Pullman Community Montessori
Minutes
PCM Board of Trustees Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday November 10, 2020 at 5:30 PM
Location
Due to impacts of COVID-19, PCM board meetings will be held virtually via the Zoom platform until further notices. Thank you for understanding and we look forward to seeing you virtually!
PCM's Mission: to prepare all students to reach their full potential for future success in high school, college, career, and life, using the rich resources of our community.
PCM's Vision: to serve as an instrument of change, helping to progress our education system to better meet the needs of students, families, and educators. We nurture students to be self-empowered lifelong learners, global citizens, environmental stewards, and compassionate and collaborative leaders, bringing positive changes to their communities and the world!
PCM's Vision: to serve as an instrument of change, helping to progress our education system to better meet the needs of students, families, and educators. We nurture students to be self-empowered lifelong learners, global citizens, environmental stewards, and compassionate and collaborative leaders, bringing positive changes to their communities and the world!
Trustees Present
B. Wolff (remote), D. Main (remote), H. Merrill (remote), J. Cassleman (remote), N. Batmunkh (remote), T. Franklin (remote), Y. Nashid (remote)
Trustees Absent
None
Ex Officio Members Present
L. Sullivan (remote)
Non Voting Members Present
L. Sullivan (remote)
Guests Present
Clara Hill (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
J. Cassleman called a meeting of the board of trustees of Pullman Community Montessori to order on Tuesday Nov 10, 2020 at 5:35 PM.
H. Merrill made a motion to Amend the agenda to bring the interview with Clara Hill to the start of the meeting.
D. Main seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| T. Franklin |
Aye
|
| J. Cassleman |
Aye
|
| B. Wolff |
Absent
|
| D. Main |
Aye
|
| Y. Nashid |
Aye
|
| N. Batmunkh |
Aye
|
| H. Merrill |
Aye
|
- Reminder about Board norms
- Promote us on your social media (SM) if you are an actuve member of SM.
- Would the board be willing to set three personal goals (based on board assessment), check-in with the chair about their goals? Travis gave an example of one goal he might have - to know more about the Montessori model and Place-Based Learning to would allow him to provide the best support to Laylah and the Board.
- Henry suggested this needed to be part of the governance committee planning. Maybe make it 1 to 3 goals. Bring a formal recommendation through the governance committee.
- Reach out to Laylah if anyone does not have access to their personal board assessments.
C.
Approve Minutes - 10/27/20
B. Wolff made a motion to approve the minutes as written with one clarification mentioned PCM Board Working Group Meeting on 10-27-20.
H. Merrill seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
D.
Approve Minutes - 10/21/20
B. Wolff made a motion to approve the minutes as written with one clarification mentioned Board Meeting--Special on 10-21-20.
H. Merrill seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
E.
Approve Minutes 10/13/20
B. Wolff made a motion to approve the minutes as written with one clarification mentioned PCM Board of Trustees Meeting on 10-13-20.
H. Merrill seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. LEADER Team Update - Brief
A.
LEADER's Team Updates
- There was an issue accessing the link to leaders team updates for some of the board members so Laylah showed updates and went through the key points.
- Question from Henry about one of the grants acronyms (NSVF) - New School Venture Fund
B.
FACE Coordinator Intro
- Introduction to our FACE Coordinator Jan Williams
- Jan provided an overview of her background
- The board gave a quick welcome to Jan
III. Future meeting schedule adjustment
A.
Cadence
- A lot of our work will be done in our committees, so want to discuss shifting from two board meetings a month to just one meeting a month. It would need to be the last meeting of the month. Discussion on extending the second meeting to 2 hrs if needed and move it from 5 PM. Request by Laylah to keep the first meeting of the month time open just in case we need it. We will be told in advance if we will need to meet, the default assumption is we won't meet.
D. Main made a motion to eliminate the first board meeting of the month and move the second board meeting of the month to 5 PM.
T. Franklin seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
IV. Other Business
A.
Prospective Trustee Interview (Tentative) -- Trustee D
- Introduction by current board members
- A brief introduction by prospective trustee Clara Hill
- Questions posed by Board to the candidate
- Questions posed by the candidate to the Board
H. Merrill made a motion to invite Clara Hill to join the Board of Trustees.
B. Wolff seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
B.
Committee Meetings Review
- John hoped board members were able to read resources posted
- Vital we understand how these committees should operate
- Are recommendations aligned with our by-laws - Yes
- Post committee minutes as soon as possible and make public, all done on BoT
- Currently, committee members are selected/assigned based on interest or skillset. We don't have a written process for this. Is the BoT assigning this responsibility to the BoT who chair the committees? The Governance Board will develop a policy around memberships of committees for the future.
- Committees should be chairs or at the very least co-chairs of the committees
- Committees report at each board meeting with the minutes of the committee meetings being available one or two weeks ahead of the board meeting.
- Do committees take action? - default is to take no decision or actions unless given the formal approval by the board in the by-laws. Ultimately it is the boards' decision but they can empower the committees
- Are committee meetings public? - yes, according to our current by-laws, may need to be further discussed.Suggestion by Travis to consider to not make them public meetings.
- When should committees and agenda be posted - 48hrs in advance for agenda and minutes immediately after the meeting
V. 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 7:51 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
H. Merrill