Living School
Minutes
Living School Board Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday February 7, 2023 at 7:00 PM
Location
Living School, 6003 Bullard Ave, Suite 16, New Orleans, LA 70128
All are welcome at Living School Board Meetings. Translation is available with 24 hours notice.
Public comment is welcome on any item on the agenda. At the end of each agenda item, there will be a time for public comment. Members of the public wishing to comment on any agenda item, may raise their hand at this designated time and be recognized by the Chair to speak for up to 2 minutes per person, per agenda item. On any matter up for a vote, public comment must be heard prior to taking the Board's vote.
For members of the public wishing to address the Board for longer than 2 minutes on any given agenda item, please give the Chair at least 24 hours notice to be added to the agenda. We will strive to accommodate longer items but cannot guarantee room on a given meeting's agenda.
Public comment is welcome on any item on the agenda. At the end of each agenda item, there will be a time for public comment. Members of the public wishing to comment on any agenda item, may raise their hand at this designated time and be recognized by the Chair to speak for up to 2 minutes per person, per agenda item. On any matter up for a vote, public comment must be heard prior to taking the Board's vote.
For members of the public wishing to address the Board for longer than 2 minutes on any given agenda item, please give the Chair at least 24 hours notice to be added to the agenda. We will strive to accommodate longer items but cannot guarantee room on a given meeting's agenda.
Directors Present
B. Holmes-Nick, D. Cager, D. Lister, D. Mitchell, M. Lehnherr, N. Kyle, R. Ashmore, T. Simon
Directors Absent
A. Medley, K. Mutepfa, M. Davis, P. Roussel
Guests Present
Alexandria Holmes, K. Ward (remote), Pamela Recasner, S. Pasternak
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
D. Mitchell called a meeting of the board of directors of Living School to order on Tuesday Feb 7, 2023 at 7:03 PM.
II. Voting Items
A.
Approve Board Meeting Agenda
R. Ashmore made a motion to approve agenda as posted for today's meeting.
B. Holmes-Nick seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
B.
Approve Board Meeting Minutes
D. Lister made a motion to approve the minutes from Living School Board Meeting on 12-13-22.
R. Ashmore seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C.
Approved revised FY23 Budget
R. Ashmore made a motion to accept the revised budget as published.
T. Simon seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
D.
Add CEO Article to the Bylaws
- D Mitchell expressed concerns that this is a large expense and time investment in a process if the Board is satisfied with the current CEO's performance.
- B Holmes suggested that rather than a regular time cadence that specific low performance be the trigger for this process.
- M Lehnherr raised the concern of being able to sustain the salary for 2 CEOs for the transition period.
- D Mitchell agrees that it's worth rethinking how leadership is structured. We need to update the CEO Evaluation process to deeply align with our values & model and use that to determine succession process. This may look like an annual CEO Evaluation and a deeper evaluation that happens more periodically (like every 4 years).
E.
Approve update to the Staff Handbook re: PTO
- D Mitchell: It's different to operate flexibly than to write a policy that requires a certain amount of flexibility for an entire staff who may have a range of needs and levels of responsibility to the School. It can be really helpful as an organization grows to have clear boundaries that govern everyone's behavior. Subjectivity breeds unfair application and exposes us to liability.
- N Kyle: Students don't have flexibility in terms of their attendance requirements so it feels unrealistic and unfair. It does feel important to build mechanisms to create flexibility for staff for a variety of reasons.
- B Holmes: We do need to support staff with legitimate needs, and that's what our short- and long-term disability coverage and FMLA policy provide for.
- Majority of the Board shared a consensus that our current Leave policies feel fair & inclusive. They could not identify a situation that our current policy couldn't serve well.
- M Lehnherr: It does feel compelling to explore designing policy for the margins and figuring out a way to pilot this.
- R Ashmore: How has the existing policy failed? What is wrong that needs to be fixed?
D. Lister made a motion to approve the policy as listed.
B. Holmes-Nick seconded the motion.
The motion did not carry.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| P. Roussel |
Absent
|
| T. Simon |
No
|
| K. Mutepfa |
Absent
|
| N. Kyle |
Abstain
|
| A. Medley |
Absent
|
| M. Lehnherr |
Aye
|
| D. Cager |
Absent
|
| D. Mitchell |
No
|
| D. Lister |
Aye
|
| R. Ashmore |
Abstain
|
| B. Holmes-Nick |
No
|
| M. Davis |
Absent
|
F.
Approve update to the Staff Handbook re: Staff Accountability Framework
The Board requests the input of the Director of Talent before approving this revised policy.
G.
Approve update to Staff Handbook re: Maternity Leave
The Board will submit a list of questions to the Staff to respond to about the process for utilizing this updated policy.
III. 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 8:54 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
D. Mitchell