FILE: BCB
BOARD MEETING PROCEDURES
The East Feliciana Parish School Board recognizes that it is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner and that the citizens be advised of and aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy. Toward this end, except as provided for by state law, all meetings of the East Feliciana Parish School Board shall be open to the public.
It is the desire of the School Board that meetings shall be formal enough for orderly procedure, but informal enough to be natural, to encourage free discussion, and to promote group thinking and action. In matters of procedures not covered by law, School Board policy, or the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), meetings of the School Board, including committee meetings, shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised. The President shall be entitled to discuss and vote on all matters before the School Board.
The President of the School Board, or, in his/her absence, the Vice-President, shall conduct all meetings. In the absence of both, the Superintendent shall preside until the School Board elects an acting chairman. The presiding officer shall recognize members of the School Board who wish to be heard in the order that he/she deems advisable. No member of the School Board shall speak without having first being recognized. Any School Board member, however, who feels that he/she is being unfairly treated, may appeal to the School Board to be heard immediately. Such appeal may be made at any time, without prior recognition by the Chair, and shall be voted on immediately. Upon a favorable majority vote of the entire School Board, the member shall be heard prior to the transaction of any other business.
Each School Board member shall be given an opportunity to express without interruption, his/her views on any agenda item. The time a member may have to speak on a subject may be set by the President or a consensus of the School Board, whenever deemed necessary. The President may preclude discussion which does not apply to the motion last made. He/she may also minimize or halt discussion of a matter if the School Board has previously agreed to confine discussion to a definite period of time, and that period has been used up. The School Board shall suspend the procedures under which it conducts its meetings upon approval of a two-thirds (⅔) majority of the School Board's membership.
Public participation in School Board meetings shall be permitted during the public comment period. Other persons may be recognized in School Board meetings upon approval of the School Board. The President of the School Board shall have complete authority to remove any person(s) who willfully disrupts a meeting to the extent that orderly conduct of the meeting can not be maintained.
Re-Adopted: May 4, 1999
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. §§17:81, 42:14, 42:15
Board minutes, 10-3-78, 5-4-99
East Feliciana Parish School Board