Universal Bluford-Daroff Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2015
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Sultan Ahmad
Glenn Ellis
Cheryl Seay
David Fattah
1. Meeting Minutes
a. Mr. Ahmad asked for a motion to approve the minutes from September 17, 2015.
b. Mr. Ellis made a motion to accept the minutes and Mr. Fattah seconded that motion.
c. The meeting minutes from September 17, 2015 were approved unanimously.
2. Monthly Reports
a. The Central Office
i. Dr. Johnson presented the Central Office Report
1. The first round of instructional content visits have taken place and
the central office was very pleased with their observations.
a. Daroff’s Math Program
b. Bluford’s Science Team
2. There have been significant growth in PVAAS scores for Daroff as
well as Bluford.
3. Bluford: There was moderate evidence that scholars exceeded the
growth standard across the board in PLA- 5th grade was the
strongest.
a. In math, there was significant evidence that scholars
exceeded the growth standard. Grades 5 and 6 were the
strongest and there was moderate evidence in grade 4
4. Daroff: There was growth across all grades in the PVAAS.
a. The school met the PA growth standard in PLA with 7th
grade being the strongest and Grades 4 and 8 significantly
met the growth standard with math.
b. There was significant evidence that the scholars exceeded
the growth standard for the state.
c. In grades 6 and 7, they were the strongest. Grade 4
showed moderate evidence.
5. The first round of school support visits will take place within the
next few weeks.
b. Bluford Reports
i. Ms. Gary- Nelson Presented the Bluford Principal Report
1. Ms. Gary- Nelson announced the new Assistant Principal Dr. Justine
Drayton and the new Dean of parents Ms. Krystal Johnson.
2. Ms. Gary- Nelson advised that Bluford has a few goals on their
agenda.
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a. Goal #1: Every scholar that graduates is high school and
college ready.
b. Goal #2: Recruit, develop, retain and reward a premier
workforce.
c. Goal #3: Implement a community school strategy to
cultivate duty-honored partnerships with families,
businesses, faith based groups and community organizations
to provide a sustainable system of support and care for all
stakeholders.
d. Goal #4: Promote a system wide culture of safety, effective
management, culture competency and customer service.
e. Goal #5: Strengthen data use, processes and systems to drive
change and improve academic performance.
f. Goal #6: Inspire and nurture learning, creativity, innovation
and entrepreneurship through technology and strategic
school redesign.
Ms. Krystal Johnson explained that Bluford is trying to make the
school more of a family community school by hosting events such
as:
a. A volunteer workshop to help parents with their clearances.
b. An upcoming event to help with the middle school/high
school application process.
c. A breast cancer awareness breakfast On October 21st
d. A father/son basketball tournament in October (Tentative)
e. The UniverSoul Circus and a host of other events.
The school performance on the 2015 PSSA:
a. Bluford scored 23% proficient on the 2015 PLA/PSSA.
37.5% proficient in science and 9% proficient in Math.
Mr. Ahmad asked for a motion to accept the principal report and the
home and school report.
Mr. Ellis made the motion to accept the reports and Ms. Seay second
that motion.
The principal report and the home and school report for Bluford was
approved unanimously.
c. Daroff Reports
i. Mr. Wallace presented the Daroff Principal Report
1. Daroff is housing the Century 21 Grant.
2. The after school program began 10days ago.
3. Culinary science is the focus for the STEM program this month.
4. Recently the kindergarten and 1st grade admittance and dismissal
have been relocated Race Street.
5. Interim conferences took place on October 8th and 9th.
6. Universal Daroff is home to a flag football team, a volleyball team,
a soccer team and an extensive dance group that will perform at the
UniverSoul Circus.
7. On October 16th the 7th and 8th grade scholars will be attending a
city-wide high school fair.
8. Universal Daroff is fully staffed, every classroom has a teacher who
is highly qualified and certified or working towards their
certification.
9. Daroff has met the attendance target in regards to enrollment with a
total of 775 scholars.
a. Home visits have begun for scholars with attendance issues.
10. Administrators spends at least three hours daily in the classrooms,
doing observations based on the day's framework.
11. The first SAC meeting took place on October 14th with 14 parents
who came out.
12. Daroff was rated 34 of 126 Schools which makes Daroff the top of
all Universal schools.
13. Daroff is being sought after by the School District of Philadelphia
Charter Office to be a model charter school within Philadelphia.
14. The SAC chair, Ms. Jones is being sought after by the School
District of Philadelphia to be a liaison for schools going through the
process on how to garner parent involvement and support.
15. The School District of Philadelphia wants to come and tour Daroff
to learn more about the academic program.
ii. Ms. Jones presented the SAC report
1. The SAC is still in the process of transitioning with the new
administration.
2. The SAC hopes to her a Pantry Grant for $7,500.
3. Lisa Detmoyer has been elected as the SAC secretary
4. The SAC will have a meeting again on October 18th and will be
doing a presentation on Identity Theft.
iii. Ms. Graham Presented the FSRC Report
1. Fundraiser funds have been accepted to help kids get school
uniforms
2. They have had 2 GED information sessions.
3. There are volunteers that come in to help with resumes for parents.
4. All volunteers are Universal Company certified and have had all of
their clearances.
5. There was a meeting on October 15th to discuss resumes GED’s and
women empowerment.
6. On 10/21, The Women's Opportunity Resource Center will be out
to talk about the family savings program.
7. Out of 560 children, 250 have returned their health consent forms.
8. There will be a blood drive in February.
9. Mr. Ahmad asked for a motion to accept the Principal, SAC and
FSRC reports.
10. Mr. Fattah made the motion to accept the Principal, SAC and FSRC
reports and Mr. Ellis second that motion.
11. The Principal, SAC and FSRC reports for Daroff were accepted
unanimously
d. Finance Committee
i. Mr. Fattah gave the July 2015 through June 2016 Finance Report for
Bluford .
1. The income is close to $2 million and there is $7 million in the
budget. There is $5 million left.
2. 27 percent has come in from the Bluford side.
3. The expenditures are a bit over $1 million.
4. Bluford has spent $300,000 more than received.
a. That's roughly 31 percent of the total expenditures for the
year.
5. Mr. Ahmad asked for a motion to accept the Finance Report for
Bluford.
6. Ms. Seay made the motion to accept the report and Mr. Ellis second
the motion.
7. The Finance Report for Bluford was approved unanimously.
ii. Mr. Fattah gave the July 2015 through June 2016 Finance Report for Daroff.
1. The income is close to 2.3 Million dollars , which leaves us with
over $6 million.
2. Our total budget was over $8 million.
3. Daroff has received 27.8 percent of the money they have been
allocated.
4. $2.7 million has been spent.
5. Daroff has spent a little bit more t han $370,000 more than they have
received.
6. Mr. Ahmad asked for a motion to accept the Finance Report for
Daroff.
7. Mr Seay made the motion to accept the report and Mr. Ellis second
the motion.
8. The Finance Report for Daroff was approved unanimously.
e. HR Committee
i. Ms. Seay gave the report for the HR committee report for Bluford.
1. The new assistant principal at Bluford is Dr. Justine Drayton.
2. There are five candidates for the learning support vacancies
ii. Ms. Seay gave the report for the HR committee report for Daroff.
1. Ms. Waters has been offered a letter of intent for the assistant
principal vacancy at Daroff.
2. Mr. Ahmad asked for a motion to accept HR report for Bluford and
Daroff.
3. Mr. Fattah made the motion to accept the report and Mr. Ellis second
the motion.
4. The HR report for Bluford and Daroff was approved unanimously.
3. Board Matters
a. Board Training
i. Per the renewal recommendation the board has to participate in mandatory
board trainings.
ii. The first session will be November 12th at 6:00 p.m. at Bluford; Conflicts of
Interests- Mr. Islam is a possible Presenter. – will discuss.
iii. The second session will be February of 2016 at Daroff; Code of Ethicsproviders to be announced.
iv. Third session will be on May 12th at Daroff; Responsibility of Charter
School Governing Board- providers to be announced.
v. The fourth training will be on August 11th, 2016 at Daroff; The Sunshine
Law- providers to be announced.
b. Committee Structure
i. There were 3 members appointed to the nomination committee:
1. Joel Seay (member), David Fattah (Member) and Cheryl Seay
(Chair).
4. Public Comments
a. There was a grandparent who had comments about the family atmosphere
disappearing at Daroff and the fact that parents don’t have any consideration in
matters involving new staff.
b. A parent had a question about opening the school doors early and she was directed
to the Vice Principal to answer the question after the meeting.
5. Adjournment
a. The meeting concluded at 8:04 p.m.