Remember, charter school board meetings are open to the public. Any member of the school community or the community at large can attend to see how decisions are made and how the taxpayers’ money is being spent. Get in the habit of making your board meetings relatively formal and professional. You may not have members of the public at every meeting, but you should run every meeting as if you had an audience.
Board members should be seated around a table. Seating should make it easy for members to see each other and be conducive to productive problem-solving and decision-making. Don’t set the meeting up for an audience; set it up for the ease of the board members.
Ideally, name cards should identify each board member. This will make it clear to members of the public and other guests who is speaking. It will also be helpful to new members.
Members of the public, teachers, parents, students, and all other non-leadership staff members should sit away from the board table in seats clearly designated for observers.
The CEO and other senior staff (e.g., business manager, development director) should sit at the table with the board. Staff members should sit together so that they can pass written communications back and forth, if necessary. The CEO and board chair should also sit next to each other.
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