Report on 18th September Board Meeting
The Board of FIS will meet 9 times this year. In the spirit of our United and Sound Governance, we are fully committed to demonstrating transparency and we will be continuing to share an update with you here monthly.
The Board had a governance training on Sunday, 17th September. Following that training, we held our first meeting of the year on Monday, 18th September on our Blue Pool Road campus.
This first meeting was the opportunity to welcome the four new board members and thank the two members who stepped down on 31st August. We are glad to report that all 15 elected positions on the Board are filled, and that the consulate continues to be represented. After a reflection on the prior day’s retreat, our board chair presented the organisation of the board for this year and the board voted to adopt the new bureau for this year:
- Board Chair: Mr. Hervé Robin
- Board Vice-Chair and Audit Committee Chair: Mr. Julien Bernard
- Board Secretary: Mr. Corbett Chellew
- Board Treasurer: Mr. Eran Benichou
- Compensation and Benefits Committee Chair: Ms. Sushmita Munshi
- Governance Committee Chair: Mr. Scott Garfield
This year, the school is embarking on an externally-facilitated process of reviewing its compensation and benefits structure for faculty. This process will require full board involvement in a series of additional meetings with leadership and faculty representatives. As a result, it was decided to put a pause on assembling a fundraising committee or a long-term strategic plan committee.
Following these governance matters, there were then two presentations from the Senior Leadership Team.
The first presentation, in connection with our strategic objective of “empowering every student to reach their ambitions and fullest academic potential”, focused on our International Stream exam results for 2023. This presentation allowed to educate the Board on the data, help explain the context of this year’s exam results, and present the measures the school is taking to ensure every student is provided the opportunities to excel at the school. The community should know that a number of parent events are being scheduled and will be advertised by the school for anyone interested in learning more about the topic. Mr Williams is also publishing an article on the topic in this very issue of the Bulletin.
The second presentation focused on proposed changes to the Admissions policy to better align with our strategic objectives and with best practice in international schools in Hong Kong and worldwide. As Admissions policy is defined in our by-laws as a Board policy, any change must be voted by the Board, and such a vote is scheduled for our second board meeting.