Belmont Charter School
Board Meeting Minutes
October 4, 2017 12:00 PM
1630 Locust St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Call To Order: A regular joint meeting of the Belmont Charter Board of Trustees took place in joint session with Inquiry Charter School Board of Trustees and the Community Education Alliance of West Philadelphia Board of Trustees took place. The meeting was called to order at 12:18pm. Michael Karp presided over the meeting.
Board Members Present: Michael Karp, Brandon Slay, Leslie Convey, Lauren Katz, Alice Gibbs, Lisa Kaminski, Dominique Reiff, Steve Parico, Phil Balderson, Liz Havey- Preate, Kristen Koeingsbauer, Ron Kaplan.
Board Members Absent: Jannie Blackwell, Steve Patrico
Guests Present: Tony Repice (Repice Taylor), Brianna Fulginiti (Repice Taylor), Lexi Komisar, Phil Balderson, Kristen Koeingsbauer, Ron Kaplan.
Staff Present: Jennifer Faustman, Claire Cohen, Chris Hanlon and Bianca Feliciano.
M. Karp began the meeting calling for public comment. No public comments were offered.
M. Karp then asked if there were any questions regarding the Board packets presented which included the September 2016 Board Minutes, financial packets and updated Bylaws. There were no questions.
Resolution #1. A motion was made by D. Reiff to approve the Belmont Charter School June 2017 minutes as written. The motion was seconded by Lesie Convey. The vote was unanimous.
Resolution #2. A motion was made by L. Havey-Preate to approve the Inquiry Charter School June 2017 minutes as written. The motion was seconded by L. Kaminski. The vote was unanimous.
CEO Report:
J. Faustman reported a smooth opening to the school year at all campuses including the grand opening of the Belmont Charter High School. She reported a concern with the number of new students entering the school with behavior challenges and an anticipated increase in the number of students that have IEP’s or are assumed to need to be tested for special education services increasing to over 25% at each school.
Academic Report:
J. Faustman presented Belmont’s 2017-2018 academic results. Belmont’s Math and Literacy scores decreased by 4%, however, the school had 94 students within 10 points of proficiency in literacy and 46 students in Math. This would have had significantly increased the schools test scores. School attrition and the change to Eureka math in the 2016-2018 school year were discussed in identifying a path forward.
C. Cohen presented ICS’s 3rd grade PSSA 2017-2018 scores. The school exceeded the Philadelphia School District in both literacy and math.
Financial Report:
T. Repice from Repice Taylor gave a financial report stating that the schools were projected to be running on budget. He reported that payment for the current 75 9th graders was submitted directly to PDE until the new charter agreements were resolved.
Personnel Report:
A personnel report was given by J. Faustman reporting that the schools were fully staffed with the exception of a special education teacher for the high school. The use of a recruiting agency will be used to fill the position until a full time hire is identified.
Charter Signing Update:
M. Karp reported that on-going conversations were being had among several charter operators which involved the CSO and the SRC about how to move forward with agreeable charter contracts. Conversations were halted over the summer due to the SCR representative being out on leave but that we anticipated conversations picking up within the next few weeks.
Governance:
Updated Bylaws were presented to the Board as follows:
· Addresses updated from 3418 Samson Street to 4030 Brown Street as main address for Belmont Charter School and 1301 Belmont Avenue as main address for Inquiry Charter School.
· Grade levels have been adjusted to show K-4 at Inquiry Charter School and K-9 at Belmont Charter School.
· Specific responsibilities and powers of the board are as follows:
o adopting a school calendar, provided that any calendar must provide for 990 hours or 180 days of instruction for students in grades 7 through 12 and 900 hours or 180 days of instruction for students in grades 1 through 6;
o adopting textbooks;
o appointing or dismissing school administrators;
o adopting or amending the annual budget;
o purchasing or selling land;
o locating new buildings or changing the locations of previously used buildings;
o creating or increasing any indebtedness;
o adopting courses of study;
o designating depositories for Charter School funds;
o entering into contracts of any kind where the amount involved exceeds $2,500;
o fixing salaries or other compensation of administrators, teachers, or other employees of the Charter School; and
o entering into contracts with and making appropriations to an intermediate unit, school district, or Area Vocational/Technical School for the Charter School’s proportionate share of the cost of services provided or to be provided by any such entity.
Resolution #3. A motion was made by D. Reiff to approve the Belmont Charter School updated Bylaws. L. Convey seconded the motion. The vote passed unanimously.
Resolution #4. A motion was made by L. Kaminski to approve the Inquiry Charter School Bylaws. L. Havey – Preate seconded the motion. The vote passed unanimously.
Board Members are obligated to vote on each board member and their positions annually.
Each Director shall be elected for a term of one year. Except as otherwise provided by resolution of the Board, each Trustee’s term begins at the time of his or her election. Each Trustee shall hold office until (a) the expiration of the term for which he or she was elected and until his or her successor has been elected and qualified, or (b) his or her earlier death, resignation, or removal.
The following members were reinstated for the 2017-2018 School Year:
Belmont Charter
· Michael Karp, Chair
· Steve Parico, Treasurer
· Jannie Blackwell
· Leslie Convey, Secretary
· Alice Gibbs
· Lisa Kaminsky
· Dominique Reiff
Inquiry Charter
· Michael Karp, Chair **
· Leslie Convey, Secretary **
· Steve Parico, Treasurer **
· Brandon Slay
The following new members were voted on to be added to the Inquiry Charter School as follows:
· Elizabeth Havey- Preate
· Lauren Katz
Resolution #5. A motion was made to vote on each member of the Belmont Board of Trustees to resume their position for the 2017-2018 school year by M. Karp. It was seconded by L. Convey. The vote passed unanimously.
Resolution #6. A motion was made to vote on each member of the Inquiry Board of Trustees to resume or begin their position for the 2017-2018 school year by M. Karp. It was seconded by L. Convey. The vote passed unanimously.
The next meeting is scheduled for November 15, 2017 to be located at 1301 Belmont Avenue.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:05 pm