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Board Advisory Committee Member Training

Membership

  1. Appointment is effective until September.

  2. A member who has three absences during a school year will be removed from membership.

  3. If a member of the committee is doing business with the School Board, or has a contractual or employment relationship with an entity that is doing business with the School Board, the member must reveal this interest to the School Board. The member must also abstain from voting on any matter that might personally benefit that committee member, his or her employer, or entity he or she has a contract with. A form to accomplish this requirement is in your booklet. If needed, please complete the form and provide it to the Board Office.

Organization of Committees

  1. Each committee is to select a Chair and a Vice Chair from its membership.

    1. Directs work of the committee and guides conduct of committee meetings

    2. Meets with Board Member liaison to establish agenda for meetings

  2. A Board Member liaison is assigned to each committee.

  3. The Superintendent may assign up to three staff members as liaisons to the committee.

  4. Each committee should take action at its first meeting after appointment of new membership, to establish future meeting dates and times, rules for public comment, and to elect a chair and vice chair. Meetings are required to be held in September, October, November, January, February, March and April.

Reporting Requirement

    Each committee is required to make a report to the School Board at least quarterly at a Board briefing meeting.

Conduct of Meetings

  1. Professional Decorum. Policy requires that advisory committee meetings be conducted with professional decorum in support of the School Board's mission. Committee members are required to conduct themselves in a manner that contributes to the committee's support of the School Board's accomplishment of its mission.

  2. Roberts Rules of Order. School Board policy requires that the meetings of district advisory committees be conducted in compliance with Roberts Rules of Order with one exception.

    1. No quorum requirement. An advisory committee may meet and take action/vote without a quorum. When any recommendation/ input from a committee is presented to the Board, the Board will be informed of the number of members present at the meeting.

    2. Committees should proceed with a motion and voting process with respect to each action they take. That is, the committee should not operate by a discussion-and-consensus process alone. When the committee takes action, a motion and second should be required and a vote of the membership should be taken and recorded. No abstention without conflict of interest.

    3. Agenda. Each committee should have an agenda for each meeting and the agenda should be followed in order to ensure an orderly meeting. The agenda, along with any related materials, should be provided to the Communications Department at least three business days before the meeting to be placed on the District web site.

  3. Public Comment. An opportunity for public comment must be provided at each advisory committee meeting. The committee decides whether public comment will be at the beginning or end of the meeting; how much time will be allowed per speaker; and whether the subject of comment will be limited to matters listed on the meeting agenda.

Sunshine Law

    All School Board advisory committee meetings are subject to the public meeting and public records requirement of the Florida Government in the Sunshine Law. This means that the following requirements must be met.

  1. All meetings of the Board advisory committees and subcommittees must be noticed to the public. Notice should be provided at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. Meetings cannot be continued without another notice, in compliance with law. Notice is required to be provided in a means effective to ensure those interested in the matters being discussed at the meeting will have notice. The District's practice is to advertise all advisory committee meetings in a local newspaper. Information concerning the date and time of advisory committee meetings should be provided to Ms. Jennifer Shaffer in the Superintendent's Office to accomplish advertising. The information must be provided at least six (6) business days before the meeting. To limit the cost of advertising, please inform Ms. Shaffer as soon as your meeting is set. Advertising in the monthly display ad is much less expensive and can be accomplished if the information is received by the 20th of the previous month.

  2. All discussions on matters upon which the advisory committee will vote must be held in the sunshine. If an advisory committee is intending to vote on a particular recommendation, all discussions concerning this matter between members of the advisory committee must be held in the sunshine at the advertised public meeting. Individual members of the advisory committee must not discuss matters that the advisory committee will take action on except at the advertised public meeting. Discussion outside of the public meeting between individual committee members and other members of the public about committee business does not violate the Sunshine Law. All voting must be open. No secret votes may be taken. No members may be required to leave while a vote is taken.

  3. An agenda should be prepared for each meeting and made available to the public.

  4. Minutes must be taken of each meeting and maintained as a public record. Minutes need not be an exact verbatim accounting of what was said, but a general summary of the topics that were discussed. The minutes should record the attendance at the meeting and votes of each committee member on any matter on which the committee took a vote. The minutes should be provided to the Communications Department for posting on the District website as soon as completed by the staff secretary assigned to the committee. The posting will indicate the minutes are in draft form subject to committee approval. The draft minutes will be considered for approval at the committee's next meeting. The posting will then reflect that the minutes have been approved.

  5. All meetings of the School Board advisory committees and any subcommittees must be open to the public. Inspection trips must be advertised and open to the public if the committee is to have any discussion.

  6. All documents created, sent, or received in the operation of the committee, such as minutes, agendas, reports, and correspondence sent or received by the committee, must be maintained as public record.