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The Spartanburg Charter School board of directors will be organized as the governing body of Spartanburg Charter School in accordance with the requirements of the South Carolina Charter Schools Act. The board will be elected annually, and it will be responsible to constituents of the charter school, that is the parents/guardians and employees, as well as to the charter’s sponsoring agent.
The SCS board will consist of 7 members. Within three weeks of the beginning of each school year, the Spartanburg Charter School will hold a pre-election meeting for all employees and parents of enrolled children. At the pre-election meeting the Spartanburg Charter School will accept oral and written nominations for candidates of the governing board from employees of the school and from all parents/guardians of students enrolled in the school. The school will also accept written nominations for one week after the pre-election meeting. The Spartanburg Charter School will contact individuals nominated to ensure their willingness to serve. The Spartanburg Charter School will place on a ballot the names and relevant expertise of nominated individuals who have indicated their willingness to serve. Within one week of the close of nominations, the school will mail a ballot home for every student in the school, and the school will distribute ballots to every employee in the school. The school will note the deadline for voting clearly on each ballot. Employees will have one vote and parents/guardians of a student will have one vote for each student enrolled in the charter school. Ballots will be confidential and can be returned either via mail or to a ballot box at the school.
During the first year of operation the Spartanburg Charter School’s planning committee will tally votes during a public meeting and announce the Spartanburg Charter School’s first governing board to serve for the 2009-2010 school year. The charter committee will then be dissolved and the elected governing board will assume its responsibilities.
In subsequent years, the tallying of election votes will occur during a public governing board meeting during the first semester of each school year, with the current chairperson of the board announcing the results of the election. The charter school’s head of the school; the program director; at least one teacher from each of the following areas: primary grades (kindergarten through grade two), intermediate grades (third through fifth grade), middle grades (sixth through eighth grade); and special education will be ex-officio members of the governing board, with no voting rights but with the responsibility of providing educational knowledge, data, and information to help the governing board make informed decisions.
Members of the board should have a genuine interest in and devotion to public education, a willingness to give time and effort to the work, a capacity for understanding people, and the ability to work cooperatively with others. Constitutional and statutory provisions require that all officers of the state and its subdivisions be qualified electors; that is, registered to vote, in their resident precinct. The South Carolina Constitution also prohibits any person convicted of a felony under state or federal law or other crimes related to elections and voting from being elected to and serving in an office in this state or its political subdivisions, including school districts.
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