DRAFT MINUTES

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

MERCAZ ACADEMY

Plainview, NY

September 16, 2025 

Attendees (electronically via zoom):  Joshua Abergel, Julie Abergel, Sheila Ahadian, Vivian Ahdoot, Seth Alexander, Mona Avishay, Natalie Benshimon, Ilana Blackman, Lawrence Cohen,  Danielle Eckstein, Liz Eiskharian, Robert Eisman, Rabbi Kalman Fogel, Melissa Fryman, Adam Gartner, Yaffa Gartner, Kenneth Gartner, Bita Gil, David Gross, Frank Haftel, Diane Nissenbaum Herbst, Yoni Jacobs, Gary Katz, Chavi Kersch, Evan Kessler, Maria Khavasov, Shanee Kirschenbaum, Jeffrey Lichtman, Rabbi Sholom Lipszyc, Kenneth Malc, Stephanie Nathan, Jillian Nekhanevich, Wendy Ofer, Avi Ossip, Karen Pinto, Lawrence Pollack, Melissa Refael, Adam Rosenbaum, Michael Rosenbaum, Michal Rosenthal, Michelle Routhenstein, Denise Schinazi, Danielle Schickman, Joshua Sclair, Edwin Simpser, Deborah Speyer, Shmuela Stenrbach, Brian Sullivan, David Vilkas, Avital Weissman, Rosslyn Yakubov, Tiffany Yankovich, Valerie Yunatan, Barry Zweigbaum

A quorum being present, Jeff Lichtman called the meeting to order at 8:35 pm.

The minutes of the prior meeting of the Mercaz Academy membership were reviewed by the membership.  Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the minutes were approved.

Jeff gave a D’var Torah.  Rabbi Fogel led the membership in a recitation of Tehillim

Chairman’s report:

Gary Katz reflected on the excitement of the school beginning its fourth year of classes and continuing to fulfill its mission.  In anticipation of the election of new board members, he thanked Heather Burgoon and Michal Rosenthal for their board service.  He likewise thanked the nominating committee, chaired by Joshua Sclair, for their efforts in nominating an outstanding slate for the upcoming board.

Principal’s Report:

Rabbi Fogel expressed his excitement for the coming school year by highlighting recent developments.  among other items, he discussed our school’s participation in the Bat Ami program, the expansion of the Writing Revolution program across our grades, and the installation of our new ECC playground.

Proposed Amendment to By-Laws:

Jeff notified the membership that the Board of Trustees has recommended that the by-laws of Mercaz Academy be amended.  The proposed amendment follows:

WHEREAS, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of Mercaz Academy historically has had an officer or officers with the title of President or Co-Presidents at its head, and

WHEREAS, the current Co-Presidents of the PTA have advised Mercaz that, for the 2025-2026 academic year, the individuals at topmost tier of leadership will have title of Coordinators and not President or Co-Presidents, and

WHEREAS, Mercaz seeks to continue to confer upon the topmost tier of leadership of the PTA, regardless of title or the number of individuals who occupy that tier, the right of voting membership at the Board of Trustees and the Board of Education, and

IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees of Mercaz Academy recommends to the membership that the By-Laws of Mercaz Academy be amended such that:

(a)   Article IV Section 11 of the By-Laws, which now provides in pertinent part that:

“The President of the Parent-Teacher Association is a voting member of the Board of Trustees.  If the Parent-Teacher Association is led by co-presidents who desire to cast votes that differ from each other, each may cast one-half vote”, will be amended to read:

“The President of the Parent-Teacher Association (or whoever occupies its topmost tier of leadership) is a voting member of the Board of Trustees.  If voting members representing the Parent-Teacher Association desire to cast votes that differ from each other, each may cast a fractional vote so that all such fractional votes of all such individuals together shall combine to equal one vote”, and

(b)   Article V, section 1, of the Mercaz Academy By-Laws, which now provides that: “The members of the Board of Trustees shall consist of all officers and trustees, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, and the President of the Academy’s Parent-Teacher Association”, will be amended to read:

“The members of the Board of Trustees shall consist of all officers and trustees, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, and the President of the Academy’s Parent-Teacher Association (or whoever occupies its topmost tier of leadership)”, and

(c)    Article VII, section 5 of the Mercaz Academy By-Laws, which now provides that:

“A President of the Parent-Teacher Association attends meetings of the Board of Education and shall be allocated one vote on the Board of Education.  The Parent-Teacher Association shall have one vote even if it is led by co-presidents.  Should the co-presidents of the Parent-Teacher Association desire to cast votes that differ from each other, each may cast one-half vote”, will be amended to read:

“The President of the Parent-Teacher Association (or whoever occupies its topmost tier of leadership) is a voting member of the Board of Education.  If voting members representing the Parent-Teacher Association desire to cast votes that differ from each other, each may cast a fractional vote so that all such fractional votes of all such individuals together shall combine to equal one vote.”

Jeff advised that any amendment to the by-laws must be recommended to the membership by the Board of Trustees, which then needs to approve the amendment by a vote of at least 60% of the attendees voting for the amendment.  In this case, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved this proposed amendment and the membership, therefore, may consider this change. 

Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the membership unanimously approved this amendment to the by-laws.  [NOTE: After the meeting, a scrivener’s error was noted in that the resolution was intended to amend Article IV, Section 10 of the By-Laws and, in fact, the language referred to in the motion indeed referred to Article IV, Section 10.  Accordingly, Article IV, Section 10 of the By-Laws (and not Article IV, Section 11) is deemed to have been amendment pursuant to passage by the Board and membership of the above-referenced motion.] 

Nominating Committee:: 

Joshua Sclair, as the Chair of the Nominating Committee, thanked the committee members (Joshua Abergel, Joshua Kirschenbaum, Natalie Benshimon, and Wendy Ofer, as well as Gary Katz and Jeff Lichtman in their ex officio capacities) for their hard work.  He then reported on the process the committee used to develop its slate of candidates, which included that Gary recused himself from committee discussions concerning his own nomination.  Josh then presented the nominees for the officer and trustee positions as follows:

OFFICERS

Gary Katz                                  Chairman (2-Year Term)

David Vilkas                              Executive Vice President (2-Year Term)

Avi Ossip                                   Financial Secretary (2-Year Term)

Lawrence Cohn                        Vice President (2-Year Term)

TRUSTEES

Aaron Chaitovsky                      Trustee (3-Year Term)

Melissa (Ora) Fryman                Trustee (3-Year Term)

Bita Gil                                     Trustee (3-Year Term)

David Gross                              Trustee (3-Year Term)

Michael Rosenbaum                 Trustee (2-Year Term)

Mordy Yankovich                      Trustee (3-Year Term)

As the slate presented was unopposed, Josh Sclair, the Mercaz Academy Secretary, cast one vote for the slate as proposed by the nominating committee.

Jeff thanked Heather Burgoon and Michal Rosenthal, who are not continuing as trustees, for their service, and congratulated new members Bita Gil and Michael Rosenbaum, who will be serving our school community in the coming years as board members.

Fundraising Committee: 

Membership received an overview of various fundraising activity.  Gary reviewed the progress and importance of the 10-year capital campaign and the Chanukah appeal.  David Vilkas reported an event that welcomed our capital campaign donors to the reveal of the beautiful donor wall in the school lobby.  Melissa Fryman reviewed the success of two “funraisers”—family bowling and wine tasting.

Finance Committee Report:

 Avi Ossip reported that the financial condition of the organization is solid and we have sufficient cash reserved to support current operations. Controls are in place to ensure protection of the assets and the proper payment of obligations.  The financial operations are directly handled by the Executive Director and bookkeeper, with daily oversight by the financial secretary.  The treasurer, Chairman of the Board and President provide additional oversight.

Overall net performance for the year that ended on August 31, 2025 was more favorable than the forecast, yielding a small surplus.  He reported that tuition covered only about 62% of last year’s expenses, while fundraising revenue provided about 31% and other income accounted for about 7% of funds that paid for total expenses.   The Board of Trustees has approved a budget for the current fiscal year beginning September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026. 

Executive Director’s Report (Building and Grounds and Security Committee Reports):

Seth Alexander presented a slideshow that portrayed the many improvements in our facility over the past year.  

The Building and Grounds committee completed many projects that were undertaken by professionals or volunteers, supervised by Seth.  These include installing the donor board in the lobby, installing a new playground for the ECC, repairing the gym roof, and replacing windows and floor tiles.

Seth also oversaw several security upgrades in the building, in consultation with the Security Committee, which were funded from Homeland Security grants. These include replacing old, eternal doors around the building with security doors and installation of security fencing at the loop and near the parking lot. 

Seth also provided insight to the membership on the factors considered in the decision not to participate in the school lunch program for the first year of that state-wide program and our monitoring its rollout in various schools. Based on information we will receive, we will revisit potential participation in the program in the coming school year.

The members were given an opportunity to ask questions.  Questions were asked and adressed, many of which related to the school lunch program.  The meeting adjourned at 9:40pm.

Drafted by Jeffrey Lichtman

Submitted by Joshua Sclair