True North Rochester Preparatory Charter School
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees
June 19, 2013
The meeting was called to order by Mr. Rosenberger at 12:11pm.
Roll Call
The roll call was taken and a quorum was found present.
Trustees Present:
Geoffrey Rosenberger
Josh Philips
Jim Ryan
Ron Zarrella
Jane Glazer
Jim Gleason (via phone)
Also Present:
Anna Hall, COO, Uncommon Schools Rochester and Troy
Laura Wilkinson, DOO Fellow, Rochester Prep West Campus Middle School
David McBride, Principal, Rochester Prep Middle School
Marya Murray-Diaz, DOO, Rochester Prep Middle School
Michael Sherry, DOO, Rochester Prep West Campus Middle School
Laura Wilkinson, Operations Fellow, Rochester Prep West Campus Middle
School
Rebecca Comish, SPC, Uncommon Schools Rochester and Troy
Emily Volpe, Principal Fellow, Rochester Prep West Campus Elementary
Kaitlin Driscoll, DOO Fellow, Rochester Prep West Campus Elementary
Public Comment
There were no public comments.
Approval of Minutes
The following motion was made: To approve the minutes from the May 1, 2013 board meeting.
Motion: Mr. Ryan
Second: Ms. Glazer
Vote: unanimous
Agenda Items
Elementary School Update
Anna Hall updated the board on end of the year events and school joy at the elementary school, including
a trip to the zoo and a pirate picnic.
There were some questions fielded about the Terra Nova. Rochester Prep gives end of the year and
beginning of the year Terra Nova exams, which is a national, norm-referenced test of basic skills and the
schools will receive the results this summer. Generally the scores are pretty strong, but it is not very
different than what has been given in grammar school for decades. The challenge is that they are not
common core aligned, and not terribly rigorous, so Rochester Prep is looking to other sources of testing.
Middle School Update
David McBride updated the board on the end of the year at the Brooks campus middle school. The tone
has been very calm at Brooks, which is ideal for this time of year. Teachers continue to develop rigorous
lesson plans, but there’s a lot of joy and events. The students go on end of the year trips -- 8th graders to
Cedar Point, 7th graders go on an overnight to Darien Lake, and 5th and 6th graders go to Seabreeze for the
day. Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine, came to visit and spoke with the kids, echoing the
message and mission of Rochester Prep. All of the students in 8th grade completed the Integrated Algebra
Regents exam, and there was a large capstone project at the end of the year for ELA. West/Brooks gave 3
days of PD together, breaking up Math and ELA, and the school leaders and staff feel more prepared for
August PD.
HSP and AS Update
Ashley Buroff updated the board on High School and Alumni Services objectives and outcomes from the
12-13 school year.
Objective 1 was met: 100% of Rochester Prep 8th grade students will be placed in high schools that have
been identified as a “Tier One” or “Tier Two” placement site per the High School Evaluation Rubric.
The current placement percentages are as follows:
70% public
18% private
8% suburban
2% charter
2% out of state
Objective 2 was inconclusive: 90% of 8th grade students score “Advanced” or “Proficient” on the High
School Readiness rubric. The team is still awaiting data from the fall which is part of the rubric.
Objective 3 was not met: 75% of eligible 7th and 8th grade students will participate in the Johns Hopkins
University Center for Talented Youth talent search. Thirty-one percent of the students participated, and no
one is attending from that group.
Dominick DiFalco spoke on the status of the objectives for Alumni Services. Objective 1 is incomplete:
Rochester Prep alumni will be graded as “proficient” or “advanced” on the College Eligibility Evaluation
Rubric. They need more time to get information back in the fall. The team developed the college
eligibility evaluation rubric on site
Objective 2 was met: There was 25% attendance gains in Alumni Services events and programs. The
increase was actually 27% and the alumni services orientation for 9th grade families was the only event
that faced a loss.
Although not an objective, the Alumni Services tutoring program was rolled out after determining that
49% of our alumni require academic remediation in Math, Science, History, or Spanish. The Alumni
Services team hired 3 tutors and 3 volunteers. The outcome was that 75% of the students who had a
weekly appointment had a substantial course average increase.
The cumulative GPAs for the alumni cohorts are as follows: cohort 2018 -- 2.31; cohort 2019 -- 2.56; and
cohort 2020 -- 2.45.
2013-2014 Budgets
Ms. Hall updated the board on the upcoming 13-14 budget projections. She explained that next year is the
first year where the 4 schools and 1 start-up program for the high school will share one financial pie.
There is a year one deficit for the elementary school and a start-up year zero deficit for the high school.
Each school is a separate financial entity for budgeting purposes, but the public face of our budget is the
“all in” number, including all 5 budgets.
The expenditure per pupil is around $14,000 for 2012-2013 across the schools. The per pupil expenditure
will increase 13-14 and over the next few years, but will then settle at a little less than $14,000.
The board voted to approve the 2013-2014 budgets.
Motion: Mr. Zarella
Second: Mr. Ryan
Vote: unanimous
2013-2014 Personnel Policies
Ms. Hall gave an overview of the changes to the personnel policies for the 13-14 school year. The
Rochester Prep schools will be increasing the 403b match, adding a tier. The new tiers are as follows:
start with a 3% match, then after 24 months it goes to a 4% match; then after 36 months it goes to a 5%
match.
Rochester Prep is also extending FMLA policies, increasing paid leave from 6 weeks to 12 weeks of paid
leave.
The board voted to approve the 2013-2014 Personnel Policies.
Motion: Mr. Ryan
Second: Mr. Zarella
Vote: unanimous
2013-2014 Student and Family Handbooks
Ms. Hall highlighted the updates to the Student and Family Handbooks. The handbooks now align the
definition of long-term suspension across schools and aligns with state law. The new definition of longterm suspension is 10 or more days.
The schools also changed the language of the complaint policy, particularly who follows up on
complaints. The new language states that the board chair can name a designee to follow up on a
complaint.
The board voted to approve the 2013-2014 Student and Family Handbooks, as amended. The
amendments include typos that read Troy Prep instead of Rochester Prep, a references to minutes of
executive sessions, and a reference to student email which we don’t allow.
Motion: Mr. Rosenberger
Second: Ms. Glazer
Vote: unanimous
Emergency conditional clearance
The board voted to delegate emergency conditional clearance authority to the Chief Operating Officer for
the 2013-2014 new hires.
Motion: Mr. Ryan
Second: Ms. Glazer
Vote: unanimous
2013-2014 Auditors
The board voted to engage Mengel Metzger Barr as auditors to review FY 2012-2013.
Motion: Mr. Rosenberger
Second: Mr. Ryan
Vote: unanimous
Board terms
The board voted to renew the terms for expiring members Geoffrey Rosenberger and Jim Ryan for 3
years.
Motion: Mr. Zarella
Second: Ms. Glazer
Vote: unanimous
Executive Session
The Board moved to go into Executive Session at 1:45pm.