Adopted:
2001 District
599 Policy 203.1
Revised
203.1 SCHOOL BOARD PROCEDURES; RULES OF ORDER
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to provide
specific rules of order to conduct meetings of the school board.
II. GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY
To ensure that school board meetings are
conducted in an orderly fashion, the school board will follow rules of order
which will allow the school board:
A. To establish guidelines by which the
business of the school board can be conducted in a regular and internally
consistent manner;
B. To organize the meetings so all necessary matters can be brought to the school board and decisions of the school board can be made in an orderly and reasonable manner;
C. To insure that members of the school board
have the necessary information to make decisions on substantive issues and to
insure adequate discussion of decisions to be made; and
D. To insure that meetings and actions of the
school board are conducted so as to be in formative to the staff and the public,
and to produce a clear record of actions taken and decisions made.
III. RULES OF ORDER
A. School board members need not rise to gain
the recognition of the chair.
B. A motion will be adopted or carried if it
receives the affirmative votes of a majority of those actually voting on the
matter. Abstentions are considered to be
acquiescence to the vote of the majority.
It should be noted that some motions by statute or Robert’s Rules of
Order require larger numbers of affirmative votes.
C. All motions that require a second shall
receive a second prior to opening the issue for discussion of the school
board. If a motion that requires a
second does not receive a second, the chair may declare that the motion fails
for lack of a second or may provide the second.
The names of the members making and seconding a motion shall be recorded
in the minutes.
D. The chair shall decide the order in which
school board members will be recognized to address an issue. An attempt should be made to alternate
between pro and con positions if appropriate to the discussion. A member shall only speak to an issue after
the member is recognized by the chair.
E. The chair shall rule on all questions
relating to motions and points of order brought before the school board.
F. A ruling by the chair is subject to appeal
to the full school board pursuant to Robert’s Rules of Order.
G. The school board shall have authority to
recognize any member of the audience regarding a request to be heard at the
school board meeting. Members of the
public who wish to be heard shall follow school board procedures.
H. The chair has the authority to declare a
recess at any time for the purpose of restoring decorum to the meeting or for
any other necessary purpose.
I. The chair shall repeat a motion or the
substance of a motion prior to the vote.
The chair shall call for an affirmative and a negative vote on all
motions.
J. The order in which names will be called for
roll call votes will be determined by the board chair.
K. The chair has the same right and
responsibility as each school board member to vote on all issues.
L. The chair shall announce the result of each
vote. The vote of each member, including
abstentions, shall be recorded in the minutes.
If the vote is unanimous, it may be reflected as unanimous in the
minutes if the minutes also reflect the members present.
M. A majority of the voting members of the school board constitute a quorum. The absence of a quorum may be raised by the chair or any member. Generally any action taken in the absence of a quorum is null and void. The only legal actions the school board may take in the absence of a quorum are to fix the time to which to adjourn, to adjourn, to recess or to take measures to obtain a quorum.
Legal
References:
Minn. Stat. § 471.88 (Exceptions)
Cross
Reference: Policy 203 (Operation of the
School Board - Governing Rules)
Policy 204 (School Board Meeting Minutes)
Policy 206 (Public Participation in School
Board Meetings/Complaints about Persons at School Board Meetings and Data
Privacy Considerations)
Policy 207 (Public Hearings)