Director of College Counseling presented the annual College Counseling report. 

• Reviewed opportunities students have access to through the college counseling office including three in-person application boot campus, Junior JumpStart, Senior Seminar, and the Life After Latin courses; College Night for senior families and Financial Aid Information Nights 
  • many students participated in Instant Decision Day 
• Over 60% of colleges are continuing to be test-optional for at least the next few years 
• There has been an uptick nationally of students who receive financial aid; all but 11 seniors completed the FAFSA
• Presented how demographics of graduating classes have changed over time
• 690 college applications were completed by seniors; 357 accepted and a 52% acceptance rate over all
• Colleges that are enrolling Latin students for the first time include Agnes Scott, Arizona State, Bryn Mawr, and Emerson College, for example
• 4 students in the senior class are not matriculating to college 
• 11.3 million dollars of scholarship money awarded so far, the most ever to a senior class at Latin
• Reviewed the scholarships that students received, including a Posse Scholarship 
• Concerns with college counseling:
  • lack of need-based financial aid for low-income students with a lower academic profile and the middle income families 
  • How to ensure that students and families complete the FAFSA 
  • How the FAFSA calculation will change
  • How quickly the lasting impact of the pandemic and systemic racism will be forgotten
• Internal concerns
  • Registrar is going to the Cooper Campus 
  • Lack of alumni support and engagement
  • Inconsistent communication and collaboration amongst different programs and offices across campus 
  • Only two college counselors for the whole school and the work that they do is intensive and individualized 
  • New college counselor will be needed for the Cooper Campus
  • Need to develop our 8th-10th grade programming for college counseling

Board members were invited to ask any questions based on the slides sent in advance. 

Graduation rates remain high and is higher this year than even in past years. 

Question about students projected to graduate on time this year 

• number is the same or higher than in other years despite concerns 

Question about Faculty Attrition and if it is related to the new compensation system

• A few faculty members have decided to leave based at least partly on their compensation for next year 
• Question about the flexibility that we have to remain faithful to the compensation system while still being creative with stipends or bonuses to convince teachers who may otherwise leave to stay 

Reminder of Upcoming Events 

Laurie Ballenger, Barry Caldwell, and Alyse Graham were renewed as Board members for 3 more years. 

• Switching from KBJ to another finance firm because we need a larger company that has more resources as we grow

• Important as we consider real estate transactions
• We have been saving over the last few years
• Plan is to invest some of our savings 
• Working with Truist, our main bank, to do this investment 

• Set growth goal of $175,000 for Bacchanalia and Convivium
• Raised about $55,000 from Convivium
• 4 new sponsors attended the event
• Exceeded fundraising goal for Bacchanalia of $75,000
• %525000 have come in for the capital campaign, we are at 4.3 million out of our 12 million goal
• Fundraising would be helped by having a permanent site identified for the new campus

Library will be dedicated to Diana Smith next week.

Hiring

• Struggling to find strong math and science candidates for Cooper Campus
• Potentially a result of the compensation study 
• Other schools are able to offer a higher starting salary, particularly for more experienced teachers
• This has cost us a few candidates in the process 
• Potential idea to have positions outside of the regular salary scale that could be funded differently; roles that are fundamental to Washington Latin could creatively fund these positions

Equitable Access Preference

• We are working to hit our goal numbers for the preference for each grade for both campuses

The Board discussed ongoing real estate negotiations for a future facility for the Cooper Campus.