Trustee Toolkit: Personnel Matters and Communication for Small Boards

As a school board trustee, you have a duty to your constituents, especially to the students in your district and their parents, to put their interests first and be transparent. When handling sensitive issues requiring closed-session meetings (such as personnel and disciplinary matters), it may take extra diligence to make sure your constituents feel they are adequately informed. Being a small board, such as a three-member board, can also pose additional challenges, because the Brown Act will prohibit many communications with each other since two members constitutes a quorum.

Below is a sample letter CPC Parent Union sent to a three-member school board handling a personnel matter regarding their superintendent. The letter also contains valuable insights for trustees new to elected office. Trustees on other boards may find this advice useful for their own circumstances. They may also benefit from membership in California Policy Center’s CLEO (California Local Elected Officials) Project. For more information on CLEO, contact Mari Barke at mari@calpolicycenter.org.