In light of the ongoing COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak, Governor Baker issued an emergency Order on March 12, 2020, allowing public bodies greater flexibility in utilizing technology in the conduct of meetings under the Open Meeting Law. This committee makes a motion to accept this Executive Order for this meeting of the Governance Committee, on March 15, 2021 and hold the meeting remotely.

Paul Baker provided a brief recap of what occurred during the last Board meeting noting the following:

The regionalization was approved on February 23rd

Peter noted that a great number of applications for the next school year have been received.

Also, it was noted that students will be back April 5th for the fourth phase.

Several teachers and staff have received their vaccination.

Karl Smith introduced Will Rockwell as a guest and it was noted that he had recently attended the board meeting to commence the process for understanding what would be expected of board members.

Other potential candidates were discussed and the approach of joining a sub-committee was reviewed.

Cindy noted that it would be best for potential board candidates to start with a seat on a sub-committee or potentially the Governance Committee prior to filling a vacancy on the board.

With regards to the review and potential update of the Charter Document, the overall process was considered, and several members stressed the importance of maintaining proper open meeting laws and urged the group to use proper language and tagging of comments to indicate the comments are for future discussion purposes.  Karl noted that he will post the charter documentation to the shared google drive.

Some members noted that the last amendment was effective as of 2008, and that this was considered the most recent version approved by the state.

Ultimately the group determined that Elizabeth would begin to allocate certain sections of the Charter to the group and schedule out which sections will be covered at each of the future meetings.

Cindy suggested that we go to the DESE website to review the statutes, regulation, and rule surrounding Charters overall.

The standing calendar of monthly meetings was reviewed at a high-level.

Certain areas were covered regarding Board member requirements and Cindy explained that earlier comments about CORI requirements by the school was more about oversight and not board members themselves receiving CORI's.

It was suggested that the Board include on their standing calendar a section to inquire with Peter regarding CORI requirements.

It was recommended that the inquiry be performed annually or maybe two times per year.  Peter noted that in a few areas such as new hires, field trips and volunteers, the practice is working as intended.

Kay O'Dwyer noted that she may have some older electronic versions from former members, and that she would research them accordingly.

The group is currently looking at dates in June for the retreat - which always provides Governance with the opportunity for training.

The school will be returning to full time in early April.

This is the plan as people are receiving vaccines.

There will be some significant personnel changes with a couple of teachers not returning along with some administrative updates as well.

For Facilities, Peter's plan is to promote Washington, and have Bob Erbetta begin to reduce his hours.

Will Rockwell inquired as to potential improvements with diversity and inquired as to what some strategies and approaches would entail.