Springfield Prep

Minutes

Governance Committee Meeting

Date and Time

Monday April 22, 2024 at 12:00 PM

Location

This meeting will take place remotely, via Zoom.

Committee Members Present

R. Leonard (remote), S. Balogun, S. Monson (remote)

Committee Members Absent

None

Committee Members who arrived after the meeting opened

S. Balogun

Guests Present

B. Spirer (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

S. Monson called a meeting of the Governance Committee of Springfield Prep to order on Monday Apr 22, 2024 at 12:09 PM.

C.

Approve Prior Governance Committee Meeting Minutes

R. Leonard made a motion to approve the minutes from Governance Committee Meeting on 03-18-24.
S. Monson seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
S. Balogun
Absent
R. Leonard
Aye
S. Monson
Aye

II. Governance Items

A.

Finance leadership transition planning

S. Balogun arrived at 12:19 PM.

Bill opened the discussion with a focus on Megan's possible departure from her finance leadership role. He discussed various scenarios including her complete transition out of the role or continuing in more limited capacity where she leads finance and budget work.  Bill shared plans to hire someone with experience managing HR, operations, and the business office, while removing the finance and accounting work from the role and outsourcing that in the event Meghan does not remain.  Sherriff asked how this role is typically structured and Bill explained that there is not necessarily a "typical" given unique differences in school sizes and needs.  Some bigger schools have a COO and CFO, or one of the two who can lead on both.  It's also common to have an operations leader and outsource finance as we're considering.  He noted that Meghan has effectively been playing two key leadership roles and we have known that this is not the most sustainable model for the school and would need to be split into two separate roles at some point.

 

Bill proposed outsourcing certain operational and back-office tasks to Central Source, a company that we've worked with, or a similar one. This move is intended to alleviate the workload on the internal team make the business and operations leader role more sustainable.  The discussion included the pros and cons of outsourcing vs. maintaining these functions in-house, with particular consideration given to cost efficiency and control over processes.

 

Bob asked about the quality of service we have received from Central Source and Bill shared that it generally provides a high level of service and knows the charter sector very well.

 

Sarah asked about internal successors and Bill explained that we have strong operations directors and a strong HR manager but the operations leaders are not interested in or experienced with business management and HR, and the HR & Finance Manager needs some additional experience before being ready for a director level role.  So, longer term, we do have some succession potential, but not at this moment. 

 

Bill noted that the complexity of Meghan's role as a key point of contact for operational, HR, and finance issues means that the ability to build relationships and trust quickly and manage across teams is critical in this role. 

B.

Succession Planning Work

Bill presented a new succession planning tool and highlighted the emergency succession plan and cross-training work needed for planned succession.  Sarah noted that Meghan’s possible transition might help us to look at succession planning even more seriously because it's true that over time, succession is inevitable.  She particularly appreciated the cross training piece.

 

Bob thought we should connect other leaders with the board more often.  Meghan had participated in board meetings regularly and he thought we should do this more with leaders like Jess and Wendy.  Sherriff agreed.  

 

Sherriff said he thinks of this in terms of ability and willingness and that the key for longer term planning is to find people with the ability and desire to take on a leadership role. 

 

Bill noted that Jess is a strong interim successor and one who has many of the skills, experiences, and mindsets to be a strong longer term successor as well if that's something she's interested in.

 

The committee agreed that we should share the updated succession plan with the board and hear their ideas and input.

C.

ED Goals Check-in

Bill provided updates on his strategic priorities. He thinks joining the MCPSA board is a positive step, but noted that he hasn't been able to do as much networking with business and community leaders.  This can make it hard to connect with strong board prospects.

 

He shared that the fundraising infrastructure work is in a good place and that the hiring of a communications and development coordinator should help move this forward.  

 

He shared progress on the alumni support program, but noted that he plans to pause this for the time being to ensure there is sufficient internal capacity to manage that program.  The board discussed this.  Bob noted that he think alumni programming is important so we know how are graduates are doing.  Sherriff asked if there was an opportunity to assign some of these accountabilities to someone strategically.  Bill was not sure there was a senior leader with the capacity to take this on at this point, but will think more about this.  

III. Closing Items

A.

Next meeting

B.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 1:05 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
S. Monson
Documents used during the meeting
  • Springfield Prep Succession Plan 2024 vShare.pdf
  • SPCS. Job Description. Executive Director 2024.pdf
  • Report on ED Strategic Priorities 2023-24.pdf