Jessica outlined that the following policies would be the purview of the Governance Committee to create, vet, or review on an annual basis:

• Communications policies for Board members to follow (need to create both of these, with reference to Open Meeting Law and in consultation with Susan)
  • Internal 
  • External
• Attendance & notification policies for Board members
• Onboarding for new Trustees & brief onboarding for Committee Chairs 
• Bylaws; noting that we need to review how we add/remove people to Committees  
• Grievance Policy
• Public Comments Policy
• Succession Planning (incl. annual review)--> is there a deadline for submitting this annually? Jessica to look into this
• Professional Development for Board members
• Open Meeting Law annual training
• Finance Procedures & policies incl. Whistleblower policy--> Finance Committee has been working on this with our financial services provider and Susan; Shanta requested that the Governance Committee familiarize themselves with these as a whole, and review with attention to the Whistleblower policy specifically. She will send the materials to the Governance Committee when they're ready.

Jessica will set up an annual calendar for each of these policy reviews, and bring it to the Committee next month.

• Ellen suggested that some of these reviews might be good to schedule during the annual planning meeting in June. Jessica agreed that could make sense, and she would work on sequencing the reviews in a logical manner.
• Kamaria mentioned that she can put together onboarding packet for Committee Chairs, will send around onboarding packet from BoT.
• Jessica will look into what type of evaluation of board members might be feasible, whether a peer evaluation self-evaluation

Upcoming responsibilities for the Governance Committee in the new year include planning a Board Professional Development Day. Jessica suggested this could be scheduled for some time in February, perhaps, and highlighted that the following should take place during the next month:
- Ask Melissa Alston to coordinate again this year
- Contact our Board on Track representative that helped with the training last year
- PD should include fundraising skills as we are looking to develop our ability to do so
- Could also include Open Meeting Law review for all Trustees

• Shanta shared the work of the Finance Committee on the Financial policies over the last month, as well as several Finance Committee responsiblities related to the budget.
• The Committee discussed the aspects of the Strategic Goal 2 that Finance Comm would help lead, including collaborating with the External Relations Committee on fundraising.
• Kamaria noted that the Nominating Committee has put recruiting for a Trustee with fundraising expertise on hold due to COVID and other transitional recruiting demands--> ED, once onboarded, will also take on some aspects of this search for fundraising expertise 
• Jessica suggested, and the Committee was in general agreement, that it would be good to keep moving forward on developing our fundraising strategy and approach in the meantime, until such time as someone with fundraising expertise can be recruited to the Board.

• Aluta started reaching out to elected officials and CEOs of non-profits in the Bronx regarding fundraising--> these individuals freely shared ideas and were open to getting more information on the school's fundraising goals
• Kamaria noted that fundraising efforts will also require additional financial policies to be developed
• Shanta added that we should sit down with principal(s) and ED to get better idea of specific fundraising goals; there are also some relevant aspects of the FPP related to tax-deductible donations
• Kamaria proposed fundraising for graduating class scholarships and/or college application fees, travel for college visits, tech upgrades, extracurricular activities such as theater and newscasts, etc.
• Shanta proposed also looping in Ellen/Ed Committee to get a feel for where the graduating class is going and their specific needs
• Ellen proposed that Ed Committee could also work with ER Comm to reach out to companies and individuals to partner for internships as well; everyone was supportive

Ellen highlighted two planned steps:

1. Get a better sense of post-graduation needs for scholars/fundraising issues 
2. Get idea of companies/organizations to work with for fundraising and external relations

• Another idea would be funding for programs outside of day-to-day classes: extracurricular activities and support programs (e.g. optimize.me program, mental health support)
• Shanta highlighted some current challenges with student and parent engagement with academic rigors in the high school, and added that perhaps some support programs could focus on parents as well
• Kamaria added that Colombia has a career development/professional outreach program to high schools

Strategic Goal 1: Next steps for improving Board structure, capacities, policies, and succession planning (Gov Comm, Nom Comm)

1. Create a Governance Committee annual policy review calendar;
2. Look into Board capacity to review individual Trustees' performance;
3. Look into process for adding/removing people from the Gov Comm;
4. Coordinate with Nominating Committee on onboarding policies;
5. Initiate planning process with Melissa for early 2021 ED day for Board members;
6. Reach out to Ellen to coordinate holiday drinks

Strategic Goal 2: Financial health and Fundraising (Finc Comm / ER Comm)

Aluta (ER Committee) will discuss with input from the Finance and Ed Committees in the coming months to:

1. Determine what we're raising funds for
2. Make list of outreach targets
3. Begin outreach with those specific goals in mind

• Shanta to reach out to Melissa to schedule a meeting to discuss this at top of the year with the relevant Committee Chairs
• Shanta asked whether the conversation should wait for after the ED is on board; Aluta expressed that he wanted to get the conversation rolling with Kurt now and then continue it once the ED is on board

Strategic Goal 3: Board-level communications strategy (External Relations Committee)

• No steps outlined

Strategic Goal 4: Effective governance structure for Committees and accountability for strategic goals

1. Update: Gov Comm discussions launched
2. Checked in with Gov Comm participants at the end of the meeting to review effectiveness
3. Plan to report out to full Board quarterly (starting March 2021)

Strategic Goal 5: Develop governance practices that support a school philosophy of working against systemic injustices and for empowered students 

• Discussed community- and family-oriented ideas around fundraising and support mechanisms for families and students
• Will continue to check in on this as part of progress toward other goals