Head of School Brent spoke about fair access to attend charter schools, Bill signed by Gov. Healey recently should open up funding for PVPA. Dance showcase was a huge success. More than 25% of the student body participated and audience was overflowing. This upcoming Tuesday, the board of trustees is invited to mingle with the staff, invite emailed from Brent. 

Emily was introduced to share re: her new role as Dean of Students: Her focus is Student engagement & involvement. School culture & wellness teams involve a lot of interactions. Proactive ways to engage and communicate more with staff. Interventions are also being implemented to empower students to resolve issues and problem solve. Hearings are used to troubleshoot higher level issues. Phones and students being out of class for various reasons are issues that are a concern as well as addressing inappropriate language. A school culture PD was developed to learn and make changes were needed including what referrals are needed based on results. Brent stated that they're working with teachers on a system to look at data and analyze behavior and understand the rate of referrals.

Latrina asked how can the board support the efforts to navigate new and healthy paths, particularly around the referral system. 

Sasha reported that finance committee met on December 3rd. They discussed the cost for transportation with purchase of the new bus. Marcy also presented what the cost would look like if the amendment to the charter to run 12 buses is approved.  

Azizah stated that the by laws are being presented to DESE by the end of this year. We are being careful to review and fine tune before this submission. The next Governance meeting will be Dec. 18th. We would like to be able to publish our board expectations and norms and how we interact with one another. We are actively seeking new board members. There are a few potential candidates that we will continue to interview potential members and ways that we can connect with the school at events and be present at school events to promote being interested in the work of the board of trustees. 

Latrina will be meeting with Robert Carpenter to get training for the board. She will evaluate the best time to meet the most members. New members are connecting with Latrina to share. Next week's gathering with staff to mingle is encouraged. She welcomes ideas for board members to share ways board members can show appreciation for staff. Kiara and Sasha will be making & presenting cookies on behalf of the board. 

Danielle reported: Constellations was a huge success! There are disparities among the students of color & teachers. The student representatives would like to see more cultural awareness and appreciation. College acceptances are coming in. Moving along toward fundraising goals. A great place to create comfortable and courageous conversations around cultural awareness is the affinity groups. Giving space to start culturally responsive teaching and talking about what it looks like to support the students' interaction with teachers. 

Brent suggested that students write non-judgemental experiences in the classroom.

Eva 11th grade - Planning 2nd Jazz Cafe on January 3rd. Students are working on Civics Assignment to make systemic change, for example the banned book issue is being supported.

Tim reported: Visual Arts gallery on next Thursday. 11th & 12th grade Field trip to Holyoke to Palante for a survival literature class. 

Kiara reported that she is going to be more present on the Friend's.