Educational Excellence School Advisory Council

0091 Bob Graham Education Center

The bylaws for this school were last modified on Sep. 01, 2023.

The bylaws are as follows:

Bob Graham Education Center

Educational Excellence School Advisory Council Bylaws

A. Purpose

The purpose of the Bob Graham Education Center Educational Excellence School Advisory Council is to work to ensure improved student achievement. One of the ways the Council will do this is by preparing and evaluating the school improvement plan as required by Section 229.591 F.S., Comprehensive Revision of Florida’s System of School Improvement and Education Accountability.

B. Government In The Sunshine Law

The Government in the Sunshine Law of 1967 applies to the Educational Excellence School Advisory Council. The Sunshine Law applies to any gathering of two or more members of the EESAC to discuss some matter, which will foreseeably come before the Educational Excellence School Advisory Council for action. The following requirements must be met:

1. All meetings of the EESAC must be open to the public.

2. Notice of such meetings will be posted a minimum of five (5) working days
in advance.

3. Minutes of the meeting must be taken.

C. Council Members

1. Composition

The Bob Graham Education Center Educational Excellence School Advisory Council shall be made up of 5 teachers, 6 parents, 1 student, 1 education support employee, 2 business/community representatives, the UTD steward and the principal. With the exception of the principal, and the business/community representatives, all other members shall be elected by their constituent groups. The principal shall appoint the Alternate Principal representative. The UTD Steward shall appoint an Alternate UTD Steward representative. Teachers, parents, students and education support employees shall also elect an alternate representative. The Council will be representative of the ethnic, racial, linguistic, disabled and economic community served by the Bob Graham Education Center.

2. Eligibility

All teachers, student services personnel, and the media specialist employed by the school are eligible to be elected teacher representatives to the Council. All other persons employed by the school, including paraprofessionals, and those who are not defined as instructional or administrative personnel and whose duties require 25 hours or more in each normal working week are eligible to be elected as the education support employee representative. All parents, guardians or significant others responsible for a child enrolled in the Bob Graham Education Center are eligible to be elected as parent representatives, with the exception of those parents who are also employed by Bob Graham Education Center.

3. Terms

The terms of office shall begin on July 1st and end on June 30th. Terms of office for teachers and the education support employee will be 3 years. Parents and the business community representative will also serve a 3-year term. The term of the student representative will coincide with the school year. The current school Principal and current elected U.T.D. representative will serve on the council. There will be no limit to the number of times a Council member can be re-elected or re-appointed.

4. Responsibilities

Council members are expected to:

a. attend all regular and special meetings. Any member who has three or more consecutive unexcused absences from Council meetings shall be considered to have resigned. The member shall be replaced following election/selection procedures as stated in these bylaws. An absence is considered excused if the EESAC Chair is notified of his/her absence;

b. communicate with constituents to collect data and opinions for decision-
making;

c. report to constituents the actions taken by the Council; and

d. consider the needs of all students when making decisions.

D. Election Process

The school shall give proper notice of the election of council members in accordance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law. The school shall also make its best effort to hold elections for each constituent group during hours that are convenient for each constituent group.

1. Election of Teachers

Teacher elections will be conducted by the designated Building Steward, in cooperation with the EESAC chairperson, during a noticed meeting. There shall be a minimum of five (5) working days’ notice of the election. The notice of the faculty meeting will state that the purpose of the meeting is to elect teacher representatives to the school’s Educational Excellence School Advisory Council. Nominations for the vacant positions can be taken from the floor. All teachers, media specialists and counselors are eligible to be nominated for EESAC and to vote on those nominated.

Teachers will be nominated to represent the following school groups: primary grades, intermediate grades, middle school grades, special area, foreign language and ESE departments. One alternate teacher will be selected from the general population.

2. Election of Parents

Parent elections will be conducted by the EESAC Chairperson and by the Principal/designee. Notification of the election shall be given at least five (5) working days in advance. Every effort will be made to provide all parents with the opportunity to participate, including providing written notices sent to the home and/or a Connect-Ed message and/or an electronic communication. Parents and guardians are eligible to be nominated if they have a child who will be in our school the following year (student enrolled in grades PreK-6). This election will take place during an advertised school meeting. All parents and guardians are eligible to vote in the election.

3. Election of Education Support Personnel

Education Support Personnel elections shall be conducted by the Principal and the designated Building Steward. Notice of the election shall be given at least five (5) working days in advance. Any person employed by the school, including paraprofessionals, who is not defined as instructional or administrative and whose duties require more than 25 hours in each week, shall be eligible to be nominated and to vote in the election.

4. Election of Students

The student representatives will be elected as sixth graders either nominated by Student Council members, chosen from Student Council Cabinet members or appointed by the Student Council sponsor. The student getting the most votes will serve as the representative for three years and the student receiving the second most votes will serve as the alternate. If appointed, the Sponsor will choose the representative and alternate. Both sixth graders will serve for three years.

5. Special Elections

In the event that a member of the EESAC cannot complete his/her term, a special election shall be held to elect a person to complete the original member’s term. The procedure for special elections will be the same as in regular elections. If the current alternate is elected to fill the position, it will be necessary to elect another alternate. The vacancy should be posted as soon as it is known, with the election taking place no more than two weeks after it is announced. Proper notice of the election, no less than five (5) working days, shall be given.

6. Election of the EESAC Chairperson and Recording Secretary

At the first official meeting of the EESAC each year, an election shall be held for a Chairperson and a Recording Secretary to serve for that year. Nominations will be made from the floor and an election will be held if there is more than one nominee for each position.

Duties of the Chairperson shall include the preparation and distribution of the agenda for all regular and special meetings as well as providing leadership in the flow of the meetings. The Chairperson shall monitor the evaluation and submission of all waivers and/or proposals. In addition, the Chairperson will organize all member elections as specified in these bylaws.

The Scribe shall post the notice of the meetings, take written minutes of each regular and special meeting, post them on the Internet, and provide copies of the minutes to the members of the EESAC in an expedient manner. One hard copy will be posted, and official copies will be maintained in the main office.

E. Meetings

1. Regular Meetings

The regular meetings of the EESAC shall be held once a month. The meetings will be held in the Media Center; the dates will be determined annually. All meetings will be held at a time that is convenient to parents, students, teachers, and business/community representatives. It is the responsibility of the EESAC Chairperson to post notice of the meetings at least five (5) working days in advance.

2. Special Meetings

In the event a special meeting is needed, the Principal, the EESAC Chairperson, or a majority of Council members may call a meeting.

3. Cancellation

A regular council meeting may be rescheduled or cancelled by the Council.

4. All Meetings

All meetings shall be open to the public and shall not be held in any facility or location which discriminates on the basis of sex, age, race, creed, color, origin, disability, or economic status or which operates in such a manner as to unreasonably restrict access to such a facility.

5. The following access statement should appear on every notice of a meeting:

If you have a disability that requires an accommodation, you may call the individual listed as the Contact Person for the above-posted meeting or call the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (305) 995-2400. For accommodations or assistance, the request must be made at least 48 hours in advance. For special equipment (chair lifts, special wheel chairs, etc.) or other special assistance, such as sign language interpreter or meeting materials, the request for assistance must be made at least five (5) days in advance.

F. Quorum

In order for the Council to take a vote, over 50% of the members must be present to constitute a quorum. The quorum must include both teacher and parent representatives. An alternate teacher may vote if they are present for an absent teacher representative.

G. Agenda

1. Preparation

The Chairperson shall prepare and distribute the agenda for all regular and special meetings. The agenda shall be posted on the communications board no less than three (3) working days before the meeting.

2. Adding to the Agenda

a. Council members may submit items to any regular meeting agenda by contacting the Chairperson at least five (5) working days in advance of the meeting.

b. Non-Council members may propose an agenda item by contacting a Council member at least eight (8) working days in advance of the meeting.

c. The agenda may be amended at the meeting by consensus of the Council.

H. Consensus Decision Making

The primary method of decision-making shall be by consensus. Consensus allows teachers, administrators, support personnel, parents and community members, as a group of professionals, to reach agreement on common goals and on the strategies to reach these goals. It is understood that the most essential ingredient of successful consensus decision-making is the orally expressed willingness of the minority to support the majority decision, i.e., “I can live with and support the majority decision.”
If consensus cannot be reached, and there are no time constraints, the item will be tabled until the next meeting. If there is a time constraint, a decision shall be reached by a majority vote.

I. Minutes

Minutes shall be kept for all meetings of the EESAC. Copies of the approved minutes shall be maintained by the school as a public record. In addition, a copy of the minutes of every meeting as of July 1, 2002, will be posted electronically by the school on the Internet.

J. Input From Non-Council Members

Those who are in attendance at the Council meetings shall be provided an opportunity to discuss issues under consideration. Anyone wishing to speak to an agenda item will be given the opportunity by the Chairperson at the time that the topic is being discussed. Non-Council members will be given the opportunity to discuss non-agenda items during the last fifteen minutes of the meeting.

K. Committees

Committees may be formed from time to time on an as needed basis by consensus of the EESAC.

L. Amendments

These bylaws may be amended at any regular meeting by an over 50% vote of the membership of the EESAC, provided that at least five (5) working days written notice of the proposed change has been given to all members of the council.

Revised August 24, 2022