Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School
Minutes
Governance Committee Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday April 26, 2023 at 6:00 PM
Location
Zoom: https://dartmouth.zoom.us/j/94206079810?pwd=OU4xS1BLQUI0cllqUkk5dGJkQWpZUT09
Meeting ID: 942 0607 9810
Passcode: 992879
Committee Members Present
Azizah Yasin (remote), EJ Lafleur (remote), LATRINA DENSON (remote), Shino Pichette (remote), Vanessa Ford (remote)
Committee Members Absent
None
Committee Members who arrived after the meeting opened
LATRINA DENSON
Guests Present
Austin Clark (remote), Brent Nielsen (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Read Mission Statement
D.
Approve Feb 24 Gov Mtg Minutes
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| LATRINA DENSON |
Absent
|
| Vanessa Ford |
Aye
|
| EJ Lafleur |
Aye
|
| Shino Pichette |
Aye
|
| Azizah Yasin |
Aye
|
II. Governance
A.
Review of Library Policy
Austin context: It is good practice to have policies written for these activities. This is tied to the "selection" policy, even though it talks much more about "deselecting". This will help address book challenges and bans, should those issues ever arise. It's important that this be reviewed by the board and examined before any issues arise.
Vanessa: Are there any locations where we may end up donating the books, should we need to do that? Do we need to formulate a list of places that might benefit from these books?
Austin's response: More Than Words is the org we have donated to in the past. They are close to Boston, and employ at risk youth, or youth in transition. They take any medium.
EJ: So great that we have an active library! We are lucky to have our own librarian, too.
Azizah: MUSTIE acronym... who determines whether something is factually inaccurate? There is a consensus within the black community about others writing or rewriting or erasing black history, and how it can be done inappropriately. How is this addressed within this policy? Who has a say in offering opinions about whether a book is factually inaccurate?
Austin's response: The person responsible would be the librarian in this policy currently. He is fine to change this policy if that is desired. This policy would guide the librarian, and sets guidelines for the decision making process that the board could question if there were ever concern.
Austin left the meeting after the vote was taken.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| EJ Lafleur |
Aye
|
| Vanessa Ford |
Aye
|
| Shino Pichette |
Aye
|
| Azizah Yasin |
Aye
|
| LATRINA DENSON |
Absent
|
B.
Discussion: Plan for Board Clerk
The folks who are eligible who don't currently hold a role are Latrina and Mindi. The teachers are technically eligible as well, but the teachers who serve on the board are two of the busiest teachers Brent knows.
The ask is who could serve as clerk through June. A whole new list of officers will be put forward at that time.
Shino COULD do it if needed. The committee is fine with Shino reaching out to Mindi and Latrina about filling the role, and if neither is available then the committee is okay with Shino putting herself forward for the role. Shino will follow up and bring a name forward to the full board for a vote at the next meeting.
C.
ByLaw Updates Discussion
The ByLaws have been sent to the lawyer who needs to review them (not sure how long that will take). Then the bylaws need to be sent to DESE for conditional approval (not sure how long that takes). The hope is that these are approved before the end of June.
The Governance Committee needs to start thinking about nominating a slate of officers for the next year (starting in July 2023).
What does the process consist of? The Governance Committee brings forward a slate to the full board. We are responsible for determining a slate of candidates who are qualified and willing to serve.
Note: It's important that the chair person (and all officers) is qualified and knows what they're getting into. The responsibilities can change somewhat depending on who holds the role and is willing/able to do different things.
Brent shared that the chair is very important, but really the role of the chair is facilitating the meetings, and put together the agenda (if the clerk doesn't do it). Posting meetings / documents correctly is VERY important, that was an area DESE outlined as an area that needs growth.
To do before the next Gov Committee meeting:
- Shino send out survey to the board about who might be interested in serving as an officer.
- Shino send roster to the Governance Committee to help get a sense of who current board members are.
- All Gov Committee members start thinking about this and getting to know other board members.
Does the clerk have to be a board member? Yes. But some of the clerk responsibilities can be outsourced - for example, Marcy take notes during board meetings now, and the clerk used to do that.
D.
Review of new policies presented by Head of School
The one policy Brent wanted reviewed was not sent in enough time for the committee to read through the policy in advance (Brent only just found out about the need for the policy recently). The gov committee chair recommended that Brent bring the new policy before the full board directly, without getting gov committee review first.
E.
Reminders
III. Other Business
A.
Confirm Monthly Meeting Time
Given the need for deep discussion of the officer slate, the Gov Committee will meet twice between the May and June meetings. We determined the following times work for everyone: May 11 8pm (half in person, half remote), and May 23 at 7pm (remote).
Brent read the mission statement for everyone.