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Washington Latin

Minutes

Monthly Board of Governors Meeting

December 2021 Meeting

Date and Time

Thursday December 2, 2021 at 6:00 PM

Directors Present

A. Graham (remote), B. Caldwell (remote), B. Williams-Kief (remote), C. McFadgion (remote), C. McGurn (remote), C. Wilkinson (remote), H. Rawlings (remote), K. Merritt (remote), L. Ballenger (remote), L. Rucker (remote), N. McCoy (remote), P. Mara (remote), T. Morgan (remote)

Directors Absent

K. Osagie

Guests Present

C. Davis (remote), C. Gifford (remote), G. Billings (remote), J. Kelly (remote), K. Cromwell (remote), P. Anderson (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

T. Morgan called a meeting of the board of directors of Washington Latin to order on Thursday Dec 2, 2021 at 6:03 PM.

C.

Approve Minutes

C. McGurn made a motion to approve the minutes from November Board of Governors Retreat on 11-13-21.
T. Morgan seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
T. Morgan
Aye
N. McCoy
Aye
L. Ballenger
Aye
C. McGurn
Aye
H. Rawlings
Aye
C. McFadgion
Aye
P. Mara
Aye
K. Merritt
Aye
L. Rucker
Aye
C. Wilkinson
Aye
B. Caldwell
Aye
K. Osagie
Absent
A. Graham
Aye
B. Williams-Kief
Aye

II. Head of School Report

A.

Where are we at the end of the first academic quarter?

  • Successful start to the school year overall
  • Many successful sports teams - more students participating in sports than before the pandemic 
  • Successful fall events including the music concert, parent teacher conferences, and events like the Fall Festival
  • Discipline report - number of students who have been suspended in and out of school this year reported; lower than previous years at the same time
  • Staffing
    • Six currently vacant positions, but two have been filled 
  • COVID dashboard - 96% of faculty are vaccinated, 71% of all students, 92% of 7th-12th graders, and 15% of 5th ad 6th graders
    • 21 positive COVID cases since August 27th 
    • Are numbers are much higher across the board than the city as a whole in terms of vaccination
    • We have tested over 3000 tests since the beginning of the school year
    • Unvaccinated students are tested once a week
    • Weekly testing of a subset of vaccinated students will begin in January (random sample to try to catch breakthrough infections)
    • Two students participating in online learning since the beginning of the year and four students have joined since then
  • Current Challenges 
    • Shifting protocols and guidelines from DC Health
    • Disproportionality in discipline issue 
    • COVID fatigue
    • Compliance issues students with IEPs
    • Space in the building
    • Personnel - hiring to find qualified Arabic teacher, poor timing in departure of Director of Student Support Services 
  • Comparison of Latin to DC Overall
    • Latin doing better than city averages overall on a number of metrics including post-secondary enrollment, attendance, SAT performance, and AP performance 
    • In comparison to the city, we are extremely competitive
    • Achievement gaps continue to persist among groups at Latin

III. Taking Stock of Where We Are Now with Growth

A.

Reviewing the dashboard and discussing the status of each domain

Update on Project Plan for Growth
  • Stakeholder Engagement
    • Trying to make sure we speak with all of the relevant influential figures particularly in Ward 5 
  • Discussion of what the Board would like to see each month in terms of progress towards growth 

IV. Preparing for PCSB Hearing

A.

Discussion of what to expect and how we are preparing for that

  • On Monday, December 20th we will testify at the PCSB hearing for approval for our new facility for the Cooper Campus
    • Recruiting parents and alumni to testify on our behalf
    • Working to ensure that we are in contact with all of the relevant stakeholders in Ward 5 before the hearing 
    • Working with the other schools on the street to make sure our presence does not create a huge disruption, particularly in regards to traffic at pick up and drop off 

V. Committee Updates

A.

Academic Excellence

  • Recent meeting focused on ELL and the ESL program at Latin
  • Ruey Timberg is the new ESL Director at Washington Latin
  • 135 students speak more than one language at home, not all qualify for the program
  • More ELL students in grades 5 and 6 this year than previously, due to increased recruitment efforts in neighborhoods that have larger Latinx populations
  • Timberg has been working hard to assess the state of the program, ensure that students receive the support they require, and work with teachers to train them on how best to work with ELL students
  • Two NYU grad students have been helping both with the student support and with the teacher professional development

B.

Finance

  • Enrollment is higher than what was forecast
  • Between higher enrollment and grants we are coming in with more money than anticipated for the year 
  • The six vacant positions also have helped us financially, though obviously we would like to still hire those people 

C.

Development and Communications

Latin A Fundraising is going well - $485,000 over 62% of the full year goal, vast majority of that has come from Latin Pride ($290K and over 90% family participation)
  • Giving Tuesday will exceed goal of $5k
  • Looking to ensure that we have 100% Board participation if you have not already given
Big Buckets left to fill by upcoming events
  • Sweet 16 Gala - fundraising goal of $100K
  • Bacchanalia - fundraising goal of $75K
Classical for All Campaign for Cooper Campus
  • A little bit more than a third of the way there
  • $3.8M raised thus far
  • Good progress without a permanent site 
  • Two potential donors are opting to wait until we have a permanent facility so that will likely slow down the dollars coming. 
L. Ballenger made a motion to move to Executive Session.
C. Wilkinson seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
B. Caldwell
Aye
B. Williams-Kief
Aye
C. McFadgion
Aye
K. Merritt
Aye
K. Osagie
Absent
T. Morgan
Aye
L. Rucker
Aye
A. Graham
Aye
C. Wilkinson
Aye
L. Ballenger
Aye
H. Rawlings
Aye
P. Mara
Aye
C. McGurn
Aye
N. McCoy
Aye

D.

Facilities

  • Update on current work to prepare the Edgewood facility to open in Fall 2022. 
  • Update on real estate negotiations for a potential permanent facility.
B. Caldwell made a motion to End Executive Session.
C. Wilkinson seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
C. McFadgion
Aye
C. Wilkinson
Aye
T. Morgan
Aye
P. Mara
Aye
L. Ballenger
Aye
K. Merritt
Aye
K. Osagie
Absent
C. McGurn
Aye
A. Graham
Aye
N. McCoy
Aye
L. Rucker
Aye
B. Williams-Kief
Aye
B. Caldwell
Aye
H. Rawlings
Aye

E.

Governance

  • Lisa has been talking with Ken, Peter, and also working with Board of Track as she has taken over the Governance Committee 
  • Working to make Board on Track a little easier to use and where we can find up to date documents
  • Strategic Plan is under the Governance Committee and will report on that 

VI. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
C. Wilkinson