IV. Developing Board Meeting Agendas

1. To accomplish its stated objectives, the Board develops and follows an Annual Agenda Planning Calendar that includes a schedule for significant aspects of the Board's upcoming work, including monitoring of District performance, matters related to the District budget, bond and facility work, contracts, policies, personnel, evaluation of the Superintendent, and other items pertaining to major business of the Board. (Refer to Governance Process (GP-8) for more information on the annual agenda planning process).
2. Placing Items on the Agenda
   1. The Superintendent's office staff, in collaboration with the Board Calendar Committee, shall prepare the agenda for each Board meeting in accordance with the Annual Agenda Planning Calendar. Agenda items may be added by the Superintendent through appropriate consultation with the Board Officers.
   2. Any Board member may propose a subject for consideration by the Board. Ideally, such requests should be made before the Board at a Board meeting or proposed in writing to the Board President. Proposed topics will be placed on the Board's "Parking Lot" for review and consideration by the Board Officers who will recommend a process, venue and schedule for addressing each proposed item. If the requesting Board member is not satisfied with the Officers' recommendation for addressing a proposed subject or the Calendar Committee's scheduling of the item, the Board member may request that the full Board consider the method and timeline for addressing the requested topic.
   3. In accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, no member can place an item on the agenda less than 72 hours in advance of a meeting, except in an emergency as per Texas law.
   4. Board agendas will be electronically delivered to board members six days prior to the regular board meeting.
   5. The Superintendent's office is responsible for the posting of the agenda, 72 hours before the meeting, under Chapter 551 (Open Meetings) of the Texas Government Code, and for the notification of the meeting to the media.
   6. The Board will vote to approve the agenda at the beginning of each meeting.
   7. The order in which posted agenda items are taken may be changed by consent of a majority of the Board members present at any meeting where a quorum exists.
   8. In accordance with GP-8.4, the removal of an item from the consent agenda for discussion requires the approval, by vote, of a majority of the Board.
   9. Board members are encouraged to advise the Superintendent, Officers, or Superintendent's designee of questions or concerns on agenda items before the Board meeting.
3. Items for Executive Session
   1. Items that may be discussed in Executive Session include:
      1. Private consultation with an attorney, only when it seeks the attorney's advice about pending or contemplated litigation or a settlement offer or on a matter in which the duty of the attorney to the Board under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with the requirement for open meetings.
      2. Purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property if deliberation in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on negotiations with a third person.
      3. A negotiated contract for a prospective gift or donation if deliberation in an open meeting would have detrimental effect on negotiations with a third party.
      4. The appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee or to hear a complaint or charge against an officer or employee, unless the employee who is the subject of the deliberation or hearing requests a public hearing. This provision does not apply when the board discusses an independent contractor who is not a school employee, such as an engineering, architectural, or consultant firm, or when the Board discusses a class or group of employees, not a particular employee.
      5. Deliberation of a case involving discipline of a public school child unless the child's parent or guardian makes a written request for an open hearing.
      6. Deliberation of a case in which a complaint or charge is brought against a District employee by another employee and the complaint or charge directly results in the need for a hearing unless the employee against whom the complaint or charge is brought makes a written request for an open hearing.
      7. Deliberation of the deployment, or specific occasions for implementation of security personnel or devices.
      8. The adoption of assessment instruments or assessment instrument items.
      9. Discussion of commercial or financial information that the Board has received from a business prospect that the Board seeks to have located, stay, or expand in or near the District, with which the Board is conducting economic development negotiations, or financial or other incentive to such a business prospect.