Laws and bylaws silent on order of events, can't find a RONR reference regarding taking office before or after meeting

[sMargaret]

Greetings,

I'm one of two newly elected school trustees, elected in a by-election. The applicable laws, bylaws, and policies state that a trustee takes office after the oath of office is administered, which has to be at least 10 days after the election. There is a board meeting scheduled on that day. The last time there was a by-election, the new trustees took their oath first, followed by an inaugural meeting with the election to various positions, and then a general meeting was held. 

I've now received an email stating that the oath of office will be administered after the general board meeting.

I'm still exploring law, bylaws, policies, and diplomacy, but given that points of procedure not provided for in policy shall be decided in accordance with RONR, I thought I would check with RONR to see if there was anything useful. I've checked my copy of the 12th edition (and have 10th and 11th around), but can't seem to find anything. 

Thank you for any assistance.

[Rob Elsman]

Insofar as it does not conflict with [t]he applicable laws, bylaws, and policies...", the board is able to decide this matter for itself.  I do not understand by what authority someone would decide on his own that the oath will be administered after the general board meeting.  You may find that this Grand Poobah will present a problem for the board throughout your whole term.

[J. J.]

Is there any rule requiring that  the oath be administered by a specific person? 

[sMargaret]

On 6/20/2023 at 11:04 AM, J. J. said:

Is there any rule requiring that  the oath be administered by a specific person? 

That is indeed one of the things we're checking on, but the other potential administers of the oath would be a bit trickier to come by. 

[puzzling]

Looks like somebody is planning a coup. 

First an election by the old board of trustees (I guess to officers positions)

And only after that let the new trustees take office.

All not nice.

Maybe with help of old board members  they can change the agenda back to what it used to be. So you can have a vote in the election of officers.

 

[Drake Savory]

On 6/20/2023 at 12:14 PM, sMargaret said:

That is indeed one of the things we're checking on, but the other potential administers of the oath would be a bit trickier to come by. 

And when and where?  Could you publicly take the oath of office before the meeting?

[Josh Martin]

On 6/20/2023 at 9:53 AM, sMargaret said:

I'm still exploring law, bylaws, policies, and diplomacy, but given that points of procedure not provided for in policy shall be decided in accordance with RONR, I thought I would check with RONR to see if there was anything useful. I've checked my copy of the 12th edition (and have 10th and 11th around), but can't seem to find anything. 

I concur with Mr. Elsman that RONR does not provide any assistance in this regard. The presumption in RONR is that an oath of office is purely ceremonial, and therefore RONR doesn't have much to say about when the oath should take place.

In cases where the oath of office in fact determines when individuals shall take office, it would seem advisable for the time of the oath to be specified in applicable law or the board's rules, but in the absence of such rules, I suppose it is up to the board to determine when the oath shall be administered.

[sMargaret]

On 6/20/2023 at 12:48 PM, Drake Savory said:

And when and where?  Could you publicly take the oath of office before the meeting?

Certainly, one thing we were considering was a nuclear option, which is where we'd get a judge to swear us in outside, invite the media to witness, and then go into the meeting with the signed oath of office. At that point, however, we'd be faced with explaining to them that yes, they'd need to seat us.

There's been some situations with this board; there's a reason that two good trustees had resigned, leading to the by-election.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 6/20/2023 at 10:53 AM, sMargaret said:

Greetings,

I'm one of two newly elected school trustees, elected in a by-election. The applicable laws, bylaws, and policies state that a trustee takes office after the oath of office is administered, which has to be at least 10 days after the election. There is a board meeting scheduled on that day. The last time there was a by-election, the new trustees took their oath first, followed by an inaugural meeting with the election to various positions, and then a general meeting was held. 

I've now received an email stating that the oath of office will be administered after the general board meeting.

I'm still exploring law, bylaws, policies, and diplomacy, but given that points of procedure not provided for in policy shall be decided in accordance with RONR, I thought I would check with RONR to see if there was anything useful. I've checked my copy of the 12th edition (and have 10th and 11th around), but can't seem to find anything. 

Thank you for any assistance.

I can see a reasonable argument for doing the swearing in at the beginning of the meeting, and a somewhat less persuasive one to do so at the end of the meeting, but none whatever for doing so after the meeting has adjourned.  

I do have a notion that the language in the bylaws describing when terms end might be of assistance.  For example if the term length is "for n years, or until their successors are elected" then I'd say the new members should be sworn in as soon as the meeting is called to order, since although the new members are not yet installed, they have been elected, so the terms of the "old" board have already ended, and they may not hold an additional meeting.  Swearing in the new members would be required in order to hold a meeting.

[Joshua Katz]

On 6/20/2023 at 9:53 AM, sMargaret said:

I've now received an email stating that the oath of office will be administered after the general board meeting.

 

Maybe I missed it, but: from whom? 

[Gary Novosielski]

Rather than dragging a judge down to your meeting, you could ask for a court order that you could walk in waving.  I think it's clear that once the ten-day buffer has elapsed, newly elected members must be sworn in at the very first opportunity when the next meeting is called to order.  

But I think you owe it to the voters to assert your (actually their) rights and not allow the lame-duck board to pull their next stunt, and the one after that..

Edited June 22, 2023 at 06:27 AM by Gary Novosielski

[sMargaret]

Fortunately for all, the diplomatic approach (plus stating knowledge of our options) seems to have won. 

The people that I had been in touch with are the staff at the district, who are acting in their positions. They seem to have been proceeding based on the direction of the board chair & vice-chair - there are 5 existing members of the board, elected in the general election held last year. 

The rationale seems to have been to start fresh, after the end of this school year, and that "swearing in at the end of the meeting ensures that no-one is in a position of voting on a motion without all of the information". In our conversation, I noted that while I can certainly understand that POV, the fact of the matter is that there was indeed a by-election that was held, and elections have consequences. 

The full agenda should be coming out Friday, which I will watching for with interest.

I suspect I'll be back for other issues - fortunately, I do have the 12th edition (plus 11th and 10th), several simplified versions, and some decent supplemental materials from other publishers. 

 

[Rob Elsman]

We'll be here. 🙂

[puzzling]

Have a look if there is a rule that forbids changing the order of the agenda, and if there are some members that think the swearing in should be at the start.

On 6/20/2023 at 3:53 PM, sMargaret said:

The last time there was a by-election, the new trustees took their oath first, followed by an inaugural meeting with the election to various positions,

Still wondering if there are "elections to any position" that should be done after the swearing in. (So you can vote in them)

Doing the elections  before the swearing in doesn't constitute a "fresh start."(in my opinion)

Edited June 22, 2023 at 03:42 PM by puzzling