0160

0161  Parliamentary Authority   

The parliamentary authority governing the Board shall be the rules of order of    this Board, which in all cases are not inconsistent with statute, administrative code, or   these bylaws.

In the event a controversy arises, Roberts Rules of Order © 1996, shall be followed. (Revision adopted December 11, 2001)

0162  Quorum

No action taken, or agreement entered into, by members of this Board shall be binding unless such action is taken or is authorized to be taken, or such agreement is entered into or is authorized to be entered into, at a regular or special meeting of the Board at which a quorum of the Board is present.  A quorum shall be defined as four (4) members.

0163  Presiding Officer     

The President shall preside at all meetings of the Board.  In the absence, disability, or   disqualification of the President, the officers of the Board shall act in his/her stead in the   following order:  First Vice President, Second Vice President, and Secretary.

0164  Call

0164.1  Regular Meetings   

The Board shall hold a meeting on a date and at a time and place determined annually   by a resolution of the Board.

0164.2  Special Meetings

Special Meetings of the Board may be called by the Superintendent or the President, upon due notice as specified in the By-laws.  Ordinarily, no business shall be transacted except that for which the meeting is called.

0164.3  Executive Meetings   

Executive Meetings of the Board shall be called at such time and place as is required for free discussion of personnel or other matters as designated by statute which are not appropriate for public announcement until fully developed.

0164.4  Emergency Meetings

In the event of a severe and imminent threat to health, safety, or welfare of the Corporation, its employees, and/or its students, any member of the Board or the Superintendent may call an emergency session provided three (3) members of the Board concur that delay would be detrimental to efforts to lessen or respond to the threat.  No formal notice to Board members of any emergency meeting shall be required, but the media and public shall be notified.

0165  Notice

0165.1  Regular Meetings

Within ten (10) days after the organizational Board meeting, the Board shall cause to be posted at the Marion Community Schools District Office at Marion High School, 750 W. 26th St., and in such other places as it may direct, a notice listing the date, time, and place of each regularly-scheduled meeting of the Board.  The notice shall also contain the name and address of the Corporation and its telephone number.

Upon written request of an individual, organization, firm, or corporation, and upon the requesting party's payment of a yearly fee of not more than the estimated reasonable cost for copying of each notice as shall be determined annually by the Board, the Corporation shall send to the requesting party by first class mail or electronically a copy of any notice required by the Bylaws.  The news media shall be entitled to receive, at their request, copies of such notices free of charge.

0165.2  Change of Regular Meetings

Within forty-eight (48) hours after the Board adopts a resolution changing the date, time, or place of a regularly scheduled meeting, the meeting notice shall state the date, time, and place of the rescheduled meeting, as well as the name, address, and telephone number of the Corporation.   Said notice shall be posted at the Marion Community Schools District Office at Marion High School, 750 W. 26th St., and such other place(s) as the Board may determine. Said notice shall be posted at least 48 hours before the rescheduled meeting.  0165.3  Special Meetings Said notice shall state the date, time and place of such special meeting and the business to be transacted there at, as well as the name, address, and telephone number of the Corporation. 

    A notice of any special meeting shall be posted at least seventy-two (72) hours before said special meeting at the Marion Community Schools District Office at Marion High School, 750 W. 26th St., and such other places as the Board may determine. A copy of said notice shall be served upon each member of the Board by any responsible person by one of the following methods:   A. delivering the notice to the member personally; and,   

    B. leaving the notice at the member's designated location. 

0165.4  Adjournment

The Board may at any time adjourn a meeting and announce the date, time, and place of the reconvened meeting.  The minutes of the original meeting shall reflect the announcement of the reconvened meeting.  The adjourned meeting shall take up its business at the point in the agenda where the motion to adjourn was acted upon.  However, a meeting may not be recessed or adjourned for the purpose of conducting an executive session.

0166         Agenda

The Superintendent shall with the consent of the President, prepare and submit to each Board member a written agenda prior to each regular meeting and each special meeting, unless otherwise directed by the Board.  The agenda shall list the various matters to come before the Board and shall serve as a guide for the order of procedure for the meeting.

Individual Board members may include items on the agenda by contacting the President.

The agenda of the regular monthly meeting or special meetings shall be accompanied by a report from the Superintendent on information relating to the Corporation with such recommendation. The agenda for each regular meeting shall be mailed or delivered to each Board member so as to provide proper time for the member to study the agenda.

Generally, the agenda should be mailed no later than five (5) days prior to the meeting, or delivered so as to provide time for the study of the agenda by the member.  The agenda for a special meeting shall be delivered at least two (2) days before the meeting, consistent with provisions calling for special meetings.

The Board shall transact business according to the agenda prepared by the Superintendent and submitted to all Board members in advance of the meeting.  The order of business may be modified or suspended by a majority vote of the members present.

0167 Conduct

0167.1 Voting

All regular and those special meetings of the Board at which the Board is authorized to perform business shall be conducted in public.  No act shall be valid unless approved at a meeting of the Board by a majority vote of the members of the Board and a proper record made of the vote.  Meetings of the Board shall be public.  (I.C. 5-14-1.5)

Abstentions shall not be counted as votes, but shall be recorded and are deemed to acquiesce in the outcome of the vote.

In the case of a tie vote in which an abstention is involved, the motion shall fail for lack of a majority. 

All actions requiring a vote may be conducted by voice, show of hands, or roll call provided that the vote of each member be recorded.  Proxy voting shall not be permitted.  Any member may request that the Board be polled and the Presiding Officer shall grant that request.

0167.15

This policy applies to the Board of School Trustees of the Marion Community Schools Corporation and any committee or advisory board appointed directly by the School Board. This policy does not apply when the school corporation is subject to a declared local or state public emergency.

The School Board will not conduct any of its meetings where board members will be allowed to participate by electronic means of communication.

0167.2  Executive Session   

The Board may meet in an executive session, one closed to the public, prior to or after a meeting after giving proper notice, for the following purposes:

A. discussion of strategy with respect to collective bargaining, providing the strategy is for bargaining or competitive reasons, initiation of litigation, litigation which is pending or has been threatened in writing, implementation of security systems, purchase or lease of real property;

B. interviews with industrial or commercial prospects;

C. interviews with prospective employees;

D. with respect to any individual over which the Board has jurisdiction, receive information concerning the individual’s alleged misconduct, and to discuss, prior to determination, that individual’s status as an employee, student, or independent contractor;

E. discussion of records classified as confidential by Federal or State statute;

F. discussion, before any placement decision, an individual student’s abilities, past performance, behavior, and needs;

G. discussion of an employee’s job performance evaluation; and,

H. training of Board members by an outside consultant on performance of their role as public officials and/or discussion with or between county officials, Board members, and an outside consultant concerning the performance of Board members.

In keeping with the confidential nature of executive sessions, no member of the Board shall disclose the content of discussions that take place during such sessions.

0167.3  Public Participation at Board Meetings  

The Board of the Marion Community Schools recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school district matters. 

Public participation shall be permitted under the agenda item entitled "Public Participation” or on an agenda item and must be restricted to items appearing on the agenda of the Board meeting. 

Only persons who have residency within the boundaries of the school corporation will be allowed to address the school board.

Those persons who wish to address the Board on an agenda item must sign in including their name and current residence address with the recording secretary and list the agenda item, which the visitor wishes to discuss.

The Presiding Officer of each Board meeting at which public participation is permitted shall administer the procedures of the Board.   

The Presiding Officer shall be guided by the following rules.

A. When an agenda item is called by the President and before a Board action, the President shall request those individuals who have expressed a written intention to address the agenda item to identify themselves.  Before the item is brought up for a vote by the Board, the President will allocate time not to exceed five (5) minutes to each individual who has requested opportunity for comment.  Other public participation shall also be permitted as indicated on the agenda.

B. Participants must be recognized by the Presiding Officer and must preface their comments by an announcement of their name and home address as verification of Marion, Indiana residency and/or business location.

C. Each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five (5) minutes in duration.

D. No participant may speak more than once on the same topic.

E. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer; no person may address or question Board members individually.

F. Questions requiring investigation will be referred to the Superintendent for consideration.

G.  Any questions or comments relating to school personnel as well as comments which are unduly repetitive may be ruled out of order. No person may comment on any charges or complaints against employees of the school corporation or other personnel matters.

H. The President may terminate any person's privilege of address for the persistent violations of rules or conduct by a participant and declare that person out of order for the violations of the above rules.

I. The Presiding Officer may:   

1. interrupt, warn or terminate a person's statement when the statement is too lengthy, obscene, or irrelevant.  
2. request any individual to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum.   
3. request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when that person's conduct interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting; and   
4. call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting as to warrant such action.

J. Persons making comments shall not debate statements made by other persons. 

I. The portion of the meeting during which the participation of the public is invited shall be limited to thirty (30) minutes or such additional time, as the Presiding Officer shall allow.

The provisions in this policy will apply at the collective bargaining public hearing, the tentative agreement meeting, and at the time during a meeting when the school board will vote to ratify the tentative collective bargaining agreement. All public comments made at the collective bargaining public hearing will be recorded in a manner which will be shared with every member of the school board.

Adopted: September 24, 1997. Updated: March 22, 2022

0168  Minutes

0168.1  Open Meeting

The Board shall designate a person to keep minutes of each meeting showing the date, time, place, members present, members absent, any decisions made at a meeting open to the public, and the purpose or purposes for which a closed session is called.  These minutes must be approved by the Board and endorsed by the Secretary at the next meeting.  The minutes shall include all votes taken at the meeting.  Proposed minutes shall be available for public inspection within a reasonable period of time after the meeting to which the minutes refer. The minutes shall be available for inspection at the Superintendent’s office and shall be available for purchase at a fee estimated by the business office to cover the cost of copying.

The official minutes shall be bound together by years and kept at the Marion Community Schools District Office at Marion High School, 750 W. 26th St.

Minutes of the preceding meetings shall be approved by the Board as its first order of business at regular meetings.

0168.2  Executive Session

The minutes of an executive session shall show the date, time, and place of the session, the members either present or absent, and the identification of the subject matter considered by specific reference to the enumerated instance(s) for which public notice was given.  The Board shall certify in the minutes that it discussed no subject matter in the executive session other than the subject matter specified in the public notice. The Board shall approve the minutes in a public Board meeting.

In keeping with the confidential nature of executive sessions, no member of the Board shall disclose the content of the discussions that take place during such sessions.