Janice Parker received the "World Recognition".  Her parent perspective is invaluable and overall commitment and effort are very much appreciated.

Max led this discussion of 2 key items

Intern to support the board  

Some key responsibilities include acting as a liaison between the board and school, taking minutes, data updates to the dashboard, posting data to Board on Track.  One person has expressed interest to Max.  Maureen will circulate the position description to a contact at a university with a social justice program where students are required to do community service.  This may meet their requirement.

This will be a paid position.  Marilyn stated that $500/month is the minimum amount that should be offered to be competitive.  This matches what was tentatively planned.  Time frame:  November through June.

Objective:  Regain a detailed understanding of the leasing arrangement in its entirety and then compose a summary of the contracts (a "GGA lease Cliff Notes") that can be passed down from one GGA Board to the next for as long as this leasing arrangement is in place.  Board volunteers have been solicited.for this role.  Beth and Shalini will serve.

Maureen presented work done by the Development Committee.

A calendar with key dates was referenced- focus on campaigns and events

Virtual global gatherings are planned to introduce people to the school and ask them to get involved, and connect to the school.  Development pipeline building is the goal, not immediate solicitation for donations.

Dashboard with key metrics for development as well as telling the school story is being implemented.  Kevin contributed significantly to this work.

Kevin asked which were the top priorities of the 4 stated and board directors indicated in the chat that social/emotional wellbeing and accelerating learning/mitigating learning loss are the key priorities. 

Development focus at the present is the End of the Year Campaign- goal is $20,000, essentially the same as last year.  This money falls in the individual giving category, exclusive of foundations.  Key will be expanding the contact list to as large a group as possible.

Board giving and board referrals are important.

The school team drafted goals.  Board should weigh in, review and think about how to incorporate the goals.  There's one set of goals at the end of the day.

Development Committee goals were shared as an example.

Recommendations for additions to this committee and others are encouraged. 

No screening process exists for non-staff, non-board committee participants. The Governance Committee is developing guidelines.  Maura raised the question for later discussion about whether people outside of the board should be on the Finance Committee. 

Ms. Shayne Swift has been looking outside of GGA for additional committee members for the Academic Committee.

Mary shared Academic Committee goals via a link:  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rHDR6JQnOAieCrtZWL-esBOoyf7yBDNW8edHKZklAQM/edit#slide=id.gefc36cfed5_2_59

The target is November 15th for finishing Committee Goals and Charters.

Partnership with BARDA- Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority

is college and career speaker series.

97% of GGA staff are vaccinated;  One staff member will be submitting a religious/medical waiver and will be subject to being tested per protocol.  The other unvaccinated staff member has decided to get the vaccine.  November 1 is the deadline. Anyone coming into the building and with student contact must be vaccinated.  There are no virtual instructors at this time.  

We are fully staffed for teachers.  It was difficult as there are people who don't want to do in-person instruction.  Concern was expressed about being in compliance given the rapidly approaching deadline.  There are no termination plans.  

Additional special education staff providing direct instruction have been added.  We are now fully staffed.  A paraprofessional was just added.  An addition person is committed to joining November 1.  It's a legal requirement to have sufficient people to manage work associated with IEPs for SPED students.

Some parents  are leaving the vaccination decision to their children.  The Athletic Coordinator is working to dispel false information about Covid vaccinations.  The percentage of unvaccinated students may impact the Athletics Program.  The planning was for 30 students for basketball (try-outs) and 20 students for cheerleading.  Parents are being encouraged to tell how they made the decision to get vaccinated and encourage students.  

Max requested that additional questions come to him and he will aggregate and filter what goes to Karen. 

Maura's question about the number of returning students (difference between what was expected by mid-late Summer vs. the number we have by Count Day) will be addressed by Karen outside of the meeting.  The budget used 62 but the recent revisions appeared to indicate 50.  

Ms O'Neal was formerly an Assistant Principal and was deemed qualified for the Director of Academics role.  The support from someone without the additional administrative responsibilities was deemed necessary to accomplish the IB certification and interface with students and families.

There is no longer a person with the title of "Principal."  Ms Swift will focus on IB authorization, interaction with families, and the relational side of the work.  

Teacher issues are to be handled by the Director of Academics.

Mary said there needed to be a better explanation of the rationale for the changes. She recommended positioning the change as to how it will benefit the girls, to avoid confusion and frustration.  Clarify the parent narrative. 

Janice indicated that from the student perspective, there were multiple principals.  More clarity is needed around the new roles.

Maureen suggested that Karen each out to board members who have experience in schools for feedback.  These board members would be an organized subgroup of volunteers.

Mary asked how GGA would ensure that culture and academics are connected.  The Leadership team needs to understand the connection and what that means.  This needs to be coordinated.

Action item from Max:  Form new board cross-section to support Karen

Tabled tonight.  Maura proposed that the risk discussion be handled by the Executive Committee in order to expedite decision making.  Shalini expressed the need for the budget decision to be voted on by the entire board.

Beth suggested a potential option to have interested board members phone into the discussion.