Policy committee debates electronic attendance and committee size limits
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Summary
Board members debated proposed wording that would allow up to three members on standing committees and questioned whether a virtual-only quorum should ever replace an in-person majority; the committee deferred final changes to a full committee meeting.
The Boyertown Area SD policy committee discussed two interrelated items: updates to policy 005 on board committee organization and policy 006.1 on electronic attendance and quorum rules.
On committee composition, the superintendent presented language authorizing committees of two to three members (no more than three to avoid creating a quorum). Some board members said increasing to three would allow more engagement; others described earlier discussion as 'contentious.' One board member urged keeping membership effectively at two with the option of a third and leaving appointment decisions to the board president.
The committee spent more time on attendance via electronic communications. The current policy requires a majority of school directors to be physically present when others attend electronically. The superintendent said the solicitor had no legal prohibition on virtual attendance but that the written policy still stipulates an in-person majority. "A majority of school directors shall be physically present at a board meeting when a school director attends through electronic communications," the superintendent read from current guidelines.
Several members expressed reluctance to authorize a fully virtual quorum in routine meetings, arguing that in-person presence ‘‘protects the integrity of the board’’ during deliberations. The group noted executive sessions remain an option for emergent personnel or safety matters and agreed to leave the attendance policy unchanged for now and revisit it at a committee-of-the-whole meeting with fuller board representation.
Next steps: policy 005 will be revised to reflect committee-member options and returned for a first read; policy 006.1 will be discussed at a future committee-of-the-whole meeting with additional legal input as needed.