MCCPS Board of Trustees

Minutes

Monthly Governance meeting

June 2021

Date and Time

Monday June 14, 2021 at 7:00 PM

Location

Remote - zoom info to be provided


 

Committee Members Present

Cynthia Canavan (remote), Elizabeth Burns (remote), Karl Smith (remote), Kay O'Dwyer (remote), Paul Baker (remote)

Committee Members Absent

None

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Vote to accept remote participation

In light of the ongoing covid 19 - the Governor
Elizabeth Burns made a motion to accept the Governor's order and hold meeting remotely.
Paul Baker seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Cynthia Canavan
Aye
Karl Smith
Aye
Elizabeth Burns
Aye
Paul Baker
Aye
Kay O'Dwyer
Aye

C.

Call the Meeting to Order

Karl Smith called a meeting of the Governance Committee of MCCPS Board of Trustees to order on Monday Jun 14, 2021 at 7:07 PM.

D.

Approve minutes from previous meeting

Paul Baker made a motion to approve the minutes from Monthly Governance meeting on 05-10-21.
Kay O'Dwyer seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Karl Smith
Aye
Elizabeth Burns
Aye
Cynthia Canavan
Aye
Paul Baker
Aye
Kay O'Dwyer
Aye

II. Governance Matters

A.

Board Meeting Update

Paul Baker - last two board meetings - May regular and June retreat.

Discussed Peter's final evaluation and results of discussion points and follow-thru items.
Some time spent talking about what would be covered at the retreat.
Going forward with the building - Becca's hard work on what the path forward would look like.
Three main / immediate concerns - roof, fire panel, and plumbing.
Facilities was discussed in more detail.  Solar panels is a possible option to help defer some of the costs.
Historically the fundraising capped out at around $300K
Cindy - any research on suburban charter schools and what they have been able to accomplish.

Peter met with Jan Brode - former fundraiser - difficult when the name of the school has "Marblehead" in it and expect to pull on heartstrings.
Peter provided some insights into other charter school leaders with which he has been able to network.
Trade school - any sort of availability or use of resources.

New chairs - Paul - clerk responsibility
Richard Doran - vice chair
Rudi - treasurer
Artie - chair
Paul - taking over as Governance Chair
Ian Hunt - Communications
Will Rockwell - chairing facilities committee
Committees taking action - 
Open meeting law - we weren't able to meet before the retreat.  Assigning tasks before - more of a sharing of responsibilities.
Personnel, development, and Governance are low with regards to members.
Suggested a sort of job fair like function
Could some of the PTO members feed the committees?  Promotion to a committee?
Some potential candidates were discussed.
 

B.

Board Composition

With Becca and Karl stepping back.
Two vacancies and one more faculty members
some potential candidates - one possibly in special education.  
Some other potential candidates were discussed.

C.

Committee Responsibilities

Went over the task force and committee chairs.

III. Other Business

A.

Planning for future meetings

June 15th - Governor's state of emergency is being lifted.
Filed legislation to extend the remote meeting availability to September time-frame.
All meetings will revert to in-person.
Put by-laws to the test.  Did accommodate some remote participation, so we will see what happens.
July - normally Governance skips. 

Tuesday, August 3rd - 7 PM - in person.

What's driving the new law - more people are able to attend and the extension is based on that.
May become a new and continuing option.

Kay - look at bylaws and remote attendance was only mentioned with regards to board members.

Keep the first Tuesday of every month.  
Also some discussion about having some vice chairs.
Peter recommends that responsibilities are shared.

 

B.

Board training discussion

Kay's materials were noted and Karl mentioned that we were not able to review those in detail before the retreat and provide the training to the board.
Peter - maybe in August some work can be done on OML presentation for new board members.  Provide that training in September.
Karl talked briefly about mentoring program - continuing that initiative.
 

C.

Other matters - discussion

Karl expressed his thanks and appreciation to Peter and the other committee members.
The committee members also expressed their thanks.
 
Cynthia Canavan made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Elizabeth Burns seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Paul Baker
Aye
Karl Smith
Aye
Cynthia Canavan
Aye
Elizabeth Burns
Aye
Kay O'Dwyer
Aye

IV. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Karl Smith
Documents used during the meeting
None