Cedar Ridge Community Council Guidelines

Updated 10/2024

The purpose of the Cedar Ridge Elementary School Community Council (SCC) is to improve the quality of the educational program at Cedar Ridge Elementary School by:

1. Providing opportunity for input and direction of the educational program and environment by the Cedar Ridge professional educators, staff, and parents.

2. Providing an opportunity where a broad range of individuals can cooperatively establish and maintain a positive learning environment through site- based decision making.

3. Examining Cedar Ridge testing results and using the summary to develop understanding about our school improvement plan.

4. Creating, approving, and making recommendations regarding:

   • The school and its programs

   • School district programs

   • A child access routing plan

   • Safe technology utilization and digital citizenship

   • Safety principles

   • Positive behavior plan

   • Other issues relating to the community environment for students

School Community Council and Elections

The membership of the Cedar Ridge Elementary School Community Council will consist of the following members described below:

Council Membership- Elementary Schools

• Every school is required to have a council.  The Council is required to have at 6 members; and parent members must exceed the number of employees by at least two members.

Parent/ Guardian Members

• Council membership is for a two-year term.

• Parents must have a child at the school for at least one of the two years of their term.

• Parents may begin serving a two-year term 1 year before their child attends the school.

• Parents may continue serving 1 year after their child leaves the school.

• Parent members may not hold an educator’s license AND work at the school

• Parents/ guardians are elected by the parents/guardians of children enrolled at the school.

• Each community member’s term will begin the 3^rd week of school.  They may serve up to 3 consecutive terms.

• School Employee Members

  • The Principal automatically serves on the council as a voting member.

  • School employees must be employed at the school and elected by school employees.

Election Process Requirements of Council Members:

• Elections are overseen by the school’s Principal.

• Notice will be given 10 days prior to election: including date and time the election takes place, open positions, and how to file for open positions.

• Approximately half of the SCC seats are up for election each year.

• A formal election must be held when more candidates file for community positions or staff positions than their are vacancies.  Non-contested races do not require an election- voters will be notified that there is no need for an election.

• Elections will be administered by secret ballot.

• Under certain circumstances, the SCC may establish policies for voting via mailed ballots, google form, etc. under Utah State Board of Education Rule on SCC’s.

• The election for the parent members will be held in the Fall and must be completed before the 3^rd week of school.

• The actual voting period for an election must run for 3 consecutive school days.

• Results of the election  will be made available upon request and will be maintained for 3 years.

• Unfilled seats for parent and school employee members following an election will be filled by appointment of the Principal and/ or Council President.

• After elections, the council elects officers for the current year

  • Parent member chair

  • Parent or school employee vice chair

  • Principals do not serve as officers

• Following the election; and within the first six weeks of the school year, schools post the following on the school website and provide the same information in a direct delivery method to every student household:

  • Names of council members with email and/ or phone numbers

  • Proposed meeting schedule for the year

Open and Public Meetings

• SCC meetings are open to the public.

• SCC meeting agendas are posted on the school website at least one week in advance and include the date, time, and location of upcoming meeting.  Minutes are also posted from the prior month.

• SCC minutes include the date, time, location, names of members present and absent, substance of all matters proposed, discussed or decided, a record of votes, names of each person who is not a member of the SCC but recognized by the chair to speak in the meeting, and substance of what was said by recognized speakers.  Minutes are marked as a draft until approved and kept for 3 years.

• Quorum of those present, must have one more parent than staff in order to take action.

• Issues not listed on the agenda may arise in the meeting but; shall be tabled and added to the next month’s agenda.

Process for Removing a Council member:

In cases where a council members circumstances have changed and they are unable to serve due to inability to attend monthly meeting, the following procedure will take place:

• The Council member will notify the School Council President of their inability to serve in email or other written form; or after 3 consecutive missed meeting the President will contact the Council member to determine the member’ ability to serve.  If the Council member is unable to serve, the member will give the President notice in writing and will bring notice to the Council.

• After the Council has been given notice, a motion and second will be made by the Council to officially remove the member.

• In the event that this occurs in the first 2/3 of the school year, an opportunity for an emergency election will be provided to fill the member position.  If an election is held, the member voted to fill the position shall count their service time at the end of the school year as the first year of a two-year term.

• When the removal occurs in the last 1/3 of the school year, a parent member may be nominated by a member of the Council and upon approval of the nominee and the Council, this parent member will serve for the remainder of the school year.  After completion of the nominee’s service for that school year, an official vote will be held.  The Nominee’s time is not considered a term of service due to its emergent and shortened timeline.

Process for selecting a Chair and Vice Chair:

1. During a Council meeting a council member shall nominate another existing council member for the position.  

2. The nominated council member shall accept or reject the nomination

3. If the council member accepts, a majority vote from the Council shall constitute selection of the Chair and the Vice Chair.

Roles and Responsibilities of Council Members

Council Chair(s):

• Sets the agenda

• Conducts meetings and keeps written minutes provided by the secretary.

• Informs the council members about resources on the School LAND trust website

• Welcomes and encourages public participation

• Prepares and uses an annual timeline to create agendas and complete work.

• Brings Rules of Order and Procedure to the council for review and adoption

• Makes assignments to council members and may delegate responsibilities

Secretary:

• Keeps minutes and distributes to the school webmaster in a timely manner.

Staff:

• Actively participate in councils

• Promote goals among faculty.

• Be well informed and seek answers to questions and concerns before calling for a vote.

• Keep faculty informed about successes toward achieving school/ council goals.

Council Responsibilities:

• Participation in School Land trust plan process/ TSSA

• Annually adopting Rules of Order and Procedure (Bylaws)

• Councils also advise and make recommendations on:

  • The school and its programs

  • School district programs

  • A child access routing plan

  • Safe technology utilization and digital citizenship

  • Safety principles

  • Positive behavior plan

  • Other issues relating to the community environment for students

School Principal:

• The Principal is an ex-officio member with voting privileges.

• The Principal oversees elections.

• The Principal enters council membership on School LAND trust program website.

• The enters and electronically signs on the School LAND trust program website and Principal’s Assurance affirming:

  • The school community council election was held according to law and proper procedure.

  • Unfilled positions were filled by appointment.

  • The school community council bylaws or procedures comply with the Utah Code and Administrative Rule.