Item sent directly to committee

[Guest Brian]

I am wondering what the process is for an item that a member wants to present to the board to be considered and referred to committee can be sent directly to committee by the Chair without the entire board hearing about the topic first?  Other committees and boards that I have been a member of have used a "board referred" method of items being referred to committee.  This is the first time I have encountered the chair making the unilateral decision to sent the item to committee.

Ultimately, the item is going to go to committee to be considered, however, the full board may never be made aware of the item that would not be on the official agenda in the first place.  The chair referral before the board reviews and recommends sending to committee seems like a good way for an item to be lost, with the exception of the member that introduced the item.

I may be way off and it may indeed be the chair's right to make this move.  Could I have some clarification if possible?

 

Thanks very much 

[Richard Brown]

Are you a member of the board? 
 

Edited to add:  what is it that you are trying to do? Are you trying to get a motion or matter referred to a committee without the other board members knowing about it or you do want the other board members to know about it?

Edited December 17, 2019 at 07:37 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Atul Kapur]

It sounds like you are asking whether this can happen outside of a meeting, because if it happens during a meeting then all in attendance would be aware.

The general answer is no, that can't happen outside of a meeting.

[Guest Brian]

31 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Are you a member of the board? 
 

Edited to add:  what is it that you are trying to do? Are you trying to get a motion or matter referred to a committee without the other board members knowing about it or you do want the other board members to know about it?

I am a member of the school board in my community.  I always thought that there needed to be a quorum of membership of the board to vote to send an item to committee.  I am faced with a chair and superintendent  that are sending the item straight to committee without ever being presented to the committee first.  That process does not seem proper to me is what I am questioning.

[Atul Kapur]

Some committees have "standing authority to act for the society on matters of a certain class without specific instructions from the assembly." 
Sometimes "all business of a certain class is to be automatically referred to the committee"
(RONR 11th, ed., p. 491, lines 13-17)

but in both of those cases, the committee must be constituted by name in the bylaws or by a resolution which is in effect a special rule of order. (Ibid., lines 6-11)

So look to the documents that create the committee. But, in my opinion, this generally should occur at a meeting or, at a minimum, should be announced at a meeting.

[Guest Brian]

18 minutes ago, Atul Kapur said:

Some committees have "standing authority to act for the society on matters of a certain class without specific instructions from the assembly." 
Sometimes "all business of a certain class is to be automatically referred to the committee"
(RONR 11th, ed., p. 491, lines 13-17)

but in both of those cases, the committee must be constituted by name in the bylaws or by a resolution which is in effect a special rule of order. (Ibid., lines 6-11)

So look to the documents that create the committee. But, in my opinion, this generally should occur at a meeting or, at a minimum, should be announced at a meeting.

Your previous answer confirmed the way that I was thinking that it was supposed to happen.  It just seemed strange to me that they could bypass the main membership and send direct to committee.  Thanks for your assistance and suggestions.