Responsibilities and Authority of Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is authorized to govern the District which it oversees. As the governing Board of the District, the Board has three duties to perform: legislative, executive, and evaluative.
As a representative of the citizens of the District community, the Board is responsible for legislating policy for the District consistent with the laws of the general assembly and Administrative Rules related to the operation, control, and supervision of public schools in the district. As a policy-making body, the Board has jurisdiction to enact policy with the force and effect of law for the management and operation of the District.
It is the responsibility of the Board, under the Board’s executive duty, to select its chief executive officer, the superintendent, to operate the District on the Board’s behalf. The Board delegates to the superintendent its authority to carry out Board policy, to formulate and carry out rules and regulations, and to handle the administrative details in a manner which supports and is consistent with Board policy.
The Board has a responsibility to review the education program’s performance under its evaluative duty. The Board regularly reviews the education program and ancillary services. The review includes a study of the facts, conditions and circumstances surrounding the amount of funds received or expended, and the education program’s ability to achieve the Board’s educational philosophy and goals for the District.
Members of the Board shall have authority only when acting as a Board legally in session. Individual Board members exercise authority over district affairs only as they vote to act at a legal meeting of the Board. In other instances, an individual Board member, including the President, will have power only when the Board, by vote, has delegated authority. The Board shall not be bound in any way by any statement or action on the part of an individual member except when such statement or action is based on a specific instruction of the Board. Therefore, the Board may transact business only with a quorum present during a regular, special, or emergency meeting.
Pursuant to the state statues, any Board member shall not seek individually to influence the official functions of the District. The Board and its individual members will address administrative services through the superintendent and will not give orders to any subordinates of the superintendent either publicly or privately but may make suggestions and recommendations.
Legal Reference: Iowa Code ยงยง 274.1; 279.1, .8, .20; 280.12
281 I.A.C. 12.3(2)
- Approved: 05-27-80
- Reviewed: 02-27-89, 06-08-92, 09-25-95, 11-23-98, 04-14-03
- Revised: 12-08-08, 11-10-14, 08-26-19
- Reviewed: 02-14-2022
- Documents: 201.2
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