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SHAB By-Laws

RPS School Health Advisory Board By-Laws

I. Name

The name of the Board shall be the Richmond City School Health Advisory Board (SHAB).

II. Purpose and Responsibilities

A. Purpose of the Board

As approved by the School Board of the City of Richmond on October 1, 2018, the purpose of the School Health Advisory Board will be to focus on actions 3.1, 3.3. and 5.6 the Strategic Plan for Richmond Public Schools as follows:

  • 3.1: To make trauma-informed practices a core pillar of the RPS way by providing long-term, meaningful training for our educators and support staff on the skills necessary to effectively serve students facing toxic stress in their lives
  • 3.3: To increase the number of staff providing mental health and social supports by at least 25% and ensure that all schools have a nurse
  • 5.6: To improve the nutritional value of, and student satisfaction with, the RPS meals program, with room to focus on the broad goal of making Richmond Public Schools a healthy environment for all students. As a committee of the RPS School Board, all recommendations must come before the School Board for approval.

B. Responsibilities of the Board

1. To fulfill the above referenced purpose by providing expert advice and opinions to the School Board of the City of Richmond, through the Administration of Richmond Public Schools (RPS), as to how to improve the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional health of RPS students by addressing the following issues in order to improve the educational outcomes of RPS students:

a. Mental Health and Social Support within the framework of trauma responsible, highlighting Dreams4RPS Action 3.1- Make trauma-informed practices a core pillar of the RPS way by providing long-term, meaningful training for our educators and support staff on the skills necessary to effectively serve students facing toxic stress in their lives; and Action 3.3 - increase the number of staff providing mental health and social supports by at least 25% and ensure that all schools have a nurse

b. Access to Quality Food, highlighting Dreams4RPS Action 5.6- Improve the nutritional value of, and student satisfaction with, the RPS meals program. Includes: Conduct student taste tests; menu adjustment based on student feedback and nutritional goals; Rent centralized kitchens to allow RPS to provide fresh food options; Establish contract for meal delivery service from centralized kitchen.

c. General Physical and Mental Wellness.

2. To promote parent and community involvement in activities and decisions influencing student health and well-being.

III. Membership

In accordance with the Code of Virginia 22.1-275.1, the Richmond City School Health Advisory Board should be organized to include a broad base of representation including parents, students, health professionals and educators.

A. Composition and Selection

The Richmond City School Health Advisory Board shall have no more than twenty (20)  members. Two (2) of the members of the SHAB must be RPS students. Non-student members must fall into one of the following categories in order for his or her application for membership on the SHAB to be considered:

  1. Must be a medical professional. A medical professional includes, but is not limited to, a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine, a dentist, a psychologist, an optometrist, a nurse, dental hygienist, and/or a physician’s assistant; OR
     
  2. Must be a Human Services provider or a Community Partner. A Human Services provider includes, but is not limited to, someone who works for a city agency that provides or assists in procuring health services for citizens, such as social worker, mental health case worker, dietician, childhood trauma and mental wellness provider, culturally appropriate food/menu expert, someone that understands USDA Federal Guidelines, or a Therapeutic Day Treatment (“TDT”) provider. A Community Partner includes, but is not limited to, is an organization that is currently or has in the past two (2) years worked with RPS in providing Out of School Time services and/or provisions, after school activities, and/or mobile services for services; OR
     
  3. Must be a parent, guardian, or caregiver of an RPS student OR
     
  4. Must be a Community Member. A community member is a teacher/educator  and/or any other interested person who lives and/or works in the City of Richmond, is interested in serving RPS, and is willing to provide their expertise and experience in handling one or more of the issues that will be addressed by the SHAB.

The following employees of the School Division will serve in an advisory, non-voting capacity to the SHAB by virtue of their positions:

  • Instructional Specialist for Physical Education and Health
  • Director of School Nutrition
  • School Health Coordinator
  • Lead School Psychologist
  • Director of School Culture and Climate

Additionally, the Richmond City Health District’s School Wellness Specialist, or any other employee assigned by Richmond City Health District as his or her designee, will serve in an advisory, non-voting capacity to the SHAB by virtue of their position(s). The Richmond City Health District designee will provide staff support to the SHAB.

Two School Board members will also be voting members of the SHAB. Those members will be appointed by the Chair of the School Board to serve on the SHAB.

B. Application of Potential Members

1. Application

Those interested in serving on the SHAB will have to fill out an application, which is subject to review and approval. The submission of an application does not mean that the applicant becomes a member of the SHAB. School Board members are encouraged to have citizens in their district who they believe fall into one of the above categories to apply for membership on the SHAB.

2. Selection

The Chair and the Vice Chair from the previous school year, along with the Director of Culture, Climate, and Student Services, an at-large member of the SHAB, and the Richmond City Health District Director’s designee will form a SHAB Selection Committee each year that will recommend to the School Board, a slate of candidates to fill the open seats on the SHAB based on the applications received. For all of the above referenced categories, preference will be given to those applicants who live and/or work in the City and/or have a child(ren) in RPS. A rubric will be used to help select the best candidates based on the applications received.

Applicants of the SHAB can meet more than one criteria to be on the SHAB, i.e. a nurse who lives in the City. To the extent possible, as many of the nine districts, and/or areas, and/or neighborhoods of the City should be reflected in the membership of the SHAB.

Student applicants must be in high school to serve on the SHAB. Teachers can make recommendations for the student seats. 

The Selection Committee will furnish its recommended slate of candidates to the School Board for approval. The information provided to the School Board will be the members name, area of the City in which they reside or work (not their address), and which role they fulfill on the SHAB (i.e. dentist, mental health provider, parent, etc.). The School Board will also have access to all applicants that applied regardless of whether the candidate was recommended for the final SHAB committee.

In the first year of the SHAB applications may be submitted until June 10. The recommended slate of candidates will go before the School Board for approval. Applicants will be notified if they have been selected via email. 

In all years thereafter, applications for open seats on the SHAB may be submitted at any time during the year. However, consideration of the applications for open seats, will go before the School Board for approval. Applicants will be notified if they have been selected via email. 

Open seats on the SHAB will be filled in the following manner: The Selection Committee will review the applications of those who were not chosen to serve the previous June to determine if there are any viable candidates to fill the seat. If none of the remaining candidates meet the criteria for selection, all School Board members will be able to nominate one (1) person to be considered for the seat. The School Board will approve any replacement members of the SHAB. The candidate chosen will serve the remainder of the term of the former member.

C. Term of Service

  1. Community members shall be appointed for terms of service of two (2) school years and may be reappointed if the member chooses. The member must apply for reappointment as described in section III.B. Community members may serve a maximum of two (2) consecutive terms and will be eligible to reapply after at least one (1) term off the board.
     
  2. Staff members will serve as advisory members as long as they hold the position which makes them eligible to serve.
     
  3. The student member(s) will be appointed for two-year terms and may reapply for their membership on the SHAB. A student member may not serve more than one (1) consecutive term on the SHAB. If the student graduates from RPS, but wants to continue serving on the SHAB as a community member, he or she must go through the application process and be selected as would be the case with any other community member. There must be an opening on the SHAB for a community member for the former student member to be selected as a community member on the SHAB.
     
  4. Year terms run from September through August.

IV. Organization

A. Officers

The officers of the Board shall consist of a chairperson, vice-chair, secretary, teacher liaison, parent liaison, and student liaison. 

B. Term of Office

1. Each officer elected shall serve a term of one year.

2. No member shall serve more than two consecutive terms in the same positions.

3. Vacancies in the officer positions resulting from resignations or other causes shall be filled by a majority vote at the next regular meeting of the SHAB.

4. Officers will be elected in May by the full Board to take effect the following school year starting September 1st.

5. The duties of the officers shall be as follows:

  • The Chairperson shall preside at all meetings of the SHAB, ensures that the meeting agenda is followed as well as other School Board policies regarding open meetings, appoint all chair people of committees established by the SHAB, develop each year a report to be submitted through the Superintendent to the School Board, and exercise such other powers as are delegated by the members of the SHAB.
  • In the absence of the chairperson, the vice-chair shall execute the duties of the Chairperson. The vice-chair is strongly encouraged to apply and serve as chair following their term as vice-chair. The vice-chair will also be responsible for supporting and maintaining communication with committee chairs.
  • The secretary ensures that minutes are recorded and sent to members in a timely manner, and that the approved minutes are made available for public viewing. The secretary also communicates all technical and administrative support requests to the Richmond City Health Dept. designee.
  • The Teacher Liaison maintains communication with and conducts on-going outreach to RPS teachers.
  • The Parent Liaison maintains communication with and conducts on-going outreach to RPS parents.
  • The Student Liaison maintains communication with and conducts on-going outreach to RPS students.

V. Meetings

A. CONDUCT AT MEETINGS

  1. Only members of the SHAB may vote, make motions, nominate others for, or hold office. School Board members who are a part of the SHAB may cast a vote.
  2. Advisory members are only required to attend the first meeting each new school year and then one (1) meeting per quarter. The purpose of the attendance of the advisory members is to provide feedback regarding the feasibility of ideas and proposals that are being considered by the SHAB.
  3. Written notice, minutes of the previous meeting and a proposed agenda shall be furnished to all members (including advisory members when they are scheduled to attend) and the Clerk of the School Board no later than twenty-four (24) hours prior to any scheduled meeting of the SHAB.
  4. The SHAB shall meet at least monthly at a time and place determined by the chairperson.
  5. Additional meetings may be called by the chairperson or upon request by three (3) SHAB members.
  6. Members who do not attend four (4) or more of the regular meetings in a school year may have their membership terminated at the discretion and agreement of the Chair and Vice Chair. In order to fill the seat, the Chair and Vice Chair, along with the Chief of Staff, will review the applications of those who were not chosen to serve the previous June to determine if there are any viable candidates to fill the seat. If none of the remaining candidates meet the criteria for selection, all School Board members will be able to nominate one (1) person to be considered for the seat. The criteria as set out above must be followed to fill the seat. The candidate chosen will serve the remainder of the term of the former member.
  7. All meetings are open to the general public.
  8. Meetings should not be scheduled to last more than ninety (90) minutes.
  9. Voting members of the SHAB can participate and vote in meetings by conference call, or other electronic means (e.g. Skype, Face Time) up to three (3) times per year. If a member needs to participate in meetings by conference call, or other electronic means, more than three (3) times in a year due to other extenuating medical and personal reasons, the Chair must be notified and grant approval for the same.
  10. To the extent possible, meeting locations will be rotated to different schools across the district quarterly.

B. Quorum and voting

A quorum shall consist of any simple majority of the SHAB members, including those participating by conference call and/or other electronic means.

C. Standing Committees and Ad Hoc

Standing committees will be created based on priorities identified by the SHAB. Ad hoc committees will be created to conduct the work of the SHAB as needed. Each Ad Hoc committee will have a Chair and shall meet at least once per month to complete its work.

VI. Amendment of By-Laws

These by-laws can be amended at any scheduled meeting of the Board by a two-thirds majority of the Board, provided that the amendment has been submitted in writing at the previously scheduled meeting.

Approved 1-14-20   Amended  11-20-19