No. 1210

COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Series 1000

School-based Organizations

Policy

It is the policy of the Region 15 Board of Education that the Board of Education may recognize as a school-based organization any group of individuals whose purpose and functions support the education of the students of the Region.  All such groups, once recognized, operate at the discretion of the Board of Education through its legal designees.  Such organizations are accorded the use of school facilities for the pursuit of the purposes delineated in their by-laws with all such uses subject to prior approval of the Board’s legal designee.

The approval process and criteria shall be as follows:

1.

Each organization seeking the status of a school-based organization must submit a letter of request to the Board of Education with a copy of its by-laws.

2.

The by-laws of each organization seeking approval must include the following:

a.

A statement of purposes consistent with this policy.

b.

A statement as to the qualifications for membership in the organization.

c.

The method of election of officers.

d.

The schedule of regular meetings.

e.

An assurance that all REGULAR meetings of the organization will be conducted in a school building and will be open to all members of the organization as well as appropriate administrators.

f.

An assurance that all published organizational decisions will be achieved by vote of a majority of the membership present and voting at a regularly scheduled meeting.

g.

An assurance of compliance with the requirement of public disclosure as defined by the State Freedom of Information act.

h.

An assurance of public disclosure of the financial status of the organization and acceptance of an informal audit procedure by the Board of Education.

i.

The means by which the by-laws may be amended.

3.

The Board shall review all applications and make any suggestions relative to alterations to the organization’s proposal or by-laws.  Prior approval by the Superintendent must be obtained before any such information is disseminated.

4.

The Board, at its discretion, may approve or deny requests for approval by an organization.  It may also approve multiple organizations if it is determined that such approvals are in the system’s best interest.

5.

The inclusion of their activities under the provision of the Region’s liability insurance policy.

6.

The recognition as an agency acceptable for the use of student directory information as deemed appropriate by the Superintendent.

7.

All fund raising will be conducted according to the policies and procedures of the Region 15 Board of Education.

The Board reserves the right at any time to rescind the approval of a recognized school-based organization or to suspend approval pending the correction of any variance of the organization’s actions from the policies and procedures of the Board.

This policy takes effect upon passage and supersedes all prior recognition of pre-existing groups accorded any or all privileges not accorded to the general public.

Adopted:

8

April

1985

Revision Adopted:

20

September

1986

28

September

1998

20

August

2001