Rochester Academy Charter School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Trustees Present
C. Sampson (remote), J. Santos (remote), K. Crawford (remote), W. Middleton (remote), Y. Bilgic (remote)
Trustees Absent
D. Calder, M. Guler
Guests Present
D. Ozcan (remote), D. Wilkinson (remote), Elizabeth Thulin (remote), J. Doyle (remote), Jeremy Chorelli (remote), Kimberly Boddy (remote), M. Demirtas (remote), M. Stevens (remote), Z. Ercan (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
W. Middleton called a meeting of the board of trustees of Rochester Academy Charter School to order on Friday Nov 20, 2020 at 5:30 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes
J. Santos made a motion to approve the minutes from Board Meeting on 10-16-20.
Y. Bilgic seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
D.
Insurance Agency Presentation about Benefit Plans
Kimberly Boddy presented information on Short term disability insurance and Life insurance plan options. She explained options from 3 different companies. Mutual of Omaha seemed to give the best plan for our employees and with better rates.
K. Crawford made a motion to adopt the recommendation to provide short term disability and life insurance to our employees through Mutual of Omaha.
C. Sampson seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Academic Excellence and Equity
A.
Updates re: Schooling During Pandemic
We will switch to remote the week after the Thanksgiving break due to the NYS travel advisory. This will also be the case for the week after the Christmas break.
Rochester is currently in a yellow zone which requires us to test 20% of our population of students and staff. In the first week, all results were negative. If Rochester becomes an orange zone, all schools will be required to switch to remote-only instructional model.
January Regents exams have been canceled. If students pass their Regents courses they will be exempt from the Regents exam.
Mr. Demirtas shared the academic goals.
Mr. Demirtas asked for a third board member to volunteer to be on the Academic Excellence Committee. Dr. Middleton volunteered to be part of the committee.
Rochester is currently in a yellow zone which requires us to test 20% of our population of students and staff. In the first week, all results were negative. If Rochester becomes an orange zone, all schools will be required to switch to remote-only instructional model.
January Regents exams have been canceled. If students pass their Regents courses they will be exempt from the Regents exam.
Mr. Demirtas shared the academic goals.
Mr. Demirtas asked for a third board member to volunteer to be on the Academic Excellence Committee. Dr. Middleton volunteered to be part of the committee.
B.
Committee Meeting Minutes
C.
Midterm-Site Visit Report
Mr. Demirtas will make the report available for the board members to review. He recommended that we wait for the January board meeting to go over it since Benchmark 8 and 9 are on the timeline for the January board meeting.
III. Community Outreach & Development
A.
Committee Meeting Minutes
B.
Report
Ms. Zehra presented a slide show that thanked the board for all they do for RACS as well as highlighting many of the events going on at RACS.
IV. Finance, Facilities & Audit
A.
Enrollment
B.
Financials
Mr. Ozcan presented the Financial Summary Review.
C.
990 Annual Review
The 990 Annual Review is available to the Board for review for a month and will be up for approval at the December board meeting.
D.
Meeting Minutes
V. Governance
A.
Committee Meeting Minutes
B.
CEO Evaluation
Dr. Middleton will begin the process. Board members will watch out for an email to complete their evaluation.
VI. Other Business
A.
Employee Contract Decisions
K. Crawford made a motion to to approve the staff changes.
C. Sampson seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
VII. Closing Items
A.
Board Meeting Evaluation
Pluses
- We were very efficient. Even with the presentation at the beginning, we were able to get through the agenda items quickly.
- All documents were available.
B.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
M. Stevens