CODE: 1220
SECTION: COMMUNITY RELATIONS
AD HOC ADVISORY COMMITTEES
The West Milford Board of Education believes that community advisory committees are useful both in keeping the Board and administration informed with regard to community opinion and in representing the community in the study of specific school issues. The Board shall, when required by law or when it finds it beneficial, appoint advisory committees to assist in research projects, long-range studies, program evaluations and development of policies or educational goals/programs. Each committee shall be appointed for a specific purpose and time. The Board may dissolve any Board-appointed committee at its sole discretion.
Such committees shall be representative of the community in relation to the tasks delegated to them and may include staff and pupils when appropriate. Appointees shall serve only as individuals and shall not represent an organization, geographic area, religious group, or any other subdivision of the community in an official capacity.
When appropriate, programs shall draw on the assistance from business, labor, and other organizations to develop vocational, technical and enrichment programs and provide pupils with practical work experience.
The Board shall adopt the committee structure and organization it deems appropriate to the assignment at hand except for funded programs where requirements are set by law. The Board is responsible for approving all members of a committee and the method of their selection in consultation with the Superintendent. Staff members shall not constitute a majority of any general community advisory committee.
Recommendations from the committee shall not reduce the responsibility of the Board, which shall be free to accept or reject the recommendations as it sees fit. Only the Board has the power to act. The chosen chairperson shall ensure that the members of the committee are informed as to the final decision of the Board.
Any publicity concerning the organization, membership, operations, findings or recommendations of any committee shall be released only by the Board designee.
In district-initiated advisory committees, the Superintendent shall draft procedures for instructing committees as to the length of time each member is asked to serve, the services the Board wishes them to render, the resources the Board intends to provide and the approximate date on which the Board wished to dissolve the committee. Furthermore, the committee shall be instructed as to the relationship it has to the Board, to the individual board members, to the secretary of the Board, to the Superintendent, and to the rest of the professional staff.
When the law regulates the formation and activities of an advisory committee, the administration shall cooperate fully in its activities.
First Reading: December 12, 2000
Adopted: December 19, 2000