Whatcom Intergenerational High School
Minutes
End-of-Year Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday November 30, 2022 at 6:00 PM
Location
Hybrid meeting: We will meet in-person at WIHS located at
1 Bellis Fair Pkwy
Bellingham, WA 98226
or you may wish to join us via Zoom.
Directors Present
C. Espina, J. McGill (remote), K. Lieberman (remote), N. Mughal-Barrows
Directors Absent
None
Ex Officio Members Present
D. Walker
Non Voting Members Present
D. Walker
Guests Present
B. Luu (remote), C. Baron (remote), C. Kolk
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Land Acknowledgement
C.
WIHS Mission & Vision
J. McGill read the WIHS Mission and Vision.
D.
Record Attendance
- Kusemaat (Shirley Williams)
- Suhunep Husmeen (Troy Olsen)
- Jessica DeBarros, WA Commission
- Kristina Michele Martens
- Adam Aberman, CEO of the Learning Collective
- Ashley Peel, math teacher
- Sara Airoldi
E.
Approve Minutes
F.
Public Comment
- Kristina Michele Martens, WIHS Ally, brought up concerns of unstructured schedules for students and whether we are doing everything we can to support students of color, particularly Indigenous students. Students are developing a list of concerns they want to bring up to the school board; we will add it to the January agenda and Nasreen Mughal-Barrows will attend the next ASB Club to connect with students. We discussed having a WIHS student representative on the board.
- Shirley Williams shared her vision of a longhouse at Whatcom Creek and future partnerships with WIHS and other community-based organizations. She also discussed the need for reconciliation and healing between education systems and Indigenous communities. The board is committed to strengthening our partnership with Whiteswan Environmental.
- Cam Kolk, the science instructor, shared a few highlights and examples of Phenomenon-Based Learning. Board members are invited to join and observe classes.
II. Governance
A.
WA Commission Site Visit & Letter of Inquiry update
- The board will submit the letter of inquiry response to the Commission before the deadline of December 1st.
- The Commission site visit is in progress. Site visitors, Adam Aberman and Jessica DeBarros, met with seven students in a focus group, and the site visit will continue tomorrow.
- Adam Aberman, CEO of the Learning Collective, has been hired to evaluate WIHS. The Learning Collective is a third-party company. The final site visit report will be sent to the Commission and WIHS.
B.
Board Recruitment
The board report from the board skills evaluation was reviewed. We need new members who bring skills in academic excellence, development, human resources, facility, finance, and governance. We're aiming to have a minimum of 5 members and 10 board members. K. Lieberman expressed a desire to step down as a board member as she has extended her term limit.
Shirley Williams has several contacts in her network who may be interested in serving as a board members. Shirley will send Nasreen and Christine her contact information.
Action item: Nasreen will follow up with Oliver, Jason's contact, who has expressed interest in learning more about serving as a board member.
Action item: Christine will share results of the online survey with the questions that Bely shared with us and send it out to Board members before January's meeting.
C.
Board Training Opportunity
All board members are encouraged to attend the Dec 9th Lunch and Learning training hosted by WA Charters and the Commission. Some parts of the webinar will be recorded. Bely will send out the recordings to the board members.
D.
2023 Board calendar
Potential partnerships and collaboration on training events and opportunities with White Swan Environmental were discussed.
E.
Update on hiring process
- The new Operations Coordinator is Eric Zamora, has been serving as a substitute teacher. He brings 18 years of experience in a variety of roles and will join WIHS as a permanent employee in the Operations Coordinator role.
- Special Ed teacher does not have Special Ed certificate at this time.
- Current teacher brings multiple years of experience as an educator and is in a program to receive the certificate anticipated Fall 2023.
- Supports in place as she works toward certification include:
- She receives a lot of support from True Measure Collaborative, referred by WA Charter connects, so she receives technical support.
- Kesia Mitchell has agreed to serve as a part-time contractor to support Erin with IEP and IEP meetings.
- This is a decision at the local level within the Board's role, and is not out of compliance with federal or state law and our Charter. Dawn has already consulted with Diana Marker with WA Charters Association about this step.
- Action: Memo from Dawn Walker to Nasreen Mughal-Barrows to assure Board that all state and federal laws and the charter contract are in full compliance with the decision to employ the Special Ed teacher who is currently in process of obtaining her certification.
F.
Visitor & Volunteer Policy Review
III. Academic Excellence
A.
Academic Excellence
Student recruitment
- Steady enrollment in place, averaging one student each month.
- Creative outreach activities to school counselors and parents of students who might benefit from attending WIHS.
Phenomenon-Based Learning field trips
- Next upcoming event: Ice skating and outdoor winter activities
- After winter break, learning-focused trips will resume
- Ashley Peel, Math Instructor, received a computer science grant to fund computers, training time, and robotics equipment. Opportunity to connect with NWIC, a robust robotics program
Upcoming events: no announcements
Community Partnerships: Transportation
- Whatcom Transit Authority might be willing to rent/buy/give us some vans and small buses.
- Working with Baker Bus to get longer-term agreements in place.
Academic Performance
- Initial reviews of smarter balance data from last year; one of the biggest things--significant impact on students. Math was the biggest concern for 9th and 10th grades last year. WIHS has purchased math and ELA IXL curriculum, an online support curriculum that offers individualized exercises to students after they take a placement test.
- K Lieberman asked about surveying the students on their own intrinsic interests. We might be able to connect students' intrinsic interests with developing math supports.
Shirley Williams discussed potential partnerships to strengthen WIHS curriculum.
- Long-term development of 13 Moon Curriculum.
- Contact at Indigenous Education Institute.
- White Swan Environmental has partnered with WWU Huxley College of the Environment on a project that could be connected with WIHS curriculum.
- Discussed ideas of hiring student mentors or tribal liaisons tribal students
- Contact who might be able to support grant writing efforts.
IV. Anti-Racism and Transformative Justice Work
A.
Anti-racism and Transformative Justice Work
- ASB Club update: Nasreen will attend the next ASB meeting.
- No update on Teen Court.
NWYS is hosting Healing Pages Book Club in-person or via Zoom and will be on December 8th from 6:00-7:30 pm. The focus of the next book club is on the second pivot.
V. Finance/Fundraising
A.
Fundraising event
Discussion on large fundraising event for this school year.
Ideas presented include:
- Talent show for students or other avenues for student leadership/participation
- Silent auction/community event
- Hosting documentaries or book discussions at WIHS campus
- Shirley Williams encouraged us to connect with Lummi elders for fundraising support
- Shirley shared about their annual fundraiser at the Whatcom Literacy Council. Shirley suggested the idea of gathering people together for a salmon dinner and envisioning the longhouse
- Create an ask to guide the asks--where are donated monies going?
- Little Greenlight was used to track donations last year and should link to our website (Action item: Dawn will double-check)
B.
October 2022 Financials
Payments have been audited and certified by the Auditing Officer as required by RCW 42.24.080, and
those expense reimbursement claims certified as required by RCW 42.24.090. Those payments have been recorded on a listing which has been made available to the board.
Payments have been audited and certified by the Auditing Officer as required by RCW 42.24.080, and
those expense reimbursement claims certified as required by RCW 42.24.090. Those payments have been recorded on a listing which has been made available to the board.
Payments have been audited and certified by the Auditing Officer as required by RCW 42.24.080, and
those expense reimbursement claims certified as required by RCW 42.24.090. Those payments have been recorded on a listing which has been made available to the board.
VI. Board Goals
A.
Board Debrief and Evaluation
At the conclusion of each meeting, the board will evaluate its success against its norms.
Norms
(Y) or (N) Board members should understand the Mission and Vision of the school
(Y) or (N) Board Agenda should be sent out 24hours to the board.
(Y) or (N) Responding to emails in a 24hr time span
(Y) or (N) All board members should RSVP to meetings through Board on Track
K. Lieberman read the land acknowledgement.