Board Meetings, Policy No. 620

Printable PDF Board Policy 620

The board of education shall transact all business at official meetings of the board. These may be regular, continued, or reconvened, special or emergency meetings, defined as follows:  

          1. Regular Meeting – the usual, official legal action meeting held regularly.

          2. Continued or Reconvened Meeting – a meeting assembled for the purpose of finishing business appearing on an agenda of a previous meeting.

          3. Special Meeting – an official legal action meeting called between scheduled regular meetings to consider specific topics.

          4. Emergency Meeting – an official legal action meeting held only for dealing with situations involving either injury to persons or injury or damage to public or personal property or immediate financial loss so severe that the 48-hour notice period for a special meeting would be impractical and increase the likelihood of injury or damage or immediate financial loss.

A “meeting” is defined as the gathering of a quorum of members of the technology center to propose or take legal action, including any deliberations with respect to such action.

No meetings will be held by teleconference. However, meetings may be held by videoconference as long as the meeting conforms to the requirements of Oklahoma’s Open Meeting Act. Accordingly, any meeting conducted by videoconference must meet the following requirements:

          1. A quorum must be present in person at the physical meeting site as posted on the meeting notice and agenda.

          2. The meeting notice and agenda prepared in advance of the meeting shall indicate that the meeting will include videoconferencing locations and shall state the location, address and telephone number of each available videoconference site, the identity of each member of the body, and the specific site from which each member of the body shall be physically present and participating in the meeting.

          3. After the meeting notice and agenda are prepared and posted, no member of the public body shall be allowed to participate in the meeting from any location other than the specific location posted on the agenda in advance of the meeting.

          4. The method of meeting described in the meeting notice shall not be modified prior to the meeting, and the board shall conduct the meeting according to the methods described in the notice. If a code or password is required to access the videoconference meeting, the code or password shall be included in the public notice.

          5. In order to allow the public to attend and observe each board member carrying out their duties, a member of the board desiring to participate in a meeting by videoconference shall participate from a site and room within the district or political subdivision from which they are elected, appointed, or are sworn to represent. Each site or room where a member of the board is present for a meeting that includes videoconference, shall be open and accessible to the public, and the public shall be allowed into that site or room.

          6. Public bodies may provide additional videoconference sites as a convenience to the public, but additional sites shall not be used to exclude or discourage public attendance at any video at any videoconference site.

          7. The public shall be allowed to participate and speak, as allowed by rule or policy set by the public body.

          8. Any materials shared electronically between members of the public body, before or during the videoconference, shall also be immediately available to the public in the same form and manner as shared with members of the public body.

          9. All votes occurring during any meeting conducted using videoconferencing shall occur and be recorded by roll call vote.

          10.  Executive sessions by videoconference are prohibited.

The regular meeting of the board of education shall be on the second Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise noted, at 5:30 p.m. at the location indicated in the annual letter to the Cleveland County Clerk. The board may change the meeting place and hour of the meeting by agreement of a majority of the whole number elected.

Special meetings of the board may be called by the president at any time, and he/she shall call special meetings whenever so requested, in writing, by any member of the board. Business transacted at any special meeting may be for either a specific or a general purpose.

Reference: OKLA. STAT. tit. 25, §§ 304, 307.1 (2021).

 

Revised: January 11, 2022