Ted Gildea, Vice Chair & Treasurer, directed the attention of the Committee to the Compliance Update. Jordan Pina, Chief of Staff, noted that there were several guests who joined the meeting, and invited them to introduce themselves. Guests began to "Zoombomb" the meeting with inappropriate images and comments, and the offending accounts were removed from the meeting. Pina apologized to the Committee for the disruption, and noted that she would follow-up with the School's IT team to properly report the accounts.

Pina then began her update by sharing that all mid-year reporting, including Student Information System (SIMS) and the February 15th Claim, were completed on schedule. She also noted that as of the February 15th claim, the School certified having 199 students and is holding strong in the high 190s. She then shared that the teams would next transition to end of year reporting, which have major deadlines in June, July and August. She also confirmed that the School has not yet received its summary report following the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Site Visit in February, but are expecting it soon.

The Committee thanked Pina for her updates, and inquired into the status of the Circuit Street Construction Project. Sonya Pratt, Executive Director, shared that the project remains on-time and a tour was conducted last week for the contractor to examine the space, who will return over April Break for additional pre-work. Pina also added that due to the mild winter, the School is also expected to be able to allow access to the construction team a week earlier than expected to allow for additional time.

Next, the Committee turned their attention to Board Growth and Engagement. Pina shared that a Trustee, Massiel Eversley, reached out to share that due to personal commitments, she is no longer able to serve on the Board. Pina noted that she thanked Eversley for her service on the Board and encouraged her to reach out if circumstances change and she was able to rejoin. 

Melisa Lemire, Chair, then asked to confirm the total current number of Trustees, which included 12 voting Trustees and 1 non-voting ex-officio. Lemire also noted that Jack Gearan would not be seeking to be reappointed for a second term, and asked if the School had received any follow-up from Trustees about new candidates. Pina confirmed that she did receive confirmation from one member, but had not heard from most. The Committee discussed if there could potentially be a misunderstanding of the task, and agreed to remind Trustees during the upcoming Board meeting. The Committee then discussed their own potential leads, and agreed to follow up before the next Governance Committee Meeting.

Finally, the Committee directed its attention to the Board Site Visit Discussion. Pina shared that following the recent budget bill being signed into law by Governor Healey, which extends the modifications to Open Meeting Law (OML) to allow for remote meetings through March 2025, the School would still like to provide opportunities for Board members to visit the School and observe. She shared that the School's proposal would to be select a day in the spring where interested members could come to the School, have a tour lead by Pratt and Pina, and have the opportunity to observe the School's programming. She noted that she would expect this to be 2-3 hours, and would be messaged to the school community in advance of the day. Pina asked if the Board had any feedback they would like to see integrated into this plan before she confirmed dates with the team. The Committee shared that they did not have specific feedback yet, but agreed it was a good idea to drive engagement and asked if it were possible to also add this to the process for onboarding new Board members. Pratt and Pina agreed that would also be a positive addition to the process.