Auditors were present to share a high level overview

Tiana from SB & Company presented the audit results

SB & Company met with Governance in November as the audit was wrapped up- so this report out is the recap

The auditors have been engaged to do the June 30, 2021 financial statement audit- year 2

We were subject to the uniform grant guidance audit because of the increase in Federal funding, which was in excess of the $750K threshold)

Also included:  Schedule of vendors contracting for more than $25K in services.  It is a requirement of the charter.

SB & Company went over recommendations and observations with Governance

Followed up on recommendations from the previous year

The auditors are available for year round consultation

An unmodified opinion was issued- the highest level possible

Also issued: 2 additional opinions, both clean: 

• Internal control environment
• Compliance with major Federal programs

No material weaknesses or fraud were found

• Full cooperation was noted as was receiving all the info needed. 
• Everyone made themselves available

Spent time on

• Revenue recognition
• Composition of restrictions of donors
• Expense and draw down process analysis
• Cash reconciliation and disbursement
• Liabilities
• Contributions
• Capital accounting

$755 in federal funding was received.

The major program was Title 5B- what new schools receive

There were no reportable findings- unmodified opinion

THE SUMMARY WAS INCLUDED

Financial statements were submitted to the DC Charter School Board by the December 1 deadline and uploaded into the hub, as required.

Beth noted appreciation for having gone through the process a year in advance to understand requirements.

Karen reiterated the value in doing the audit process when it wasn't required.

Unmodified opinion: 'no news is good news'

Recommendations for improved control were made

Tiana invited to stay for discussion of the 990.

Copy of 990 was shared.

It is publicly available information.

SB & Company prepares it for GGA

The corrected version will be sent out.

Shalini recommends looking at the year over year story to show how the organization is maturing.

Audit, Risk, Finance and the Leadership team all reviewed it.  A couple of small changes have been made.

Maura will submit the 990 for acceptance.

Karen will provide signature which is necessary to certify non-profit, exempt status.

The minor changes were on: page 13

IT support contractor was a company, not an individual

Finances came straight from the books.

This will be filed electronically.

Compliance and COI (Conflict of Interest) docs have to be circulated and collected.  This has to be done every year.  

Will be working through this in February, possibly extended into March.

Committee Assignments document was shared.

Committee charters and meeting cadence have been detailed as well as team leadership and members.

We are looking to build committee capacity and have taken some steps.

Shuffled some things to make the work more evenly divided and to provide the support and coverage needed by the school.

As specified by our charter, the Executive Committee is comprised of the officers plus the Chairs of the 5 standing committees.

The Exec Comm occasionally meets and can vote on behalf of the board in some circumstances, such as when it would be difficult to convene the entire board.

Exec Comm does the ED eval.  This committee includes a range of perspectives.

Additionally, a small group acts as a sounding board to Karen.  This started when Scott was still on the Board.  It was Scott and Maureen.  Maureen and Mary will continue this.

The Academic Committee brought on an interested parent.

We have 11 board members and a total capacity of 15.

Prospective candidate, nominee of Marilyn was invited to this evening's meeting to see the board in action.

Board intern- She will have exposure to non-profit world, education administration, and more.

A Georgetown student is the  interested candidate.

Max is reviewing one more reference, then will bring her on board.

Max's follow up was with a different person than the connection initiated by Maureen, but still likely a result of Maureen's contact.

Maureen wants to follow up with her friend after the intern is officially on board.

Thank you to the board members who contributed to holiday gifts to teachers:

• Personalized mugs with Starbucks gift cards were distributed.
• Beth, Maura and Shalini delivered them, met everyone and said thank you in person

It is a tough time.  We want to share the love- so the staff knows we appreciate them

• Board members are being asked to sign up to sponsor monthly wellness activities-whatever speaks to you- to share joy
• There's a calendar- each board member takes a month to lead.  Others can sign up to support the lead.
• Coordinate with Karen and Jason on dates after sign up.

January wellness activity- hosting a lunch- Max and Shobha- Wednesday

Wednesday is early dismissal and professional development day

They wanted a global theme so will have different bibimbap selections (rice bowls), sparkling water, and Orangina.  

Karen said:

• Staff appreciates it (board show of support) so much.
• "It's just the fuel to keep going during the challenging times."

Miscellaneous:

Marilyn will hang onto the World Recognition for another month.

A special thank you to Maura Dunn for all of her extraordinary service to the board- Treasurer, head of the Finance committee, tech person extraordinaire, helped keep us aware of the risky things- and much more. Maura is leaving the board January 31.  We will miss her and look forward to staying in touch.

Academic Committee report out:

Goals:

Links were provided in the chat to a documents for the board to review:  

Mary provided an overview and orientation 

Goals are shown in a table

Current Jan 2022 progress.

Qual and/or quant progress as provided by the Leadership

Pages 6 through 9- contain narrative and analysis connected to the updates

The objective is to provide an update on status against current goals of the Academic Committee.

Specific goals connected to the PMF have been included.

The PMF determines whether a school is Tier 1 status

On track for promotion and gateway goals.  Other measures include:

• Attendance
• Re-enrollment
• Parc scores (not yet taken)

Goal 2: Aligning instruction to accommodate the learning needs of all students so they are prepared to access the content and skills of the IB program.

Targets and indicators are presented. 

Goal 3:  GGA will ensure progress towards a thriving school to achieve Tier 1 rating

Targets and indicators are presented

General updates on the IB targets are included, but a meeting on 2/22, 4 to 5:30 PM has been scheduled.  It will be a learning session about IB- what it is, including the preparation process.  Shayne will lead this.  It will be recorded.  

The board reviewed this material for 7 minutes:

Pages 1-6- Goals in progress

Pages 6-9- Narrative and analysis

Is there a timeline for how the priorities will be addressed?

Question orientation, things noticed vs statements with judgement- preferred format for discussion

Shamira addressed the timeline for trimester 2:

Academic priorities:

• Instructional coaching
• Engaging students.  Learning through daily work
• Taking the coaching pieces into the classroom- look for's and feedback 
• One-to-one coaching
• Professional development (on Wednesdays)
• Formal and informal observation
• Comments on lesson plans (Shamira reviews them)
• How to teach a class with many different skill levels- now and ongoing

Using lesson planning template to track some of the data, differentiation, how to engage students at different levels, 

How do you evaluate whether it's having impact?

Inspecting what we expect is difficult.  More teachers are back this week.  

Coverage needs supersede

Students need instruction

Covid has put a damper on the plans

Are we confident that the interventions will close the gap?

The key is teacher instruction

Lesson plan is foundational in instructional learning, teaching, and coaching 

A number of students are failing classes

Our teachers are some of the better deliverers-

Students are earning more but not meeting the bar teachers have set vs students not performing well.

40% of students (32) are failing 2+ core classes (9th grade)

The dashboard is ongoing.

70% at the end of T1 were passing consistent with the policy.  Have to pass the 4 subjects.

Students and staff with Covid have impacted academic progress.

(Shayne:  from the chat) Both staff and students have been out for COVID-related reasons more recently and did step up to teach virtually and we buddied our students who were out as well. 

Interventions:  Saturday school and making sure students have supports if there's a disruption in their learning.

Will have MAP testing to show how much students have grown since T1

Will have updates when 2T closes

T1 was difficult. Social skills et al were big adjustments

Care team is honing in on what's needed. Covid impacted coping skills

Progress takes time.

Engaging all stakeholders is a must.

Fostering a sense of belonging- important

73% of students participate in an activity (extracurricular), which means 40 do not participate

Working on a grant for coding

Field trips

Working on shadowing opportunities outside of the building

Looking to utilize board members more in T2

Will be partnering with Athletes for Hope- connects Olympic and other athletes to our athletes- get in kind donations.

Selected 3 courses instead of 4

identified all personnel to work within the program with the exception of a couple of places.  

Students voted on language development:

• ASL
• Arabic
• Japanese
• Identified languages not offered but interested in

Consultant gave green light for application.

Policies are being written

Working on budget for implementation

Consultant has to do multiple reports

On track

It's almost like writing a charter application again.

Some action items are not due until the verification visit.

Have had 2 meetings but want one more with all the 10th grade families to attend to discuss scheduling scenarios.

All students should access certain parts of the program such as:

Personal and professional skills

Language skills

100 hours of service learning is required by DC to get a high school diploma, so why not get an IB stamp which is an extra credential

Core teachers are already trained.

Students are still responsible for pathways selection in conjunction with IB courses

Shalini

RFP for the Design/Build is out

Operational capacity- important consideration

Build out needs to be done on time

Option: hire a project management company

Kicking off budget process soon

Budget reflects org priorities

Looking for more people to join the Facilities Committee

Key qualifications:  curious and caring

You still have value beyond knowledge of Excel.

We are lower in cash than forecasted.

Willing to accept risk in days of cash on hand. 

We are not yet at a point where we are making decisions on cash flow constraints

Still looking at a net positive

Need to stay within the budget as voted on

Shalini has stepped in to head the Finance committee.  GGA is looking for a new Treasurer.

See V. A. (previous section)

Miscellaneous note:  February meeting will be added to the calendar

End of year campaign:

43 donors (goal was 50)

92% board members donated (targeting 100%)

32% retention (goal 45%)

$280 average gift size- increase from last year

Total raised:  $15,657- doesn't include multi-year pledges

18 new donors 

Will be reaching out to new donors

students spotlighted twill write thank-yous too

Leveraging board strengths more- Where does the board want to plug in and how does that align with development needs?

Open house

Insure that we are using strengths to meet the needs of the school

Sisterhood Summit can grow our network

Student ambassadors are fantastic- why they've chosen GGA

They tell their stories really well

Despite challenging T1

Can use the videos moving forward

Large unexpected grant from City Bridge for $25,000

End of December- 1st global gathering- 5 or 6 people came, spoke to students. Interaction with staff and students and Karen.  

All board members should attend.  Great opportunity

We're setting up dates for people to attend and learn about the school.  Virtually.

Sisterhood Summit- March 26th.  Saturday.  Similar format.  Morning panel and afternoon panel.  Panel invitees- people who the girls would relate to.  

Spotlighted through March

Development Committee  to help Karen.  First meeting on Thursday.  Weekly meetings leading up to the summit.  Would be great to get more people involved.

Women will be spotlighted in addition to having panelists.

Great to bring these role models into contact with the school.

The Sisterhood Summit will be held on March 26th.

Board support will be requested to identify Spotlights and Panelists.