Board Meetings

By December 15th, of each year the board shall give written notice of the date, place, and time of regularly scheduled meetings for the coming year. This schedule must be given to the county clerk. If any change is made in the schedule, the county clerk must be notified not less than ten (10) days prior to the meeting. Regularly scheduled meetings are held monthly, generally on the second Monday. Meetings are generally held at 6:00 P.M. in the administrative offices of the district.

At least twenty-four hours prior to regular meetings, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays in Oklahoma, there shall be displayed in prominent public view in the office of the superintendent a public notice of the meeting.

In the event that meeting is continued to be reconvened, public notice of the date, time, and place of the continued meeting must be given at the original meeting. Only matters which were part of the agenda of the original meeting may be discussed at the continued meeting.

Special meetings cannot be held unless public notice is given forty-eight hours prior to such meeting. Written notice of the time, date, and place of the meeting will be posted and filed at the county clerk’s office. Only matters posted on the agenda can be discussed at the special meeting.

An emergency meeting may be held without public notice. An emergency is a situation involving injury to persons or injury and damage to public or personal property or immediate financial loss when the time requirements for public notice of a special meeting would make such procedure impractical. As much public notice as is possible within reason for declaring an emergency.

Special meetings and emergency meetings may be called by the superintendent or president when such meetings are needed. A member may request that the superintendent or president call a special or emergency meeting. If a request is made, the superintendent or president may call the meeting or poll the other members to determine if a majority wants the meeting held. Revised: August 8, 1993

Public Participation at Board Meetings

The Open Meeting Law permits the public to view meetings not participate in the meetings. Citizens have no legal right to be a part of the meeting and participate in deliberations. However the board believes in public input under most conditions.

In order to assure that persons who wish to appear before the Board may be heard and at the same time, conduct its meetings properly and efficiently, the Board adopts the following procedures and rules pertaining to public participation at board meetings.

1. Individuals or groups wishing to address the Board or have the board address a particular topic are asked to make their request in writing to the Superintendent of Schools outlining what is to be discussed and naming a spokesperson. Requests should be received no later than 1:00 P.M. on Thursday preceding the Monday of the regular monthly meeting so that the presentation can be included on the agenda. Persons making requests will be advised by the Superintendent that they are on the agenda or that the action will be delayed to another time. By having the topic on the agenda the necessary information can be gathered and study be given to allow fair consideration of the matter. Also by including the topic as a part of the agenda which is published, others with similar or differing views on a matter will be able to attend and express their viewpoint. Although the board may elect to hear a speaker who has not made arrangements to be on the agenda, it may choose to delay doing so or taking action until more information is available and to learn if the positions presented represent the feelings of the majority.

   If an individual or group wishes to address the board in a special meeting, the request will be made to the superintendent in writing at least twenty-four hours prior to the meeting. The superintendent is to inform the person making the request whether they will be on the agenda as soon as he or she can within reason and at least before the meeting begins. At a special meeting only the items for which the meeting was called can be addressed.

   Appeals of disciplinary decisions are to be made as described in School Board Policy Book, Section Five under “Student Behavior”. There is no entitlement to a board hearing as an appeal to disciplinary decisions except in the case of long term suspensions although the board may grant a hearing for other matters.

2. Matters that should be dealt with initially at the administrative level will not be considered by the board until an effort has been made to handle them at that level. Speakers may offer such objective criticism of school operations and programs as concern them. But in public sessions, the board will not hear personal complaints about school personnel unless the speaker or a representative of his group has first contacted the Superintendent and the issue has not been satisfactorily resolved.

3. The superintendent or board may invite people who have not requested to appear on the agenda to address the board if they have information or views that relates to a matter under consideration.

4. Time shall be included in each meeting to recognize guests. Guests will sign in before the meeting and if they want to address the board they will indicate so and the topic. The board will hear from them at the appropriate time in the meeting if they have requested to address the board. If there are guests who did not arrange to be on the agenda and who request to speak, the board will decide in each case whether to deal with the issue at that time or later.

5. Not more than thirty minutes shall be set aside for public participation unless the board extends the time by majority vote due to the nature or urgency of the topic.

6. Individuals will be limited to five minutes for a presentation unless the president extends the time.

7. If the board wishes, it may adjourn the meeting to another date or call a special meeting to give the public additional opportunity to address the board on a matter.

8. Every person who wishes to speak at a school board meeting must be recognized by the presiding officer and state their name and the subject matter of their presentation. The presiding officer shall determine if the matter is proper before allowing the person to speak. Non-residents of the district will not be recognized to address the board unless the matter directly affects them or their immediate family, unless invited to do so by the board.

9. Action on requests of those appearing before the board may by necessity be deferred pending board consideration.

10. Members of the board and the superintendent shall have the privilege of asking questions of any person who addresses the board. Revised: August 8, 1993

Board Member Qualifications

The individual must have been a registered voter registered with the county election board at an address located within the geographical boundaries of the district for six months preceding the first day of the filing period. (260.S., 13A-106)

The individual must have resided within the school district for at least six months preceding the first day of the filing period. (260.S., 13-A-106)

The school district is divided into election districts. A candidate must have resided in the election district for at least six months preceding the first day of the filing period and have been a registered voter registered with the county election board at an address located within the geographical boundaries of the election district for six months preceding the first day of the filing period. (26 O.S., 13A-106)

The individual cannot have been convicted of, or have pled guilty or no contest to, a felony under state or federal law or a misdemeanor involving embezzlement. Any person having a record of any of these crimes is ineligible to file for the school board position during the pending of any appeal or for a period of 15 years following completion of sentence. (26 O.S., 5-105a)

The individual must have been awarded a high school diploma or certificate of high school equivalency in order to be a candidate for or elected to serve on the board of education.

An incumbent school board member running for re-election must have had a minimum of 15 hours of continuing education during the previous full term of office. Failure by the board member to have satisfied the continuing education requirements shall result in the ineligibility of the member to run for re-election. (26 O.S., 13A-106)

The individual must not be related within the second degree by blood or marriage to a current school district employee or current member of the board of education of the district for which the candidate is seeking office. (It is also illegal to hire a relative within the second degree.) (70 O.S., 5-113) Click here for chart of State of OK nepotism law. (Link to chart for the nepotism law)

Dual office holding prohibition does not prevent a board member from serving as a member of a municipal planning commission or as an officer of a volunteer fire department. Revised: July 13, 1999

Term of Office

The board of education shall consist of five (5) members. The term of office shall be five (5) years and will commence on the first regular, special or emergency school board meeting after the annual school election and after the member has been certified as elected. The offices of the members are designated by the numbers one (1) through five (5) consecutively, and each year the term of one of the offices expires. New members will be given the oath of office in the first regular, special or emergency meeting after their term begins.

A person appointed to fill a vacancy in the first half of the term of office will serve until the next succeeding election, when the office will be placed on the ballot for the balance of the unexpired term. Vacancies filled by appointment following delivery of the resolution calling for regular elections to the secretary of the county election board will be filled until the regular elections the following year. A person appointed to fill a vacancy after the first half of the term of office for the board position will serve for the balance of the unexpired term. Persons elected to fill unexpired terms will begin those terms at the next regular meeting of the board following the election. Revised: August 10, 1992

Board Elections

Between August 1 and December 31 of the year following the submission by the United States Department of Commerce to the President of the United States of the official Federal Decennial Census, the board of education shall re-apportion the territory of the school district into five (5) board districts.

Four shall be in the urban area and one in the outlying area. The urban districts shall be compact, contiguous, and shall be as equal in population as may be practicable with not more than a ten percent (10) variance between the most and least populous election districts, including the outlying district.

The order for election is:

The annual school elections shall be held the second Tuesday in February, except in any year when a presidential preferential primary is held in February, then the election will be held on the same day as the presidential preferential primary. If a run-off election is required, it will be held on the first Tuesday in April. Revised: July 13, 1999