FILE: BCB

Cf: BBA, BCBI

BOARD MEETING PROCEDURES

The Livingston Parish School Board recognizes that it is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner and that the citizens be advised of and aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy. Toward this end, except as provided for by state law, all meetings of the Livingston Parish School Board shall be open to the public.

It is the desire of the Board that meetings be formal enough for orderly procedure, but informal enough to be natural, to encourage free discussion, and to promote group thinking and action. In matters of procedures not covered by law, Board policy, or the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, meetings of the Board, including committee meetings, shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised. The President shall be entitled to discuss and vote on all matters before the Board.

The President of the Board, or, in his absence, the Vice-President, shall conduct all meetings. In the absence of both, the Superintendent shall preside until the Board elects an acting chairman. The presiding officer shall recognize members of the Board who wish to be heard in the order that he deems advisable. No member of the Board shall speak without having first been recognized.

Each Board member shall be given an opportunity to express without interruption, his views on any agenda item. The President may stop any discussion which does not apply to the motion last made. He may also stop the discussion of a matter if the Board has previously agreed to confine discussion to a definite period of time, and that time period has been used. Aside from such limitation, the President may limit debate only with the concurrence of the members present.

Public participation in Board meetings shall be permitted during the public comment period. Other persons may be recognized in Board meetings upon approval of the Board. The President of the Board shall have complete authority to remove any person(s) who willfully disrupts a meeting to the extent that orderly conduct of the meeting can not be maintained.

 

Ref: La. Rev. Stat. §§17:81, 42:5.1.