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Category: Board Policy

Published on
  • Effective - 09/25/2012
  • Revision - 05/23/17

With respect to the treatment of paid and volunteer staff, the Superintendent may not cause or allow conditions which are inequitable, discriminatory, undignified, disorganized or unclear.

Further, without limiting the scope of the previous statement, he or she will not operate without written personnel policies which:

  1. Clarify procedures and expectations for staff and volunteers.
  2. Provide for effective handling of grievances in a timely manner.
  3. Protect against wrongful conditions, such as nepotism and grossly preferential treatment for personal reasons.
  4. Discriminate against any staff member for non-disruptive expression of dissent.
  5. Fail to acquaint staff with the Superintendent’s interpretation of their protections under this policy.
  6. Fail to recognize contributions by employees in a timely manner.
  7. Fail to promote a positive work environment at all levels.

Published on

Effective: 09/25/2012
Revision: 11/26/20
Reviewed: 2/25/2015

The Second Vice President acts to ensure that accurate Policy Governance records and documents of the Board of Education for Jordan School District are kept.

Accordingly, the Second Vice President shall:

  1. Assume the duties of the President in the absence of the President and First Vice President.
  2. Ensure that Board policies will be current in their reflection of Board decisions. Policies will rigorously follow Policy Governance principles.
  3. Assume such duties as the Board may decide.
  4. Gather items for the Board agenda.

Published on
  • Effective: 9/25/2012
  • Revision: 9/23/2014
  • Reviewed: 3/31/2015

Specific responsibilities of the Board of Education, as an informed agent of the people of Jordan School District, are those that ensure appropriate organizational performance.

Accordingly, the Board of Education will:

  1. Create the connection between the owners and Jordan School District and retain responsibility for the dissemination of information that is relevant to Jordan School District owners. This includes, but is not limited to:
    1. Annual accountability reports
    2. Monthly financial reports
    3. Annual financial reports
    4. Minutes and audio recording of Board meetings
    5. Posting of public meetings
  2. Develop written governing policies that will, at the broadest levels of all organizational decisions and situations, address:
    1. Governance Process: Specification of how the Board of Education conceives, carries out, and monitors its own tasks.
    2. Board/Superintendent Connection: How responsibility is delegated and its proper use monitored, the Superintendent role, and authority and accountability.
    3. Executive Limitations: Constraints on executive authority that establish the boundaries within which all executive activity and decisions must take place.
    4. Ends: Organizational products, impact, benefits, outcomes, recipients, and their relative worth (what good, for which recipients, at what cost).
  3. Approve all Jordan School District policies and regulations. Unless otherwise authorized, any waivers of provisions in Jordan School District policies and/or regulations must be approved by the Board of Education.
  4. Assure successful Superintendent and Business Administrator performance by monitoring performance on Ends and Executive Limitations.
  5. Make decisions related to taxation and new bond issues.
  6. Allow the mayor of each of the Cities, or the designee of a given mayor, to attend and participate in Board meetings as is currently provided by UCA 53G-7-208(3)(b).
  7. Participate in such additional activities and committees as are necessary to carry out the business of the Board.

Revision history: 9/23/14

Published on

Effective: 9/25/2012
Revision: 11/30/2021
Reviewed: 10/10/2023

The Board shall prepare an agenda for all regular and special Board meetings and ensure that copies are provided as required by the Open Meeting Law. Backup materials sufficient to allow Board members to give their prior consideration to the agenda items shall be provided to the Board members in addition to the agenda. Every Board member has the right to contribute to the agenda.

In preparing the agenda, the following procedures will be followed:

  1. Board members shall contact the Board Executive Committee (Board President, First Vice President and Second Vice President) in writing prior to each Board meeting requesting items to be placed on the agenda.
    1. If a Board member wishes to place an item on the agenda, he/she will contact a member of the Executive Committee not less than seven days prior to Board meeting when possible.  If a holiday occurs during this period, the deadline may be adjusted.
    2. Each agenda item request should  include a description, desired outcome statement, Board policy if applicable, and name of the person presenting.
    3. When requesting an agenda item, the Board member will specify the timeframe for when the item needs addressed.
    4. Closed session items may be requested by calling  a member of the Executive Committee.
    5. The Board First Vice President and Second Vice President will forward potential agenda items to the Board President.
  2. The Cabinet will submit agenda items to the Superintendent. The Superintendent will submit requested agenda items to the Board President.
  3. According to the posting dates of the agenda, the Executive Committee will review all agenda item requests. Every attempt will be made to honor the requests. Time and circumstances may necessitate the postponement of a requested agenda item. Board members and Superintendent will be notified if their agenda item is not included.
    1. The Board President will review all agenda item requests with the Superintendent.
    2. A draft agenda will be prepared and submitted in a timely manner to the Executive Committee for final approval.
    3. When at all possible, items placed on the agenda shall be referenced to a Board policy or appear on the consent agenda.
    4. An item will automatically be placed on the agenda for the next meeting upon written request of three or more Board members.
    5. The Board will have the final say in the event of a dispute.
    6. The approved agenda will be distributed to Board members and posted according to Open Meeting Laws.
  4. Addendum usage should be as minimal as possible. Addenda will only be used when the item is operationally necessary as determined by the Superintendent. Addendum items with background reference materials will be distributed electronically to Board members prior to the meeting.

Published on
  • Effective - 09/25/2012
  • Revision -
  • Reviewed - 3/31/2015

The Superintendent and/or Business Administrator will not cause or allow any practice, activity, decision, or organizational circumstance, which is either unlawful, imprudent or in violation of commonly accepted business and professional ethics and practices.

Published on
  • Effective: 9/25/2012
  • Revision: 11/26/20

Reference: Appendix “Procedures for Election of Board Officers”

The officers of the Board shall be a President, a First Vice President, and a Second Vice President. They shall be elected at the first Board of Education meeting in January from among the Board members.

  1. The term of office for all officers shall be two years in accordance with Utah Code 53G-4-201. Board members may be elected to more than one term.
  2. Procedure for the Election of Board Officers: The following procedure, utilized one office at a time, will be used for selecting a Board member to serve for each office:
    1. Nominations: Any Board member may nominate for any office, including the nomination of oneself.
      1. Nominations do not need to be seconded.
      2. A motion, a second, and a vote will close nominations.
      3. See Appendix “Procedures for Election of Board Officers” for detailed instructions according to Roberts Rules of Order.
    2. Voting: To be elected to an office, a nominee must receive four affirmative votes.
      1. Voting shall be by raise of hand.
      2. Candidates for an office shall be voted on according to the order of the nominations. The first nominee to receive four votes is elected to the office and the voting ceases for that office.
      3. If no candidate receives a simple majority due to more than two candidates receiving votes, the candidate(s) receiving the lowest number of votes will be given the option to withdraw. Regardless of that candidate’s choice, the Board will move to a run-off vote.
      4. The run-off vote will be only between the two candidates receiving the two lowest numbers of votes. This vote will be by raise of hand. After the run-off vote, a final round of voting will take place, by hand vote, to determine a majority winner. For additional detailed instructions according to Roberts Rules of Order, see the Appendix “Procedures for Election of Board Officers.”
  3. If an office becomes vacant for any reason, the office shall be filled by an election for that office by the Board members in the same manner as outlined in the Procedure for Election of Officers. Election shall take place as soon as possible at a meeting following receipt of notice of the vacancy and in accordance with the Open Meeting Law. If the office of the President becomes vacant, the Vice President shall fill the vacancy until the election of a successor.
  4. An officer may be removed from office by provisions in Utah Code 53G-4-203.

Revision history: 2/24/15

Published on

Effective: 9/25/2012
Revision: 1/28/2014

The Board will invest in training and preparation to govern with excellence.

Accordingly:

  1. Board skills, methods, and supports will be sufficient to assure governing with excellence.
    1. Training and retraining may be used liberally to orient new members and may be offered to candidates, as well as to maintain and increase existing member skills and understanding.
    2. Outside monitoring assistance may be arranged so that the Board can exercise confident control over organizational performance. This includes, but is not limited to, fiscal audits, surveys, or other practices by the Board.
    3. Outreach mechanisms will be used as needed to ensure the Board’s ability to listen to owners’ viewpoints and values.
    4. The cost of governance is not limited to leadership excellence. Good governing requires adequate resources to ensure the desired outcome of Board policies. Resources will be allocated for:
      1. Agenda production
      2. Transcription and production of minutes
      3. Response to constituent concerns
      4. Board communications
      5. Staff training in governance, public engagement, and customer service issues
  2. Costs will be incurred prudently, though not at the expense of good governance as follows:
    1. Sufficient resources will be budgeted within the General Fund to conduct Board professional development and supplemented with grants and contributions.
    2. Sufficient funding will be budgeted within the general funds to conduct audits and other third party monitoring or organizational performance.
  3. The Board will approve an annual plan derived from the perpetual calendar (see GP102 Board Responsibilities, GP103 Board Members’ Principles of Operation – Conduct and Ethics) and will include a review of the budget to guarantee issues, including an extensive policy review, will be conducted every year following the legislative session to ensure compliance with legislative changes.

Published on
  • Effective - 09/25/2012
  • Revision - 7/25/2017

In order to protect the Board from the sudden loss of services of the Superintendent and/or Business Administrator, each of these administrators shall have no fewer than two other administrators who are collectively familiar with their respective positions and the issues and processes of the Board.

Published on
  • Effective - 09/25/12
  • Revision - 09/25/2018

The Superintendent shall prepare an annual progress report for the public that includes the following items:

  1. Performance data toward accomplishing the Board’s Ends policies.
  2. Information about District strategies, programs and operations intended to accomplish the Board’s Ends policies.
  3. Revenues, expenditures and costs of major programs and elements of District operation.

Published on
  • Effective - 09/25/2012
  • Revision -

The Superintendent will not permit the Board to be uninformed or unsupported in its work.

Without limiting the scope of the aforementioned statement, the Superintendent will not:

  1. Neglect to submit monitoring data required by the Board in a timely, accurate, and understandable fashion, directly addressing the provisions of Board policies being monitored (see policy BSC204 Monitoring Superintendent Performance).
  2. Fail to communicate District objectives or fail to provide accurate data which reflects the need for improvement as well as success.
  3. Fail to notify the public when policies are under consideration for revision or adoption.
  4. Fail to report in a timely manner an actual or anticipated noncompliance with a policy of the Board.
  5. Fail to make the Board aware of state and federal legislative changes, District compliance to those changes, relevant trends, changes in Board district policies, anticipated adverse media coverage, threatened or pending lawsuits, significant harm to student(s) or staff, material external and internal changes, particularly changes in the assumptions upon which any Board policy has previously been established.
  6. Fail to support the Board in its Community Connection initiatives that develop community relations and communications with parents, community members, and staff.
  7. Fail to advise the Board if, in the Superintendent’s opinion, the Board is not in compliance with its own policies on Governance Process and Board/Superintendent Connection.
  8. Fail to provide for the Board as many staff and external points of view, all pertinent and significant information, issues and opinions as the Board determines it needs for fully informed Board choices.
  9. Fail to submit to the Board a consent agenda containing items delegated to the Superintendent, yet required by law, regulation, or contract to be Board approved, along with applicable monitoring information.