Rochester Academy Charter School
Minutes
Board Retreat
Date and Time
Saturday August 9, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Location
Elementary School Gym
Trustees Present
C. Sampson, G. Tillery, S. Al, T. Wright, W. Middleton
Trustees Absent
D. Calder, J. Santos
Guests Present
D. Ozcan, M. Demirtas
I. Opening Items
A.
Breakfast
B.
Record Attendance and Guests
C.
Call the Meeting to Order
II. Review Plans
A.
Review the progress on the current strategic plan
B.
Review progress on Charter School Office Action Plan
The Board reviewed progress on the CSO Action Plan. Most action items have been completed. A few remain in progress, including adding a non-board member to each committee and establishing parent advisory groups.
III. Board Assessments
A.
Review and Discuss Board Self-Assessment Results
The Board’s overall self-assessment score was excellent. Survey results showed a few differences between Board and CEO ratings, particularly in development, where the CEO is more directly involved in the fund development process. Nearly all other areas received identical scores from both parties.
The board recruitment pipeline will be a focus area this year.
B. Middleton will edit some of the questions related to the board size and financial policies for future years.
B.
Discuss Fund Development Implementation Plan
The board will review the implementation plan and discuss it in the next board meeting.
IV. Review Documents
A.
Open Meetings Law
B. Middleton went over the Open Meetings Law.
B.
General Overview of By-Laws
The board reviewed the By-Laws.
C.
Review Complaint Policy
The Board reviewed the parent and employee complaint policies and agreed that the Board Chair will respond to parent complaints within five business days. An automated response email to acknowledge receipt was recommended for all Board members. If a response is not provided to a parent, Board members will remind the Board Chair.
V. CEO Evaluation
A.
Review CEO Evaluation Report
The CEO evaluation is in progress and will be presented once finalized.
VI. Meeting Dates
A.
Determine Future Board and Committee Meeting Dates
Future Board meeting dates are scheduled as follows:
September 19, 2025
October 17, 2025
November 21, 2025
December 12, 2025
January 23, 2026
February 27, 2026
March 27, 2026
April 24, 2026
May 15, 2026
June 12, 2026
No meeting will be held in July, contingent upon By-Law revision.
The Board Retreat is scheduled for August 8, 2026. The retreat should include a team-building activity.
Committee meeting dates will be set during the September committee meetings.
VII. Roles and Responsibilities
A.
Review Roles and Responsibilities
The board reviewed their roles and responsibilities.
B.
Discuss Professional Development Ideas
The Board will try to attend the New York Charter Schools Conference, to be held in Rochester in October.
The Board reviewed progress on the current strategic plan across all Key Result Areas.
Key Result Area 1: Continued use of the weekly scoreboard has supported improved attendance and academic performance. Grades 3–8 state test scores increased compared to the previous school year, and Cohort Regents results improved significantly. The administrative team recommends maintaining the current WIG until most academic targets are met.
Key Result Area 2: Salary increases and a stronger culture of accountability have improved retention. Teacher departures decreased from 22 in 2023–24 to 5 so far in 2024–25; overall staff departures decreased from 53 to 24.
Key Result Area 3: Investments with ESL generated approximately $55,000 in returns, excluding the monthly interest return, which is around $20,000. A Fund Development Plan was implemented, a proposal to increase student enrollment was submitted, and major capital improvements were completed, including the purchase and renovation of the middle school building and installation of cooling systems at elementary and high school buildings.