DAAC Bylaws, Application

El Paso County Colorado School District 49
Accountability Advisory Committee (DAAC) Bylaws

 

ARTICLE I – NAME

District Accountability Advisory Committee or DAAC.

ARTICLE II – MISSION

To enhance communication with the District Accountability Advisory Committee, School Accountability Committees (SACs), and the community by providing guidance and counsel to the El Paso County Colorado School District 49 Board of Education (BOE) on matters related to budget, improvement priorities, and student achievement.

ARTICLE III – RESPONSIBILITIES

Section 1. DAAC shall fulfill the responsibilities of a school district accountability committee as outlined by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and as established by current Colorado Revised Statute. DAAC responsibilities include:

a.     Recommending to the Board of Education (BOE) priorities for spending school district moneys.

b.     Advising the BOE concerning preparation of the Unified Improvement Plan (UIP), and annually submit recommendations to the BOE regarding contents of the UIP.

c.     Reviewing any charter application, to include renewals, received by the BOE prior to consideration by the BOE.

d.     Providing input and recommendations on an advisory basis to principals concerning the development and use of assessment tools to measure and evaluate student academic growth as it relates to teacher evaluations.

e.     Considering input and recommendations from each school accountability committee in the district to facilitate the evaluation of the performance of the school’s principal.

f.      Providing input to the BOE concerning the creation and enforcement of the school conduct and discipline code.

g.     Publicizing opportunities to serve and soliciting parents to serve on the DAAC and SACs.

h.     Assisting the district in implementing the district’s parent engagement policy.

i.      Assisting school personnel to increase parents’ engagement with educators, including parents’ engagement in creating students’ READ plans, Individual Career and Academic Plans, and plans to address habitual truancy.

Section 2. The DAAC shall at least annually meet with the BOE to cooperatively determine the areas and issues, in addition to budget issues, that the DAAC shall study and make recommendations to the BOE upon.

Section 3. The DAAC will report once annually during the school year to the Board of Education regarding progress toward district and state goals and objectives, or at the request of the BOE.

ARTICLE IV – MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. At a minimum, DAAC membership shall be comprised by a majority of parents, at least four (4) parents of students enrolled with the district public schools; one (1) teacher and one (1) school administrator who are employed by the district; and one (1) community member who is not employed by the school district nor a parent of any children in district schools, involved in a business or industry within the district boundaries. At the most, the DAAC will be composed of one member from each School Accountability Committees (SACs) in the district, up to three (3) community members, and up to five (5) administrative representative members as voting members, as well as one (1) Board Member and one (1) Administrative Liaison as non-voting members. Prospective members shall submit an application to the DAAC Executive Committee for consideration for appointment to the DAAC. The endorsed application will be forwarded by the DAAC Executive Committee to the Board for approval. Members are appointed for an indefinite term, until their resignation, abandonment, or removal.

Section 2. SAC Representative Members:

a.     The SAC Chair, or in the Chair’s absence, the School Principal, will submit an application to the DAAC Executive Committee which will be recommended for consideration of a member’s appointment to the DAAC. The endorsed application will be forwarded by the DAAC Executive Committee to the Board for approval.

b.     An application for one (1) alternate per SAC follows the same process. If the SAC Representative is unable to attend a meeting, the alternate may attend for them.

Section 3. Community Members:

a.     A community member who is not employed by the school district nor a parent of any children in district schools, involved in a business or industry within the district boundaries.

b.     Applications for community members will be reviewed by the DAAC Executive Committee and sent to the BOE for approval.

c.     Community members will be sought for the purpose of broadening community representation on DAAC. Community members will consist of no less than one and no more than three (3) community members.

Section 4. Administrative Representative Members:

a.     The CEO or the Administrative Liaison may also nominate one (1) administrative representative for each school category, including homeschool, charter school, elementary school, middle school, and high school, to serve on DAAC. Representatives do not need to be school administrators to be nominated.

b.     Applications for administrative representative members will be reviewed by the DAAC Executive Committee and sent to the BOE for approval.

Section 5. In the event a SAC Representative Member resigns, the DAAC Vice Chair will initiate a request to the appropriate SAC to request a replacement. If a Community Member intends to resign, DAAC members will reach out to the community to solicit a replacement. If an Administrative Representative Member resigns, the CEO or Administrative Liaison will nominate a replacement.

Section 6. Membership responsibilities include:

a.     Attend all DAAC meetings that are scheduled. If neither a SAC Representative Member nor the designated alternate is able to attend a DAAC meeting, the school principal will attend in their place. The Vice Chair shall contact any member having three unexcused absences from regularly scheduled meetings to see if that person wishes to remain on DAAC.

b.     DAAC members shall participate in and attend meetings of at least one subcommittee listed in Article VI.

c.     DAAC members shall maintain communication with the School Accountability Committees (SACs).

d.     The DAAC Executive Committee may recommend to the BOE to revoke membership status if a member violates the bylaws.

 

ARTICLE V – OFFICERS

Section 1. The officers of this organization shall be a chair, a vice chair, and a secretary, elected by the voting membership of DAAC bi-annually at the second regularly scheduled meeting. The Chair and Secretary will be elected in the Even/Odd academic years (beginning in 2018/2019), and the Vice-Chair will be elected in the Odd/Even academic years (beginning in 2019/2020). Upon resignation, abandonment, or removal of the Vice Chair or Secretary, a special election will be held at the next regularly scheduled meeting to elect a replacement officer for the remainder of the current term.

Section 2. Duties of the officers:

a.     Chair:

1.     Preside over all meetings.

2.     Be the official representative of DAAC.

3.     Have the authority to appoint the members to subcommittees, as necessary.

4.     Preside over all meetings of the DAAC Executive Committee.

5.     Position shall be held by a parent or community member.

b.     Vice-Chair:

1.     Shall be responsible for the duties of the chair in his/her absence.

2.     In the event of a vacancy in the Chair position, the Vice-Chair will succeed to the position of Chair.

3.     Shall work with School Advisory Committees and the BOE to ensure representation from all SACs to DAAC.

4.     Shall participate and attend all meetings of the DAAC Executive Committee.

5.     Position shall be held by a parent or community member.

c.     Secretary:

1.     Record minutes of all DAAC meetings, including attendance.

2.     Maintain electronic files of the DAAC: By-Laws, handbook, meeting minutes, attendance, and other documents as needed.

3.     Be prepared to read the records of any previous meetings and any DAAC correspondence.

4.     Shall participate and attend all meetings of the DAAC Executive Committee.

ARTICLE VI – SUB-COMMITTEES

Section 1. While sub-committee meetings may be open to the public, only members defined in Article IV may be voting members of sub-committees. Standing sub-committees of DAAC shall be Budget/MLO Committee, Bylaws Committee, Charter Committee, Family Engagement Committee, Continuous Improvement Planning Committee, and Executive Committee. Additional sub-committees may be formed from the membership as deemed necessary.

a.     The Chair shall appoint members to subcommittees as necessary.

b.     Sub-committees shall elect a Committee Chair during the first regularly scheduled committee meeting following the election of the DAAC Chair, or following the resignation, abandonment, or removal of the current Committee Chair.

c.     Sub-committees shall have the opportunity to provide an update at each DAAC meeting.

Section 2. The composition of voting members of the Executive Committee shall be the officers of DAAC, the Administrative Liaison and the Board of Education Liaison/or alternate.

Section 3. The Executive Committee shall meet at least 13 days prior to each DAAC meeting. Additional meetings may be called as necessary.

Section 4. Executive Committee Responsibilities:

a.     Conduct DAAC business between regularly scheduled DAAC meetings and to create DAAC agenda as necessary.

b.     Provide guidance to DAAC members.

c.     Determine the annual calendar for DAAC.

d.     Resolve disputes regarding a member’s violations of the by-laws.

e.     Ensure that each member is provided with a copy of the bylaws.

f.      Ensure by-laws are reviewed/approved at least bi-annually.

ARTICLE VII – LIAISONS

The person designated by the Superintendent as administrative liaison will be a non-voting member of DAAC. He/she will also inform the DAAC of District and State policies, activities, and decisions from the state legislature and Colorado Department of Education; seek necessary financial and administrative support for DAAC activities; facilitate communication between DAAC and the administration, and organize, coordinate, and disseminate information and training among SACs, DAAC, and the Board of Education.

ARTICLE VIII – MEETINGS

Section 1. When not addressed within the bylaws, the rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised shall govern the DAAC in all cases in which they are applicable.

Section 2. The DAAC shall meet at a regularly scheduled time. All meetings are open to the public. Meeting notices will be posted in the same manner as notices of the BOE meetings and in school buildings. The Executive Committee may develop a calendar of alternate or special meetings. Subcommittee meetings will be called by the Subcommittee Chair.

Section 3. Notification of DAAC meetings will be sent to all DAAC members, all principals, Board of Education Members, and appropriate administration officials.

Section 4. Consensus, as determined by the presiding officer, may guide decisions of DAAC.

Section 5. Draft reports will be reviewed and approved at a regular DAAC meeting before they are sent to the Board of Education.

Section 6. Quorum and Voting - Upon proper notice of at least seven (7) days having been given, the voting members present will constitute a quorum for the transaction of business in any meeting of the DAAC.

Section 7. A member of the public wishing to express their interests and concerns must contact the DAAC Chair at least seven (7) days prior to a scheduled meeting to be placed on the agenda.

Section 8. DAAC Work Sessions may be scheduled to permit substantive discussions of DAAC activities, findings, and recommendations.

Section 9. DAAC recommendations will be presented to the BOE after a majority of DAAC members have approved the content of the report. The Chair or designee shall present DAAC reports and/or recommendations to the BOE and/or to the general public. Requests for information from district staff are to be submitted by the Chair or DAAC Executive Committee. Individual DAAC members may certainly communicate with staff and BOE members, but they may not state that they represent the views of the DAAC.

 

ARTICLE IX - BYLAW CHANGES

Proposed Bylaw changes will be submitted to the Chair of DAAC at least two weeks before a regularly scheduled meeting for circulation to DAAC members. Changes or additions to the bylaws will then be discussed at the next regular meeting. There must be a two-thirds affirmative vote of attending voting members to approve changes in bylaws. Since DAAC is an advisory committee to the BOE, the BOE may make changes or additions to these by-laws by majority consent per board policy.

General Rules adopted by Committee: November 11, 1987

Revised by Committee vote: October 12, 1988

Revised by Committee vote: March 10, 1993

Revised by Committee vote: March 12, 1997

Revised by Committee vote: May 12, 1998

Revised by Committee vote: August 24, 1999

Revised by Committee vote: February 11, 2003

Revised by the Board of Education: December 11th, 2008

Revised by Committee vote: October 26, 2010

Revised by Committee vote: September 24, 2013

Revised by Committee vote: December 1, 2015

Revised by Committee vote: March 14, 2017

Revised by Committee vote: September 25, 2018

Revised by Committee vote: January 21, 2020

Revised by Committee vote:  September 22, 2020