Public Participation in Board Meetings - BDDH - 9/17/14

All Board meetings, with the exception of executive sessions, will be open to the public. The Board invites district citizens to attend Board meetings so that they may become acquainted with the program and operation of the district. Members of the public also are encouraged to share their ideas and opinions with the Board when appropriate.

It is the intent of the Board to ensure communications with individuals with disabilities are as effective as communications with others. Individuals with hearing, vision or speech impairments will be given an equal opportunity to participate in Board meetings. Primary consideration will be given to requests of qualified individuals with disabilities in selecting appropriate auxiliary aids and services.

Auxiliary aids and services for persons with disabilities will be available at no charge to the individual.

All auxiliary aids and/or service requests must be made with appropriate advance notice. Should the Board demonstrate such requests would result in a fundamental alteration in the service, program or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens, alternative, equally effective means of communication will be used.

Audience

During an open session of a Board meeting, members of the public are specifically invited to present concerns during the portion of the agenda so designated. At the discretion of the chair, further public participation may be allowed.

Request for an Item on the Agenda

A member of the public may suggest an item of concern be placed on the agenda of a regular Board meeting. Any Board member may suggest an agenda item, however, three or more Board members definitively places an item on the agenda. All request should be made in writing and presented to the superintendent for consideration at least five working days prior to the scheduled Board meeting.

Procedures for Public Participation in Meetings

The Board will establish procedures for public participation in open meetings. The purpose of these procedures will be to inform the public how to effectively participate in Board meetings for the best interests of the individual, the district and the patrons. The information will be easily accessible and available to all patrons attending a public Board meeting.

1Auxiliary aids include, but are not limited to, such services and devices as qualified interpreters, assistive listening systems, note takers, readers, taped texts, Brailled materials and large print.

Discussion or presentation concerning a published agenda item is limited to its designated place on the agenda, unless otherwise authorized by the chair.

A visitor speaking during the meeting may introduce a topic not on the published agenda. The Board, at its discretion, may require that a proposal, inquiry or request be submitted in writing, and reserves the right to refer the matter to the administration for action or study.

Any person who is invited by the chair to speak to the Board during a meeting should state his/her name and address and, if speaking for an organization, the name and identity of the organization. A spokesperson should be designated to represent a group with a common purpose.

Statements by members of the public should be brief and concise, three to five minutes in length. The chair may exercise discretion to establish a time limit on discussion or oral presentation by visitors.

Questions asked by the public, when possible, will be answered immediately by the chair or referred to staff members for reply. Questions requiring investigation may, at the discretion of the chair, be referred to the superintendent for response at a later time. The reading of written statements that would ordinarily be a part of the Board packet or that can be read by the Board at a later time will be discouraged.

At the discretion of the Board chair, anyone wishing to speak before the Board, either as an individual or as a member of a group, on any agenda item or other topic, may do so by providing the Board secretary with a completed Request to Address the Board form prior to the Board meeting in order to allow the chair to provide adequate time for each agenda item.

The Board chair should be alert to see that all visitors have been acknowledged and thanked for their presence and especially for any contributed comments on agenda issues. Similar courtesy should be extended to members of staff who have been in attendance. Their return for future meeting should be welcomed.

Petitions

Petitions may be accepted at any Board meeting. No action will be taken in response to a petition before the next regular meeting. Petitions will be referred to the superintendent for consideration and recommendation.

Criticisms of Staff Members

Speakers may offer objective criticism of district operations and programs, but the Board will not hear public, complaints concerning current or past district personnel. The chair will direct the visitor to the appropriate means for Board consideration and disposition of legitimate complaints involving individuals.

District-Community Relations Goals and Objectives KA/KAA - 3/18/15

The Board’s goals of achieving positive district-community relations serves to:

1. Develop public understanding of all aspects of district operations, ascertain public attitudes toward issues in education and identify the public’s educational expectations for their students;

2. Secure adequate financial support for the educational program;

3. Help citizens feel responsibility for the quality of education provided by their schools;

4. Earn the public’s confidence with regard to district staff and services;

5. Foster public understanding of the need for constructive change and solicit public advice on achieving educational goals;

6. Involve citizens in solving educational problems;

7. Promote cooperation between the district and the community and to share the leadership for improving community life.

Achieving these objectives requires that the Board and staff, individually and collectively, express positive attitudes toward the school in their daily contacts with parents, community members and one another; make systematic, honest and continuing efforts to discover what the public thinks and what citizens want to know, interpret district programs, issues and accomplishments; develop an active partnership with the community in working toward improvement of the educational program; and take an active interest in the needs of the community to find ways to make the community a better place to live.

Public Engagement and Communications Program - KB - 3/18/15

The Board will:

1. Keep the public informed about policies, operations, objectives and educational programs of the district;

2. Provide the means for furnishing full and accurate information together with interpretation and explanation of the district’s plans and programs.

The superintendent will develop procedures and techniques for assuring a line of communication between the district and the patrons of the district.

 

Public Records** - KBA - 4/15/15

“Public record” means any information that:

1. Is prepared, owned, used or retained by the district;

2. Is related to an activity, transaction or function of the district; and

3. Is necessary to satisfy the fiscal, legal administrative or historical policies, requirements or needs of the district.

Public record does not include messages on voice mail or on other telephone message storage and retrieval systems or spoken communications that is not recorded.

Board meetings and records will be matters of public information subject to such restrictions as are set by federal law or regulation, by state statute or by pertinent court rulings.

The Board’s official minutes, its written policies and its financial records will be available at the superintendent’s office for inspection by any citizen desiring to examine them during hours when the superintendent’s office is open. All such information will be made available to individuals with disabilities in an appropriate format upon request and with appropriate advance notice. Auxiliary aids and services available to ensure equally effective communications to qualified persons with disabilities may include large print, Braille, audio recordings, readers, assistance in locating materials or other equally effective accommodations.

The Board supports the right of the people to know about programs and services of their schools and will make every effort to disseminate information. Each principal is authorized to use all means available to keep parents and others of his/her particular school’s community informed about the school’s program and activities.

No records will be released for inspection by the public or any unauthorized persons – either by the superintendent or any other person designated as custodian for district records – if such disclosure would be contrary to the public interest, as described in state law.

If a copy of a record is requested, the district will provide a single certified copy. If a request to inspect a record is made and the public record is maintained in a machine readable or electronic form, the custodian shall provide the record in the form requested, if available. If not available in the form requested, it will be provided in the form the public record is maintained. If a person who is a party to a civil judicial proceeding to which the district is a party or who has filed notice under ORS 30.275 (5)(a), asks to inspect or to receive a copy of a public record that the person knows relates to the proceeding or notice, the individual must submit the request in writing to the designated custodian of district records and at the same time to the district’s attorney.

Employee and volunteer addresses, electronic mail addresses (other than district electronic mail addresses assigned by the district to district employees), social security numbers, dates of birth and telephone numbers contained in personnel records maintained by the district are exempt from public disclosure pursuant to ORS 192.445 and ORS 192.502 (3). Such information may be released only upon the written request of the employee or volunteer or as otherwise provided by law. This exemption does not apply to a substitute teacher, as defined in ORS 342.815, when requested by a professional education association of which the substitute teacher may be a member. District electronic mail addresses assigned by the district to district employees are not exempt. Additionally, the district will not disclose the identification badge or card of an employee without the employee’s written consent if the badge or card contains the employee’s photograph and the badge or card was prepared solely for internal use by the district to identify district employees. A duplicate of the photograph used on the badge or card shall not be disclosed.

Upon receipt of a request, the district will respond as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay.

The response must acknowledge the receipt of the request and one of the following:

1. A statement that the district does not possess, or is not the custodian of, the public record;

2. Copies of all requested public records for which the district does not claim an exemption from disclosure under ORS 192.410 to 192.505;

3. A statement that the district is the custodian of at least some of the requested public records, an estimate of the time the district requires before the public records may be inspected or copies of the records will be provided and an estimate of the fees that the requester must pay as a condition of receiving the public records;

4. A statement that the district is the custodian of at least some of the requested public records and that an estimate of the time and fees for disclosure of the public records will be provided by the district within a reasonable time;

5. A statement that the district is uncertain whether the district possesses the public record and that the district will search for the record and make an appropriate response as soon as practicable;

6. A statement that state or federal law prohibits the district from acknowledging whether the record exists or that acknowledging whether the record exists would result in the loss of federal benefits or other sanction. A statement under this paragraph must include a citation to the state or federal law relied upon by the district.

The district may request additional information or clarification from the requester for the purpose of expediting the district’s response to the request.

The Board reserves the right to establish a fee schedule which will reasonably reimburse the district for the actual cost of making copies of public records for the public. There will be no additional charge for auxiliary aids and services provided for qualified persons with disabilities.

Requests for copies of documents shall be in writing and will be presented to the superintendent.

The district shall retain and maintain its public records in accordance with OAR 166, Division 400.

Community Involvement in Decision Making - KC - 3/18/15

The Board endorses the concept that community participation in school affairs is essential if the school system and the community are to maintain mutual confidence and respect and work together to improve the quality of education for students. It therefore intends to exert every effort to identify the community’s desires and to be responsive, through its actions, to those desires.

All district citizens will be encouraged to express their ideas, concerns and judgments about the schools through such means as:

1. Written suggestion(s) or proposal(s);

2. Presentations at hearings;

3. Responses to surveys made through interviews, written instruments or other means;

4. Comments at Board meetings; and

5. Service on citizens advisory committees, school improvement teams and/or 21st Century Schools councils.

The public advice will be given careful consideration. In evaluating such advice, the first concern will be for the educational program as it affects students. The Board’s final decisions may depart from this advice when in the judgment of the staff and the Board such advice is not consistent with goals adopted by the Board or with good educational practice. Such decisions must also be within the financial reach of resources available.