Arrow Academy

School Governance

Arrow Academy

Administrative Regulations

The Superintendent shall be the educational leader and chief executive officer of the School.

The duties of the Superintendent include (in part)

  1. Preparing recommendations for policies to be adopted by theBoard and overseeing the implementation of adopted policies.
  2. Developing or causing to be developed appropriate administrativeregulations to implement policies established by the Board.

The duties of the Management Company include (in part)

  1. Managing the day-to-day operations of the School as its administrativemanager.

The Superintendent and administrative staff shall be responsible for developing and enforcing procedures for the operation of the School. Procedures must be consistent with Board policy and law and shall be designed to promote the achievement of School goals and objectives.

These procedures shall constitute the administrative regulations of the School and shall consist of guides, handbooks, and forms, as well as other documents defining standard operating procedure and designated “Regulations.”

All administrative regulations shall be under the direction of the Superintendent; variations from defined procedures shall be with the prior approval of the Superintendent. Administrative regulations are subject to Board review but shall not be adopted by the Board. In case of conflict between the administrative regulations and policy, policy shall prevail.

Administrative regulations may be amended at any time by the Superintendentor designated staff, with the prior approval of the Superintendent. The official copy of all documents constituting administrative regulations shall be kept in the Superintendent’s office, and the Superintendent or designee shall be responsible for their accuracy. If discrepancies occur among different copies of administrative regulations distributed throughout the School, the official copy shall be regarded as authoritative.

All administrative regulations, including manuals, guides, handbooks, and forms, shall be kept up-to-date and shall be made accessible to staff and the public as required by the Public Information Chapter of the Government Code.

Arrow Academy

Board Legal Status

The governing body of a charter holder has the primary responsibility for implementing the public school program authorized by the open-enrollment charter and ensuring the performance of the students enrolled in its charter schools in accordance with the Texas Education Code (TEC).

The governing body of an open-enrollment charter school is responsible for the management, operation, and accountability of the school, regardless of whether the governing body delegates the governing body's powers and duties to another person.

An open-enrollment charter grants to the governing body of a charter holder the authority to operate a charter school. The governing body of the charter holder shall, acting as a body corporate in meetings posted in compliance with Government Code, Chapter 551, oversee the management of the charter school. The governing body's powers and duties to operate the charter school shall not be delegated, transferred, assigned, encumbered, pledged, subcontracted, or in any way alienated by the governing body of the charter holder. Any attempt to do so shall be null and void and of no force or effect and shall constitute abandonment of the contract for charter.

An open-enrollment charter must specify the powers or duties of the governing body of the charter holder that the governing body may delegate to an officer, employee, contractor, management company, creditor, or any other person. The governing body of a charter holder remains responsible for the management, operation, and accountability of the charter school operated by the charter holder, regardless of whether the governing body delegates any of its powers or duties.

Arrow Academy

Board Meetings and Public Participation

Audience participation at a Board meeting is limited to the public comment portion of the meeting designated for that purpose. At all other times during a Board meeting, the audience shall not enter into discussion or debate on matters being considered by the Board, unless requested by the presiding officer.

At regular meetings the Board shall allot time to hear persons who desire to make comments to the Board. Persons who wish to participate in this portion of the meeting shall sign up with the presiding officer or designee before the meeting begins and shall indicate the topic about which they wish to speak.

No presentation shall exceed three minutes. Delegations of more than five persons shall appoint one person to present their views before the Board. Specific factual information or recitation of existing policy may be furnished in response to inquiries, but the Board shall not deliberate or decide regarding any subject that is not included on the agenda posted with notice of the meeting.

The presiding officer or designee shall determine whether a person addressing the Board has attempted to solve a matter administratively through resolution channels established by policy. If not, the person shall be referred to the appropriate policy to seek resolution:

The Board shall not tolerate disruption of the meeting by members of the audience. If, after at least one warning from the presiding officer, any person continues to disrupt the meeting by his or her words or actions, the presiding officer may request assistance from law enforcement officials to have the person removed from the meeting.

Arrow Academy

Board Meetings

Unless otherwise noted, all meetings of the School Board of Directors shall be held in Bryan/College Station,Texas.

Regular meetings of the Board shall be held quarterly on the first Tuesday of the month at 5:00 p.m. When determined necessary and for the convenience of Directors, the Board Chairman may change the date or time of a regular meeting. The notice for that meeting shall reflect the changed date or time.

The Chairman of the Board shall call special meetings at the Chairman’s discretion or on request by one of the members of the Board. The time and place of special and emergency meetings shall be as set out in the notice for the meeting.

The Chairman shall call an emergency meeting when it is determined by the Chairman or one of the members of the Board that an emergency or urgent public necessity, as defined by law, warrants the meeting.

The deadline for submitting items for inclusion on the agenda is noon of the fifth calendar day before regular meetings (Thursday) and noon of the third calendar day before special meetings.

In consultation with the Board Chairman, the Superintendent shall prepare the agenda for all Board meetings. Any Director may request that a subject be included on the agenda for a meeting, and the Superintendent shall include on the preliminary agenda of the meeting all Director-requested topics that have been timely submitted. Before the official agenda is finalized for any meeting, the Superintendent shall consult the Board Chairman to ensure that the agenda and the topics included meet with the Chairman’s approval.

In reviewing the preliminary agenda, the Chairman shall ensure that any topics the Board or individual Directors have requested to be addressed are either on that agenda or scheduled for deliberation at an appropriate time in the near future. The Board Chairman shall not have authority to remove from the agenda a subject requested by a Director without that Director’s specific authorization.

Members of the Board shall be given notice of regular and special meetings at least 72 hours prior to the scheduled time of the meeting and at least two hours prior to the time of an emergency meeting.

Notice of all meetings shall provide for the possibility of a closed meeting during an open meeting, as provided by law. The Board may conduct a closed meeting when the agenda subject is one that may properly be discussed in closed meeting.

The order of business for regular Board meetings shall be as set out in the agenda accompanying the notice of the meeting. At the meeting, the order in which posted agenda items are taken may be changed by consensus of Board members.

The Board shall observe the parliamentary procedures as found in Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, except as otherwise provided in Board procedural rules or by law. Procedural rules may be suspended at any Board meeting by majority vote of the memberspresent.

Voting shall be by voice vote or show of hands, as directed by the Chairman. Any member may abstain from voting, and a member’s vote or failure to vote shall be recorded upon that member’s request.

When the agenda is prepared, the Board Chairman shall determine items, if any, that qualify to be placed on the consent agenda. A consent agenda shall include items of a routine and/or recurring nature grouped together under one action item. For each item listed as part of a consent agenda, the Board shall be furnished with background material. All such items shall be acted upon by one vote without separate discussion, unless a Board member requests that an item be withdrawn for individual consideration. The remaining items shall be adopted under a single motion and vote.

Board action shall be carefully recorded by the secretary or clerk; when approved, these minutes shall serve as the legal record of official Board actions. The written minutes of all meetings shall be approved by vote of the Board and signed by the Chairman and the Secretary of the Board.

The official minutes of the Board shall be retained on file in the office of the Superintendent and shall be available for examination during regular office hours. Official copies of the minutes shall be made available to individual patrons of the District for the cost of copying said documents. Unofficial copies of the minutes may be distributed to the local media within three days after regular, special, and emergency meetings. Copies of unofficial minutes shall read “pending approval by the Board of Directors.” Discussions shall be addressed to the Chairman of the Board and then the entire membership. Discussion shall be directed solely to the business currently under deliberation, and the Board Chairman shall halt discussion that does not apply to the business before the Board. The Board Chairman shall also halt discussion if the Board has agreed to a time limitation for discussion of an item, and that timelimit has expired. Aside from these limitations, the Chairman shall not interfere with debate so long as members wish to address themselves to an item under consideration.

Arrow Academy

Board Member Authority

Because the Board of Directors is a body corporate, members can perform no valid act except as a body at meetings properly convened and conducted.

Individuals Directors, in their capacity as public officers entrusted with governing and overseeing the management of the School, have an inherent right of access to record maintained by the School.

A board member may not be subject to disciplinary action or a sanction, penalty, disability, or liability for:

  1. An action permitted by law that the officer takes in the officer’s official capacity regarding a legislative measure;
  2. Proposing, endorsing, or expressing support for or opposition to a legislative measure or taking any action permitted by law to support or oppose a legislative measure;
  3. The effect of a legislative measure or of a change in law proposed by a legislative measure on any person; or
  4. A breach of duty, in connection with the member’s practice of or employment in a licensed or regulated profession or occupation, to disclose to any person information, or to obtain a waiver or consent from any person, regarding the officer’s actions relating to a legislative measure; or the substance, effects, or potential effects of a legislative measure. Gov’t Code 572.059

A Board member is not personally liable for any act that is incident to or within the scope of the duties of the Board member’s position and that involves the exercise of judgment or discretion. Education Code 22,0511

The Board has final authority to determine and interpret the policies that govern the schools and, subject to the mandates and limits imposed by state and federal authorities, has complete and full control of the School. Board action shall be taken only in meetings that comply with the Open Meetings Act.

An individual Board member, acting in his or her official capacity, shall have the right to seek information pertaining to School fiscal affairs, business transactions, governance, and personnel matters, including information that properly may be withheld from members of the general public in accordance with the Public Information Chapter of the Government Code.

Individual members shall not have access to confidential student records unless the member is acting in his or her official capacity and has a legitimate educational interest in the records.

Individual members shall seek access to records or request copies of records from the Superintendent or other designated custodian of records. When a custodian of records other than the Superintendent provides access to records or copies of records to individual members, the provider shall inform the Superintendent of the records provided.

Individual members shall not direct or require School employees to prepare reports derived from an analysis of information in existing School records or to create a new record compiled from information in existing School records. Directives to the Superintendent or custodian of records regarding the preparation of reports shall be by Board action.

At the time Board members are provided access to confidential records or to reports compiled from such records, the Superintendent or other School employee shall advise them of their responsibility to comply with confidentiality requirements.

If employees, parents, students, or other members of the public bring concerns or complaints to an individual Board member, he or she shall refer them to the Superintendent or another appropriate administrator, who shall proceed according to the applicable complaint policy.

When the concern or complaint directly pertains to the Board’s own actions or policy, for which there is no administrative remedy, the member may request that the issue be placed on the agenda.

Arrow Academy

Office Management Record Management

A “local government record” means any document, paper, letter, book, map, photograph, sound or video recording, microfilm, magnetic tape, electronic medium, or other information-recording medium, regardless of physical form or characteristic and regardless of whether public access to it is open or restricted under the laws of the state, created or received by the School or any of its officers or employees, pursuant to law or in the transaction of public business. The term does not include:

  1. Extra identical copies of documents created only for convenience of reference or research by School officers or employees.
  2. Notes, journals, diaries, and similar documents created by a School officer or employee for his or her own personal convenience.
  3. Blank forms, stocks or publications, and library and museum materials acquired solely for the purposes of reference or display.
  4. Copies of documents in any media furnished to the public under the Open Records Act or other state law. Local Gov’t Code 201.003(8)

In implementing the Local Government Records Act, the Board shall:

  1. Establish, promote, and support an active and continuing program for the efficient and economical management of all School records.
  2. Cause policies and procedures to be developed for the administration of the program under the direction of the records management officer.
  3. Facilitate the creation and maintenance of School records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the School and designed to furnish the in-formation necessary to protect the School’s legal and financial rights, the state, and persons affected by the School’s activities.
  4. Facilitate the identification and preservation of School records that are of permanent value.
  5. Facilitate the identification and protection of essential School records.
  6. Cooperate with the State Library and Archives Commission in its conduct of statewide records management surveys

In implementing the Local Government Records Act, school personnel who are custodians of records shall:

  1. Cooperate with the records management officer in carrying out the policies and procedures established by the School for the efficient and economical management of records and in carrying out the requirements of the Act.
  2. Adequately document the transaction of School business and the services, programs, and duties for which they and their staff are responsible.
  3. Maintain the records in their care and carry out the preservation, microfilming, destruction, or other disposition of the records in accordance with the policies and procedures of the School’s records management program. Local Gov’t Code 203.022

In implementing the Local Government Records Act, the records management officer shall:

  1. Assist in establishing and developing policies and procedures for the School’s records management program.
  2. Administer the records management program and provide assistance to the custodians in order to reduce costs and improve record-keeping efficiency.
  3. In cooperation with the custodians of records, prepare and file records control schedules, amended schedules, and lists of obsolete records, as required by the Local Government Records Act.
  4. In cooperation with the custodians of records, prepare or direct the preparation of requests for authorization to destroy records, when such requests are required under the Local Government Records Act.
  5. In cooperation with the custodians of records, identify and take adequate steps to preserve School records of permanent value.
  6. In cooperation with the custodians of records, identify and take adequate steps to protect essential School records.
  7. In cooperation with the custodians of records, ensure that the maintenance, preservation, microfilming, destruction, or other disposition of records is carried out in accordance with the School’s records management program and legal requirements.
  8. Disseminate to the Board and custodians of records information concerning state laws, administrative rules, and government policies relating to the School’s records.
  9. In cooperation with the custodians of records, establish procedures to ensure that the handling of records is carried out with due regard for the duties and responsibilities of custodians that may be imposed by law and the confidentiality of information in records to which access is restricted by law. Local Gov’t Code 203.023

In developing the School’s records retention schedule, the records management officer shall ensure it is consistent with the applicable minimum retention schedules adopted by the State Library and Archives Commission, i.e., Local Schedule GR—Records Common to All Governments, Local Schedule EL—Records of Elections and Voter Registration, Local Schedule TX—Records of Property Taxation, and Local Schedule SD—Records for Public School Schools. 13 TAC 7.125 Note: A School record may be intentionally destroyed under any of the following conditions: