2:20 School Board: Powers & Duties of the School;Indemnification
Powers and Duties of the School Board; Indemnification
The major powers and duties of the School Board include, but are not limited to:
1. Organizing the Board after each consolidated election by electing officers and establishing its regular meeting schedule and, thereafter, taking action during lawfully called meetings to faithfully fulfill the Board’s responsibilities in accordance with State and federal law.
2. Formulating, adopting, and modifying Board policies, at its sole discretion, subject only to mandatory collective bargaining agreements and State and federal law.
3. Employing a Superintendent and other personnel, making employment decisions, dismissing personnel, including determining whether an employee has willfully or negligently failed to report an instance of suspected child abuse or neglect as required by 325 ILCS 5/, and establishing an equal employment opportunity policy that prohibits unlawful discrimination.
4. Directing, through policy, the Superintendent, in his or her charge of the District’s administration.
5. Approving the annual budget, tax levies, major expenditures, payment of obligations, annual audit, and other aspects of the District’s financial operation; and making available a statement of financial affairs as provided in State law.
6. Entering contracts in accordance with applicable federal and State law, including using the public bidding procedure when required.
7. Providing, constructing, controlling, and maintaining adequate physical facilities; making school buildings available for use as civil defense shelters; and establishing a resource conservation policy.
8. Establishing an equal educational opportunities policy that prohibits unlawful discrimination.
9. Approving the curriculum, textbooks, and educational services.
10. Evaluating the educational program and approving School Improvement Plans.
11. Presenting the District report card and School report card(s) to parents/guardians and the community; these documents report District, School, and student performance.
12. Establishing and supporting student behavior policies designed to maintain an environment conducive to learning, including deciding individual student suspension or expulsion cases brought before it.
13. Establishing attendance units within the District and assigning students to the schools.
14. Establishing the school year.
15. Requiring a moment of silence to recognize veterans during any type of school event held at a District school on November 11.
16. Providing student transportation services pursuant to State law.
17. Entering into joint agreements with other boards to establish cooperative educational programs or provide educational facilities.
18. Complying with requirements in the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act (ANCRA). Specifically, each individual Board member must, if an allegation is raised to the member during an open or closed Board meeting that a student is an abused child as defined in ANCRA, direct or cause the Board to direct the Superintendent or other equivalent school administrator to comply with ANCRA’s requirements concerning the reporting of child abuse.
19. Notifying the State Superintendent of Education promptly and in writing of the name of a licensed teacher who was convicted of a felony, along with the conviction and the name and location of the court where the conviction occurred.
20. Notifying the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) of the State of Ill. Board of Trustees promptly and in writing when it learns that a teacher as defined in the Ill. Pension Code was convicted of a felony, along with the name and location of the court where the conviction occurred, and the case number assigned by that court to the conviction.
21. Communicating the schools’ activities and operations to the community and representing the needs and desires of the community in educational matters.
Indemnification
To the extent allowed by law, the Board shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless School Board members, employees, volunteer personnel (pursuant to 105 ILCS 5/10-22.34, 10-22.34a and 10-22.34b), mentors of certified staff (pursuant to 105 ILCS 5/2-3.53a, 2-3.53b, and 105 ILCS 5/21A-5 et seq.), and student teachers who, in the course of discharging their official duties imposed or authorized by law, are sued as parties in a legal proceeding. Nothing herein, however, shall be construed as obligating the Board to defend, indemnify, or hold harmless any person who engages in criminal activity, official misconduct, fraud, intentional or willful and wanton misconduct, or acts beyond the authority properly vested in the individual.
LEGAL REF.: 105 ILCS 5/10, 5/17-1, 5/21B-85, and 5/27-1.
115 ILCS 5/, Ill. Educational Labor Relations Act.
325 ILCS 5/, Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.
CROSS REF.: 1:10 (School District Legal Status), 1:20 (District Organization, Operations, and Cooperative Agreements), 2:10 (School District Governance), 2:80 (Board Member Oath and Conduct), 2:140 (Communications To and From the Board), 2:210 (Organizational School Board Meeting), 2:240 (Board Policy Development), 4:60 (Purchases and Contracts), 4:70 (Resource Conservation), 4:100 (Insurance Management), 4:110 (Transportation), 4:150 (Facility Management and Building Programs), 4:165 (Awareness and Prevention of Sexual Abuse and Grooming Behaviors), 4:175 (Convicted Child Sex Offender; Screening; Notifications), 5:10 (Equal Employment Opportunity and Minority Recruitment), 5:30 (Hiring Process and Criteria), 5:90 (Abused and Neglected Child Reporting), 5:120 (Employee Ethics; Code of Professional Conduct; and Conflict of Interest), 5:150 (Personnel Records), 5:210 (Resignations), 5:290 (Employment Termination and Suspensions), 6:10 (Educational Philosophy and Objectives), 6:15 (School Accountability), 6:20 (School Year Calendar and Day), 7:10 (Equal Educational Opportunities), 7:30 (Student Assignment and Intra-District Transfer), 7:190 (Student Behavior), 7:200 (Suspension Procedures), 7:210 (Expulsion Procedures), 8:10 (Connection with the Community), 8:30 (Visitors to and Conduct on School Property)
Last PRESS Update: October 2023
First Read: November 8, 2023
Adopted: December 13, 2023