Rules of Order

Green Acres Community Council Bylaws

PURPOSE:     The primary purpose of the Green Acres Community Council is to evaluate Core testing results and develop a School Improvement Plan.  The Council also develops the School LAND trust program, assists in developing and implementing a staff professional development plan, develops a child access routing plan, and develops a reading achievement plan.  In addition, the Council also advises and makes recommendations to the school, school district administrators, and Weber School District board regarding the school and its programs and environment. 

A.        ORGANIZATION

1.         Membership : The Green Acres  community council. 

a.         The council is made up of both parents and school faculty

b.         The current PTA President is a voting parent member of the Council.

c.         The school Principal is a voting member of the Council.

d.         Parent members have a student at the school during their first term on the council.

e.         The number of parent members exceeds the number of school employees by 2on the council.

f.         Parents who work at the school for not more than an average of 6 hours per week may serve on the school community council as parent members.

g.         All terms are for two years, with the beginning date determined by the school, consistent with local school board policies, members may serve up to three consecutive terms.  Parent members who are licensed and work at the school more than six hours per week (average) run for employee positions.

2.         Responsibility:   Upon appointment, each member must view the State’s Trustland Video, either by borrowing it from the School Office or viewing the slide presentation available from the internet. The Council, with the assistance of the School’s Principal, creates and submits the annual Trustland Report and Reading Report to the Weber County School District.

3.         Appointment of Chair and Vice‑Chair:  At its regular meeting in March or April of each year, the Council shall select a Chair and Vice‑Chair.  The term of office for the new Chair will begin at the May meeting.

a. The Council’s chair and vice-chair will consist of one from the parent group and one from   the employee group.

4.         Other:   Other Officers may be selected for various assignments upon recommendation of the Chair.

B.        COUNCIL DUTIES

            The Community Council, as a whole, is responsible for the following duties:

               1.         Identify the school’s most critical academic needs.

2.         List programs, practices and materials needed to have a direct impact on the instruction of students that will result in measurable, increased student performance.

3.         Explain how the school will spend the funds to improve academic excellence at school.

4.         Annually approve and submit the plan and get the approval of the local school board.

              5.         Publicize how the funds were used to school patrons and the community before November  15th of this school year.

a.         Publication will be done in the school newsletter and on the website.

              6.         Report on how the funds were used in the current year to the local school board.

               7.        Within the first six weeks of the school year.

                                              a.         Council members names with email, phone number or both

                                               b.        Proposed meeting schedule for the school year

C.        MEMBER DUTIES

Individual members of the Council are responsible for the following positions and duties associated with those positions:

            1.         Chair‑‑Duties

a.         The Chair shall preside at all meetings, providing general direction for the meetings, maintaining proper order of business. 

Such duties may include:

i.         preparing an agenda and announcing the business before the Council in the order in which it is to be acted upon;

ii.         receiving and submitting in the proper manner all motions and propositions presented by the members of the Council;

iii.       putting to a vote all questions which are properly moved, or necessarily arise in the course of proceedings and to announce the result thereof;

iv.       informing the Council, when necessary, or when referred to for that purpose, on any point of order or practice. 

            2.         Duties of the Co‑Chair

The Co‑Chair, during the absence of the Chair, shall have and perform all the duties and functions of the Chair.

3.         Temporary Chair

In the event neither the Chair nor Co-Chair is able to attend, the Council shall elect a temporary Chair. A temporary Chair shall have all powers and ability to perform the functions and duties herein assigned to the Chair of the Council.

4.         Secretary‑‑Duties

The secretary shall have the following duties:

a.        Record members in attendance, and keep minutes of the proceedings of the meetings and keep and maintain a permanent record file of all documents and papers pertaining to the function of the Council. 

b.         Keep record of Trust Land Funds authorized by motion of the Council to be spent or maintained.

5.         Other:  Other duties may be assigned to members by the Chair.

6.         Subcommittees:  Subcommittees or task forces within the Council may be established at the discretion of the Council as special needs occur.  Subcommittees may be established to research options for the use of funds.  Recommendations from any subcommittee must be reported to the Council.    Members of subcommittees need not be elected members to the Community Council. These may include, but are not limited to, Reading Specialist, Math Specialist, Writing Lab Specialist, Legislative Committee, Trustland Research, etc.

a.         Programs defined for consideration of Trustland Funds include, but are not limited to the following:  Child Access Routing, Reading Tutor, Technology, Special Education and Resource, Gifted Student, Writing Center, Enrichment, PTA Liaison and Elections

7.       Conflict of Interest

Council member with a conflict of interest in a matter before the Council shall state that such a conflict of interest exists and withdraw from participation in the discussion and voting on such matter. He/she also may not attempt to use his/her influence with others either before, during or after the meeting. 

D.      MEETINGS

1.         Meetings are open to the public and shall be held in the Library at Green Acres Elementary School unless otherwise announced to the Council.  Meetings are the last Wednesday of every other month, otherwise noticed to members one week in advance.  Meetings may change each year. Meetings will be held bi-monthly, beginning in September and continuing until May.  Meetings may or may not be held during the summer months, upon the discretion of the Chair. 

a.         Meetings will be announced in advance through the school newsletter and by posting the agenda to website.  Postings will include the date, time, and location of each meeting.

b.         An annual notice of meetings held on a regular basis will be made at the beginning of each school year.

c.         Written minutes of the date, time, and place of the meeting, who was present and absent, what was discussed and decided, and the names of anyone who presented shall be kept and posted one week before the next scheduled meeting.

2.         Special Meetings‑‑Call

A special meeting may be called at any time by the Chair or by a majority vote of the members at any regular meeting

3.         Meetings‑‑Matters Considered

Any matter pertaining to the use of Trustland Funds may be considered and acted upon at any regular meeting, but no final action should be taken on substantive issues not listed on the agenda until the following meeting.

4.         Quorum

In order to vote on any agenda item a quorum must be present. A quorum consists of a simple majority of appointed members of the Council including the Chair.  The Chair is a voting member of the Council.

E.         PROCEDURE ‑ ORDER OF BUSINESS/ MOTIONS

1.         The Chair shall conduct the order of business before the Council in a timely manner.  Guests may attend meetings and are able to comment on items before the Council.  Subcommittees also may include parents or teachers who are not members of the Community Council. 

2.         A motion may be made by any member of the Council except the Chair.  Motions shall identify the item being voted upon.  If there is no second, the motion dies and a subsequent motion is in order.  After a motion is seconded, discussion may continue but the Chair can call for decision without discussion.  Any member may ask for clarification of the motion prior to voting.  Voting shall be either aye or nay by a majority of members present.  In the event of a tie vote, the motion fails and is invalid.

F.         ELECTION OF MEMBERS 

1.         The Community Council shall facilitate a nomination and election procedure each year.  The Council shall appoint an election chair and subcommittee to facilitate and oversee the election process.  Elections are open to all eligible parents/teachers during which members of the Council are elected by their respective constituencies.  Nominees must confirm willingness and availability to serve in the position if they are elected.

a.         Written notice should be given to parents/ staff and teachers three weeks ahead of the election.

b.         Any parent/staff who is interested in serving may declare themselves to be a candidate.

c.         Positions available, dates and times of elections and instructions for becoming a member must be posted three weeks ahead of the election.

d.       When more parents/staff file then there are positions available the school must hold an election.  Co-Chair will conduct election by means of secret ballots in a secure ballot box.

e.       Elections must begin before the 31st day of the new school year.  Parent elections run for three consecutive school days.

2.         An official ballot will be prepared by  a Co-chair and distributed by the end of March.  All votes received on or before the specified due date shall be counted.  In the event no candidate receives a majority, the Council chair shall employ a means of chance to select a winner.  The results will be announced through appropriate publicity channels.

a.         Parents are elected or appointed by parents to the School Community Council.

b.         If a parent position is unfilled after the election, parent members may appoint a parent to fill empty seats on the council

c.         Employees are elected or appointed by employees to the School Community Council.

d.        If an employee position is unfilled after the election, employee members to appoint an employee to serve.

e.       Results shall be maintained for a reasonable time and made available to the public upon request.

3.         Members elected serve a two-year term.

4.         The Council will have the responsibility to fill vacant seats as members transfer or terminate.  Voting for Chair and/or Co- Chair shall take place during the first regularly scheduled meeting of the Council each year.

5.         The council notifies the local school board of the membership of the council by submitting the Committee Membership Form online each fall as part of the fall reporting for the School LAND Trust Program

6.         The principal provides a signed assurance that elections were conducted according to the law and board rule and council members who were not elected were appointed appropriately.

G.        VACANCIES

1.         Should the Chair leave office during the term, the Vice Chair shall become acting Chair, assuming the duties as stated in section C.  Should the Vice Chair be unable to assume the duties of Chair, a member of the Council shall be appointed to the position of Chair, by majority vote of the Council, for the remainder of the term.

2.     Should the Vice Chair or Secretary positions be vacated, a member of the Council shall be appointed to each position by majority vote of the Council to fill the position for the remainder of the term.

3.     Should a member of the Council vacate their position before their term is completed, the Council will elect a replacement for the vacated position from former Council members that have served in that specific area based on appointment.  The newly elected replacement will serve for the remainder of the current academic year.

4.   When regularly scheduled elections take place the subsequent Spring, a permanent replacement will be elected from the general population of parents/teachers within the specific area to serve the remainder of the original term.

5.   In the event both the Chair and the Acting Chair leave office during the same term a special election of the Council must be held and completed within 30 days of such occurrence.  The term of office of any person(s) elected in a special election will begin the day following the close of that election."

H.        ABSENCES           

1.         Any member of the Council after three unexcused absences from the Council  meetings in any one year of office as recorded in the minutes of such meetings, or after showing gross neglect of duty as determined by the majority of Council members, may be removed from office by a two-thirds majority vote of the entire Council.  In the event of such removal from office, vacancies will be filled via the special election procedure as outlined in section F.

I.         Report summaries

             1.   The following report summaries are provided on the school website and via required means, to each individual household with a student attending the school.

a)            A meeting schedule for the year, within the first two weeks of the school year that includes the date, time and location of each meeting.

b)            List the community council members with email and phone contact information, where available.

c)            A summary of the Final Report of the School LAND Trust program plan implementation for the prior school year in the fall of the following year

d)            A mid-year summary of the council’s actions and activities to date.

J.          AMENDMENTS

1.   The rules contained in the Bylaws shall govern the Council in all cases to which they are applicable.

2.   A proposed amendment to the Bylaws may be initiated by a majority vote of the Council, or upon receipt by the Council of a petition signed by a minimum of 20 parents/teachers.

3.   The proposed amendment(s), along with an official ballot, shall be prepared anddistributed to the Council at least 30 days prior to the due date.

4.   All ballots must be received by the Council on or before the specified due date to be counted.

5.   Upon a two-thirds affirmative vote of the responding members, the proposed  amendment(s) to the Bylaws shall be adopted and become effective immediately."

K.         Duties and Responsibilities

1.            Review the UPASS testing data and other reliable data to determine the needs of the students

2.            Create a school improvement plan

3.            Create and submits the online School LAND Trust Plan, an academic subset of the SIP.

4.            Assists in the creation of the schools Professional Development plan.

5.            Creates a reading achievement plan

6.            Develops a child access routing plan

7.            Regularly submits required reports to the local school board for approval.

8.            Appoints subcommittees or task forces as desired that may include participants other than elected members

9.            Advises school and district administration and local school board on local and district school issues.

10.          Upon request of the local school board, the council provides information to assist the local board in resolving issues of local concern.  The council is encouraged to advise and inform the local board members.

11.          Provides ongoing support in implementation of approved plans.

12.          Shall encourage participation on the council, including recruiting potential applicants to apply for open positions on the council.

13.          May assume other tasks and responsibilities relating to their school, such as safety, school climate, student and teacher recognition, ect... Those are best addressed through local school collaborations.

14.       Oversee the expenditure of the Box Tops for Education money raised.