What does the School Board do?
The board is responsible for adopting policies that establish how the district is to be operated and the results that are to be achieved. The board uses Results Based Governance to guide its work. Lake County School District’s mission statement, goals and values of the school district drive its work.
School district mission statement
Lake County School District creates safe and inclusive learning environments where students belong and are empowered to develop the knowledge, skills, and character to thrive and contribute in a changing world.
Core Commitments:
The Board affirms the following Core Commitments as guiding beliefs for the district:
- Equip all students to be life-long problem-solvers who persist, adapt, and grow through challenges.
- Create a culture of academic achievement.
- Build on the strengths of every individual.
- Foster a safe and supportive environment where students and staff are encouraged to engage in challenge, take risks, learn from mistakes, and grow.
- Respect the whole person: physical, mental, and emotional.
- Honor, value and include and value the diverse cultures and identities within our community.
- Partner with families and community members as active, engaged participants in our schools.
It is through its policies that the board provides direction to the administration. However, it is not the responsibility of the board or of individual board members to carry out administrative functions or become directly involved in the operations of the schools or district. A board member who attempts to exercise individual authority over the administration or other staff quickly undermines the superintendent’s authority and the board’s own ability to effectively govern the district. In some circumstances, a board member acting outside his or her board role could lose immunity or insurance protections.
Board Roles and Superintendent Roles
| Board’s Role | Superintendent’s Role |
| Make policy | Implement policy. |
| Hire the superintendent. | Manage the day-to-day operation of thedistrict. |
| Develop organizational goals. | Coordinate the development andimplementation of strategic plans to meet organizational goals. |
| Adopt an annual budget. | Prepare an annual budget based on priorities discussed with the board. |
| Delegate to the superintendent responsibility for all executive functions. | Provide the board with recommendations on all problems and issues under board consideration. |
| Avoid handling any administrative details, even when a constituent asks for assistance. Refer the constituent to the appropriate administrator and district superintendent | Use discretionary judgement insituations not covered by board policy, but report significant decisions to the board. |
| Approve personnel appointments andterminations recommended by thesuperintendent. | Recommend personnel appointments and terminations. |
| Provide financial and management oversight by assuring financial integrity and operational efficiency. | Manage district spending and operations. |
| Require the superintendent to provide regular reports concerning progress to goals and management of the district. | Keep board members fully and accurately informed about the district. |
| Evaluate the superintendent. | Ensure the evaluation of staff. |
Additional Responsibilities of the School Board
State law outlines what school boards are required and permitted to do. Those duties include (but are not limited to):
• Hold regular and special meetings in public
• Adopt policies and regulations for the efficient administration of the affairs of the
district
• Adopt conflict-of-interest policies for board members
• Ensure that “effective educational programs are carried on in the schools of the
district, and textbooks for any course of instruction or study in such programs are
prescribed”
• Adopt the school district calendar
• Provide instruction about the use and effect of alcohol and controlled substances
• Educate children with disabilities
• Adopt a student discipline and conduct code
• Adopt a student publications code
• Enforce the school attendance law
• Employ all personnel required to maintain district operations and carry out the
educational program
• Implement a licensed personnel evaluation system
• Adopt a salary schedule or salary policy
• Keep complete and accurate financial and accounting records
• Protect public deposits in authorized investments and depositories
• Adopt a budget for each fiscal year
• Certify necessary tax levies to the county commissioners.
• Acquire, take and hold real personal property; sell or lease property
• Sue and be sued
• Purchase and construct buildings
• Provide furniture, equipment, library books “and everything needed to carry out the
educational program”
• Determine which schools will be operated and fix the attendance boundaries of each
school
• Furnish transportation for pupils
• Provide for the free use of textbooks
• Charge tuition and fees reasonably necessary for textbooks and expendable supplies
• Exclude books determined by the board to be of an immoral or pernicious nature
• Suspend, expel and deny admission to students for statutory reasons
• Employ a chief executive officer (the superintendent)
• Adopt policies related to all aspects of employment
What are school board meetings like?
Public Meetings and Agenda
School board meetings are public meetings. A public meeting is any gathering of three or more members of the board at which any public business is discussed or at which any formal action may be taken, regardless of whether the meeting occurs by telephone, electronically or in person. These public meetings are open to the public at all times. Chance meetings or social gatherings at which discussion of public business is not the central purpose are not considered public meetings.
A meeting’s agenda is reviewed and discussed at the prior meeting, and subsequently set by the Board President and the Superintendent. To get something on the agenda, board members can request that the Board President adds an item to the agenda. More detail is provided in board policy (GP-7: Agenda Planning).
School board meetings follow Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised.
Executive Session
The school board can meet privately, outside the public eye, in very limited circumstances, and even then, most of those conversations must be recorded. Colorado delineates appropriate circumstances for these meetings called “Executive session.” Moreover, the law articulates very particular procedures the board must follow to enter executive session. These limitations and restrictions do not imply that executive session is frowned upon; in fact, used appropriately, these private discussions are vital to the board’s work.
Characteristics of Functional and Dysfunctional Boards
The people of Lake County deserve and need a well functioning School Board that can attend to the business of the board. Below are characteristics of functional boards alongside dysfunctional boards.
| Functional Boards | Dysfunctional Boards |
| The board is focused on a clear set of beliefs, a plan to carry them out, and constant monitoring. | The board cannot agree on goals and process or continues to pile on new work or change the work after the primary work is set. The board has an unfocused agenda that wastes time on unimportant, peripheral issues. |
| The board is focused on improving student achievement for ALL students. | Issues outside of student achievement dominate board meetings. |
| The board sets clear expectations for the superintendent and provides constructive feedback. | The board hires a superintendent with unclear expectations and then changes its mind frequently. |
| Differences occur, but they are not personal. | Disagreements get personal, including in public, and constant bickering is common. |
| Members work together to represent the whole district; they do not play interest group games. | Members represent special interest groups or only certain areas of the district. |
| The board does its work through thesuperintendent. | The board plays to other district staff and goes around the superintendent. |
| Board members let the administration make the management decisions. | Board members try to influence management decisions. |
| The board operates in the open and involves the community in the decision making of important issues. | The board avoids transparency and prefers to make big decisions behind closed doors. |
| The board communicates as one body and works with the media in an ethical manner. | Board members use the press to criticize and demean other board members or undermine the superintendent. |
| The board conducts short, efficient board meetings with discussions that are respectful, orderly, and to the point | The board conducts long, drawn-out board meetings that involve unprofessional behavior and repetitious comments on petty issues. |
| The board establishes a process to orient new board members, provides continuous training, and builds collaboration. | The board has no coherent orientation for new board members and no investment in training or team building. |
Specific commitments for serving as an LCSD school board member
Summary of estimated time commitment for school board members
| Activity | Time | Frequency | Total (per year) |
| Attend school board meetings | 3.5 Hours | Twice per Month* | 77 Hours |
| Individually prepare for school board meetings | 2 Hours | Twice per Month* | 44 Hours |
| Participate in 2x1s or 2x2s | 1 Hour | Once per Month* | 11 Hours |
| Participate on a committee | 2 Hours | Once per Month* | 22 Hours |
| Individually prepare for committee meetings | 2 Hours | Once per Month* | 22 Hours |
| School visits | 2 Hours | Twice per year | 4 Hours |
| School events | 2 Hours | Twice per year | 4 Hours |
| Attend graduation | 3 Hours | Once per year | 3 Hours |
| Total: | 187 Hours | ||
*Activity not scheduled or on a reduced schedule during July.
Attend School Board meetings
School Board members are expected to attend school board meetings which generally occur twice a month (typically the second and fourth Monday beginning at 5:30pm). The duration of the meetings fluctuates based on the agenda. In 2024-25, meetings averaged 3.5 hours but have been known to go much longer. Before each school board meeting and working session school board members receive an extensive packet with information to read before the meetings.
Participate in “2×1’s” or 2×2’s
In order to help school board members prepare for upcoming meetings, the school district superintendent invites board members to meet with her and occasionally other staff members (e.g., COO/CFO, Human Resources Director, etc) so that she can share information and board members have the opportunity to ask questions. This gives board members the chance to digest information before decisions are made.
Participate on a Committee
Board members are expected to participate in at least one additional committee as an appointment representative of the board:
District Accountability Committee
Finance Committee
Mountain BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services)
LURA (Leadville Urban Renewal Authority)
Policy Council
Student Senate
Participate in periodic school visits, meetings with the public, and other stakeholders
School board members do guided walk-throughs of Lake County’s schools with principals and other school leaders to learn about our local schools and observe them in session.
Periodically, school board members attend meetings with community leaders and other stakeholders to address issues that are of concern to the school district.
Represent the board and district at one or two events a semester
These events include the district wide art show, athletic events, concerts, etc.
Attend high school graduations
Lake County School District board members are expected to attend the graduations of Cloud City High School and Lake County High School.
Possibly serve as an officer of the board
The school board elects the following officers of the school board:
- President
- Vice President
- Treasurer
- Secretary
For their time and in an effort to increase access to board service, school board members are eligible for compensation as outlined in Resolution 24-10, Establishing School Board Compensation (link).
How do you get on the Lake County School Board?
A seat on the school board is an elected position. The Colorado Revised Statutes govern who can run for school board. Consult Colorado Association of School Boards for information about requirements for candidates and how to run. A detailed calendar with precise dates is published for each election by the Colorado Secretary of State (link). Below is an overview of the process:
- School board members are elected at regular biennial school elections, which are held on the first Tuesday in November of each odd-numbered year.
- School board members serve four-year staggered terms. The county clerk is mostly responsible for conducting school elections; however, school officials also have election duties.
- A candidate for the school board must be a resident of the school district and a registered voter for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the election. No person who has been convicted of a sexual offense against a child is eligible to serve on the school board. Because school director elections are nonpartisan, candidates may not run as a member of a political party.
- A person who desires to be a candidate for school director must file a nomination petition signed by 25 eligible electors of the school district (in districts with 1,000 or more students, signatures of 50 eligible electors are required)
- The nomination petition must be filed with the designated election official of the school district no later than 67 days before the election. The candidate would be wise to obtain extra signatures in case some of the signatures are invalidated.
- School board candidates must meet filing requirements under Colorado’s Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA). One of the first steps is to file a candidate’s affidavit with the Secretary of State within 10 days of becoming a candidate. Also, candidates are required to report contributions and expenditures on the Secretary of State’s online TRACER program. School board candidates must also comply with limits on campaign contributions prescribed by state law.
For more information about FCPA’s reporting requirements and timelines for filing these reports, please visit the Colorado Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.state.co.us.
Additionally, when a board member resigns, creating a vacancy on the school board, the board will accept applications to fill this vacancy. The remaining school board members vote to appoint the new board member who will generally serve until the next school board election.
Beyond the legal process and requirements to run for school board, candidates are encouraged to prepare themselves for the role by learning the current context and challenges of the school district. We recommend:
- Attending or watching recordings of school board meetings (see links below)
- Meeting with current school board members and meeting with the Superintendent to gain their perspective on the recent successes and challenges and their priorities for the district
Where can I find additional information?
Board meetings and past decisions:
Board Packets (link) provide the agenda for each meeting with supporting background and presentation materials.
Board Minutes (link) document the outcomes of each meeting
Board Resolutions (link) document the approved resolutions, which may differ from the draft resolutions included in the board packet.
Board Meeting Recordings (link) are available for each regular and special meeting of the board.
Board policies. The Board develops and revises Board policies (link) to describe the board’s expectations for both the district and the board.
Administrative policies. The Superintendent develops and revises Administrative policies (link) to describe expectations for district staff in meeting the expectations of Board policy and legal requirements.
District Finances District financial documents are posted on the Financial Transparency section of the website (link). Board members and community members interested in learning more about the district’s finances are encouraged to attend the Finance Committee (link).
Negotiated Agreements (link)
Roberts Rules of Order, Newly Revised
Full text (link)
In Brief (link)
Results Based Governance – The Lake County School District Board of Education operates using the Results-Based Governance model. Though there aren’t many available resources for this specific model, its foundation is derived from John Carver’s Policy Governance, which is detailed in this book (link).
State Constitution and Colorado Revised Statutes
School districts and boards of education operate in accordance with the State Constitution & Colorado Revised Statutes:
Generally available: link
Colorado Revised Statutes relevant to school districts published annually in the Colorado School Laws book (link), provided to sitting Board members, and available for reference in the board room
To navigate the Colorado Revised Statutes the board has the following supports:
Board attorney.
The board has an attorney who is available to provide the board with legal advice on specific legal questions in Executive Session. The attorney typically holds an orientation session when new members join the board to review the legal requirements of board service.
CASB (Colorado Association of School Boards)
Annual Conference. CASB holds an Annual Conference in December with tracks for new and experienced board members. The Lake County School District Board of Education endeavors to attend the annual conference every other year. The conference also provides a handbook for new school board members.
Monthly online meetings. CASB hosts monthly meetings to provide networking and support based on local context and for specific board roles.
Online resources. Current school board members have log-in access to CASB’s online resources, including model policies.
Email newsletters. CASB provides current school board members with regular newsletters to update board members on current events, including updated legal requirements.
Introduction to the Lake County School District Board of Education
Revised June 2025