Jon Thatcher and Ashara Baker from New York Charter Schools Association provided the attendees with information about the work they do and the updates related to the charter school sector. 

J. Jovcevski reported the signing of the purchase and sales agreement for the St. Helen's Property with contingencies.  The closing date will be 20 days after all contingencies are removed and satisfied.  The architects have had a tour so they can come up with an estimate for the necessary renovations.  Voting to approve the purchase will take place at the June board meeting.  
The RCSD Board of Education has approved the closing of 2 RCSD elementary schools. The mayor's office is in charge of the sale of the buildings. The owners of the Siena Academy are not willing to sell the building so that is no longer an option. St. Helen's should be our top priority.  

J. Jovcevski left early.

In a letter from the NYSED Charter School Office, we were notified that a desk audit will be performed on June 5.  There will be a focus group meeting with the admin team and board members.
 

Less than 15% of students have fallen off the radar. Student attendance dropped after the Governor reported that schools would not be reopening this year. Most of the decline is due to the fact that the younger students rely so much on parents' support. Many parents were working or had to go back to work. They were then having to do the work with the students on the weekends. 

M. Demirtas presented the plans for reentry.  There are 3 options
1. Face to face
2. Distance learning
3. Hybrid - a combination of these first two options.

These plans are ongoing as things change on a daily basis. 
There are 2 teams: Instructional and Operations
The goal is to close the learning gap.  We are currently working on mitigating learning loss, summer school options, and finalizing staffing/hiring.  

A Graduation update was presented by J. Calder.  
3 options are:
1. If things return to normal we can still use Hochstein. 
2. Meeting in a church parking lot where we can maintain social distancing. We could decorate and still have all the speeches.
3. We could use middle school and have one family enter at a time.  We'd have to limit the number of family members and cars.  Concerns came up about cleaning and sanitizing after each family.  Details would have to be worked out.

T. Manchester gave a survey to seniors and their parents. Students did not want to have to be wearing masks in pictures if possible so they liked the outside option and the entrance looks like a stage. Mrs.Wright is going to be the keynote speaker. 
 

Enrollment numbers have stayed the same.  

The admissions office sent 250 offers for next year. 93 are complete.  It is not easy to reach to the parents during this pandemic. They are frustrated and overwhelmed. There are 491 students on our waitlist.  Because things are different this year, the emrollment process is challenging but compared to other years we are in good shape.  

D. Ozcan presented the financial summary, balance sheet and income statement.

The draft budget has been uploaded to BoardOnTrack but we are waiting for actual numbers from the state and the Governer's office. The board will vote on it at the June board meeting.  

M. Demirtas applied for a rate adjustment to save money.  It was a bigger saving and easier than refinancing.  

M. Demirtas presented the succession plan.

All Pluses no Deltas