Current FY2024 Goals 

1. Recruit new trustees with targeted professional expertise (HR, Legal & Fundraising) 
2. Oversee board of trustees strategic priorities, goals, committee goals, and CEO goals and progress monitoring. 
   1. 3-5 year plan
   2. 5-10 year vision 
3. Oversee trustee attendance and engagement policy, monitor, and report progress.
4. Adopt and conduct an annual board self-assessment.

1. Goal #1: Update & discuss

2. Goal #2: Discuss & clarify 

Goal #1: Report out at the next Board meeting and encourage folks to think about who they know who are mission aligned and might be good for the role. 

Ann has found two new prospective trustees: they are both from higher education, we are actively recruiting them. 

Rachel says we want to go slow and steady on this one as we want to ensure they are mission aligned and have the time and capacity to dedicate themselves to a role like this. 

Aaron would add that a prospective trustee should be someone that is recognized and well-respected in the Springfield community. They can help with visibility and community support.  

Goal #2: What do we mean here and what do we hope to accomplish?

Encourage committees to set goals (October Board meeting - aske committee chairs to solidify their goals by the end of the year); Governance committee can decide how often and in what manner to follow up and ensure these goals are being set and worked towards. 

David asks, shouldn't these committee goals be more 3-5 year goals as opposed to annual goals? 

Rachel says they can be. 

David says Governance goal #1 is definitely an ongoing goal.

Aaron talks about long term planning and a 5-10 year vision. At this point, the government is putting a cap on charters schools in the area. We have a successful middle school and are building a successful high school. Isn't there a way that we can exercise our expertise in the community in a broader way? We won't be able to create an elementary school - we would have to acquire or merge with another school. Aaron mentions Springfield Prep. Aaron wants to think about making a bigger impact on the community as we look at a long term vision. 

Rachel thinks if you asked our staff how we should make a bigger impact in the community in the future, you would hear "we need an elementary school". The first step is to start to gather information from our stakeholders about what they think we should do. 

The committee briefly discusses the potential of a merger as well as other options for greater impact.

Rachel says we should start by mapping out a process to be positioned in five to ten years to make a move to expand our impact that is grounded in our vision. This year, we can have focus groups and conversations with stakeholders to gather input. If we can validate what we are thinking through this information gathering process, we can start to move forward with our ideas over the next several years. We would have to have stakeholder support to even proceed with the conversation. 

David suggests gathering information about the other Springfield Charter schools and the populations they serve. 

Aaron suggests ways to open seats that would enable us to have elementary grades. 

Rachel asks what the committee thinks Governance's role is in the oversight of other committee goals?

David says that is part of the role of governance committee to make sure other committees are in compliance with their operating requirements.

Xiomara adds that in addition to accountability, we can provide support to other committees if needed in the creation and achievement of 3-5 year goals. 

Goal #3: Aaron asks who is tracking this attendance information?

Rachel says maybe we add this item to review quarterly to our agenda. Nikki could pull a report from Board on Track that we can look at related to attendance. 

Nikki will look into BOT reports to see if there is one that tracks attendance. 

Board on Track offers coaching services in several different areas: 

• Setting annual goals
• Developing an annual calendar for Board and Committee meetings
• Board retreat planning, materials, and support
• Board & CEO succession planning
• Board recruitment
• Individual trustee training
• Creating a board manual or orientation packet

Would we want to engage them for any of the above topics or anything else we believe could be valuable to this committee or a Board as a whole?

Xiomara would be interested in knowing what other schools are reaching out about related to coaching - what coaching proves most effective/successful?

Rachel suggests inviting someone from BOT to join our next governance committee for 30 minutes to tell us about their services and then share our goals with them to see what support they could potentially offer around our specific goals (i.e. ask them about their Board annual evaluation survey).