared within the month of May 2023. 

No major updates to report at this time.

Anticipation of 30% insurance increase due to fire damages & losses at 1001 & 1005 

Fire 500K damages for 1001  and 150K damages 1005. 

Working with Broker & Financial Advisors related to additional insurance opportunities.

1001 Litigations related to the Fire are ongoing related to the cause.