Discussed the needs of the board and who we would need to add to the board to make sure all the needs of the school are met. Trustees voiced we need new fundraising experience. We are discussing the work, wealth, wisdom in how individuals can contribute to the board. There are a lot of opportunities for board members to partner with members of the school team. They also discussed who is going to chair development, outcomes, and governance. Ideally, individuals who have already been on the committee and board. The goal is to shuffle around individuals to meet all the needs. There is a need to understand who is going to chair governance.

There are many questions-- how many people do we add, what priorities do we want to add? We are currently a board of 15, we can have up to 18 trustees, theoretically we can add 6 trustees. But we do think that is a lot of trustees to add. We are going to lose an alumni trustee. We have chatted with Bruce Boring who works at Dana Farber. Jovi will be rolling off because he cannot put enough into the roll as he would like. Meaning we would have three people coming off the board.

Governance talked through the prospective trustees and a ranking of the trustees that they think are top priority. Sari Laberis has education experience, is now in curriculum side, leadership experience, she works for the company that developed iReady, really clear on outcomes and can think about how to use data to drive increased outcomes. She has a need for a closer interaction with a school community. She has already contributed great ideas. She has already been helping engage with the development work as well, and really sees a whole board approach.

Ben Sacks has already been super engaged with development, he has done jobs in development for schools, he has connections that are new. He is invested in the work and cares about the school and is willing to take on more. 

Ben Feit and Kris Taylor are individuals we are recommending to help contribute to the governance work. Kris went through Lynch leadership, has experience with board work and how they interact with the school. Ben Feit has experience being on work, a more non profit space. He was a founding chief of staff for a charter school in Philly. In terms of engagement, we want to make sure people are Boston based so they can engage with the school. 

Opened it up to see what people think in terms on bringing more people now, vs. in June. And to think of what makes the most sense. There is a lot to be done. We can add people to committees without officially adding them to the board, we can keep them engaged that way. 

Ben is already on the committee, and we can join him whenever. Sari is already engaging with outcomes.

Ben would fill the development hole.

Sari would fill the outcomes hole

Kris has demonstrated commitment to the school by joining meetings and could fill governance meetings

Ben could fill governance needs.

Discuss with Jon about filling the governance hole, if Sari is joining the outcomes hole. Some of the new people have expressed they have capacity to take on the governance work. 

Discussed Kurt joining a committee, to get to know the school better and learn how he wants to engage.

Questions:

- Can policy work be done if they are not on the board? Yes, but they won't be in a space wen it is being discussed. 

- Who is shadowing governance work? ED Eval

Next Steps:

- Propose Sari rolling on in Feburary 6

- Propose Ben Sacks rolling on June 2026

- Kris joining outcomes and supporting governance work

- Ben F brought on in June 2026, join Finance

- Reassess where everyone will be in terms of committee chairs, and this will help us assess, and we can vote

- Add bruce to development

- Add Kurt to development

- Ashley join a committee to engage her