CODE: 1120
SECTION: COMMUNITY RELATIONS
BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETINGS
The West Milford Board of Education meetings shall be the primary means of sharing information with community members and inviting their comments and suggestions. Regular and special meetings of the Board of Education are open to the public and representatives of the media, except when, by resolution at the public meeting, the Board excludes the public from those parts of a meeting which deal with matters held confidential in accordance with the law.
The Board welcomes participation of interested organizations and individuals and will schedule time as appropriate for the public to speak. The length of time scheduled for public discussion shall be stated in the agenda, together with any time limit proposed for individual speakers.
The Board will not permit unnecessary and/or inappropriate identification of district pupils at public or Board meetings, particularly when the pupil is subject to disciplinary action, or is educationally handicapped. A special confidential file shall be kept of the names of educationally handicapped pupils on whose behalf the Board must take public action. An unidentifiable coding shall be used when referring to the pupil.
Comments and questions at the beginning of regular meetings may only pertain to agenda items; comments and questions at the end of the regular meeting may deal with any topic related to the Board’s conduct of the schools. Comments at special meetings must be related to the call of the meeting. Advance announcement of all regular, scheduled special, and specially called meetings of the Board shall be made through newspapers.
Items to be presented at such meetings must include, but are not limited to:
A. Discussion of state rules and local procedures for implementation of district goals, objectives and standards;
B. Presentation of audit report;
C. Presentation of budget;
D. Annual plans for special education, bilingual/ESL, and basic skills programs;
E. Graduation and dropout statistics; other demographic data;
F. Mandated in-service programs.
First Reading: December 12, 2000
Adopted: December 19, 2000