During Levelland ISD’s Board of Trustee meeting earlier this month, the group approved the Order of Election for a Trustee Election set Saturday, May 3.
The purpose of the election is to elect one trustee to singlemember district one, one trustee to single-member district three and an at large vacancy (one year term).
The district one and district three trustee shall serve a three year term the trustee and the at large trustee will be for a special term of one year due to a vacancy.
Only qualified voters residing within the particular singlemember district may vote for the candidate of that district.
Applications for a place on the ballot shall be filed by February 14 by 4 p.m. at the Administrative Offices of Levelland Independent School District at 704 11th Street, Levelland.
If there are any questions regarding the filing for a position on the ballot, please contact Teresa Montemayor at 806-8949628.
Early voting by personal appearance will be conducted each weekday at the Courthouse Annex, Election Administrator’s Office, 911 Austin Street, Levelland, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. beginning on April 22 and ending on April 29.
Applications for ballot by mail shall be mailed to Jody Rose, Elections Administrator, jrose@hockleycounty.org at 624 Ave H Ste. 103 Levelland, TX 793366.
Applications for ballots by mail must be received no later than close of business on April 22nd.
Roles and responsibilities of individual school board members can be found on the Texas Association of School Board (TASB) website.
Board members are elected to serve as trustees for their school districts. As such, they have the opportunity and responsibility to participate in matters of school business. An independent school district is governed by a board of trustees who, as a body corporate, shall oversee the management of the district.
Trustees, however, must operate as “a body corporate,” which means no single board member may act alone. All board members may vote on all matters, absent a conflict of interest. To vote, a trustee must attend the board meeting in person and cast a vote in public. Proxy votes, secret ballots, and straw polls are not permissible; nor is voting of any kind in a closed meeting.
The board president has the same opportunity to vote and deliberate as any other board member. A trustee is not obligated to deliberate or cast a vote, even if state law would not prohibit participation. At times, a trustee may feel too involved with a certain situation or with a particular vendor to make an unbiased decision and may abstain. The trustee may also choose to abstain from participation to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Through local policy, most school districts have adopted a local board member code of ethics that can assist trustees in evaluating their circumstances and determining when to abstain. In certain circumstances, a board member may be legally prohibited from participating in deliberation and voting on a matter when there is a conflict of interest.
Examples include the following: Nepotism: When an employee related to a board member is employed pursuant to the “continuous employment” exception, the board member may not participate in any deliberation or voting on the appointment, reappointment, confirmation of the appointment or reappointment, employment, reemployment, change in status, compensation, or dismissal of the employee if that action applies only to the individual and is not taken regarding a bona fide class or category of employees.
Substantial interest: A trustee with a substantial interest in a business or real property must abstain from further participation in the official decision-making process if the board’s action on the matter will have a special economic effect on the business entity or real property that is distinguishable from the effect on the public. However, abstention is not required if a majority of board members are required to file, and do file, affidavits of substantial interest in a particular business entity.
Budget items: The school board must take a separate vote on any budget item specifically dedicated to a contract with a business entity in which a board member has a substantial interest. The member may, however, vote on the budget as a whole if the member has filed the necessary affidavit, abstained from voting on the specific item, and the specific budget item has been otherwise resolved.