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Nuasin Next Generation Charter School

Minutes

Board Retreat

Date and Time

Saturday February 6, 2021 at 12:00 PM

Location

 

Passcode: 180165

 

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Mission
We prepare our students for college through a rigorous arts-infused program.
Vision
All students will be taught by a highly effective teacher in a nurturing environment and will achieve at high levels. Each student will develop the knowledge, skills and values necessary for responsible citizenship and life-long learning. The impact of our collective efforts will fundamentally change public education.

Trustees Present

A. Bothner (remote), A. Khanyile (remote), A. Khatiwada (remote), C. Barnes-Watson (remote), E. Chen (remote), J. Boulet (remote), K. Brisseau (remote), K. Shabazz (remote), S. Huda (remote), S. Pressley (remote), T. Bryan (remote)

Trustees Absent

M. Dorrie

Trustees who arrived after the meeting opened

K. Shabazz

Trustees who left before the meeting adjourned

A. Khatiwada, K. Brisseau, T. Bryan

Ex Officio Members Present

M. Russell (remote)

Non Voting Members Present

M. Russell (remote)

Guests Present

Colleen Yamaguchi (remote), K. Davidson (remote), K. Perez (remote), LaVonne Dorsey (remote), M. Alston (remote), Mike Mizzoni (remote), sbriggs@cohenschneider.com (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

J. Boulet called a meeting to order on Saturday Feb 6, 2021 at 12:22 PM.

C.

Review the Agenda

II. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training

A.

DEI Training

DEI Team introduced their company and the work that the board will be doing this afternoon. 

 

A social identity exercise was given to connect with ourselves through our attributes given, chosen and core identities that we have. Social Identity is what gives us the power to be our true selves within our core values. 

 

Everyone went into break out rooms for 15 minutes to share our responses from the exercise. After, we came back into the main room to share our responses from the break out rooms. 

 

The main insights from the advantages and disadvantages of our social identities were:
  • Religion 
  • Gender
  • Education
  • Ethnicity
  • Language 
  • Nationality
  • Occupation 
The outcome of this exercise was to come together as one and reflect on our core values as a whole. 
K. Shabazz arrived at 12:28 PM.

III. Annual Board Assessment

A.

Board Assessment

J. Boulet shared the overall outcomes of the board assessment that the board members were given before this meeting. After the break, J. Boulet would like to go further and discuss the categories and responses that scored a level 1. There were a few questions that everyone answered at a level 1, that may be due to not having the knowledge or certainty of the area. These are areas that board members had basic knowledge or may need clarity. The levels for the assessment were from 1 to 5. Level 1 being "basic" and Level 5 "Excellent"

 

IV. Break

A.

Break

Everyone went on break for 10 minutes. 

V. Nuasin Next Generation

A.

What's Next?

K. Davidson and M. Alston presented their powerpoint called  "What's Next for Nuasin." K. Davidson shared an article with everyone during the break from the NY Times called "Makes Schools More Human" and asked three board members what their thoughts on the article. 

 

M. Alston shared a few slides on
  • potential designs for the new school logo.
Taking a step back: 
  • New platforms that were brought in for the transition like TriNet and 4th Sector Solutions. 
  • Remote Learning Academically-New systems for staff and families. 
  • Remote Learning Operations- Safety in the building and technology. 
  • Teaching in 2020-Pandemic, Economy, Racism, Self-care and Mental Health.
  • Remote Learning Scholar Scenarios- Shared 3 scenarios from scholars in different grade levels and what remote learning is like for them and the struggles they deal with on a daily basis. 
  • Remote Learning Teacher Scenario- Remote teaching has taken a huge toll on their mental health. 
Where we are Today: 
  • School Operational Strengths-Financially strong, Strong enrollment and recruitment, Safe and Clean Facility, Strong Staff Retention and Strong day to day operationally. 
  • New Benefits and HR Platform- Transitioning to TriNet. The survey that was given to the staff overall showed that they were satisfied with the transition.  
  • School Culture Strengths-Our family approach that is sibling driven-consistency among families, Relationships with Staff to Students/Families and Staff to Staff, Strong social economics, 
  • School Academics Strengths- Foundations, Teacher strengths, Consistency is institutionalization curriculum, and Strong partnerships. 
K. Davidson shared a link on four classes(2nd, 4th, 5th and 7th grade) with our teachers and would like for the board members to take a look on what remote instruction feels like in our school. 

 

M. Alston shared an exercise that K. Davidson asked the staff to do starting with "Met is a place..." The board members also shared their own sentences starting with the same few words. 

 

Our Goals- What are we working on?
  • Marketing-Building a strategy for our new Name launch in July. Created an IG page, Tik Tok and Facebook. Making Nuasin known across the city. 
  • Talent-Developing a recruitment and retention plan. Building a new and maintaining existing partnerships. 
  • Operational Independence- Building systems and policies/procedures for Nuasin. 
  • Building Performance management systems 
  • Creating staff positions and descriptions 
  • Pay scale-Compensation and Incentives/retention
  • Scholar and Personnel handbook creation 
  • Staff and family facing 
  • Instructional Rigor-Leverage Cultural strength and systems in place to increase our standards and push rigor of instruction 
  • Reassessing our K-12 model for learning-building our coherent model each year. 
  • Defining our college readiness and college prep. Ensuring 100% of our scholars are ready for college whether they go next year or in 10 years. 
  • A brand that makes us think bigger-A bar for success not just the baseline state and local data metrics. What is unique about our school? What can we offer that gets scholars from all over the city to want to come to our school?
  • Having more presence in the media. 

B.

Discussion

The board members shared their reflections on the presentation. They would like to build better relationships with the staff and scholars. 

 

A goal for Nuasin will be having individual profiles for scholars. K-2nd grade have already started and would like to expand through the rest of the grades. 

VI. Open Meeting Law

A.

Refresher

S. Briggs shared a slide and our Board Meeting cycle and Open Meeting laws. 
  • Bylaws: contain meeting procedures and guidelines.
  • The most important laws Come from NY Education Law, NY Not-for-Profit Corporation Law and Open Meetings Law and Charters Act. 
  • All meetings have to be held in compliance with our Bylaws and the Open Meeting Law. 
  • Public Body (Board or Committee)-any entity, for which a quorum is required in order to conduct public business which consists of two or more members performing a governmental function for the state.
  • The OML requirements apply to committee meetings. 
  • Bylaws Notice Requirements-agenda and notice must be presented 10 days prior to meeting.
  • The OML public notice- has to state of time and place of a meeting shall be posted in one or more designated public locations and media at least 72 hours before the meeting. 
  • Holding a meeting a day after can be held due to our OML. 
  • Video conferencing Public Notice- at any location at which video conferencing is being used needs to be public. Public notice will inform that video conferencing will be used, identify the locations for the meeting 
  • Board members video conferencing in order to be counted for the quorum and vote on relevant matters. Board members have to be on camera for vote to count. 
  • Trustees participating in the Board meeting other than in-person or by live video conferencing shall not be included in establishing a quorum and will not be permitted to vote. 
  • Under executive order from Governor Cuomo's currently suspends public body to meet in-person. Meetings have to be recorded at that moment so that the public has the ability to view or listen to such proceeding are recorded and later transcribed. 
  • Public participation comment policy- talks about how members of the public can interact with the board. You can't require the member to give their name and they have a time limit to speak for at least 3 mins. There is no requirement for the board member to respond. 
  • Committee Minutes must be taken, 
  • Executive Session Grounds and Voting-closed portion of the meeting. Allowed to close the meeting to the public and all board members can be present. As well as any persons invited. Can not vote in executive session. 
  • Meetings exempt from the OML-only seeking guidance or strategy of counsel permissible by state law. 
  • Documents-agency records available to the public consistent with FOIL and any proposed resolution. Any proposed resolution law shall be made available, upon request. Making it available if only someone requests it. 
  • Minutes-open meetings Minutes and agenda.
  • Executive session has to be present in the agenda and minutes as "anticipated" -
  • Key points of discussion are placed in the minutes.
  • Posting of the minutes-Minutes have to be made available within two weeks and for executive session within 1 week. Minutes can be available upon request. 
  • OML Enforcement- We could get sued by violating the open meeting law. 
  • The court can order a training session or a violation fee. 

VII. Board on Track Training

A.

Board Skill Building

M. Mizzoni from BoardonTrack is sharing important facts about our privileges on the platform. 
  • The transition from our CFO and now having our new Executive Director M. Russell will be mostly on BoardonTrack. 
  • Communication- Needs to be established and will be worked on for the next several months. 
Key Board Responsibilities
  • Determine the mission and keep it clearly in focus
  • Select, manager and support the ED. 
  • Ensure effective organizational planning 
  • Enhance organizations public standing 
  • Ensure Adequate resources
  • Manage resources effectively 
  • Determine, monitor and strengthen the programs and services
  • Ensure legal and ethical integrity
  • Maintain accountability
  • Recruit diverse board members who are aligned with the school's mission. 
Fiduciary Duties
  • Duty of Care (Oversight)- Do your best to be the best board member you could be with your previous skills that you bring. Act reson
  • Duty of Loyalty-As a public board member put the organization first.
  • Duty of Obedience- Oblige with the regulations and laws. 
Individual Role in Accountability
  • Showing up is Key-Attend planning sessions and prepare beforehand. 
  • Understand charter contract/performance measures.
  • Engage in work outside of board meetings-participating and engaging. 
Intro to Committees
  • Finance
  • Academic Excellence 
  • Development (Fundraising)  
  • Governance/Executive 
  • ED Support and Evaluation
Committee is always chaired by a board member. 

 

Committee Work:
  • Formalize committee 
  • Create and approve job description 
  • Annual appointments/commitments and officers
  • Set the meetings for the year
  • Establish agendas in advance 
  • Take Minutes & Attendance 
  • Organizational/Priorities goals- What is the role as board members and the roles for the staff. 
  • Goals- due dates, responsible party and deliverables.
T. Bryan left at 4:00 PM.
A. Khatiwada left at 4:00 PM.
K. Brisseau left at 4:11 PM.

VIII. 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 4:38 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
J. Boulet