BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Series 200

Policy Title: Responsibilities of the Board of Directors Code No. 203

The board is authorized to govern the school district which it oversees. The board is entrusted with public funds and is responsible for overseeing the improvement of student outcomes, including student academic achievement and skill proficiency.  As the governing board of the school district, the board has four duties to perform: legislative duty, executive duty, evaluative duty, and quasi-judicial duty.

As a representative of the citizens of the school district community, the board is responsible for legislating policy for the school district. As a policy-making body, the board has jurisdiction to enact policy with the force and effect of law for the management and operation of the school district.

It is the responsibility of the board, under the board's executive duty, to select its chief executive officer, the superintendent, to operate the school district on the board's behalf. The board delegates to the superintendent its authority to carry out board policy, to formulate and carry out rules and regulations and to handle the administrative details in a manner which supports and is consistent with board policy.

The board has a responsibility to review the education program's performance under its evaluative duty. The board regularly reviews the education program and supporting services. The review includes a careful study and examination of the facts, conditions and circumstances surrounding the amount of funds received or expended and the education program's ability to achieve the board's educational philosophy for the school district.

The board fulfills its quasi-judicial duties in serving as a neutral arbiter for hearings related to student suspension or expulsion proceedings and certain employment termination hearings and appeals.  This important power was granted by the Iowa Legislature and cannot be delegated.  To preserve the board's neutrality to hear and decide upon these matters, the board does not investigate or become involved in student disciplinary matters or employment matters that may come before it and would require the board to serve in its quasi-judicial role.

Date of Adoption/Review/Revision:

July 2003

July 2006

July 2009

July 2012

July 2015

September 2019

September 2021

July 2022