Policy 1.03

School Board Meetings

1. All meetings of the School Board shall be open to the public except those meetings exempted under Florida Sunshine Statutes and the Public Employees Relations Act. The School Board of Palm Beach County invites the advice and counsel of the people within the School District of Palm Beach County, including by means of public comment at the Board's regular, special and workshop meetings which are open to the public.

2. All regular School Board meetings shall begin at 5:00 p.m. and shall end no later than approximately 10:00 p.m., absent a Board vote to extend the time of the meeting. A regular meeting may commence prior to 5:00 p.m. if properly advertised and notice is provided to the public. The dates and time of regular Board meetings will be determined by Board action at its organizational meeting in November, although at a later date the Board may reschedule a meeting(s). Special meetings may be called for any location as provided by Florida Statutes within the county by the Superintendent upon forty-eight (48) hours public notice. Special meetings may be called by the Superintendent, Board Chair or Board, pursuant to the procedure set forth in Fla. Stat. § 1001.372(1) & (2).

3. Workshops and special meetings conducted by the School Board shall begin at times designated by the Board, the Board Chair, or Superintendent. The purpose of the workshop meeting shall be to acquaint the Board with background information. No Board votes will be taken at a workshop. The purpose of special meetings includes dealing with:

   1. Important matters arising between regular meetings which require urgent action;

   2. Specific matters of business which are not being raised at the Board's regular meeting;

   3. Emergencies; or;

   4. Other matters as decided by the Superintendent (or as decided by the Board Chair or majority of the Board, in the event the Superintendent should decline to call a special meeting when requested to do so by the Chair or majority of the Board pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 1001.372 (1) & (2)).

4. All School Board meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, the School Board's special rules of order, this Policy, Florida's Uniform Rules of Procedure, as applicable, and the Florida Statutes including the Florida Administrative Procedure Act. If any conflict exists between Robert's Rules of Order and the School Board's special rules of order, or this policy, the provisions in the special rules of order or this policy, shall control and supersede Robert's Rules. However, the Board may suspend the rules within this policy for a particular meeting by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of those members present, if not contrary to Florida or Federal Law.

5. All items to be considered at regular School Board meetings shall be submitted to the Superintendent's office for inclusion on the agenda not later than ten (10) working days prior to the meeting at which consideration is desired. The agenda is published approximately ten (10) days prior to the regular meeting and the agenda may be changed only for good cause determined by the Chair. The good cause for the change(s) shall be stated on the record as may be reflected in the Board report and/or discussion at the meeting, and notification of such change shall be at the earliest practicable time.

6. Questions or other queries received from School Board members on the District's e-mail network shall be responded by the designated staff member(s) as a "reply" to the inquiring Board member and copied to all other Board members so that the reply contains the original question or query. These communications are public records and shall be added by the Board Clerk to the appropriate e-agenda item as soon as possible before the Board meeting. Board members shall not use the e-mail network to express or indicate their positions on a specific Board agenda item, and shall not use e-mails as a means of communicating among themselves on matters that are foreseeable to come before the Board for action.

7. Persons who desire to speak before the Board may call or write to the clerk's office prior to 12:00 p. m., the day of the Board meeting to advise of their intent to address the Board and, if applicable, the particular agenda item to which they wish to speak. The clerk shall provide a list to the Chair of those persons who called or wrote to address the Board, as well as, if applicable, the particular agenda item to which they wish to speak. Anyone else who desires to speak before the Board shall complete a blue card and provide the card to the School Board's clerk before the meeting begins. Speakers may address the Board for no longer than three (3) minutes on agenda or non-agenda items at the appropriate time, although public comment at special meetings and workshops shall be limited to agenda items for that meeting. The Board, however, may vote to limit the time to a lesser amount due to the volume of speakers or the amount of time scheduled for a special meeting or workshop.

8. Regular School Board Meetings.

   1. Unless otherwise provided in a collective bargaining agreement, only one (1) person may speak on behalf of a delegation although other persons from that entity may address the School Board during public comment on agenda or non-agenda items.

   2. Delegation speakers and speakers addressing agenda items will be heard before vote on the consent agenda. Persons addressing the Board to a specific agenda item will be listed under "Delegations/Individual Appearances."

   3. Speakers addressing non-agenda items shall be heard at the end of business of the regular agenda; however, if the agenda items at regular meetings that are scheduled to commence at 5:00 p.m. have not been concluded by 7:00 p.m., public comment shall be heard on non-agenda items from 7:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. (if there are sufficient speakers to utilize this time), at which time the agenda of the meeting shall continue and, once concluded, any additional non-agenda speakers not heard between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. may address the School Board.

9. If a School Board member requests that a member of the audience address the Board, the Chair will poll the Board and consensus will prevail.

10. If a response at the next regular meeting is deemed necessary by the Superintendent, the Superintendent shall report the status of any issue or concern raised by speakers to non-agenda items in the Superintendent's report to the Board at the next regularly scheduled Board meeting.

11. A unanimous vote will be considered if all members voting (not abstaining due to a potential conflict of interest) audibly vote "yes," show by hands a "yes," or all those who are voting and present (defined as being in the Board chambers, including the Board chambers' restroom or kitchen areas) have indicated a "yes" vote on the e-agenda system, or if they remain silent it will also mean consent (unless they abstained due to a potential conflict of interest). However, if a member votes "no", on the e-agenda, audibly, or by show of hands, it will then be considered a split vote. If a vote is evenly tied for and against a measure, such tie vote shall defeat the measure. For each vote, the Chair or acting chair shall announce the vote, and the names of any member in dissent, after it is tabulated.

12. The official minutes of the School Board shall be taken, recorded, and maintained as required by Florida's Sunshine Act, Public Records Statute, and Fla. Stat. § 1001.42(1)(a) & (b), shall be kept in a safe place by the Superintendent and shall be made available by the Superintendent to any citizen desiring to examine the minutes during the hours the office is open.

    1. Unless as otherwise required by Fla. Stat. § 1001.42(1)(b) or other law, minutes of regular and special Board meetings shall record only the date, starting and ending times, Board members in attendance, presenters, conclusion of discussion items, motions, resolutions, and necessary information related thereto, the name of the person making and seconding a motion, or submitting a resolution, and the vote thereon (specifying the name of any member who votes against the measure, abstains, or was out of the room for the vote). Certain resolutions shall be spread upon the minutes, i. e. quoted in full as part of the minutes, when required by law. If any member of the School Board or the Superintendent wishes any of that person's statements to be recorded, the Board member or Superintendent may request during the meeting that such statement become a part of the official minutes.

    2. Unless as otherwise required by Fla. Stat. § 1001.42(1)(b) or other law, minutes of School Board workshop sessions shall indicate the date, starting and ending time, attending participants and subject(s) presented and discussed. These minutes shall clearly indicate that no official actions were taken by the Board members during this session and that audio tapes are maintained by the Board office as an additional record of these proceedings.

13. Order of Regular Meetings.-- The order of regular meetings shall be set forth in the agenda consistent with Fla. Admin. Code Rule 28-102.002(1)(b) and at a minimum include the following:

    1. The official name of the agency; the time, date, and place of the meeting; and a statement that this meeting is open to the public.

    2. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance

    3. Review of Minutes

    4. Public Comment on Agenda Items

    5. Unfinished Business: Specific listing with brief summary

    6. New Business: Specific listing with brief summary

    7. Other Business: Specific listing and brief summary (such as non-agenda speakers and Board discussion items)

    8. Adjourn.

14. In both regular and special meetings, the Board may utilize a consent agenda to increase the efficiency of approving large numbers of routine or non-controversial items. Except for any item that a School Board member pulls from the consent agenda, all items on the consent agenda may be approved in gross and without debate or amendment.

15. The order of special meetings shall be as required by Florida law and, if specified on the agenda, may include a consent agenda, which shall be called up and later approved before any pulled agenda items are discussed.

16. The consent agenda of either a regular or special meeting may include proposed Policy development items. The consent agenda of either a regular or special meeting may also include proposed Policy adoption items unless, after publication of the adoption notice, an affected person has specifically requested public discussion of the proposed rule pursuant to the hearing-request provisions of Fla. Stat. § 120.54(3)(c).

17. Final Board proceedings on expulsion of students are exempted from Florida's Government in the Sunshine Law, unless properly waived. A special meeting of the Board, which is not open to the public, will be scheduled on expulsions, to commence either approximately one-half (½) hour prior to each regular Board meeting, or at a special meeting on another day, although the scheduling time and date may vary or the meeting canceled depending on the number of expulsions to be heard. This is not the evidentiary hearing. At these special meetings, each expulsion will be considered separately and consecutively. Individuals may speak relating to the specific expulsion and Board discussion may follow. The vote on the expulsion and final order, without discussing the name of the student, will be taken and entered in accordance with Board action at the regular meeting following this special meeting, or at a special meeting.

18. School Board members may attend workshops and participate at such workshops through the use of an interactive video and/or telephone system, as long as a quorum of Board members are present at the workshop.

19. Under the following circumstance, School Board members may attend meetings and participate at meetings through the use of an interactive video and/or telephone systems, as long as a quorum of School Board members are physically present at the meeting. School Board members may participate and vote by use of electronic media technology to allow a member who is not physically present to attend the meeting, in those instances where the member is confined to home or hospital due to illness or accident or in those situations where the member's absence is due to a death or serious illness of an immediate family member. Any other situations which cause a member to be absent from a meeting will require a vote by majority of the School Board, based only on extraordinary circumstances as required by law, to allow the member to participate by the above referenced technology.