Skip To Main Content
Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools

Logo Title

Welcome to a Meeting of Your School Board

Welcome to a Board of Education Meeting    
 
The Hewlett-Woodmere Board of Education welcomes residents, staff and students to its meetings. It is our intention to conduct business openly, soliciting and encouraging broad-based involvement in the decision-making processes. This information is being made available to promote understanding and create a partnership among the schools, the staff and community. Board of Education decisions affect the education of our children and the well-being of our community.

Types of Board Meetings

The Board conducts its business at two monthly public meetings.
  1. Regular Business Meetings
    A regular School Board business meeting is held each month. Meeting dates and locations are listed in the school calendar, the public library, the Woodmere Education Center and the district Web site. The Superintendent and District Clerk are seated at the table with the Board. The Assistant Superintendent for Business, the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, the Assistant Superintendent for Special Education and Student Support Services, the Executive Director for Communications, Community Services, Registration and Grants, and other District personnel are also in attendance. 
     
  2. Work Meetings
    In addition to its regular business meetings, the Board holds work meetings and executive sessions. Work meetings are planning meetings at which the Board receives from the Superintendent, district staff, community committees and other resource people reports and information regarding activities in the school district. During work sessions, Board members have the opportunity to study and discuss specific topics in depth and to review items to be acted upon at future business meetings. No motions are made or adopted at work meetings. While work meetings are open to the public, resident participation is at the discretion of the Board.
     
  3. Executive Sessions
    The Board also meets in executive session to discuss personnel matters, labor negotiations and other matters defined as confidential by the Open Meeting Law of the State of New York. All executive sessions are closed to the public.


How Board Meetings Are Conducted - Agenda
Copies of the agenda (and enclosures), which outlines the order of business for each business meeting, are available to the public and are usually placed on a table in the back of the auditorium. Agenda and supporting documents are sent to Board members in advance of the meeting date to allow them to study and review the information. The regular business meeting agenda contains a section referred to as the “Consent Agenda.” The items in the Consent Agenda are routine items of business which the Board has either reviewed at prior Work Meetings or in Executive Session, or are routine matters acted on each month and ones which, by their nature, require little discussion. Unless a board member asks to remove an item from the Consent Agenda for questions, discussion or separate vote, the Consent Agenda items are acted upon collectively by a single motion and vote.

Order of Business and Community Participation The Board will follow Robert’s Rules of Order Revised (Parliamentary Procedure) in an effort to maintain order and to efficiently carry out the work for which it has been elected. Time permitting, members of the audience may have the opportunity to raise questions and concerns. The order of business at a regular meeting is as follows:  

  • Program and Reports (information update)
  • Communications
  • Professional Recognitions
  • If members of the public wish to have note of name and topic in the minutes, they will submit a speaker’s card (please see link below) to the District Clerk before the regular monthly meeting, during the announced break, or immediately before addressing the Board.

  • Questions or comments from the audience on agenda items only. The President may ask if there are comments on the Consent Agenda items only, and then invite any questions or comments on any remaining items of business listed on the agenda. All questions should be directed to the Board, not the audience, and only through the Board’s President, who acts as the chairperson of each meeting. Each member of the audience may be limited to speak only once during this time period. Based upon the time and length of the agenda, the President will determine whether a time limit will be set per speaker, whether prior speakers on a topic may speak again, and whether comments from the public will be responded to by the Board or staff. Please use the microphone if provided, and state clearly your name, your place of residence, and any organization(s) you may represent.
  • Board discussion and action on its Consent Agenda and any remaining items of business. The Board then conducts its business on agenda items (instruction, personnel, finance and budget, miscellaneous business, policy revisions and Agenda Addenda items.)
  • A review of future meetings
  • Questions or comments from the audience on items not on the agenda: 

     All questions should be directed to the Board, not the audience or any specific individual, and only through the Board’s President, who acts as the chairperson of each meeting. Based upon the time and length of the agenda, the President will determine whether a time limit will be set per speaker, whether prior speakers on a topic may speak again, and whether comments from the public will be responded to by the Board or by the staff. Please use the microphone, if provided, and state clearly your name, your place of residence, and any organization(s) you may represent.

Click here to print the Speaker's Card