Academy of Collaborative Education

Minutes

Governance Committee Meeting

Date and Time

Tuesday May 13, 2025 at 3:30 PM

Location

Pursuant to Louisiana Open Meetings Law - La. R.S. 42:19, notice is hereby given to the members of the Board of Directors of Academy of Collaborative Education and to the general public that the Board will hold a regular, special, or re-scheduled meeting, open to the public as specified below. To ensure compliance with the Open Meeting Law, recipients of this message should not forward it to other Board members, and Board members should not reply to this message.

Committee Members Present

Amy Marcus (remote), Holly Allen (remote), Joellen Freeman, Kara Maggiore (remote)

Committee Members Absent

None

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

Kara Maggiore called a meeting of the Governance Committee of Academy of Collaborative Education to order on Tuesday May 13, 2025 at 3:35 PM.

C.

Approval of Committee Meeting Minutes

Holly Allen made a motion to Approve minutes as.
Amy Marcus seconded the motion.

No discussion.

The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Governance

A.

Report: Executive Director Update

- Draft of budget by end of week.

- Pre-planning for CSP next fiscal year.

- Biggest hitch is estimating high cost services. Plan to be incredibly conservative on predictions.

- June retreat will be first discussion and then we will hold a special meeting before June 30.

- Cyber Security - ED got a suspicious email from an account that appeared to be Baker Donelson. ED quickly confirmed with Baker Donelson attorney, Melissa Grand, that it was their breach and not ACE. ACE did, however, did pay a $926 invoice before confirmation. Sarah Anderson, a cyber attorney, represents ACE in the matter. Investigation proved that ACE was not breached. GOHSEP is putting ACE through a free government program called Crowd Strike that will enhance our security. In process of adding the program. Multi-factor authentication enforced and passwords changed to higher rigor. Training and update provided to staff immediately.

 

B.

Discussion: Executive Director Evaluation

- Entry for all forms will be done directly into BoardOnTrack

- Joellen completed self-evaluation, and it was sent out to the board members.

- Evaluation will be completed before and reviewed at retreat.

- Committee Members: governance committee members and Anna Grimmett as a finance expert.

- No additional feedback from committee members.

C.

Discussion: Annual Board Meeting + Retreat

See attached updated / edited retreat agenda document.

D.

Discussion: Nepotism Policy

Needed a policy that accounts for potential conflicts of interest related to potential nepotism in hiring. Policy needs to be tightened and created by a lawyer. ED will ask lawyer to produce policy by Monday for full governing board meeting. Governance committee will recommend that we have a policy but will refrain from recommending a specific policy and vote along with other board members on presented policy at full board meeting.

III. Action Items

A.

Recommendation of ED Evaluation Process

Kara Maggiore made a motion to Recommend approval of ED evaluation process as presented.
Amy Marcus seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B.

Recommendation of Annual Board Meeting + Retreat Agenda

Amy Marcus made a motion to Recommend to approve annual board meeting and retreat agenda edited and updated during governance committee discusion.
Joellen Freeman seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

C.

Recommendation for Nepotism Policy

Kara Maggiore made a motion to Recommend adopting a Nepotism policy in the employee handbook.
Holly Allen seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

IV. 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 5:09 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kara Maggiore