Whatcom Intergenerational High School

Minutes

Board Meeting

Date and Time

Saturday October 2, 2021 at 9:00 AM

Location

ZOOM

Directors Present

C. Espina (remote), J. McGill (remote), K. Lieberman (remote), L. Robinson (remote), N. Mughal-Barrows (remote), R. Oliver (remote), T. Pyscher (remote)

Directors Absent

None

Ex Officio Members Present

C. Reuther (remote)

Non Voting Members Present

C. Reuther (remote)

Guests Present

B. Luu (remote), Sam Falk (remote)

I. Land Acknowledgement/Mission/Vision

A.

Land Acknowledgement

Meeting called to order at 9:06am.
Rose Oliver read the land acknowledgement.

B.

Mission and Vision

Nasreen Mughal-Barrows read the mission and vision.

C.

Board Goals - to be reviewed and renewed at Board Retreat

Board goals reviewed and will be discussed at the retreat.

II. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

R. Oliver called a meeting of the board of directors of Whatcom Intergenerational High School to order on Saturday Oct 2, 2021 at 9:06 AM.

C.

Approve Minutes

T. Pyscher made a motion to approve the minutes from Board Meeting on 08-25-21.
K. Lieberman seconded the motion.
Board members will review draft minutes prior to next board meeting
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

D.

Board Resolutions

N. Mughal-Barrows made a motion to approve a second checking account for WIHS.
J. McGill seconded the motion.
WIHS is a public entity and will have a second checking account to separate public and private funds to follow federal funding regulations. 
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

III. Committees

A.

Governance

During the retreat, we will assess current skills and strengths to identify needs to inform WIHS Board Member recruitment. 

Reviewed Board on Track Policy template on Board composition. We will re-visit this template as we complete the Board assessment activity during the Retreat. 
Board members are still waiting on instructions on completing Board background checks.

Action item: C. Reuther will check into how to bill each Board member $55.00 to cover background check expense. 

B.

Fundraising and Development Committee

K. Lieberman made a motion to approve August financials report.
L. Robinson seconded the motion.
August 2021 Financials P&L report and Sept 2020-Aug 2021 Budget vs. Actual report reviewed and discussed.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Grants secured include Chuckanut Health Foundation Aging Well Whatcom grant.

C.

Academics

T. Pyscher reviewed the Phenomenon-Based Learning framework and rubric which guides WIHS philosophy.

D.

CEO Evaluation and Support

IV. Other Business

A.

Board on Track Orientation

Sam Falk with Board on Track provided a general orientation to Board on Track.

B.

Board Recruitment Tool (Member Recruitment)

C.

Board 2020-21 Review and Set Board 2020-21 Goals

We will table the Board 2020-21 Goals to the 10/25 Board Meeting.
Discussed and reviewed the academic school specific goal and organizational school specific goal.
  1. Action step: Cindy Reuther to follow-up if SBACs were administered in 2019-2020 term school year. Are we using data that reflect challenges with COVID? Cindy will bring this up in meeting with Commission and Cliff this week. Cindy R. will request an extension to the Commission. 
  2. Action step: Cindy will send out the academic school specific and organizational school specific goals to Board members.
  3. Action step: Board members will review academic school specific goal and organizational goal and bring questions to the next October 25th Board meeting.
  4. Action step: Carve out some time for Board members (and possibly students and staff) in January 2022 for strategic planning to re-review the School Mission and Vision and Student Profile wording. 

D.

Committee Commitments and Roles

Grant/Fundraising Committee
  • Board Giving: 75K fundraising goal
1. Grants and Grant Writing
  • Interested Board members volunteered to be involved in grant writing
  • We'll aim to secure 50K in grants this upcoming year
  • Action Item: Bely Luu and Cindy R. will bring schedule a meeting with the Grant/Fundraising Committee to discuss grants/roles/support
2. Donor Development
  • End-of-the-year giving goal: 10K
  • Develop process, mechanisms, and communications for individual donors (ex. monthly giving, one-time gift)
  • Focus on already scheduled four community showcases to raise funds. Idea is to think about sponsorship for showcases. Goal is to raise 15K during showcases
3. Spring Gala
  • We will not have a gala until 2022-23 and will focus on highlighting the students' experiences in our fundraising efforts for 2021-2022.
  • We will plan to ask companies for donations in January 2023. 

E.

Board Equity Work

1. Discussion on combining the Whatcom Aging Well Grant and STI "Beyond Epistemicide" grant
  • Both grants look into relationships with elders and tribal members
  • Create a relationship between the Tribal Council with the Board of Directors
  • One idea is to have an IEC member as an ex-officio Board Member. 
  • Action Item: Cindy Reuther will connect with Jason McGill and Nasreen Mughal-Barrows with the contacts at the Tribe to begin relationship building between the Board of Directors
2. Book club
  • Restorative and transformative justice as a theme
  • Some ideas/opportunities:
    • NWESD will be sending restorative justice training on November 5th on Zoom for $50
    • WIHS staff did restorative justice training with Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center
  • Action Item: Tracey Pyscher and Jason McGill will investigate resources into Board governance and equity books, training.
  • Action Item: Jason McGill will investigate resources on transformative justice and bring recommendations to the Oct 25th Board Meeting.
  • Action Item: Board agrees to dedicate at least 15 minutes at each Board Meeting to discuss/update action items toward Board Equity work.

V. Closing Items

A.

Board De-Brief and Evaluation

B.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 1:23 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
C. Espina