Board of Directors
Each GVA school operates under Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Conflict of Interest policy and as such are nonprofit, public schools eligible for tax exemption and eligible to receive tax-exempt donations. GVA-Aurora, GVA Douglas County, GVA-North, and GVAC are also 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations classified as public charities under the Code section 170 (b) (1) (A) (11).
Governance Philosophy
Each academy and the Global Village Academy Collaborative, which is the sole corporate member of each academy's organization, are public organizations and must operate in compliance with the Colorado Open Meetings Law (C.R.S. 24-6-401) and Public Records Act (C.R.S. 24-72-201) as well as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Sect. 1232).
The GVA governance model delegates authority and responsibility for day-to-day operations to the Principal, who is employed and supervised by the Executive Director of the central GVAC. The Board will, in conjunction with the Principal and GVAC, set clear operating and educational goals, including those mandated by state and federal law (e.g., No Child Left Behind) by which the performance of the Principal and the school will be measured. The Board is autonomous and no personnel from local school districts or charter authorizers or the GVA staff will be on the Board. The Board is committed to effectively pursuing the mission of the school to ensure academic success by our students. The Board, however, will be inclusive and will seek input from and membership on the Board of parents, educators, and community members.
Board members are selected based on their passion for the school’s mission, their background and skills, and their willingness to do the work necessary to provide effective governance.
Board Structure, Roles, Composition
GVA Boards generally consist of five members, including three officers: President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and two at-large members. The local board president and two additional board directors also serve on the central GVAC Board.
The following outlines the roles of the GVA Board of Directors:
- Determine GVA's vision and mission and ensure that the school effectively fulfills its mission and achieves its vision. All programs, activities, and expenditures are evaluated based on the vision and mission.
- Determine the responsibilities of the Principal in conjunction with the Executive Director of the GVAC and undertake a search when the position is vacant to recruit the most qualified individual for the position. The single point of organizational delegation by the Board is to the Principal, who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school. (An appeal process to review certain categories of decisions by the principal and/or his/her designees to the Board of Directors is available to staff and parents. Decisions by the Board of Directors of appeals are final.
- Provide proper and prudent financial oversight of GVA. The board is responsible for ensuring that proper financial controls are in place, developing the annual budget with the Principal and GVAC Board, and monitoring the financial operation of the school. The Board has the primary fiduciary responsibility for GVA. The Board is also responsible for approving all contracts and personnel decisions regarding hiring, dismissal, and compensation.
- Make sure that adequate resources, financial and otherwise, exist to ensure that GVA fulfills its mission. These resources involve staffing (including highly qualified teachers) facility and furnishings, curriculum materials and instructional resources, technology, and professional development for staff. Fund development undertaken by the Board includes grant writing, cultivating corporate partnerships, solicitation of donations, and fundraising events.
- Ensure legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability to the stakeholders of GVA: students, parents, staff, GVAC, Parent Teacher Organization, School Accountability Committee, Public School District, Colorado Department of Education (CDE), US Department of Education (e.g., No Child Left Behind), Federal and State Grant Programs, Foundations and Corporate Partners, the Colorado League of Charter Schools, and the community at large. The board is ultimately responsible for ensuring adherence to legal standards, ethical norms, GVA Bylaws, Charter Contract with each authorizer, GVA and District policies and procedures, Colorado Revised Statutes regarding K-12 education (both public schools and charter schools) and non-profit organizations, Colorado Open Meetings and Open Records Law, Conflict of Interest Policy, curriculum alignment with Colorado Model Content Standards, CDE Financial Policies and Procedures Handbook, etc.
- Board oversight includes the budgeting process, financial reporting, reporting of gifts and donations, attendance, alignment of curriculum with state standards, refining the educational program, establishment of achievement goals and academic performance, maintaining student data and records, reconciling costs of services purchased from authorizer, maintaining certificates of occupancy and complying with ADA requirements, maintaining adequate insurance coverage, and review of progress.
- Ensure effective organizational and strategic planning processes, including implementing plans and monitoring progress toward goals, including deadlines. One key set of goals is specified by CDE for school accreditation. These 16 accreditation indicators include academic performance goals in 14 areas as well as goals related to attendance and discipline. These must be addressed annually in a Unified Improvement Plan (e.g., progress in achieving educational goals and objectives, content standards, policy development, student performance standards, student attendance, and discipline, personnel matters, etc.), and other key accreditation indicators (e.g., compliance with Safe Schools Act, Colorado Basic Literacy Act, contextual learning, budgeting, accounting, and reporting requirements, etc.), which is to be submitted by September 1st of each year.
- The School Accountability Committee (SAC) plays a major role in conducting an analysis of performance against goals and making specific recommendations to the Board of Directors for the School Improvement Plan.
- The Board is responsible for finalizing and adopting the plan.
- The Board is also responsible for developing and implementing a 3-to-5-year strategic plan, GVA Board Handbook which deals, in part, with securing resources referred to in section 4 above, as well as strengthening the school overall in order to enable GVA to fulfill its mission.
- Recruit competent and committed Board members to ensure that the Board of Directors has the necessary skill and capacity to assure the academic and operational success of GVA.
- Orient new Board members and conduct ongoing training and development to enhance Board performance based upon a periodic needs assessment.
- Finally, the Board conducts an annual evaluation of its own performance. (Note: Poor performance in or failure of a charter school is typically due to the Board of Directors and not the Administration.)
- Enhance GVA’s visibility and reputation in the community. This involves clearly articulating GVA’s mission, goals, and accomplishments to the public and garnering support from the community.
- Continuously monitor and strengthen the effectiveness of GVA’s educational program, activities, and related services.
- Support the Principal and assess his/her performance in coordination with the Executive Director of the GVAC. The Board of Directors is committed to providing the Principal with the moral and professional support necessary to achieve GVA’s educational and operational goals.
Grievance Process
Parents, students, or staff have access to the Board of Directors to bring a grievance in relation to an action by the administration or the Board.
- The request to meet with the Board must follow a reasonable attempt to resolve the issue with the administration.
- The request to be added to the Board agenda is to be made in writing. The President of the Board will determine in advance if the grievance can be addressed in an open or closed session. If the Board meets in an Executive session, any action it takes relative to the grievance must be taken in an open session. The Board, to the extent possible, will protect confidentiality. Decisions related to the grievance by the Board are final.