BDE – Committees and School Board Member Special-Duty Assignments

Category: O

Purpose:

The ConVal School Board utilizes standing committees to consider issues, proposals, and tasks in a smaller venue to allow members to delve more deeply into issues than may be possible at full School Board meetings. The committee structure is an efficient way of allowing for more thorough consideration of policy proposals, constructing budgets, initiating new programs, reviewing curricular issues, monitoring of progress toward Board goals, and Board communication. The committees may initiate and investigate any matter within their jurisdiction. 

All recommendations of these committees should represent a majority vote of committee members. No vote or discussion of a standing committee – with the exception of the Student Discipline and Grievance Committees — will constitute a School Board decision unless so authorized by Board action at a public meeting. 

Additional committees may be created, or existing committees dissolved, by a vote of the Board at the annual Board organizational meeting following the annual Board election. 

The following committees currently exist as part of the governance of the Board: 

  • Budget and Property Education 
  • Policy 
  • Selectmen’s Advisory Committee

Committee Organization Each committee should have at least four members. The Chair of the Board, in consultation with Board members, makes committee appointments annually. These appointments are for a term of one year. All appointments will be made promptly after each Board election. An organizational meeting of each committee will be held annually promptly after each Board election and the announcement of committee appointments by the Board Chair. 

A Chair for the committee will be selected annually by the appointed members of the committee at the organizational meeting of the committee. Any Board member may attend and participate in any committee meeting at any time. However, the voting members of each committee will be limited to those who have been appointed. 

All committee meetings shall be posted publicly. 

The Superintendent or designee shall attend committee meetings whenever possible, as non-voting members. The Chair of the committee is responsible for prioritizing issues, setting meeting agendas, dates, and times. A record must be kept of the proceedings of each committee meeting. That record must be approved by the voting membership of the Committee and kept on file at the Board office. The Chair of each standing committee shall be responsible for reporting on the committee’s business at the full Board meeting. 

Committee Responsibility and Jurisdiction 

Each committee of the Board will be assigned a jurisdiction. This jurisdiction will be reviewed and confirmed annually by the Board following the organizational meetings of all committees. Each committee Chair may periodically initiate review and adjustment of the committee’s jurisdiction when deemed appropriate; any change to a committee jurisdiction must be approved by the School Board. Committee jurisdictions will be posted on the School Board’s website. 

A committee of the Board shall not appoint a committee of that committee without approval of the Board.

School Board Member Special Duty Assignments 

Individual Board members may be designated to fulfill special assignments on behalf of the whole Board to facilitate the efficient, or confidential, completion of Board responsibilities. 

The following special duty assignments will be made to facilitate Board governance:

  • Negotiations/Grievance 
  • Student Discipline 
  • Review of the Manifest 
  • Representative to the New Hampshire School Board Association (NHSBA) 
  • Delegate Assembly
  • Strategic Planning 

Special Duty Assignment Procedures 

The Chair of the Board, in consultation with Board members, makes special duty appointments annually. These appointments are for a term of one year. All appointments will be made promptly after each Board election. 

The committees on Negotiation, Employee Grievance, or Student Discipline are not open to participation by Board members who have not been appointed. Nor are meetings of the Negotiations, Employee Grievance, or Student Discipline committee meetings open to the public. 

Board members appointed to fulfill a special duty assignment will report to the full Board as requested to do so by the Board Chair. Board member(s) designated to review the Manifest prior to each Board meeting will bear the responsibility of moving for acceptance of the certified manifest at the Board meeting. 

The Board member appointed as the representative of the ConVal School Board to the NHSBA Delegate Assembly will review all proposals with the Board prior to the annual Delegate Assembly and seek Board advice regarding their vote at the Delegate Assembly. 

Ad-Hoc Committees of the Board 

Ad hoc committees of the Board may be appointed by the Chair of the Board. The function of the ad hoc committee will be to study specific issues for a specifically limited period of time, and if appropriate, to make recommendations to the full Board for approval.

The dates, times, and location of ad hoc committee meetings will be posted publicly and the meetings will be open to all members of the Board. No vote or discussion of an ad hoc committee will constitute a decision of the Board, unless such authority is granted by the School Board at a public meeting. 

The School Board may form committees with members of the public, students, parents, and/or employees to do specific tasks and make recommendations to the Board. The Board Chair may appoint members of the School Board to such ad hoc committees. 

Meetings of ad hoc committees must be properly posted and open to the public. Board members not appointed by the Board Chair may attend and participate in ad hoc committee meetings but may not be voting members of the ad hoc committee. 

The Board will establish the charge of the scope of responsibility for such ad hoc committees. Such ad hoc committees are advisory and have only such authority as specified by the Board. The Board will receive reports or recommendations from an ad hoc committee at the direction of the Board Chair. 

A record must be kept of the proceedings of each meeting of an ad hoc committee. That record must be approved by the membership of the ad hoc committee and kept on file at the Board offices. The Board retains the right and has the duty to make all final decisions related to such reports or recommendations of an ad hoc committee. The Board reserves the right to limit, create or dissolve an ad hoc committee at any time as it deems appropriate. 

First Read: November 7, 2023
Second Read: November 14, 2023
Adopted: November 14, 2023