KC - School Community Councils

1. AUTHORIZATION 

Utah Code Ann. § 53G-7-1202 directs that each public school, in consultation with its local school board, shall establish a School Community Council (the “Council”) at each school building level.

2. PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY

A School Community Council is created for the purpose of: (a) involving parents or guardians of students in decision making at the school level; (b) improving the education of students; (c) prudently expending School LAND Trust Program money for the improvement of students' education through collaboration among parents and guardians, school employees, and the Board of Education; and (d) increasing public awareness of: (i) school trust lands and related land policies; (ii) management of the State School Fund established in Utah Constitution, Article X, Section V; and (iii) educational excellence. In this regard, the responsibilities of the School Community Council are advisory in nature. The authority of the Council does not supersede the authority of the principal, the superintendent, or the Board of Education.

3. DEFINITIONS

“Candidate” means a parent or school employee who has filed for election to the School Community Council. 

“Contested Race” means the election of members to a School Community Council when there are more Candidates than open positions.

“Educator” means a teacher, counselor, administrator, librarian, or other person required to hold a license as per Utah Code Ann. § 53E-6-102.

“Digital Citizenship” means the norms of appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior related to technology use, including digital literacy, ethics, etiquette, and security.

“Parent or Guardian Member” means a member of a School Community Council who is a parent or guardian of a student who: (1) is attending the school; or (2) will be enrolled at the school during the parent’s or guardian’s term of office. A Parent or Guardian Member may not include an Educator who is employed at the school. 

“Safety Principles” means safety principles that, when incorporated into programs and resources, impact academic achievement by strengthening a safe and wholesome learning environment, including continual efforts for safe technology utilization and digital citizenship. 

“School Employee Member” means a member of a School Community Council who is a person employed at the school. 

4. COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL

Each Council shall consist of School Employee Members, including the school’s principal, and Parent or Guardian Members. The principal serves as an ex-officio member of the Council with full voting privileges.

A Council may determine the size of the Council by a majority vote of a quorum of the Council as long as there are at least two (2) School Employee Members and the number of Parent or Guardian Members exceeds by at least two (2) the number of School Employee Members, including the school principal. If a Council does not determine its size by a majority vote, a high school shall have at least six (6) Parent or Guardian Members and four (4) School Employee Members, and all other schools shall have at least four (4) Parent or Guardian Members and two (2) School Employee Members. The number of Parent or Guardian Members of the Council who are not Educators employed by the District must exceed the number of Parent or Guardian Members who are Educators employed by the District. 

A majority of the members of a School Community Council is a quorum for the transaction of business. There must be a quorum of the members to convene a meeting. The action of a majority of the members of a quorum is the action of the School Community Council.

Each school principal shall appoint a facilitator who may be an elected voting member or may be an appointed, non-voting member of the Council. The facilitator may also serve as the vice chair.

The School Community Council may appoint non-elected persons to subcommittees or task forces to assist it in its responsibilities. The work of subcommittees or task forces will be subject to review and approval by the School Community Council.

5. COUNCIL ELECTIONS

Each Council member, other than the principal, shall be elected by secret ballot at an election held at the school. Written notice of the opportunity to vote and run as a candidate in the election shall be given to each school employee, parent, or guardian at least ten (10) days prior to the election. The notice should include the dates and times of elections, a list of positions up for election, and instructions for becoming a Candidate. Results of the election will be made available to the public upon request. 

Elections are required only in the event of a Contested Race. Where there are not more Candidates than open positions, no election is necessary.

Election procedures shall be conducted in accordance with Utah Code Ann. § 53G-7-1202.

Each School Employee Member, other than the principal, shall be elected by a majority vote of the school employees and serve a two (2) year term.

Each Parent or Guardian Member shall be elected by a majority vote of parents and guardians voting at the election and serve a two (2) year term.

Only parents/guardians of students who will be attending the school during the year for which the Council is being elected may vote at the election.

A parent or guardian of a student who will be enrolled at the school during the parent’s or guardian’s term of office is eligible to run for election. 

An election for Parent or Guardian Members shall be held either near the beginning of the school year or in the spring and completed before the last week of school. Each school shall establish the time period for the election, including whether it will be held in the spring or near the beginning of the school year, and once established, such time period must remain consistent for at least a four (4)-year period. 

A Council member may serve successive terms provided the member continues to meet the definition of a Parent or Guardian Member or School Employee Member as specified above.

Terms shall be staggered so that approximately half of the Council members run for election each year. 

If a Parent or Guardian Member position remains unfilled after the election or in the event of a vacancy, the other Parent or Guardian Members of the Council shall appoint a parent or guardian who meets the qualifications of this policy to the position. 

If a School Employee Member position remains unfilled after the election or in the event of a vacancy, the other School Employee Members of the Council shall appoint a school employee who meets the qualifications of this policy to the position.

6. OPEN AND PUBLIC MEETING REQUIREMENTS

While School Community Council meetings are exempt from Utah’s Open and Public Meetings Act, Council meetings must still be open to the public. No portion of a meeting may be closed, and the Council shall conduct deliberations and take action openly. 

Notice and Reporting

At least one (1) week prior to each meeting, the Council must post the following on the school’s website:

A notice of the meeting, time, and place;

An agenda for the meeting; and

The minutes of the previous meeting. 

The notice requirements in Section 6.2.1 may be disregarded for an emergency meeting. In case of an emergency meeting, the Council must give the best notice practicable of the information listed in Section 6.2.1. An emergency meeting may not be held unless an attempt has been made to notify all Members and a majority of the Members approve the meeting.

On or before October 1, the principal shall post the following information on the school website and in the school office: 

An invitation to a parent to serve on the Council;

The dollar amount the school receives each year from the School LAND Trust Program; 

A copy or link to the school’s current Teacher and Student Success Plan; 

The proposed meeting schedule for the year; 

A telephone number or email address, or both, where each Member can be reached directly; and 

A copy of or link to the school’s plan or final report for the most recent two prior years, consistent with Utah Code Ann. § 53G-7-1206.

The Council shall identify and use methods of providing the information listed in Section 6.2.3. to a parent or guardian who does not have Internet access, and money allocated to the school under the School LAND Trust Program may not be used to do so. 

Agenda

The agenda must reasonably specify the topics to be considered at the meeting.

Each topic to be discussed shall be listed under an agenda item. 

The Council may not take final action on a topic unless the topic is listed under an agenda item and included with the advance public notice as outlined above. 

Minutes

Written minutes shall be kept of each meeting and must include the following:

Date, time, and place;

Names of Members present and absent;

Brief statement of the matters proposed, discussed, or decided;

A record, by individual Member, of each vote taken;

Name of each person who is not a Member and gives testimony or comments to the Council;

The substance, in brief, of the testimony or comments provided by those who are not Members; and

Any other information that is a record of the proceedings of the meeting that any Member requests be entered in the minutes. 

The written minutes are a public record under Utah Code Ann., Section 63G-2-101, et seq., Government Records Access and Management Act, and must be kept for three (3) years. 

Rules of Order and Procedure

Each Council must adopt rules of order and procedure to govern its meetings. Each meeting must be conducted in accordance with the rules, and the rules must be made available at each meeting and on the school’s website. 

The rules must govern the following:

Parliamentary order and procedure;

Ethical behavior; and 

Civil discourse. 

7. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COUNCIL

All plans required by this section must be posted on the School LAND Trust Program website and accessed at least annually by the Elementary Director or Secondary Director, and approved by the Board of Education. If the Board of Education disapproves a plan, the Council shall submit a revised plan to the Board for approval. Entry of plans on the website must include the following: 

the principal’s signed assurance that elections were held consistent with Utah law; 

a record of the vote by the School Community Council when the LAND trust plan was approved, including the date of the vote and a report noting the number of council members who voted for or against the approval of the LAND trust plan and the number of council members who were absent for the vote; and 

the date the plan was approved by the Board of Education. 

The Council shall create a program to use the school’s allocation distributed under the School LAND Trust Program under Utah Code Ann. § 53F-2-404 to implement a component of the school's teacher and student success plan (“TSSA plan”).. The LAND trust plan shall, at a minimum:

Identify the school’s most critical academic needs;

Recommend a course of action to meet the identified academic needs;

List any programs, practices, materials, or equipment that the school will need to implement its action plan to have a direct impact on the instruction of students and result in measurable increased student performance; and

Describe how the school intends to enhance or improve academic achievement, including how financial resources available to the school (such as School LAND Trust Program money and state and federal grants) will be used to enhance or improve academic achievement;

The Council shall advise and make recommendations to school and school district administrators and the Board of Education regarding the following:

The school and its programs;

School district programs; 

A child access routing plan for elementary schools, middle schools, and junior high schools (Safe Routes Plan) in accordance with Nebo School District Policy EEA, School Access and Student Transportation, and Utah Code Ann. § 53G-4-402;

Safe technology utilization and Digital Citizenship; and 

Other issues relating to the community environment for students.

The Council shall provide for education and awareness on safe technology utilization and Digital Citizenship that empowers:

A student to make smart media and online choices; and

A parent or guardian to know how to discuss safe technology use with the parent’s or guardian’s child.

The Council shall partner with the school’s principal and other administrators to ensure that adequate on and off campus Internet filtering is installed on District-owned technology and is consistently configured to prevent viewing of harmful content. 

In order to fulfill its duties described in 7.4 and 7.5, the Council may:

Partner with one or more non-profit organizations; and

Create a subcommittee.

The Council shall create and vote to adopt a LAND trust plan to use School LAND Trust Program money to implement a component of the school’s TSSA plan. The LAND trust plan that is adopted must be posted on the School LAND Trust Program website. The Board must approve or disapprove the proposal to the School LAND Trust. If the Board disapproves the proposal, it shall provide a written explanation of why the proposal was disapproved and request that the Council revise the proposal. The Council shall then revise the proposal in response to the request. Once a proposal has been approved, it may be amended by a majority vote of the Council and Board approval.

The Council shall provide either a telephone number or email address, or both, where each Council member can be reached directly.

The Council shall work with students, families, and educators to develop and incorporate safety principles at the school and hold at least an annual discussion with the school’s principal and District administrators regarding safety principles at the school and district level in order to coordinate the Council’s effort to develop and incorporate safety principles at the school.

The council shall provide input to the school principal on a positive behaviors plan in accordance with Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-407.

In addition to the above requirements, the Council may, at the discretion of the principal, perform the following functions. 

Serve as the school’s Curriculum Review Committee.

Serve as the school’s Building Needs Committee.

Give input to the school administration with regard to school-level policies and procedures.

Become knowledgeable about school issues in order to build a bridge to the community.

Review and provide recommendations regarding applications for the organization of student clubs at the school.

Review and approve school attendance policy rewards, consequences, and eligibility requirements.

Approve school activity trips planned as a reward for student behavior or attendance.

Review the district’s Crisis Management Plan as it relates to the school and provide recommendations regarding school specific parts of the plan.

Review and provide recommendations regarding student dress and grooming standards in accordance with school district policy.

Perform other advisory functions as requested by the school principal.

8. ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Participate in the accreditation process in high schools and junior high schools.

Serve as the Comprehensive Guidance Advisory Committee.

Approve the schedule of admission fees for school events, not governed by the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) or by the competitive region in which the school participates.

9. ROLE OF THE PRINCIPAL

The principal will be responsible for elections to the School Community Council. The principal shall sign a written assurance that the elections were held in accordance with Utah Code Ann. §§ 53G-7-1202 and 53F-2-404.

The principal shall see that all plans and reports are submitted to the Elementary Director or Secondary Director, as applicable, for review by the Board of Education on an annual basis, along with a report noting the number of School Community Council members who voted for or against the approval of each plan and the number of members who were absent for the vote. Required plans include:

LAND trust plan.

Professional Development Plan.

Recommendations regarding school or school district programs and community environment.

The principal shall be responsible for the preparation, posting, and dissemination of all necessary information, summaries, and notices as required by applicable Utah law, rules, and regulations.

The principal will work with the chair and vice chair in order to provide for efficient and effective operation of the Council.

The principal or his/her designee shall insure that the School Community Council acts in compliance with Utah Code Ann. § 53G-7-1203.

The principal shall enter the names of the Council members on the School LAND Trust website on or before October 1 each year, pursuant to Utah Admin. Code R277-491. 

On or before October 1, the principal shall post the information described in Section 6.2.3 above on the school website and in the school office. 

Primary authority and accountability for all activities of the school resides with the principal. Principals work closely with School Community Councils to insure that they are functioning as outlined in this policy and as directed by Utah law, rules, and regulations.

A school or school district administrator may not prohibit or discourage the School Community Council from discussing issues, or offering advice or recommendations, regarding the school and its programs, school district programs, the curriculum, or the community environment for students.

The principal, on behalf of the Board of Education, shall provide training for the Council each year, including the following:

Training for the chair and vice chair about their responsibilities;

Training on resources available on the School LAND Trust website; and

Training on the following statutes governing School Community Councils: Utah Code Ann. §§ 53F-2-404 and 53G-7-1201 through 1206, as applicable.

10. ROLE OF THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR 

The Council shall elect a chair from the Parent or Guardian Members and a vice chair from the School Employee Members, excluding the principal. 

The chair and vice chair will work with the principal and the Council facilitator to schedule meetings and to develop the agenda.

The chair and vice chair shall work with the principal to see that all reports and plans are submitted to the Elementary Director or Secondary Director, as applicable.

The chair and vice chair shall insure that the Council meets at least monthly.

The chair or vice chair shall conduct the monthly meetings.

11. DUTIES OF THE COUNCIL FACILITATOR

A facilitator will be appointed by the principal. The facilitator may be an elected voting member or may be an appointed, non-voting member of the Council, at the discretion of the principal, and consistent with maintaining the correct composition of the Council. The Council facilitator will receive a stipend.

The duties of the Council facilitator shall include:

Attending district sponsored training about roles, procedures, and responsibilities;

Working closely with the principal, chair, and vice chair to insure that monthly meetings are held and operation of the Council is productive and efficient;

Preparing an agenda for each meeting;

Keeping minutes at all Council meetings;

Providing pertinent information for all Council members;

Gathering data about student achievement;

Arranging for program/information presentations to the Council;

Publicizing, to the community, the activities and decisions of the Council and all other information required by Utah Admin. Code R277-491-4;

Maintaining the Council website, and

Performing other duties as assigned by the principal.

12. DUTIES OF COUNCIL MEMBERS

Each Council member should make a conscientious effort to attend all meetings.

Each Council member should strive to act in good faith for the benefit of the students and the school.

Each Council member will participate in the review and development of the LAND trust plan and other required plans, reports, and committees.

At the end of the school year, each Council member will sign the sign-off form reflecting participation in the above activities.