BBA – Board Officers

Descriptor Code: BBA
Board Officers

School Board Chair: The Board Chair is elected by the citizens of Cherokee County specifically to hold that position and preside at all meetings attended.

School Board Vice-Chair: The School Board will select annually in January, from its membership, a Vice-Chair who will preside in the absence of the Chair. The job duties and responsibilities of the School Board Chair and Vice-Chair are as follows:

School Board Chair
The Chair has the primary responsibility for facilitating meetings of the School Board. He/she serves as spokesperson for the School Board, as authorized herein by the School Board. The Chair represents the School Board in community organizations and serves as a liaison between the School Board and the general public. The Chair, along with the Superintendent of Schools, prepares the School Board meeting agenda and, therefore, receives proposed agenda items from members of the School Board in accordance with School Board Policy BCBD: Board Meeting Agendas. It is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that the full School Board is privy to the same information and that all decisions are made by the School Board as a unit in a properly constituted meeting.
During meetings, the Chair is responsible for maintaining decorum for efficient flow of the agenda. To that end, he/she must recognize and respond to School Board members’ requests to speak, offering the floor to each person, as appropriate. The Chair helps ensure that all members have equal opportunity to ask questions, that no one dominates discussion and that all meeting participants are treated with respect. The Chair processes all motions and, if necessary, clarifies the wording of motions, announcing the name of the individual making a motion, noting an appropriate second and the outcome of each vote. This facilitates accuracy of the official record. The Chair must be careful to avoid abuse of control of the microphone and should allow other School Board members to speak.
The Chair facilitates and oversees Public Participation/Agenda Participation at meetings of the School Board. These duties include adherence to Board Policy BCBI, appropriate allocation of time given to each speaker considering the total time allocated for Public Participation/Agenda Participation, the order that speakers are called to speak and the placement of Public Participation on the agenda taking into account the number of speakers, audience size, audience age and time of day. The
Chair will articulate the position of the School Board regardless of his/her feelings about the matter at hand. The Chair must interact effectively among diverse groups including students, parents, businesspeople, other elected officials and the general public.
The Chair will be versed in parliamentary procedure and public education. He/she should be familiar with school law, the School District and School Board Policies. The Chair needs to have active listening, negotiation and organizational skills and should be able to deal with the difficult issues in addressing inappropriate behavior of School Board members, as necessary. 
The Chair is responsible for ensuring that fellow School Board members follow Board Policy; if violations occur, especially regarding Board Policy BH.

Board Vice-Chair
The Vice-Chair has the same responsibilities as the Chair when the Chair is unable to serve. Additionally, the Vice-Chair should assist the Chair in monitoring the School Board so that members are recognized in the order in which they request permission to speak. Other Duties The Chair and the Vice-Chair may have other duties delegated to them by the School Board. When serving as presiding officer at any meeting of the School Board, the Chair or Vice-Chair will have the privilege of participating in debate and of voting.

REVISED: July 16, 2020