NJSBA Meeting Guide

The school board is charged with representing the concerns of its community, monitoring the educational needs of its students, and creating policies to ensure that its district is well run. It does not operate the district’s day-to-day business. That is the job of the superintendent — the district’s salaried chief executive. The school board must vote on and pass items regarding policies, goals, objectives and personnel. It holds the superintendent responsible for implementing and achieving those objectives.

The school board should be the “court of last resort.” Work up the chain of command. For instance, if you have an issue concerning a district employee, first address it with that person directly. If the matter is not resolved, then take it to their immediate supervisor, and follow up the chain of command if you are not satisfied.

Comments are generally directed to the meeting chair, usually the school board president. Boards use the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to community concerns — not to debate issues or enter a question-and-answer session. Not all issues brought before a board will be resolved the same day.

School boards sometimes have a “workshop” or “caucus” meeting where they discuss issues in greater detail but do not vote on the items. Boards may use a committee structure, where select members — totaling less than a quorum of the board, often working with the superintendent or key administrators, study a specific issue and make recommendations to the full board for a vote. By the time the full board meets for a regular “agenda” or “business” session, where it votes on issues, agenda items usually have been vetted or studied.

Statutes are laws enacted by legislators in Trenton. Usually, laws will contain broad language on an issue and will authorize an appropriate state agency (the New Jersey Department of Education in the case of school law) to write regulations, also called “administrative code,” which detail how the laws will be carried out. Public schools must adhere to state statutes and regulations. However, there are many aspects of school management that the state does not manage. Those are covered by the local school board’s policies, which are the board’s rules and guidelines that detail how its district will operate.