Meeting Minutes
October 25, 2007
December 4, 2007

Vision Statement

The Fairhaven Middle School Site Council is a representative group of the Fairhaven Middle School community, committed to the success and well being of students. We make cooperative decisions and recommendations for actions that foster growth and learning in a safe, supportive environment. Our goal is to create a school climate that nurtures and promotes positive development of all members of the school community as well as to promote school improvement. We serve as a data gathering center and function as a problem-solving and decision making body for the Fairhaven Middle School community

Purpose

The purpose of the Fairhaven Middle School Site Council shall be:

To act as a collaborative planning, problem-solving, and decision-making body for achieving school improvement in cooperation with the Bellingham School District.

To establish, review, discuss, adopt, and evaluate annually a school improvement plan which strives to enhance the academic and social growth of our students and to submit this plan to the School Board for approval.

To gather data and seek input from the various members of the Fairhaven Middle School Community, including students, teachers, staff, parents, administrators, and others concerning school reform and improvement.

To facilitate the sharing of concerns about the school among parents, students, and school staff members.

To facilitate the growth and development of the school community.

To review and plan the structure and content of Early Release/Late Arrival plans.

To provide input and suggestions in determination of curriculum, materials selection, and program selection appropriate to the improvement of the education of students that is not prohibited by law, regulations, or contracts.

To participate in school personnel decisions and evaluation to the extent allowed law, regulations, and contracts.

To participate in program planning and evaluation including evaluation of student outcomes.

To be responsible for budgetary planning and evaluation.

To review and evaluate school safety, including behavior policies.

To review scheduling and the calendar.

To foster cooperation, openness, and trust; to hold open meetings as required by the Open Meetings Law; and to conform to the School Board policy and all contracts in force with the School District.

To regularly communicate activities, decisions, and plans to all members of the school community.

To enlist the support of all staff, parents, students, community citizens, and the School District toward the accomplishment of school improvement plans.

Rules & Guidelines

MEMBERSHIP

In keeping with the spirit of mutual cooperation and respect for all members of the school community, the council shall be a representative body. The following elected members shall comprise the Fairhaven Middle School Site Council: 1 Classified Staff, 4 Certified Staff, 4 Parents, School Principal. A student representative shall be invited to attend.

SELECTION

Student, parents, teachers, and classified staff members will be elected to their positions by the vote of their individual constituent groups. Each group should report its selection process to the Site Council for approval and assistance. Elections will be held in May. Constituency will appoint midterm replacements when necessary. To be eligible, a parent must have students at Fairhaven Middle School for the full term. An alternate representative from each constituency will be elected or appointed each year.

TERM OF MEMBERSHIP

Members shall serve for two-year staggered terms. It is desirable that every year two new teachers and two new parents be elected. No one may serve more than one consecutive two-year term nor more than two non-consecutive two-year terms except for the administrator.

Members who miss two consecutive regularly scheduled meetings in the school year will be contacted to determine their continued participation. More than four absences of regularly scheduled meetings during the school year shall result in automatic termination of membership on the council.

MEETINGS

Meetings shall be held a minimum of once per month during the school year. Meetings shall be open to all members of the school community. An annual calendar of meeting dates and times will be distributed to parents, students, all staff, the PTSA, and sent to a local newspaper. Special meeting dates and times or meeting changes will be made available well in advance and posted in the school; included, when possible, in the PTSA newsletter or Administrative memos; and communicated through any other readily available means. Emergency meetings may be called with twenty-four (24) hours posted notice on school bulletin board and communication to all elected council members.

OFFICERS

Facilitator for each meeting shall be rotated among those members wishing to serve in this capacity. In addition, each meeting shall have a Recorder to take minutes with the Recorder becoming Facilitator at the next meeting. An Agenda Person(s) shall be assigned for the year as a contact person for anyone wishing to put something on the agenda. This person will have the responsibility (together with the principal) of putting together and distributing the agenda. The Council will have two (2) representatives to the School Leadership Council. One will be a teacher and the second will be either a parent, classified staff member, or the principal as designated by the School Leadership Council. Representatives will be chosen by their constituency group of the Site Council. A Council member will be selected as a liaison with the PTSA to attend their meetings.

QUORUM

In order to conduct any business binding the Fairhaven Middle School to the decisions of the Council, quorum consisting of a majority of the membership with at least some representative from both certified staff and parents must be present at a legally convened meeting.

PROCEDURE

An agenda shall be prepared by the Agenda Person and principal with input from the membership. The agenda will be delivered to all members of the Council at least three days in advance of the meeting. The Council shall determine the exact order of the agenda including any additions or deletions as the first order of business. A place shall be reserved on every agenda to allow any member of the Fairhaven Middle School community to address the Council.

RECORD KEEPING

The Recorder shall keep action minutes of all meeting in a notebook. A copy of the minutes shall be provided with the agenda to each member for approval or corrections at the next meeting of the Council. A copy of approved minutes will be posted on the school bulletin board and reported to the next PTSA meeting. The Site Council Minutes book shall be maintained in a safe place in the school office.

COMMITTEES

Committees shall be established by the Council as needed to accomplish a specific task. Each committee shall have at least one member from the Council with participation open to any member of the Fairhaven Middle School community. Each committee shall appoint a chairperson to report to the Council.

DECISION MAKING

Decisions will be made by a consensus, whenever possible. Council representatives are expected to present the ideas, concerns, and problems of students, parents, teachers, community, and administration of Fairhaven Middle School. They are expected to state their views on al topics under discussion and to facilitate reaching consensus, if possible.

Consensus does not require unanimous agreement, but it does require that everyone consents. If a discussion shows that members are clearly in agreement on an issue, the chair may ask if everyone is in agreement. The chair may ask for determinations of those who agree and consents, those who do not agree but will consent, and those who neither agree nor consent. The Council recognizes that consensus of all members is the desired goal. If it cannot be attainted on matters of school policy, the matter shall be referred to a committee charged with the responsibility of presenting improvements or alternatives to the proposal for future consideration. If consensus cannot be achieved on matters that requires an immediate decision or if the consensus cannot be achieved after a committee referral, two-thirds of the council members present may vote to submit the question to a binding vote of simple majority of all members of the Council. The Council may choose to submit matters to the entire Fairhaven Middle School Community wherein the results of a vote conducted by the school community will be used to guide the Council's decision.

AMENDMENTS

A proposed amendment to these bylaws may be presented to the Council in writing at a regularly scheduled meeting at which at least two-thirds of the members are present. Adoption of an amendment requires consensus at two meetings before the amendment takes effect.

SELF-EVALUATION

In April of each year, the Fairhaven Middle School Site Council will appoint a committee of Council members and interested school community members to evaluate the performance of the Site Council for the preceding school year. The results of the evaluation will be used to determine areas for improvement and goals for the Council in the coming year.

COMPLIANCE

The Fairhaven Middle School Site Council will recognize and observe all laws, regulations, District Policies, collective bargaining, and other agreements in its operations.