School Board

Regular school board meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each month at the Delano School District Training Room, 700 East Elm Street, Delano, Mn. The public may enter through door 9. Board meetings begin at 7 p.m. and are open to the public. Board meetings can be viewed at any time after the meeting has occurred. Livestream information, if available, will be posted in the district calendar on the home page prior to the meeting. Meetings held at Delano City Hall are also broadcast live over cable television. Meetings held in the Tiger Den are not broadcast live but are available on the district's You Tube Channel. 

The school board welcomes input from community members, including letters, emails and phone calls. People who prefer to address the school board directly are asked to complete a public comment form before the meeting they wish to attend. People can also sign up to make public comments at the meeting location, before the meeting.  Public comments are scheduled toward the end of each school board meeting. Public comments are not heard at work sessions.

The purpose of a public comment period is to allows community members to provide input directly to the school board about issues that fall within the school board’s authority. To fulfill this purpose, public comments must be directed to the school board. The school board is interested in hearing all comments and will listen carefully but will not respond, debate or discuss issues during the public comment forum. 

The procedures ensure open and orderly public discussions as well as protect the due process and privacy rights of individuals under the law.

Requests for public comments

• Online public comment form. Community members who wish to address the school board are asked to submit an online public comment form by 12 p.m. the day of the school board meeting. 
• Community members may complete a paper, public comment form at the school board meeting, before the school board meeting.
• Community members must provide their name, address, association to the school district, the name of the group represented (if any) and the topic of the issue to be addressed. 

Public comment rules of conduct

• If several individuals submit a written request to speak to the school board, the school board will give first speaking priority to students, then to other individuals who reside in the district, have a child in the district or are employed by the district.

• If a group or organization wishes to address the school board on the same topic, the school board chairperson reserves the right to require the designation of one representative to speak on behalf of the group or organization. 

• Community members who did not complete the online public comment form or sign up before the meeting begins, will not be allowed to address the school board.
• The school board chairperson will recognize one speaker at a time and will rule out of order other speakers who are not recognized. Only speakers recognized by the school board chairperson will be allowed to speak.
• Each speaker will be given three minutes to address the school board. The three minute time frame may not be given to another speaker. 
• The speaker will be asked to come to the podium. The public comment period is recorded and is considered public information.
• Courtesy and respect to everyone by everyone is essential.
• Complaint references to specific persons, including staff and students cannot be discussed in an open meeting due to data privacy laws.
• Statements and questions can only be raised during the public comment portion of the meeting and only by the individual who has been recognized to speak.

What Does the School Board Do?

A joint publication of the American Association of School Administrators and the National School Boards Association, Roles and Responsibilities, delineates the specific responsibilities of school boards and superintendents. Some of those responsibilities are as follows:

• The board's primary role is the establishment of policy.
• Works with the superintendent and community to develop a vision for the schools.
• Advocates on behalf of students and their schools and promotes the benefits of public education.
• Supports the superintendent in all decisions that conform to board policy, other decisions made by the board, or recognized professional standards.
• Provides for policy on the effective management of complaints.
• Provides for the periodic review of policies.
• Ensures board members understand that, under law, the school board acts as a board and that individual board members have no independent authority.

The National School Boards Association has adopted a code of ethics to guide school board members. The code of ethics includes statements regarding "supporting the highest level of education possible; making decisions in terms of the best interest of the educational welfare of children; recognition that it is not the school boards responsibility to run the schools, but to see that they are well run; refusing to represent special interests or partisan politics; supporting decisions made by the majority of the board; referring all complaints to the appropriate level; and observing state laws and regulations pertaining to public education. The superintendent of schools is the only employed staff that reports directly to the school board.

Work sessions are scheduled on the fourth Monday of each month, before the business portion of regular school board meetings. Work sessions are held in the Delano School District Training Room, 700 East Elm Street, Delano, Mn. The public may enter through door 9. Although work sessions are not recorded, taped or broadcast, they are open to the public. Public comments are not heard at work sessions. The purpose of work sessions is for the district administration to update the school board on strategic plans, budgets or other district issues that may come to a vote at a regular scheduled school board meeting.