Agenda was reviewed by all present. 

K. S. discussed his experience around the pillar of rigor and how important it is to implement and incorporate rigor into instruction. Especially the importance for Black and Brown scholars. 

M. R. discussed his experience around the importance of Rigor and how we do not want our scholars to experience the ability to compete on the same level, especially when they reach the collegiate level. 

A. B. welcomed J. S. as a new member of the board. 

M. R. discussed the three priority areas: self-advocacy, community, rigor. We are doing well n our pillars but need to do more on our community piece. We are seeing data at the center of what we do. M. R. discussed that this week IAs were administered. 

M. R. discussed the goals we are expecting to hit; 60% of scholars above proficiency (ELA), 90% pass rate (regents), 90% of scholars reading at least 30 minutes a night. 

M. R. discussed how we should apply what we are seeing at the middle school level to the whole school. M. R. discussed the turnover and how M. A. is being proactive in their approach. Sustainable fixes need to be our answer.

M. R. discussed the importance of data and how we communicate it, it needs to be in a steady and consistent way. 

M. R. discussed the path forward and next steps from now to January and onward. 

M. R. discussed Staff Attendance and how health in NYC and having good plans in place to tackle call-outs. 

M. R. discussed Scholar attendance; we are still not where we want to be at however this is an overall city issue. Middle School Scholars are typically the ones who suffer most with attendance but we are not seeing that drop off as much in our scholars. HS attendance should be at 90% everyday. 

Expansion Timeline; M. R. discussed a new location on Jerome Ave and that we are in a good space for it. We have one chance to get this right and we want to make sure we do it well. Draft proposal to be sent by 12.02. Discussions with the broker and landlord are in the works. 

Questions: A. B. asked about what was going on with the broker. 

Comments: N/A

K. R. discussed the culture corner: the social-emotional needs of our scholars have been incredibly high. Topic and Plan to address each issue:  

1. SEL needs post thanksgiving particularly in middle grades - addressing needs immediately and SEL plan for re-entry in January. 
2. Need for more academic recognition for scholars - Club Phoenix for MS
3. December is a challenging time for staff - 12 Days of Holiday Happiness

K. R. discusses Data Culture and data palooza; the importance of recognizing scholars who started off the year struggling and highlighting their growth

K. R. discussed academic goals and how we are not lowering our expectation

K.R. discussed the ELA Action Plan Follow Up and the importance of reading and the launch of the independent reading program launch. Team planning focused on close reading.

K. R. discussed the Math Action Plan Follow up; prioritizing support for 4t, 6th, and 8th grades and the reduction of focus on number stories and moving toward building stronger core instruction. Also in math, we are shifting an eye and plan launch in January for mastery season. Plan was initially shared with staff on Dec. 9 

Questions: A. B. spoke on how K- how would you characterize where you were to where you are now and what is your plan for the next six months? 

K. R. stated scholars depth perception has increased over time. K. R. discussed the gaps that were caused by the pandemic and how we are approaching those gaps. Switching to a new curriculum was the right decision. Hopes that the change will be seen in Math as it was in ELA. 

M. R. stated that we not have a straight scientific method until there is a more of a feel for it but we do have the right stuff. 

A.B. discussed some of the goals for the '22-'23 school year

Intellectual Excellence: 

1. Targeted feedback (daily walkthroughs) 
2. Learning targets 
3. Annotations 
4. Regents Prep Fridays 
5. Snack: scholars cannot focus if they are hungry 

Strong Culture of Data: 

1. Everyday culture data
2. Annotations
3. Questioning/Activities 

Growing the Whole Child:

1. Restorative practices - valuing community through building healthy relationships: teachers and scholars need to have more trainings around this in order to develop self-advocacy. 
2. Clubs: cooking club has launched for scholars. It supports with attendance
3. Snacks
4. Incentives: recognizing and highlighting scholars who have shown improvement, attendance, academics, etc

A. B. discussed academic goals: 

1. Transferable skills: 100% of scholars annotating on all IAs; support with analyzing scholar thinking and providing targeted support. Increase rigor through high order questioning and activities (moving from DOK1 and 2 to 3 and 4)
2. SAT/Regents support; righteous minds, Long Island regents prep, Kumon, Thinking Prep NY
3. Regents Prep for Jan.; Advisory and after school Mon-Thurs (provided by Mr. Boulton)

Questions: J. B. asked what is the goal compared to the context around the prep. Are you looking for a diversity of options. What is the envisioned student experience. 

A. B. stated that we want to provide targeted supports rather than blanketed interventions. 

M. B. stated that we want to make sure we can provide those interventions, especially in the now. 

M. A. stated that we are currently under-enrolled at the HS. We are currently at 1,984 applications. We are currently at a better place than we were last year. We also opened up the application process 15 days earlier than we did last year. This is important because we want to be able to have a healthy waitlist pool

M A. discussed the hiring needs:

1. LSC
2. 5th/6th ICT Math 
3. Speech Pathologist 
4. Stem Interdisciplinary 
5. HS History teacher 

M. A. discussed the Compliance updates. 

M. A. discussed the Operations priority and the retention dashboard, intent to return survey, and expansion. 

M. A. discussed the reminders in terms of the January board meeting, the board retreat for February 11th, and the December 22 at 6PM 

M. A. played a "thank you" video from scholars to the board members

M. A. discussed the importance of remembering and supporting our staff members. They are also our priority. 

Questions: 

Comments: A. B. wants all board members to commit to sharing the link to the job posting by the end of January and thank you for an amazing video! 

S. P. stated that there are no general updates. 

J. K. discussed that we are currently at $8.7M in cash assets and the transfer of some cash flow into CDs and bonds 

J. K. discussed that current assets are at $10M and enrollment is currently higher than budget which is great. 

J. K. discussed that we are forecasting a net of ~$100K surplus 

J. K. discussed that students with Special Education is at what was expected. 

J. K. stated that we are slightly underspending 

J.K. stated that as we start to think about next years budget is that is might increase by as high as 4.6%. 

J. K. stated that there is no more PPP that is being reflected in the budget. 

The board accepted the financial report as read by A. B., K. B., T. B. , J. B., J. S. , K. S. 

S. P. stated we have decided not to do an MMB. We have asked for a review for the RFP. The update will reflect on the cadence calendar

E.C was absent but there are no current updates.

C. B. W. will be diving into the report in the upcoming future and there are no changes to what we are currently recruiting for. 

J.B. stated that board members share out their goals, J. B. asked M. R. to share: 

Continual growth needs to be done in several different ways, especially in pedagogy and leadership. M. R. shared the book that K. R. recommended. M.R. mentioned the importance speaking and fluent speech and the importance of decoding. The places that we don't think we need are the places we look to look into the most. If our goal is to create great culture then we need to look into it and reflect and implement it. When we think it is going well, that is when we need to look even more closely into what we are doing because that is when we overstep lines. M. R. stated that we need to be deliberate. 

J. B. stated that reading is great metaphor for what M.R. stated. In life and in professions, the things you learn are the things you need to learn over and over again. 

J. B. also stated that they aspire to all members sharing their book recommendations. 

J.B. stated that is a much more customizable assessment than in the past, to send them an email on what they would like to see on the assessment in order to make it more useful. This will be shared in January. 

A.B. stated that the deadline should be set to the end of 2022 so that M.R. and the rest of the committee can put everything together, get the survey out and be able to digest the results. 2 weeks to go fill it out and 2 weeks to digest. 

A.B. suggested that the survey is sent out by Jan. 11

M.B. agreed so that the board is able to go over it by the February board retreat. 

J.B. stated that Jan. 6 will be the deadline to send them questions. 

A.B. confirmed the Jan. 6 date for questions, Jan. 13 for survey launch and Jan. 27 for submission deadline. 

A.B. stated that the board has adopted a public comment section where the policy available on the board website. There are currently no public board members present. 

M.R. stated that this will be pushed to the Jan. board meeting. 

M.B. discussed that A.R. will be discussing after the board meeting. 

M.B. stated the excitement and efficiency over the 8:21PM end time, the quality of the questions, and the support. 

A.B. wished a happy holidays and Happy New Year to all.