The governance committee agreed to circulate a scheduling poll to determine dates for a board retreat and discussed possible formats and priorities. Members said a retreat is needed to coordinate governance work, review bylaws, and set priorities for the 2025-26 academic year.

Options discussed included a full-day Saturday session, three evening sessions, or a Friday night/Saturday morning schedule to accommodate members with daytime employment. Members suggested the Missouri School Boards' Association (MSBA) could facilitate or the board could self-facilitate. The committee emphasized focusing the retreat on substantive business rather than ceremonial or repetitive presentations.

Outcome and next steps: The superintendent or board secretary (depending on final assignment) will send a doodle poll to gather availability. The committee asked the poll to include a prompt for agenda topics so members could list priorities ahead of the retreat. Once availability is collected, the committee will finalize format and whether to use an external facilitator.

Discussion vs. decision: Discussion covered timing, format, and content priorities; the committee decided to gather availability and topic suggestions via a poll and set retreat planning in motion. No final dates or facilitator were selected at this meeting.

Ending: The committee plans to convene the retreat after members respond to the availability poll, with the goal of addressing bylaws, board norms and priority governance items earlier rather than later in the academic year.