BE ©SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS
BE ©Official Meetings: Regular
and Special
The Board shall transact all business at official meetings of the Board. These may be either regular or special meetings, defined as follows:
A. Regular meeting - the usual official legal-action meeting, scheduled and held regularly.
B. Special meeting - an official legal-action meeting called between scheduled regular meetings to consider only specifically identified topics.
Every meeting of the Board, regular or special, shall be open to the public except for an executive session that is held in accordance with state law. A "meeting" is defined as the gathering, in person or through technological devices, of a quorum of members of a public body to discuss, propose or take legal action, including any deliberations with respect to such action, that has been properly noticed, pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes.
The Board must provide sufficient seating to accommodate the reasonably anticipated number of desiring attendees when feasible. However, this does not require a public body to relocate a meeting outside of the largest regular meeting room.
A meeting includes a one-way electronic communication by one member of a public body that is sent to a quorum of the members of a public body and that proposes legal action or otherwise discusses topics that may come before the body for legal action.
A meeting also includes an exchange of electronic communications among a quorum of the members of a public body that involves a discussion, deliberation or the taking of legal action by the public body concerning a matter likely to come before the public body for action.
Frequency
Regular Board Meetings
The Governing Board shall hold a regular meeting at least once each month during the regular school year and may hold other meetings as often as called. If action has been taken and documents approved at a meeting, they may be signed subsequently by individual Board members.
A regular meeting may be rescheduled or canceled:
A. By majority vote of the Board when noticed as a meeting agenda item.
B. By declaration of the Board President, or if the President is unavailable another member of the Board, in consultation with the Superintendent, when a significant event beyond the Board's control renders attendance at the meeting unsafe or unreasonable in light of the circumstance, such as:
1. Significantly inclement weather conditions, or
2. A local, state, or national emergency of a magnitude it intervenes to the extent that convening of the meeting is inadvisable.
C. When the absence of a quorum of the Board will render the meeting impermissible.
Every regular meeting of the Board shall be open to the public, and the Board shall meet at the most convenient public facility in the District. If a public facility is not available within the District, the Board may meet at any available public facility convenient to all Board members, regardless of the county or school district in which the facility is located.
Special Board Meetings
Special meetings may be called whenever deemed necessary. Written or telephonic notice of all special meetings shall be given to the members of the Board at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the time stated for the meeting to convene. Said notice shall indicate the purpose of the special meeting. No business other than the matters specified in the notice shall be transacted at such meeting.
Executive Sessions/Open Meetings
Executive Session is a Board gathering from which the public is excluded. A quorum of the Board may vote in open session to hold an executive session for a reason delineated in A.R.S. 38-431.03. The Governing Board shall provide the public with notice of the executive session and it shall state the provision of law authorizing such session. The Governing Board shall also inform any officer, appointee, or employee to be considered or discussed at a meeting with written notice of the executive session as is appropriate but not less than twenty-four (24) hours for the officer, appointee, or employee to determine whether the discussion or consideration should occur at a public meeting.
Minutes from an executive session shall be confidential except for the reasons listed in A.R.S. 38-431.03. No final action, decision, or vote shall be taken while the Board is in executive session, except as provided by law.
The Board shall reconvene the open meeting after an executive session prior to adjourning the meeting.
During the executive session, all persons present in the executive session will be read the admonition on the confidentiality of the executive session minutes and deliberations.
Adopted: November 20, 2005
LEGAL REF.:
A.R.S.
15-321
15-323
15-843
38-431 et seq.
38-431.01
38-431.02
38-431.03
A.G.O.
I79-045
I79-049
I79-126
I79-136
I80-118
I80-146
I81-058
I81-060
I81-090
CROSS REF.:
BBA - Board Powers and Responsibilities
BED - Meeting Procedures
BEDA - Notification of Board Meetings
BEDB - Agenda