§ 1702 — Board of education; election; terms of office

§ 1702. Board of education; election; terms of office. 1. Whenever a\nunion free school district shall be established, pursuant to the\nprovisions of subdivision three of section fifteen hundred four of this\nchapter, or, pursuant to the provisions of sections fifteen hundred\ntwenty-two and fifteen hundred twenty-three of this chapter, it shall be\nthe duty of the meeting at which such union free school district is\nestablished to elect by ballot not less than three nor more than nine\ntrustees, who shall, by the order of such meeting, be divided into a\nsufficient number of classes so that as nearly as possible an equal\nnumber of members shall be elected to the board each year, based upon a\nnormal term of three, four or five years, as such meeting may determine.\nThereafter there shall be elected in such districts, at the annual\nmeeting, trustees to take the places of those whose terms of office\nexpire. Such successors shall be elected to serve for a full term of\nthree, four or five years, as the case may be.\n 2. The trustees thus elected, shall enter at once upon their offices,\nand the office of any existing trustees in such districts, before the\nestablishment of a union free school district therein, shall cease,\nexcept for the purposes stated in section fifteen hundred eighteen of\nthis chapter. The said trustees and their successors in office shall\nconstitute the board of education of the union free school district thus\nestablished.\n 3. Each union free school district that operates a high school shall\nestablish a process for designating at least one student as an ex\nofficio member pursuant to paragraph c of this subdivision. If, prior to\nAugust fifth, two thousand three, a school district had a policy that\nallowed a student or students to be ex officio members of the school\nboard, such policy shall be deemed to meet the requirements of this\nsubdivision and shall be deemed to have full legal effect. In any\ndistrict that contains more than one high school, such process shall\ntake into consideration the number of high schools within the district\nand provide for a mechanism which allows for fair representation among\nthe schools. Such school district shall allow such selected student or\nstudents to serve as ex officio members of such district's board of\neducation and provided further that:\n a. The ex officio student members of the board shall be entitled to\nsit with board members at all public meetings and hearings of the board\nand may participate in other board activities and responsibilities at\nthe discretion of the board.\n b. The ex officio student members shall not be allowed to vote, shall\nnot be allowed to attend executive session or any other meetings or\nhearings not open to the public, and shall not be entitled to receive\ncompensation of any form for participating at board meetings.\n c. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the ex officio\nstudent members of the board may be any of the following: the student\nthat has been duly elected as student president of the high school; a\nstudent duly elected by the student body; a student selected by the high\nschool student government; a student selected by the high school\nprincipal; a student selected by the superintendent of schools; a\nstudent selected by majority vote of the school board.\n d. The ex officio student members shall have attended such high school\nfor at least one year prior to selection.\n