Committees

Getting Involved

Parents are involved in many different ways at Touchstone. Parents serve as members of the Board of Directors (the By-laws stipulate that a majority of the members must be current parents in the school) and as such are involved in formulating school policy. Parents serve on and chair many of the committees that help with an assortment of school activities.

Touchstone Committees

Governance (Sarah Guin)
The Governance Committee oversees each step in the board building cycle, which includes the following nine steps to having a great board: Identify; Cultivate; Recruit; Orient; Involve; Educate; Evaluate; Rotate; and Celebrate. It is responsible for seeing that these pieces of board building are incorporated into the full board’s practices. The Governance Committee solicits input from the full Touchstone community as it chooses a slate of nominees to present at the annual meeting in March for election to the Board of Trustees.

Finance (John Sadlier)
The Finance Committee recommends to the Board of Trustees the budget, fees for tuition or other services, financial aid to students (usually delegated to an ad-hoc subcommittee), salaries and benefits for employees in concert with the Personnel Committee, estimates non-tuition income in concert with the Development Committee, and any other areas the BoT or its chairperson may from time to time designate. The Finance Committee also works with the Head of the School to develop a strategic multi-year plan for the school and adjusts the plan annually. In 2009-10 the Finance Committee will develop a 5-Year Planning method compatible with QuickBooks, work with the Strategic Marketing Task Force to create and monitor diagnostics, and plan and execute committee leadership transition in 2010-11.

Ad hoc committees

Executive Committee (Beckley Gaudette)
The Executive Committee is charged with providing the Head of School and the Board Chair with a sounding board for discussing day to day issues pertaining to the school. The Committee provides a smaller forum than the full Board from which to gather preliminary opinions and advice, prior to discussion by the full Board. The committee also provides a forum for development of future Board leadership. The Executive Committee is not a voting body, and can not make any decisions on the part of the Board of Trustees. This Executive Committee charge will last through the end of June, 2009.

ACT Committee (Mary Brochu and Lisa Hennin)
The ACT Committee is charged with overseeing annually recurring activities at the school that are run by parent volunteers. The Committee is further charged with identifying opportunities throughout the school year to bring the community together for social gatherings and/or community service. This ACT Committee charge will last through the end of June, 2010.

Sustainability Committee (Jeanne Cahill and Marian Hazzard)
The charge of the Sustainability Committee is to help Touchstone Community School implement the vision expressed in its mission statement: “We envision communities working together to care for, appreciate, and protect the earth and universe we inhabit.” The committee will explore connections between our school and issues of environmental responsibility and stewardship to enable the school to become an ecologically and economically sustaining community that supports the long-term vitality and viability of our local, national, and world communities. The Sustainability Committee will focus on the following efforts in 2009-2010: 1. Educational activities to design and build solar powered heat and light capture devices. 2. Continued improvements in energy and resource efficiency in school operations. 3. Sustainable facilities master planning and building and grounds support. 4. Development of programmatic initiatives to support community education and involvement, and encourage adoption of sustainable practices.

Personnel Committee (Kerry Miller)
The Personnel Committee is charged with reviewing current employee total compensation structure and developing recommendations for a compensation structure, including salary and benefits, that is consistent with Touchstone’s philosophical foundations and long-term financial plan. The Committee will benchmark the current practice of goal setting and measure against best practices at comparable independent schools with the intent of developing a formalized staff evaluation process that is mutually beneficial to all stakeholders.

Development Committee (Jim Pascoe)
The Development Committee is charged with ensuring that the school reaches its annual development goals as laid out in the multi-year plan. The committee will accomplish this through the use of active and passive fund raising methods. Additionally, the committee will work to initiate grant proposals to assist in the development of the school and its personnel. The Committee is also charged with continuing the education of Trustees with regard to their role in development at the school and directing and supporting their engagement in development. This Development Committee charge will last through the end of June, 2010.

Technology Committee (Joe Walden)
The Technology Committee is charged with evaluating the technology assets of the school to ensure that we provide a safe, productive and cost efficient technology infrastructure at Touchstone. The Committee is further charged with generating a technology migration plan that provides necessary upgrades within the constraints of the technology budget laid out in the 5-year plan. The Committee is also charged with defining and implementing a technology support plan that minimizes technology downtime at the school and minimizes the risk of losing critical data on any of the school’s systems. This Technology Committee charge will last through the end of June, 2010.

Strategic Marketing Task Force (Steve Lunt)
The Strategic Marketing task force is charged with developing a long-term (3-5 year) strategy aimed at putting TCS on a more solid financial footing and providing high-level direction on how the school should be pursuing its mission.
Timeline: This three-phased initiative will take approximately 9 months to complete end-to-end, with recommendations expected to be developed in Q4 of 2009.
Key task: Diagnostics -- Assess our current situation and trajectory, covering our financial, academic, and position in the marketplace. Developing options -- Identify viable strategic options for us moving forward, covering the range of levers that we can control (including the structure of our programs, our facilities and infrastructure, our marketing efforts, our approach to tuition, and strategic alliances we may form with other institutions). Making decisions -- Determine what we should recommend, how we should make these key choices, and how best to implement them.

Other committees

Diversity at Touchstone (DAT) – (Roland Hübscher and Jessica Sadlier)
During the 2009-2010 school year the Committee is focusing on the following topics: Diversity statement - We are developing a statement that reflects clearly TCS' diversity. This is a collaborative with other groups at TCS.
Foreign language program - We are looking into ways to support the foreign language program. We focus on outside resources.
MLK day -We will organize the MLK day in January. Any suggestions are welcome.
Diversity day -We are looking into another day-long (or evening,) event that celebrates TCS' existing diversity.