Jordan Pina, Chief of Staff, introduce Marc Terry of Mirick O'Connell, LLP as new counsel for the School related to matters of governance and Foundation relations. Pina reminded the group that City on a Hill has been working with Mirick O'Connell for multiple years, with other partners supporting the School on topics of employment and labor relations. Pina then reminded the Board that as part of the School's probationary status with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the Board is continuing to strengthen its governance practices, and given recent shifts in Board composition, Board leadership and management invited Terry to revisit the Open Meeting Law training originally present by his firm to the Board of Trustees in August 2020.

Terry then further introduced himself, expressed his enthusiasm for working with the Board further, and outlined the training as an opportunity to affirm many of the practices already in place by the Board and clarify any questions from Trustees. Terry confirmed the School's status as a public body, and described the responsibility of the Board to operate under Open Meeting Law. 

Terry first defined deliberation for the Board, explaining what types of communication outside of Board meetings are allowed, as well as common misconceptions about what constitutes as "deliberation," which he defined as communication, whether written or oral, amongst a quorum of Trustees. Terry continued to define quorum as a majority of the body in question, whether Board of Trustees or Committee meetings, and noted that while management often supports the Board with administrative actions, the posting of meeting notice and meeting minutes we a responsibility of the Trustees.

Next, Terry walked through the 10 purposes of executive session, specifically noting which uses a School Board is most likely to use and giving examples of when they could be enacted. Finally, Terry reminded the Board about their responsibility to address any complaints made against the Board for Open Meeting Law violations.

Melisa Lemire, Chair, confirmed the understanding of the Trustees related to the presentation and thanked Terry for his time.

Open Session Adjourned at 4:37pm. Executive Session began at 4:38pm.

Executive Session adjourned at 5:10pm. Open Session resumed at 5:11pm.

Sonya Pratt, Executive Director, reminded the Board of the conversations related to construction at the Circuit Street campus, currently split into Phase 1 (minor renovations) and Phase 2 (new construction), that have been ongoing for the last two school years. Pratt reminded the Board that at the time of the last meeting, the School was working with contractors to finalize Phase 1, which would include operable panels that could separate larger classrooms into smaller spaces. 

Pratt outlined some of the decisions made before her leadership and the initial expected timeline of Phase 1 completion as this fall. Pratt noted, however, the initial expected timeline has shifted due to materials and permitting delays, and total costs came in higher than initial expectations. Pratt also highlighted that installation of the panels would require over two weeks, which is not currently possible until next summer break without , and that even if the timeline were to be accelerated, the school year 2022-2023 schedule has already been set based on current space constraints meaning the earliest that next steps could take place would be Summer 2023. She noted that while Board Officers have attended Construction meetings and given input on next steps, leadership agreed that it was important to pause and circle back with the full Board before making additional decisions on whether to delay or abandon original plans. 

Pratt then asked Tom Murphy, Project Director at NV5, to add any additional important information. Murphy provided an overview of current contracted work included expended costs for materials and labor, as well as current estimates for additional work. Murphy also mentioned the option of rebidding the project given the higher than expected costs and the delay, though it is not certain that that process would produce better bids through the public bidding process. Murphy explained to the Board that the costs were higher than anticipated due to both the market and the relatively small scope of Phase 1.

Trustees inquired if it was financially possible to forgo Phase 1 given the timeline, and begin with Phase 2 this summer. Pratt explained that it was not as Phase 2 was always going to require a capital campaign to fully fund. Trustees then asked if it were possible to shift next summer's schedule to accommodate shifting the timeline. Pratt shared that while it's not a requirement to hold summer school, which is the main usage of the building during summer months, it is a key part of the School's program whose absence could have downstream effects on students. Pratt noted, however, that the issue this summer was not that there was not time for the work to be done, but that permits were not secured in time to complete the work between summer school and staff orientation. Murphy affirmed that if permits were secured with enough notice, it would be possible to complete without affecting other programming. Lisa Desfosses, Founder of i+c Consulting, also noted that given this information, she would recommend the Board evaluate two related questions: 1) if the benefits of the partition work (Phase 1) outweighed additional cost and 2) whether the School is agrees that plans from multiple years ago still fit the School's vision now.

Trustees then asked Pratt her recommendation to the questions posed based off of her understanding of the School's needs. Pratt noted that in talking to leadership and staff, space continues to be desperately needed, but her concern is when the School, and its supporting organization the City on a Hill Foundation, would be prepared to launch a campaign to fund the work. She added that with current staffing, School management is at capacity and would not be able to lead a campaign in the way needed. Pratt noted that her team has begun engaging multiple consultants to be able to create a multi-year strategic plan, but that with current plans in place she believes Phase 1 to be feasible but does not believe Phase 2 to be. Trustees asked if being unable to begin Phase 2 would hinder further enrollment, and Pratt confirmed it would not immediately, as the School can currently hold an additional ~50 students, but highlighted that continues to grow to reach maximum enrollment of 400, it would. 

The Board further discussed rebidding with additional lead time with the goal of lowering costs. Pratt agreed, and shared that her overall stance was that the School should move forward with the idea of any construction not happening until Summer 2023. Trustees agreed with the approach, and Pratt affirmed that Officers would continue attending related meetings and this topic of discussion will return in future Board meetings as updates arise.

Next, Pina reminded the Board of the vote they took last school year to appoint Ted Gildea as Vice Chair & Treasurer, and provided an overview of an additional vote to authorize Gildea as a Signatory for the School. Pina reminded the Board that currently she and Pratt are Signatories, and will continue to manage the day-to-day signing, but authorizing the Treasurer as a third Signatory has been a tradition of the Board to allow for a backup if a primary signatory is unavailable.  

Pratt shared that school year 2022-2023 began this week and is off to a promising start. She noted that while the School is continuing to hire for positions, that is the case of many schools currently, and due to the revival of the Teaching Fellows Program and key hires, the program is able to move forward as scheduled. Pratt also shared that morale amongst the staff and student body is very positive, and the School is excited to bring back CoaH traditions like the Junior trip to Washington, DC.

Pratt also shared that the School is finalizing enrollment numbers for the current school year, and Pina shared that annually the School sees an increase in attendance following the opening of Boston Public Schools, which is the School's sending district. Pratt shared that there will be a deeper review of enrollment in the September 2022 Board Meeting.

Next, Pratt shared that following the end of school year 2021-2022, the Senior Leadership Team met with all admin in department meetings to review results of last school year's goals and create current school years goals with an emphasis on using data and narrowing the School's focus to an easily digestible set of goals. She shared that these five goals were created based off of plans put in place to satisfy the School's probationary conditions.

Pratt noted the goals as:

1. Academic - 70% of students will meet or exceed expected growth on ELA and Math MAP testing, and 50% of students will meet or exceed expected growth on Science MAP testing.
2. Attendance - 85% (or better) daily average attendance for the 2022-2023 school year
3. Culture & Climate - No more than 10% of students are suspended
4. Enrollment - Increase enrollment to at least 229 for 2022-2023 school year
5. Specialized Services - Students on IEPs will have an average course passing rate of at least 70%

Pratt noted where the School has already taken action to address these goals, including hiring a Family Engagement Coordinator and Specialized Services Coordinator, as well as tailoring professional development sessions during staff orientation to address the supports needed to achieve these goals.

Pina also noted that the Board's Dashboard ("The CoaH Effect") will be adjusted to focus on these goals, with updates on other important metrics traditionally shared with the Board as data is available.

Due to loss of quorum, this section was not covered. Pina shared that she would follow-up on scheduling action items following the Governance Committee's next meeting.