Procedure No. 1400P

Meeting Conduct, Order of Business and Quorum

All meetings, including study sessions and retreats, must be advertised as meetings that are open to the public. If a board wishes to devote all or most of a special meeting to an issue(s) to be discussed in executive session (Policy #1410) , the special meeting should be called to order and recessed to an executive session. The purpose of the executive session should be announced and recorded in the minutes (e.g., real estate matters, litigation).

All regular meetings must be held within the district boundaries. Special meetings may be held outside the district with proper notice of the time and location.

Meeting Notices

A regular meeting does not require a public notice if held at the time and place provided by board policy. If the board does not meet at its regular location, the meeting should be treated as a special meeting with proper notice to the press stating the time, place and purpose of the meeting. For special meetings, a district is required to notify newspapers and radio and television stations which have filed a request for such notification. Written notice must also be provided to each school director 24 hours prior to the meeting. Notice to a director is deemed waived if the director files a written notice of waiver with the board secretary before or at the time of the commencement of the meeting or by the director’s actual attendance at the meeting.

The notice of the meeting must also be posted on the district’s website, the door of the main district offices and the door at the location of the meeting if it is different than the district’s offices. The district does not have to post on its website if it: (1) doesn’t have one; (2) employs fewer than ten full-time equivalent employees; or (3) does not have an employee whose job description or employment contract provides a duty to maintain or update the website.

All public notices of board meetings should inform persons with disabilities that they may contact the superintendent’s office so that arrangements can be made for them to participate in board meetings.

Each director should receive a printed agenda twenty-four hours in advance of the meeting. While other items of business may be discussed at a special meeting, no final action can be taken on topics which have not been identified on the printed agenda. If an item is to be discussed in executive session in accordance with Policy #1410, the item of business must also appear on the agenda if final action is to be taken following the executive session.

No meeting notice is required when the board is acting as a quasi-judicial body in a matter between named parties (e.g., hearing on discharge, nonrenewal or discipline of an employee, unless the employee requests a public meeting; hearing regarding suspension or expulsion of a student or for the purpose of planning or adopting strategy or positions to be taken in collective bargaining, grievance or mediation proceedings, or reviewing such proposals made by a bargaining unit.

Meeting Recess and Continuation

The board may recess a regular, special or recessed meeting to a specific future time. Notice of such a recess and continuation must be posted at or near the door of the meeting room. Notification to the press is not required.

Adopted: October 8, 2012