 By-laws of the PS 163 Leadership Team
As Adopted, February, 2000; amended May, 2000; amended October, 2003;
amended December, 2005, amended June 2007, amended May 2008
Article I: Name
The name of this organization shall be the PS 163 School Leadership Team.
Article II: Objectives
As
described in The Chancellor’s Plan for School Leadership Teams, the
purpose of the School Leadership Team is to determine the school’s
educational direction, that is, the school’s overall educational
vision, its goals and priorities, the strategies that will be used to
achieve that vision, and the alignment of resources to carry out those
strategies.
The School Leadership Team (SLT) of PS 163 shall meet the following objectives:
1) To review, monitor and assess the current school year’s Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP).
2)
To review, monitor and assess the current school year’s budget and
staffing plan to ensure it is consistent with and furthers the CEP.
3) To focus efforts of staff and parents on those aspects of the CEP in need of increased support.
4) To rewrite the CEP for the next school year.
5)
To reform the proposed budget and staffing plan for the following year
to ensure it is consistent with and furthers the proposed CEP.
6)
To take any other actions, consistent with the CEP, to further enrich
the educational and social experience of the children who attend PS 163.
Article III: Team Composition
1) As required by the Chancellor's Plan for School Leadership Teams,
a)
the Principal, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Chapter Delegate
and the President of the PS 163 Parent Teachers Association ( PTA)
shall be core members of the SLT. If the PTA elects more than one
co-president, the PTA shall decide which one will be a member of the
SLT.
b) the number of staff and parent members shall be equal.
2)
There shall be no fewer than 10 and no more than 12 members of the SLT.
(DOE regulations indicate the maximum number of SLT members is not to
exceed 17.) The number of members shall remain constant from one year
to the next unless a quorum of the SLT votes otherwise in a meeting.
Parent and staff members shall try to ensure representation of all
school constituencies. Staff constituencies are defined as the unions:
UFT and DC37. (DC37 representation is desired but not necessary for an
SLT to be in compliance with DOE regulations.) Parent constituencies
are defined as the programs: Dual Language, General Education, Gifted
and Talented and Special Needs.
3) Members of the school leadership team shall serve a term of two years.
4)
a) Elections, conducted by the PTA for parents, which shall not be
concurrent with elections held for PTA positions but conducted after
PTA elections are conducted, and staff constituencies for staff, shall
be staggered so that half of the elected seats are open in any given
year. Team members whose terms have expired may run for reelection. The
terms of the three core members shall not expire.
b) If a seat on the team becomes vacant during that member’s term, the position shall be filled in the following manner:
1)
If the vacant position is a parent position, then, if the PTA has
specifically elected ranked alternate team members, the next ranking
alternate shall immediately fill the vacant position. If more than one
unranked alternated has been elected, succession shall be determined by
lottery. If no alternates are in place, the PTA shall immediately
notify the parent body of the vacancy and shall schedule an election to
fill that vacancy, which shall be held as soon as possible under PTA
bylaws.
2) If the vacant position is a staff position,
the constituency previously represented by the vacant position shall,
by consensus, select a replacement. If the constituent group cannot
achieve consensus before the next regularly scheduled team meeting, the
staff constituency will hold an immediate election to fill the vacant
position.
c) It shall be a duty of the secretary to
maintain the official list of members of the team together with the
expiration date of each member’s term. If and when a new person is
elected or selected to the SLT’s ex officio positions, the secretary
shall file record of the new appointment among the documents of the
team.
1) At the end of the voting for new parent members,
the secretary shall request from the PTA a tabulation of the ballots,
and a statement of the results. These records shall be kept with the
records of the team.
2) At the end of the voting for new
staff members, the secretary shall request from the staff
constituencies a tabulation of the ballots and a statement of the
results. These records shall be kept with the records of the team.
d)
Members are expected to make every effort to attend meetings. It is
expected that core members will make every effort to attend all SLT
meetings and, if they must miss a meeting, will ask a designee to
represent them. After a member misses two consecutive meetings, the
co-chairs will contact the member to ask his or her intent to
participate. If an elected member fails to attend three consecutive
meetings in the school year, the member is disqualified and the
position is vacant. In that case, procedures for filling team vacancies
would be followed as stated above.
e) An elected
alternate is expected to keep current with the work of the School
Leadership Team by attending at least one meeting every three months
and reviewing SLT minutes, committee minutes, e-mails and other
correspondence
Article IV: Officers
1) The officers of the leadership team shall be as follows:
a)
Two Co-Chairs, one a parent and one a staff member, who shall prepare
proposed agendas for input and adoption, shall preside at all meetings,
direct the discussion and try to lead the team to consensus.
b)
Treasurer, who shall determine each fall if stipends exist. If so, each
June the treasurer shall collect requests for payments of stipends from
the Team and see that these forms are delivered to the appropriate DOE
office. The treasurer should follow up as necessary. The treasurer
shall determine if there is any Department of Education allocation for
SLTs. The treasurer shall, with the help of the Budget committee,
prepare a budget based on the money allocated for team expenses which
shall be submitted to the team for approval. The treasurer shall, with
the signed consent of either the principal or one of the co-chairs,
authorize the disbursal of money as required to pay bills duly incurred
by the team, and keep account of all money spent by the Team. The
Treasurer shall be the chair of the budget and finance committee.
c)
In addition to the duties specified in Article III, Paragraph 4c and
Article VI, Paragraph A, the Secretary shall be responsible for taking
the minutes of each meeting. The Secretary shall prepare and circulate
draft minutes of the team meetings prior to the team's next meeting,
for approval by the team. The Recording Secretary shall maintain in the
school office copies of all minutes of team meetings, attendance
records, all minutes of committee meetings, all correspondence sent out
by the team or its committees and any other documents used by the team
and its committees in deliberations. Those documents shall be available
for public inspection upon notice to either the principal or the
recording secretary. Secretary shall receive and circulate to the
appropriate team members all correspondence received by the team. The
Secretary shall distribute all notices to the team and will correspond,
on behalf of the team. The position of Secretary may be shared between
two or more people, and/or its duties delegated to other team members.
2)
Procedure for the Election of Officers: Officers shall be elected by a
majority vote for a one year term at the first October meeting of the
team.
3) Replacement of Officers:In the event an
officer resigns or is unable to fulfill her/his duty, the team shall
declare the office vacant and shall, at its next meeting following
notice of the vacancy, elect a replacement who will serve out the term
of the person replaced.
Article V Committees
The work of the leadership team will be carried out in part by committees.
1)Operation
of committees. Standing committees shall be chaired by an SLT officer.
Ad hoc committees shall have at least one SLT member and the chair may
be an SLT member or not
The committee members select their own
chair. Persons who are not members of the Leadership Team may become
members of the committees of the team. Committees will make
recommendations to the team but final action on any issue is reserved
for the whole team. Committee assignments shall be for a term of one
year. However, there shall be no limit to the number of terms that a
member may serve on any committee.
2) Standing Committees. The following will be standing committees of the team.
a)
Budget; which will gather all relevant data on school budget, circulate
that data and prepare proposed school budgets consistent with the CEP.
The Budget & Finance Committee will also prepare an internal budget
for the Leadership Team's own expenses. This draft budget shall be
proposed and circulated at the first meeting of Team in the month of
October and shall be adopted at the first meeting in November of each
year.
b) Curriculum and Evaluation, which will evaluate
the implementation and effectiveness of the CEP, and research and
propose educational initiatives to be considered for inclusion in the
CEP.
3) Other committees may be established by the team on a permanent or ad hoc basis.
Article VI: Meetings, Notices and Minutes and Decisions Made Without Meetings.
1)
Meetings of the team and of its committees shall be open to all members
of the school community. SLT members and observers shall try at all
times to speak with civility and respect, refraining when possible from
singling out individuals. Persons who are not team members may only
speak with the permission of the facilitator/chair. Notice of team and
committee meetings and minutes of those meetings will be announced to
the widest school audience possible by the most appropriate means. This
will be the responsibility of the secretary.
2)
When an issue must be decided by the SLT between regularly scheduled
meeting times, then the co-chairs or the principal may schedule an
emergency meeting. If a quorum cannot be assembled, the co-chairs or
the principal may poll the membership individually about the issue in
question. In the event that such a poll is impossible (e.g., too many
members out of town for the summer), the principal and the co-chairs
may take such action as they deem necessary, and schedule a meeting of
the team as soon as possible.
3)
No decision may be made by the team at any meeting unless at that
meeting a quorum of members is present. For the purposes of these
by-laws a quorum means fifty percent (50%) plus one more of all members.
Article VII: Procedure for Constituency Referral of Concerns To the School Leadership Team
If
a member of the school community wishes to bring an issue before the
SLT, the person should submit the concern in writing to a member of the
team who shall pass it to the co-chairs to be considered for inclusion
on the next agenda.
Article VIII Consensus
1)
As used in these bylaws, "consensus" means agreement or consent by all
team members, committee members and/or officers as to a particular
issue or course of action. A consensus is reached when those opposed to
a decision agree to allow that action to go forward notwithstanding
their disagreement.
2) In the event that the team in
unable to reach a consensus on any issue which requires a consensus, in
accordance with the Chancellor's plan for teams, the school principal
will decide or resolve the issue.
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