Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Policy 1245 will eliminate appointments to the Board.

Board Policy 1245 currently reads as follows:

1245 - BOARD MEMBER RESIGNATION AND REPLACEMENT

A member of the Board of Directors may resign from the Board for any reason. When a Board member's permanent residence ceases to be in the school district or his/her director district, the director shall resign immediately.

Resignations are to be made in writing to the secretary of the board.

At its next regularly scheduled board meeting, the resignations shall be considered and the position declared vacant.

The Board of Directors shall have the authority to fill any vacancy on the board in accordance with the procedures of state law. The person appointed to the board shall serve until the next regularly scheduled general election.

The proposed Board Policy 1245 reads as follows:

1245 - BOARD MEMBER RESIGNATION, RESIDENCY, AND REPLACEMENT

A member of the Board of Directors may resign from the Board for any reason. When a Board member's permanent residence ceases to be in the school district, the director shall resign immediately.

For the purposes of this policy and consistent with RCW 28A.343.350, a school director elected from a director district [consistent with Policy 1225] may continue to serve as a director from the district even though the director no longer resides in the director district, but continues to reside in the school district, under the following conditions:

(1) If, as a result of redrawing the director district boundaries, the director no longer resides in the director district, the director shall retain his or her position for the remainder of his or [her] term of office; and

(2) If, as a result of the director changing his or her place of residence the director no longer resides in the director district, the director shall retain his or her position until a successor is elected and assumes office as follows: (a) If the change in residency occurs after the opening of the regular filing period provided under RCW 29A.24.050, in the year two years after the director was elected to office, the director shall remain in office for the remainder of his or her term of office; or, (b) if the change in residency occurs prior to the opening of the regular filing period provided under RCW 29A.24.050, in the year two years after the director was elected to office, the director shall remain in office until a successor assumes office who has been elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term of office at the school district general election held in that year.

Essentially, as the revised policy reads, resignations can no longer take effect immediately. If a current board member seeks to resign, they can notify the Secretary of the Board in writing and then serve until their replacement is elected. If they seek to vacate the position immediately, the District would have a temporary vacancy until the replacement is duly elected during the next election involving board members, regardless of cycle.

This seems like an improvement to current conditions, which is difficult to believe. Why would this board seek to eliminate their power to fill vacancies through appointment?

Blog: For the actual Board Action, click here.

4 comments:

ESD15.org said...

Board Policy 1235 will be inconsistent with the proposed revision.

"To that end, the following procedures shall be used to identify and appoint citizens to fill Board vacancies"

Anonymous said...

Everything was clear until I read your comment, then it became unclear. Please explain again.

ESD15.org said...

I suppose a board member could die and then a replacement could be appointed.

ESD15.org said...

The revised policy mentions that in cases of resignation, replacements are to be elected during the next general election.

This would apparently exclude appointments in the case of resignations.

The District's legal counsel reviewed this new revised policy, so it must be correct.