Board Special Session Explained

This is a comprehensive guide to a special session of the PPS Board of Education. A "Special Session" refers to any meeting of the PPS Board of Education that is not a regular meeting and can be designated as a "Work Session" or "Business Session". Unlike a regular session, a special session can be scheduled up to 24 hours before the meeting takes place, whereas a regular meeting has a preset schedule established at the beginning of the school year. This page is organized first by who you are seeing, then proceeds through the meeting chronologically. You can find a similar page for a Regular Board Meetings Explained and a page for a Board Committee Meetings Explained. You can find the current Board schedule on the PPS Board Calendar Page.

Work Session

According to Board Policy 1.70.011-P , a "Work Session", a work session is held in order to:

• Hear presentations and recommendations from members of the Board or from the superintendent or his/her designated representatives on school programs, problems, or other matters;
• Secure needed information and conduct discussions, as necessary, on matters to be considered for Board action;
• Hear presentations from members of the community or school staff on any matters;
• Vote on issues brought to the Board for Committee-of-the-Whole discussion. Votes on resolutions taken in the Work Session shall, without further motion, be taken and shall be the final action of the Board and shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

Business Session

According to Board Policy 1.70.011-P , a "Business Session" refers to a session that "will afford the opportunity to consider and act upon proposed policies and resolutions concerning the business of the district."

Who You Are Seeing

Special sessions are comprised of the same personnel as a regular session, including the Board Chair, Board Vice-Chair, Board Members, Superintendent, Student Representative, the Board Executive Assistant, and Legal Counsel. You can use the links above to find out more information on each role on the Regular Board Meetings Explained page.

What Proceedings are you Seeing

A special meeting of the Board may be called upon the order of the Chair of the Board or upon the request of three members of the Board. Notice shall be issued to all Board members at least 24 hours before the meeting is to be held. You can find the meeting schedule on the PPS Board Page.

Call to Order

Board chair calls meeting to order and references the links to the agenda for the meeting and the link to the livestream. The board chair will often go over some housekeeping rules during the meetings. The board requires that any signs brought to the board meeting be displayed below chin level.

Updates

The remaining part of the special session varies widely from meeting to meeting. Sometimes a committee or the superintendent has an update that starts the session, talking about an initiative, budget meeting, or other ongoing matter.

Resolutions

After updates, the board will move into voting on resolutions. You can find the protocol for voting on resolutions on the Regular Board Meetings Explained page. Resolutions that are designated as "Public Comment Accepted" will allow for a public comment period and contain the same protocol as the regular board meetings, which you can find in the Comment Period section of the Regular Board Meetings Explained page.

Adjourn/Written Update

The board will go through this process with all items on the agenda and adjourn after everything is completed. Sometimes, the agenda will have a "written update" that is not referred to during the meeting that can be found digitally on the PPS BoardBook.