Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Committees Retention topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
After lengthy debate, Mountain Lakes Board creates co‑curricular committee and agrees to review retention
Summary
Board members debated whether to create an ad hoc retention committee or place retention work within existing committees; they agreed to add a co‑curricular standing committee by unanimous consent and to track retention work under both curriculum and co‑curricular agendas while requesting enrollment/retention data.
Board member Dr. James Hirschfeld proposed creating an ad hoc committee focused on student retention at the Jan. 25 meeting, sparking an extended discussion about committee structure, data needs and overlapping responsibilities.
Members disagreed about where retention work should live: some advocated starting retention as an agenda item within the curriculum committee, others argued retention crosses facilities, finance and special‑education responsibilities and therefore merits dedicated focus. Board members repeatedly asked for enrollment and retention numbers from the administration; several said they had requested the data previously and had not received it.
Participants proposed alternatives including a six‑month ad hoc retention committee, a standing co‑curricular committee to cover extracurriculars and retention, and a ‘student success and innovation’ committee to combine retention, co‑curricular programming and technology/AI initiatives. Some members recommended that AI policy begin in the policy committee while co‑curricular and retention work be housed in curriculum or the new co‑curricular committee.
The chair circulated four options by email and asked for objections to adding a co‑curricular committee; no members objected and the chair declared the committee added by unanimous consent. The group agreed on a compromise that retention work could be addressed in both curriculum and co‑curricular settings and that the administration would provide requested data at an upcoming meeting for further consideration.
What’s next: the board asked staff to provide enrollment and retention data (multi‑year if available) for review at the next committee or board meeting; the chair said options would be circulated by email to finalize committee structure.
