Public Notice for SLT Meetings

From Principals Weekly. Dates of meetings must be posted on school websites. Update to Guidance on New Policy for SLT Meetings: Change in Procedure for Giving Public Notice to the Media School Type: All schools Workflow Subcategory: Family/Community Engagement As noted in previous editions of Principals’ Weekly, the New York State Appellate Division recently issued a decision ruling that School Leadership Team (SLT) meetings must be open to the general public and comply with the requirements of the Open Meetings Law. You should note the following change in procedure for giving public notice to the news media concerning the date, time, and location of SLT meetings: Change in Procedure for Giving Public Notice of SLT Meetings: Family Leadership Coordinators and Family Support Coordinators (changed from Field Support Centers in the previous announcement) will be responsible for sending notice of SLT meetings to the news media, which can be a local news station, such as NY1, or a local newspaper. To facilitate this procedure, you or your designee must send the schedule of SLT meetings to your Family Leadership Coordinator and Family Support Coordinator, so that they can send notice of the meetings to the news media. The information that you send must include the date, time and location of the SLT meetings. The coordinators will then provide notice to the news media at least 72 hours prior to each meeting, provided the meeting has been scheduled at least a week in advance. If the SLT meeting date, time or location changes, you should notify your Family Leadership Coordinator and Family Support Coordinator as soon as possible, so that they can notify the media of the change. You or a designee must post a notice of the SLT meeting on your school’s website and also post it in a conspicuous place in the school building. You should review additional guidance on the new policy for SLT meetings in this guidance document. For questions, contact your Senior Field Counsel. -- Francesco A. Portelos

Checking Up On Your SLT

Now that the Open Meetings Law has been confirmed for School Leadership Teams, parent and school leaders should be monitoring their teams to make sure they are focused on the development of the CEP and their budget responsibilities. They should drop in on teams unannounced and observe what is happening. Chances are you will find that teams are not engaged in their duties and unaware of their responsibilities due to lack of training. When you observe, remember to pick up the agenda for the meeting. You also have a right to receive the minutes of the meeting. By these means, we can pressure principals to develop functioning SLTs according to law. However, the question is,do parents and school leaders realize the importance of functioning SLTs in school governance? James Calantjis sltsupport.blogspot.com -----Original Message----- From: 'Leonie Haimson' leoniehaimson@gmail.com [nyceducationnews] To: Nyceducationnews@Yahoogroups.com Cc: changethestakes-open-forum ; cts-internal Sent: Mon, Nov 14, 2016 5:08 pm Subject: [nyceducationnews] What's the story on School Leadership Teams and their meetings? A fact sheet for parents and members of the public. https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2016/11/whats-story-on-school-leadership-team.html Leonie Haimson Executive Director Class Size Matters 1 24 Waverly Pl. New York, NY 10011 phone: 212-529-3539/917-435-9329 leonie@classsizematters.org www.classsizematters.org

New SLT Open Meetings Policy

DOE Sets New School Leadership (SLT) Policy New Policy for SLT Meetings All schools Workflow Subcategory: Family/Community Engagement Recently, the New York State Appellate Division issued a decision ruling that School Leadership Team (SLT) meetings must be open to the general public and comply with the requirements of the Open Meetings Law. Effective immediately, SLTs must allow members of the general public and the press to be admitted to their meetings, in addition to members of the school community. If certain confidential topics are discussed, the SLT should go into “executive session,” meaning that the SLT should move to a private room (out of earshot of the public and the press). During the next few weeks, principals will receive training from their Senior Field Counsel on how to comply with the requirements of the Open Meetings Law. Training will include directions for complying with the following requirements: Public Notice of Meetings: Public notice of the time and place of SLT meetings must be provided at least one week prior to the meeting. Notice must also be given to the news media and posted in one or more public locations, including on the school’s website, at least 72 hours before the meeting. Disclosure of Minutes: The SLT should prepare minutes of topics discussed at SLT meetings, including any proposals or items decided upon through consensus. Upon request, minutes shall be made available to the public in accordance with the provisions of FOIL within two weeks from the date of the meeting. Minutes that are taken during executive sessions should include the date and consist of a record or summary of any determination or final action that is taken. Upon request, minutes from the executive session shall be made available to the public in accordance with the provisions of FOIL within one week from the date of the meeting. § Executive Session: SLTs should go into executive session and remove themselves from the public meeting to discuss certain confidential topics, such as School Safety Plans, preparation or administration of examinations, current or future investigations, or proposed or pending litigation. If you have questions about this policy and these procedures, please contact your Senior Field Counsel.