Boston Preparatory Charter Public School
Minutes
SY26 Governance Committee Meeting #6
The public is welcome to attend any meeting of Boston Prep’s Board of Trustees or its subcommittees. If communication assistance or any other accommodations are needed to ensure equal participation, please contact Lily Jewell at ljewell@bostonprep.org at least two (2) business days prior to the meeting. Any changes in the agenda will be posted on Boston Prep's website and will be electronically filed with the secretary of state at least forty-eight (48) hours in advance of the meeting.
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Committee Members Present
B. Jones (remote), C. Newton (remote), J. Johnson (remote), K. Borchert (remote), S. James (remote)
Committee Members Absent
M. Gametchu
Guests Present
L. Jewell (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve Minutes
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| C. Newton |
Aye
|
| S. James |
Aye
|
| B. Jones |
Aye
|
| J. Johnson |
Aye
|
| K. Borchert |
Aye
|
| M. Gametchu |
Absent
|
D.
Public Comment
E.
Complaint
The board received a formal complaint from a parent, and the board is taking the complaint seriously. The first is a complaint about the implementation for an IEP, the other official complaint is a retaliation and bullying complaint from a teacher. One of the allegations is that one of the teachers shared status of the IEP to the class. The complaint went to the board and then to DESE. DESE uses an official investigation and processes. And school lawyers recommended that we following the process of the investigation, and the charter school boards to ensure that the PRS investigation. PRS is going to investigate the IEP implementation. The other parts of the complaints will be investigated outside of PRS.
The board has 45 days to get back. Governance is going to follow up with lawyers now that the complaints have been directed to the OCR. Governance wants to make sure that part of this will be handled in the leader transition meetings with VaLonda as well. Governance needs to make sure to bring this forward to the general board.
Question about next steps: is there merit to doing an internal investigation? And what the impact of having OCR coming in to do the external investigation? Could doing an internal investigation have a more positive impact on school culture upon staff?
Barton Gilman lawyers have already organized and pulled all the information for the investigation.
II. SY27 Board Configuration
A.
Confirm SY27 Board Officers
Reviewed committee assignments and committee chairs. Discussed adjustments, including getting more chairs on the governance. Changing will be reflected in what is shared out with the board.
B.
Confirm Committee Assignments
Confirmed changes and will share with board
C.
SY27 New Trustee Onboarding Plan
Plan to onboard an alumni trustee. Re-shared out the steps to onboard them, and the requirements and commitment that it is to be on a board. Want to make sure new trustees can fit the work into their professional and personal lives. This is meant to be a draft and a living document about how we do this work.
Question: Where should new trustee onboarding should be living? We will have two new trustees and potentially a new alumni trustee. New governance chair will take this on.
III. SY27 Board Calendar
A.
Confirm Governance Meeting Cadence
Reviewed proposed board calendar. The only significant change was trying to push for an in person board engagement. The hope is to have an in-person board gathering the Wednesday after labor day. Perhaps, the board comes in to see community meeting, if there is quorum it will count for an official board meeting and allow public comment.
B.
Confirm Board Meeting Cadence
Opened it up feedback. One thing noted was that community meeting is the same day as the first day of school
IV. June Board Meeting Agenda
A.
Review June Board Meeting Agenda & Materials
Reviewed the board June meeting agenda. They would like updates on ELT roles.
Discussed wanting to give more time to VaLonda or Persistence. Regardless, there should be further dive into it next year.
No one present for public comment