Pursuant to law, every school board must hold its organizational meeting no later than 28 days after the consolidated election. Further, new board members cannot be seated until after the official canvass of the results by the county election authority. The deadline for the canvass is not until 21 days after the election.
Therefore, the effective window period to hold all school board organizational meetings this year begins no earlier than Tuesday, April 23, and ends no later than Tuesday, April 30, 2019.
If your Board does not have a regular meeting scheduled during that week-long period, a special meeting must be called.
The only tasks which must be performed at the organizational meeting are these:
- Swear in and seat newly elected board members. The prescribed oath for board members, which has been greatly expanded, can be found in an amendment to Section 10-16.5 of the School Code: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=100-1055&print=true&write=
- Elect board officers, including president, vice president and secretary.
- Set the board’s regular meeting schedule.
Other business may be, but need not be, conducted at the organizational meeting.
If you have any questions about organizational meetings or the transition to new board terms, please contact one of our attorneys at 708/799-6766 (Flossmoor) or 630/928-1200 (Oak Brook).