Board of Education
What is the Board of Education?
What is the School Board?
School boards are sometimes also called Boards of Education. They’re an elected group of community members who represent the people in their community within the school district. Board members receive no pay for their service and typically serve three year terms.
What does a BOE do?
* They are the overseers of the district who:
* enforce laws and test standards from the federal and state governments
* set disciplinary and attendance policies
* choose the curriculum, make the school calendar, purchase textbooks
* they also hire the district’s superintendent and approve his personnel choices and if the superintendent doesn’t communicate with the board or carry out its goals, the school board can end his contract and hire someone else
What Are Common Traits of Good School Boards?
–Although school boards are structured differently, good boards share common traits.
–They represent diverse interests within the community, such as parents, business leaders, nonprofit workers, health care workers, and educators.
–This diverse set of perspectives allows for a more comprehensive ability to approach issues and concerns within the schools and the community.
–They are good communicators. The members of these school boards collaborate with each other, the superintendent, families, other citizens and other schools in the community.
–The board interacts with citizens. The board members listen to their community members’ concerns and answer their questions.
Why do we have BOE’s?
So we have local control and local say in our children’s education
How do parents get in touch with school boards?
–School board meetings are open to the public. These meetings are also often recorded and aired on local stations. Additional meetings, like committee meetings, are open to the public as well.
–Boards may have different rules for how, but citizens are able to address the board at these meetings.
–The contact information of board members is often available to the public.
–Community members can vote in their local elections.
What happens at a school board meeting?
First, remember that the board members work for you!
Usually once or twice a month, a school district holds a board meeting that’s open to the public. Board meetings are held in public but are not public meetings. Members of the community have an opportunity to observe board members discuss, vote, make recommendations, and/or amend district policy. To adopt a new policy, the school board must host a public meeting, take a formal vote during the meeting, and a majority of the board members must vote for adopting the policy.
Anyone may speak at board meetings!
If you are either uncomfortable or unable to attend a meeting, he board also accepts written testimony, delivered to the superintendent’s office. Communications addressed to the board are distributed to all board members and listed in the board’s reading file.
Boards are allowed to establish reasonable restrictions on the time, so no one person dominates the meeting. There is no required format for public comment; some boards have one public-comment period in the middle of the meeting, some have two public-comment sessions during a board meeting.Description for this block. Use this space for describing your block. Any text will do. Description for this block. You can use this space for describing your block.
A typical business meeting is divided into the following parts:
Executive Session (if needed)
Meeting Opening/Call to Order
Presentations and/or Recognitions
Public Comments for Agenda Items Only
Consent Agenda
Old Business Non-Voting
Old Business Voting
New Business Non-Voting
New Business Voting
Personnel
Curriculum
Finance
Pupil Personnel
Superintendent
Speculation Reports/Announcements from the Superintendent
Public Comments
Important Dates
Executive Session (if needed)
Adjournment
Due to confidentiality concerns, the Board does not permit speakers to raise issues concerning a specific student or a specific personnel matter. Your testimony is most effective when addressed to specific agenda items or matters of general concern. District staff can usually address other information, questions, or problems.
If the question can be answered immediately, it will be. However, most issues before the board are too complex to be resolved at the first hearing. When matters of broad public concern are involved, the board needs sufficient time to study all aspects and listen to the ideas of others. Action will occur as promptly as careful consideration allows.