Bylaws

By-laws of the PS 163 Leadership Team

As Adopted, February, 2000; amended May, 2000; amended October, 2003;
amended December, 2005, amended June 2007, amended May 2008

Article I: Name
The name of this organization shall be the PS 163 School Leadership Team.

Article II: Objectives
As described in The Chancellor’s Plan for School Leadership Teams, the purpose of the School Leadership Team is to determine the school’s educational direction, that is, the school’s overall educational vision, its goals and priorities, the strategies that will be used to achieve that vision, and the alignment of resources to carry out those strategies.
The School Leadership Team (SLT) of PS 163 shall meet the following objectives:
1) To review, monitor and assess the current school year’s Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP).
2) To review, monitor and assess the current school year’s budget and staffing plan to ensure it is consistent with and furthers the CEP.
3) To focus efforts of staff and parents on those aspects of the CEP in need of increased support.
4) To rewrite the CEP for the next school year.
5) To reform the proposed budget and staffing plan for the following year to ensure it is consistent with and furthers the proposed CEP.
6) To take any other actions, consistent with the CEP, to further enrich the educational and social experience of the children who attend PS 163.

Article III: Team Composition
1) As required by the Chancellor’s Plan for School Leadership Teams,
a) the Principal, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Chapter Delegate and the President of the PS 163 Parent Teachers Association ( PTA) shall be core members of the SLT. If the PTA elects more than one co-president, the PTA shall decide which one will be a member of the SLT.
b) the number of staff and parent members shall be equal.
2) There shall be no fewer than 10 and no more than 12 members of the SLT. (DOE regulations indicate the maximum number of SLT members is not to exceed 17.) The number of members shall remain constant from one year to the next unless a quorum of the SLT votes otherwise in a meeting. Parent and staff members shall try to ensure representation of all school constituencies. Staff constituencies are defined as the unions: UFT and DC37. (DC37 representation is desired but not necessary for an SLT to be in compliance with DOE regulations.) Parent constituencies are defined as the programs: Dual Language, General Education, Gifted and Talented and Special Needs.
3) Members of the school leadership team shall serve a term of two years.
4) a) Elections, conducted by the PTA for parents, which shall not be concurrent with elections held for PTA positions but conducted after PTA elections are conducted, and staff constituencies for staff, shall be staggered so that half of the elected seats are open in any given year. Team members whose terms have expired may run for reelection. The terms of the three core members shall not expire.
b) If a seat on the team becomes vacant during that member’s term, the position shall be filled in the following manner:
1) If the vacant position is a parent position, then, if the PTA has specifically elected ranked alternate team members, the next ranking alternate shall immediately fill the vacant position. If more than one unranked alternated has been elected, succession shall be determined by lottery. If no alternates are in place, the PTA shall immediately notify the parent body of the vacancy and shall schedule an election to fill that vacancy, which shall be held as soon as possible under PTA bylaws.
2) If the vacant position is a staff position, the constituency previously represented by the vacant position shall, by consensus, select a replacement. If the constituent group cannot achieve consensus before the next regularly scheduled team meeting, the staff constituency will hold an immediate election to fill the vacant position.
c) It shall be a duty of the secretary to maintain the official list of members of the team together with the expiration date of each member’s term. If and when a new person is elected or selected to the SLT’s ex officio positions, the secretary shall file record of the new appointment among the documents of the team.
1) At the end of the voting for new parent members, the secretary shall request from the PTA a tabulation of the ballots, and a statement of the results. These records shall be kept with the records of the team.
2) At the end of the voting for new staff members, the secretary shall request from the staff constituencies a tabulation of the ballots and a statement of the results. These records shall be kept with the records of the team.
d) Members are expected to make every effort to attend meetings. It is expected that core members will make every effort to attend all SLT meetings and, if they must miss a meeting, will ask a designee to represent them. After a member misses two consecutive meetings, the co-chairs will contact the member to ask his or her intent to participate. If an elected member fails to attend three consecutive meetings in the school year, the member is disqualified and the position is vacant. In that case, procedures for filling team vacancies would be followed as stated above.
e) An elected alternate is expected to keep current with the work of the School Leadership Team by attending at least one meeting every three months and reviewing SLT minutes, committee minutes, e-mails and other correspondence

Article IV: Officers
1) The officers of the leadership team shall be as follows:
a) Two Co-Chairs, one a parent and one a staff member, who shall prepare proposed agendas for input and adoption, shall preside at all meetings, direct the discussion and try to lead the team to consensus.
b) Treasurer, who shall determine each fall if stipends exist. If so, each June the treasurer shall collect requests for payments of stipends from the Team and see that these forms are delivered to the appropriate DOE office. The treasurer should follow up as necessary. The treasurer shall determine if there is any Department of Education allocation for SLTs. The treasurer shall, with the help of the Budget committee, prepare a budget based on the money allocated for team expenses which shall be submitted to the team for approval. The treasurer shall, with the signed consent of either the principal or one of the co-chairs, authorize the disbursal of money as required to pay bills duly incurred by the team, and keep account of all money spent by the Team. The Treasurer shall be the chair of the budget and finance committee.
c) In addition to the duties specified in Article III, Paragraph 4c and Article VI, Paragraph A, the Secretary shall be responsible for taking the minutes of each meeting. The Secretary shall prepare and circulate draft minutes of the team meetings prior to the team’s next meeting, for approval by the team. The Recording Secretary shall maintain in the school office copies of all minutes of team meetings, attendance records, all minutes of committee meetings, all correspondence sent out by the team or its committees and any other documents used by the team and its committees in deliberations. Those documents shall be available for public inspection upon notice to either the principal or the recording secretary. Secretary shall receive and circulate to the appropriate team members all correspondence received by the team. The Secretary shall distribute all notices to the team and will correspond, on behalf of the team. The position of Secretary may be shared between two or more people, and/or its duties delegated to other team members.
2) Procedure for the Election of Officers: Officers shall be elected by a majority vote for a one year term at the first October meeting of the team.
3) Replacement of Officers:In the event an officer resigns or is unable to fulfill her/his duty, the team shall declare the office vacant and shall, at its next meeting following notice of the vacancy, elect a replacement who will serve out the term of the person replaced.
Article V Committees
The work of the leadership team will be carried out in part by committees.
1)Operation of committees. Standing committees shall be chaired by an SLT officer. Ad hoc committees shall have at least one SLT member and the chair may be an SLT member or not
The committee members select their own chair. Persons who are not members of the Leadership Team may become members of the committees of the team. Committees will make recommendations to the team but final action on any issue is reserved for the whole team. Committee assignments shall be for a term of one year. However, there shall be no limit to the number of terms that a member may serve on any committee.
2) Standing Committees. The following will be standing committees of the team.
a) Budget; which will gather all relevant data on school budget, circulate that data and prepare proposed school budgets consistent with the CEP. The Budget & Finance Committee will also prepare an internal budget for the Leadership Team’s own expenses. This draft budget shall be proposed and circulated at the first meeting of Team in the month of October and shall be adopted at the first meeting in November of each year.
b) Curriculum and Evaluation, which will evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the CEP, and research and propose educational initiatives to be considered for inclusion in the CEP.
3) Other committees may be established by the team on a permanent or ad hoc basis.
Article VI: Meetings, Notices and Minutes and Decisions Made Without Meetings.
1) Meetings of the team and of its committees shall be open to all members of the school community. SLT members and observers shall try at all times to speak with civility and respect, refraining when possible from singling out individuals. Persons who are not team members may only speak with the permission of the facilitator/chair. Notice of team and committee meetings and minutes of those meetings will be announced to the widest school audience possible by the most appropriate means. This will be the responsibility of the secretary.

2) When an issue must be decided by the SLT between regularly scheduled meeting times, then the co-chairs or the principal may schedule an emergency meeting. If a quorum cannot be assembled, the co-chairs or the principal may poll the membership individually about the issue in question. In the event that such a poll is impossible (e.g., too many members out of town for the summer), the principal and the co-chairs may take such action as they deem necessary, and schedule a meeting of the team as soon as possible.
3) No decision may be made by the team at any meeting unless at that meeting a quorum of members is present. For the purposes of these by-laws a quorum means fifty percent (50%) plus one more of all members.
Article VII: Procedure for Constituency Referral of Concerns To the School Leadership Team
If a member of the school community wishes to bring an issue before the SLT, the person should submit the concern in writing to a member of the team who shall pass it to the co-chairs to be considered for inclusion on the next agenda.

Article VIII Consensus
1) As used in these bylaws, “consensus” means agreement or consent by all team members, committee members and/or officers as to a particular issue or course of action. A consensus is reached when those opposed to a decision agree to allow that action to go forward notwithstanding their disagreement.
2) In the event that the team in unable to reach a consensus on any issue which requires a consensus, in accordance with the Chancellor’s plan for teams, the school principal will decide or resolve the issue.