Pharos Academy Charter School
Minutes
Pharos Academy Charter School Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday March 21, 2024 at 6:30 PM
Location
Pharos Academy Charter School
1001 Intervale Avenue
Bronx, NY 10459
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: March 21, 2024
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: 1005 Intervale Avenue, Bronx, NY 10459
Other Location(s): https://bronxlighthouse.zoom.us/j/5239033349
Sheraton, 200 Convention Blvd, San Juan, 00907, Puerto Rico (Main Lobby)
17 Brady Avenue, New Rochelle, NY
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: 21 de marzo 2024
Hora: 6:30 p.m.
Lugar: 1005 Intervale Avenue, Bronx, NY 10459
Otros Lugares: https://bronxlighthouse.zoom.us/j/5239033349
Sheraton, 200 Convention Blvd, San Juan, 00907, Puerto Rico (Main Lobby)
17 Brady Avenue, New Rochelle, NY
Trustees Present
G. Garcia, J. Lopez-Molina (remote), K. Shah, P. Wesonga, S. Jean-Jacques, S. Sutherland (remote), T. Perez
Trustees Absent
B. Thompson, J. Sowell, R. Granado, S. Beier, T. South
Guests Present
C. Russell
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
II. Public Comments
A.
Public Comments
III. PHACS Staff Presentation
A.
PHACS Staff Presentation
The staff presentation will resume in April 2024.
IV. Board Governance
A.
Approve Minutes
B.
Follow Up
At the April Board meeting, the school will have a parent event right before the Board meeting. This will be aimed at getting the PTA up and running again and engaging the parent community. We will seek to transition parents from the parent meeting to the Board meeting. The parent meeting will likely begin at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Dr. Brown and Board Member Sutherland spoke about developing a system to allow parents to provide public comments in advance of/outside of Board meetings, that would be beneficial. The school can create a process for this.
V. Finance Committee Review
A.
Finance Committee Report
Keyur reported on the monthly financials. The team met on Monday. The main item that was discussed was the FY24 budget as enrollment down; the school is currently at 694. This number is below the budgeted amount of 716. Enrollment has been falling due to reasons such as scholars moving out of state, high school scholars graduating, etc. The school has been moving monies where excess funds are available (such as Utilities). The contingency has been utilized. The team will continue to monitor this on a weekly basis. If the enrollment continues to drop, a budget amendment will be enacted. The expected surplus for the end of the year is approximately 38,000.
The team also discussed lottery applications for the 2024 - 2025 school year. The school will be aggressive with its enrollment for SY 24 - 25, seeking to take in closer to the authorized enrollment of 745.
The school will continue to prioritize staff retention/satisfaction for next school year in order to ensure high quality talent is attracted and retained.
787 applications have been received to date for the 2024 - 2025 school year.
B.
Investment Account Update
The next Investment Account update will be provided in April 2024.
C.
Items Over 50K
There are no items over 50K to report on.
VI. Executive Director's Report
A.
Executive Director's Report
Today the Board will be looking at grades 3 - 8 Interim Assessment scores.
The tables include the ELA assessment scores and the Math assessment scores for Interim Assessments. The state test is for students in grades 3 - 8. The ELA state test is in April and the Math state test is in May.
The second Interim is used to predict performance. The PHACS assessments are more rigorous than the state test.
The Board reviewed the results and asked clarifying questions about the results.
Dr. Brown provided additional details on what the school is doing to support struggling learners. For example, scholars on the cusp get pulled out for small group instruction for the second half of the period for specific skill development.
VII. Academic Committee Report
A.
Academic Committee Report
There are no additional updates beyond the Executive Director report.
VIII. Culture Committee Report
A.
Culture Committee Report
There are no updates this month.
IX. Facilities
A.
Facilities Update
Direct Clean has been off to an excellent start with its evening cleaning services.
There were no public comments.