School Council – Meetings

Quorum at a school council meeting

A school council meeting must operate with a quorum:

• a quorum requires not less than one half of school council members currently holding office to be present at the meeting
• the majority of members present must not be department employees
• any parent members on school council who also work for the department are counted as department employees for the purpose of a quorum
• a member of the school council may be present in person or by videoconferencing or teleconferencing

The principal as executive officer is responsible for ensuring there are appropriate facilities if school council members wish to attend by videoconference or teleconference.

If at the end of 30 minutes after the appointed time for a school council meeting there is not a quorum, the meeting must stand adjourned to a time and place determined by the school council members present.

Examples of calculating quorum

Golden Secondary College has a total of 14 membership positions consistent with their constituting Order with no vacant positions:

• 3 community members
• 2 student members
• 4 school employee members
• 5 parent members (including one department employee parent).

If Golden Secondary College has 7 members present for a school council meeting including the following, school council has not achieved quorum because although there is one half of all members currently holding office, there are more department employees than non-department employees:

• the principal
• 2 school employee members
• 2 student members
• the department employee parent
• one other parent member.

However, at the next school council meeting 7 members are present including:

• the principal
• one school employee member
• 2 student members
• the department employee parent
• one other parent member
• one community member.

In this case, the school council has achieved quorum because there is one half of all members currently holding office in attendance and there are more non-department employees than department employees present.