M. Levasseur received the “World Recognition from Marilyn Bowser.” His leadership and flexibility have enabled the community's growth within this space. 

1. Are we moving the day to Tuesdays?
   1. A parent on the board will always miss the meeting on Monday nights
   2. How about every 4th Wednesday?
      1. The conversation will continue through email and confirm the March board meeting date by the end of the week. 
2. Should there be an April meeting?
   1. Beth: Dedicate time to We are checking in on the goal-setting process. 
   2. Shalini: Shorter meeting focused on presenting finance priorities
   3. Maureen: Robust conversation about priorities from the finance committee and goal-setting.
   4. Elaine: Midst of recruitment
3. Return to in-person meetings?
   1. Maureen: Quarterly
   2. Marilyn: Bi-Monthly 
4. Board Member Forms- Conflict of Interest, Confidentiality, etc.
   1. Look out for the Conflict of Interest form. (Annual) 

1. M. Levasseur led a discussion about 
   1. Wellness Series
      1. In February, an excellent sign said, “We appreciate our teachers.” A teacher luncheon was provided to staff during one of the professional development, and both Max and Shobha could attend to speak. 
      2. March Plan: Homemade desserts and tea for the breakroom. 
2. In-kind donations and acknowledgment letters from GGA
   1.  Please submit receipts (scan or email to Jason or Karen). To ensure that it is acknowledged in the financial report, we will recognize the contribution being made. 

M. Edmunds Bowser led the discussion around the logistics of the Sisterhood Summit. 

• We are bringing together Entrepreneurs and Individuals in the wellness space.
• Top priority: Signing up as many panelists and spotlights.
• Two panelists have been chosen.
  • Ari Squires
  • Ariel Bel-Grave Harris
• Focus & Ask for Board: Provide recommendations for individuals that we can amplify that embody our sisterhood pillars.
• In the works to solidify other panelists. 

K. Venable-Croft continued the discussion about the logistics of the Sisterhood Summit.

• We are continuing the work of connecting with previous panelists and utilizing them as resources in finding new panelists and spotlights for this year. 
• Zoom link as registration link for confirmed panelists and participants. 

Additional Questions/Comments: 

Maureen: It might be nice to spotlight some new board members. 

S. Benson and J. Mellen led discussions about the facility, finances, and budget updates. 

Facility Updates: 

• The student population continues to grow, expanding our footprint into Calvary.
• This year's significant updates on facilities anticipate larger renovation projects than in previous years. 
• Put out RFP to MCN. We are entering phase 3. Have an opportunity to extend the contract to MCN, but it will be occurring next year. 
• Considering the Why & How: Recruitment & Experiences How do we want the school to look and feel? How do we want the girls to feel within the school?  
• Upcoming Decision: Concerns about the schedule before Fall 2022
• Expectations for Next Meeting: More full view of project cost & need to explore the process of decision-making for sufficient board oversight given that we only meet monthly 

Finances Updates:

• Assumes that we are doing the funding for the facilities for next year. Should we be in the position that we need to be preordering supplies or signing order supplies earlier

Budget Updates:

• Outline the deltas to inform next year's budgets
  • Expansive thinking about questions concerning the budget while it is being developed. 
  • Holding conversations that provide priorities held amongst the board members. 

K. Venable-Croft led the discussion that presented internal survey results SY 2021. Extensively highlighted the trajectory and trends of last year and the implications of 

• Marilyn: What do we believe is the cause for this significant drop? How do we plan to tackle academic opportunities as retention? 
  • Opportunity for Growth
  • Holding Students Accountable
  • Learning Environment
• Elaine: How are the questions formatted on academic opportunities within the surveys?
  • K. Venable-Croft will provide resources offline about this. 
• Maureen: What do we anticipate in the Spring? What are we doing now? 
  • Professional Development 
    • Seeking Consistency and Level of Support
    • A shift in Staff numbers from 20 to 35
  • We offer professional development once a week/three times a month, led by our director of academics. 
    • How are we intentional with professional learning and practical support while they are in professional education. 
  • How can we connect what we are doing now to the IB program? 
• Max: When in the fall is this taken? Did the intent survey include anything else?
  • Mid-November
  • Staff suggestions that consider compensation, non-compensation, retention strategies, and listening sessions 
• Beth: The lowest rating is peer culture. There's nothing in the retention plan for the peer culture.
  • TNTP: how teachers relate to each other. 
  • Not all bullets are present (invisible bullet points). 
• Janice: How can we move toward improving scores without retention plans? Did we do a student insight survey?
  • There's not a student insight survey but a student panorama survey. This is because data has not been fully processed.
  • Beth: I agree, Janice, that the student culture data will be helpful too—mainly because as time is limited, it can help the leadership team focus their culture efforts on those areas that might be most crucial.
• Marilyn: I thought the insight culture measured was how teachers are experiencing broader student culture, not culture among teachers. Thinking about this, it does consist of student culture and school culture. 
• Jason: From my perspective, the narrative here is: We know the challenging context of DC for teacher retention and then add the pandemic on top of it were 50% national average of teachers want to leave the profession. We are hyper-aware and focused on making sure we can keep our teachers for next year and have a wide range of activities to address those trends.

J. Mellen led the discussion on student recruitment. 

An ask for the board to show up to the retention and recruitment event. 

Max: What do we do? How are we going to increase post-lottery? Given what the team has outlined as retention strategies, do we think it will be effective? 

• Elaine: Given some of the very public issues, we must consider how we handle communication, the way that we address challenges, and the way we position ourselves relative to other schools. What are our messaging implications and strategies internally and externally? We can do more to steer the narrative to better gauge retention and acquisition efforts working. On the other hand, the negative blowback might have some consequences. 

Maureen: How many enrolled students do we have while also including attrition? Do we have to build that into our recruitment numbers when thinking about the budget? 

• Our budget has taken into account attrition and taken into consideration for projections. 

Marilyn: We should consider the type of student we might attract based on our reputation. We are already experiencing challenges around culture when we can only attract non-high-performing students. 

J. Mellen: How do we change the narrative? How do we engage our pillars? 

Maureen: Highlights the family and community engagement score from surveys. How are families being used in the required efforts?

• Janice: PTO Meeting: Last Thursday of the month
  • Working to have more participation 
  • We are sending out surveys to get more parents to volunteer. 
  • Get parents to volunteer within the school. 
  • Book study being offered to parents. 
  • We are looking at National PTO guidelines for charter schools to establish a formal PTO for GGA. 
• Marilyn: Do you have a broader pulse on the feelings from parents that might not be taped into the PTO and other spaces? 
  • Concern about student safety, students sharing the content of internal school issues, opportunities for students to be engaged in student activities
  • Needs for better communication
    • Better direct communication from school to parents

Max: What is the intention for tomorrow when sharing parent form?

• To lay out what we can say. 
• We are trying to continue to develop that relationship with parents. 
• We are providing space for parents to express their thoughts and concerns.