Region 16 Education AssociationBy-Law Revisions
Dear Association Members,
I am writing to you today to propose several changes to our by-laws. According to Article XIII, I must notify you at least 10 days in advance in writing of the proposed changes. All of the proposed changes are being made because of the input from our members on the survey. The proposed changes are meant to:
1) change quorum to “the number of members who are present at the meeting” (this had 63.5 % support of our members.)
2) change the number of general membership meetings to 2 per year (this had 47.1% support, which was most of the choices).
3) change the length of officer terms to 2 year terms (this had 58.7% support, which was the most of the choices.)
4) change the voting process to allow voting by Survey Monkey (this had 52.9% support, which was the most of the choices.)
What will follow will be the specifics of each section as they are currently written, followed by what I am proposing. All of which will be reflected in what I just summarized.
Current By-Law language:
ARTICLE X – QUORUM
Section 1.
A quorum for all Association meetings shall consist of 20 percent (20%) of the active
members.
ARTICLE VIII – MEETINGS
Section 1.
Regular meetings of the Association shall be held a minimum of four times a year beginning in August or September. Regular meetings will be held only during the school year.
ARTICLE V – DUTIES OFFICERS
Section 2.
The officers shall be elected for a term of one year.
Section 3.
The election of the officers shall be conducted at the last regular meeting of the Association during the school year by secret ballot, and such officers shall assume office on July 1 following such election.
Proposed By-Law language changes: (The changes are in blue)
ARTICLE X – QUORUM
Section 1.
A quorum for all Association meetings shall consist of the number of members who are present at the meeting.
ARTICLE VIII – MEETINGS
Section 1.
Regular meetings of the Association shall be held a minimum of two times a year beginning in August or September. Regular meetings will be held only during the school year.
ARTICLE V – DUTIES OFFICERS
Section 2.
The officers shall be elected for a term of two years.
Section 3.
The election of the officers shall be conducted using the website, Survey Monkey, and such officers shall assume office on July 1 following such election. The Executive Board shall develop a committee to oversee the election. That committee will inform the membership of the nomination period as well as the voting period. They will be responsible to ensure that each member receives a link to vote, as well as for announcing the results in a timely manner after the voting period concludes. (Each member is responsible to ensure that they are able to receive emails from Survey Monkey.) No person shall be allowed to be on the committee if they are a candidate in the election.
These are changes that our members indicated they wanted to see to our by-laws. I ask that you please plan on attending our November 9th meeting at Community School when these proposed changes are discussed and voted upon. We need a quorum in order to vote to make these changes. The meeting will begin at 3:45 PM in the gym. Please remember that at least 5 people will walk away with gift cards to Stop & Shop as part of our give away. (Since we didn’t have an official meeting last time… the number might be as high as 10 if the membership approves that!) I hope to see you at the meeting.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jerram