Marty's Governance Report:

We are still working on expanding the diverse membership of the Board. Shino will be
presenting 3 potential candidates at the next meeting of the Governance Committee on
Wednesday, November 17th
.

Mindi, David and I are still working on assembling a diverse group of school community
members for the Head of School search committee. The work of this search committee will be
time consuming and members will need to be aware of the work involved, all of which will be
highly confidential and cannot be open to the public. The goal is to bring at least 3 highly
qualified candidates to the Board for its decision in the spring. If all goes well the first meeting of
the committee will be held this month.
The question as to what professional assistance can be provided to the search committee is
being explored. Mike from BoardOnTrack suggested strongly that we get some sort of
consultation in the selection process. BoardOnTrack has offered to provide some guidance on
what our process should look like but they are not able to offer more than that.
There are two basic options offered by consulting firms that specialize in this kind of work:
The first provides assistance through every step of the search process and would cost between
$50,000 and $70,000
The second would provide limited assistance and the specifics of a limited search assistance
varies widely but would cost anywhere from $5,000 to $35,000.
We’re thinking our first choice might be to explore the assistance offered by Civitas Strategies.
- They have a very modular option that would allow us to pick and choose
services, and they have a greater variety in terms of types of involvement than
other services.
- Their estimate was anywhere from $5,000-$35,000
- Prior to taking any action on Civitas, we will ask what guarantees
they can offer if the search fails for one reason or another.
I have asked the Finance Committee to provide guidance on the amount of funds that might be
available for the work of the search committee.

Communication between the administrators of our school and the student body is very important to improving the experience of students. Students want to know that decision-makers are in touch with them, that the administration is present and is observing their experiences, because they know that it is very difficult to govern from afar.

During lunch, students often walk up to Brent or Mr. Roundtree and speak to them about their concerns. They notice the presence of the administration, watching and seeing firsthand our school's issues. And, this makes them feel like their concerns are being heard, that they have a say in the operation of their school.

I have heard many students ask ‘what is the board?’. ‘What do they do?’. ‘How come we don’t know these important people, these people who make important decisions about PVPA?’. 

Now, I realize that some of you live far away, and are unable to come to PVPA. That is understandable. 

But, I would propose that we organize a time for available board members to come and visit the school. It would mean a lot to the students if members of the board came to the school, walked around, talked with students, and maybe gave a short presentation about what the board doesl who you are. This would do a lot to show the students how much you care about PVPA. It would allow you to hear from our students and to see firsthand and our school’s challenges and triumphs.

I think that this would do a great deal to improve the board’s relationship with the students and would be beneficial for everyone.

Now, I would like to discuss another important topic. At the beginning of this meeting, we all heard the mission statement. PVPA seeks to provide intensive exposure to the performing arts while also having excellent, college preparatory, academics.

These two clauses are our foundation, yet it is my belief, and the belief of many of my fellow students, that our school is not living up to the standards of our mission statement. We feel that students are not being adequately prepared for college, and that our arts programs have been going downhill for the past several years. 

During the past few years, we have enacted many policies that have sought to make our school more like traditional public schools, in the hope that they will improve the academic performance of our school. 

But they have not, and these policies have led to the cutting of arts programs and a decrease in the quality of the arts at PVPA. Many students will tell you that our productions now cannot compare to those that occurred years ago. Our visual arts programs lack the funding to replace their supplies, and all four arts branches are struggling. 

In the field of academics, we are lacking crucial courses such as world history (which I am very glad to hear we are working on adding), and our classes lack rigor. Deadlines are pushed back endlessly, and through no fault of the teachers, many courses lack a curriculum or any sort of organization. In some courses, students are just not learning. To add to this, our math MCAS score curve was well below the state’s. The unfortunate truth is that our school’s classes are not adequately preparing our students for college.

On mid semester reports, many teachers’ narratives consisted of descriptions of generally what was happening in the class with the names of students copied and pasted into them. I recognize that it is a lot of work for teachers to write personalized responses, but if we want to use the standards based grading system, we need to do it how it was intended - with personalized narratives and evaluations that give good feedback - not as an inconsistent and erratic normal system. Either we should do it right or not at all.

We need to focus on what actually matters, such as increasing the quality and relevance of our arts programs and increasing the rigor and organization of our academic programs. We need to follow the policies that have been written, and we need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Now, I don’t wish to complain without offering solutions. We know that all at the school are truly doing their best, and are working very hard for our school. And, we know that improving our arts and academic programs will be a difficult challenge and a long road. But, awareness and the identification of needed improvements is the first step that we must take if change is to come. So, tonight, I speak to you to bring awareness and to bring issues to light, so that we can start looking for practical and effective ways to improve our school and make it a better place for everybody. Thank you.