District 70 Board & Its Role
D70 Thanks the Board of Education for all of their time, effort, and hard work for School Board Member's Day.
Welcome!
The District 70 Board of Education welcomes community members to attend its board meetings. Members appreciate community attendance and interest in the schools.
The Board of Education has a scheduled order of business (the agenda) that it follows. Extensive background material, including meeting minutes and bills to pay, has been prepared by the superintendent and has been distributed to all school board members before a meeting. Reviewing the information beforehand allows board members time to digest the information and enables them to move quickly on some agenda items.
(Board of Education members include, from left to right, President Jennifer Khan, Mr. Steve Sticklen, Secretary Nanette "Nan" Dahlke, Board Vice President Travis McGhee, Mrs. Angela Balanag, Mr. Brian Lawton, and Mrs. Wendy Schilling.)
Guests at a meeting will find a public comments section on the board agenda allowing the community to directly address school board members. It is the prerogative of the board president to recognize members of the audience who wish to address the board during the time reserved for public comments.
To address the board, a member of the public simply fills out a signup sheet found as he/she enters the board room before the meeting begins. During the public comments section of the meeting, the District 70 board president will call guests up to the podium in order. Please use the microphone, as the meeting may be recorded for a later broadcast. Guests should state their full name and address. During public comments, the board asks that guests do not talk about individual students or personnel issues, but rather ask that such concerns should be brought to an administrator. Should a community member still have concerns after talking to an administrator, the community member may request an audience with the school board in closed session via a request to the superintendent or the board president. To provide guests with an equal opportunity to address the board, public comments may be limited to five (5) minutes or less.
Thank you,
The Board of Education, Libertyville School District 70
What is the school board?
In Illinois, public education is the state’s constitutional responsibility. The state delegates the authority to govern school districts to local school boards. So, although the board is politically responsible to district voters, it is legally responsible to the state.
The seven members of the board of education are locally elected officials who serve without pay for a four-year term of office and work in concert with the administration to deliver education. The board members work as one body and individuals on the board have no power by themselves. They are responsible for the educational programs in our community for grades pre-kindergarten through eighth. They are required to conduct the schools following the Constitution of the State of Illinois, the Illinois School Code, rules and regulations set down by the Illinois State Board of Education, and the rules and regulations which have been developed and adopted by the District 70 Board of Education.
The board of education is a policy-making body. It has delegated the administration of the school district to the professional administrative staff under the leadership and direction of the superintendent. The superintendent is a professional educator hired by the board to carry out its goals and oversee the day-to-day operation of the district.
Individual board members may not act alone or make decisions binding on the board or the district.
The board’s job is to:
Adopt goals and policies that meet state requirements and reflect community needs, provide the resources necessary to pursue its goals according to its policies, and monitor District 70’s performance to see that results are consistent with goals and policies.
Among the board’s legal duties are:
Hiring necessary personnel and setting their salaries; providing and maintaining school buildings; letting all contracts and paying all bills, and arranging for the revenue necessary to operate the district.
How are board meetings conducted?
Meetings follow an agenda that establishes a sequence of events for the meetings. The meeting is conducted by the board president based on a combination of Robert’s Rules of Order, common sense, and common courtesy. Meetings can last up to several hours, depending on the contents of the agenda.
Are board meetings public?
Board meetings are not public meetings; they are meetings held in public. By law, board discussion and deliberation must be conducted in public, except for certain specific matters, such as personnel, union negotiations, security, purchase of property, student disciplinary cases, and litigation, which may be discussed in closed sessions. However, all official board action -voting- must be taken in public.
When does the District 70 board meet?
The District 70 board regularly meets at 6 p.m. on the fourth Monday night of each month. Typically the board meets. the the Board Room at the Educational Resource Center, 1331 Lake St., Libertyville. Special board meetings may be called on an as-needed basis. The dates of board meetings are posted on the website, d70schools.org, under “Board.”
May I speak at the board meeting?
In District 70, Board of Education Policy 2:230, Public Participation at Board of Education Meetings and Petitions to the Board, there are specific times provided on the agenda when public comments are received. Guests may speak at those times specifically set aside for Public Comments. Groups attending board meetings are requested to appoint a spokesperson they want to address the board. The board president is responsible for recognizing guests for comments, maintaining calm and order during the meeting, and calling an end to comments when appropriate.
No interviews may be conducted in the meeting room while the board is in session. If members of the press/audience want to conduct an interview, they may wait until the conclusion of the meeting, or conduct the interview in a hallway or another room.
Will the board resolve my concern at this meeting?
The board rarely acts immediately on an issue brought before it for the first time. Even with more familiar issues, the board takes action only after it thoroughly has examined all aspects of a matter. You may expect the board to act as promptly as circumstances allow and notify you when it arrives at a decision. The board also may direct the superintendent to reply to a question at a later date or will take the matter under advisement.