Recently Asked Questions (RAQs)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
| Question | Submission Date |
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| School District Public Library Elections: Who’s in Charge? Our library is a school district public library. The associated school district is a central school district. The library does not hold or oversee our own elections. Library trustee elections, yearly levy, and any special ballot initiatives are held by the school district. Our library trustee elections have become more active recently with a noticeable increase in resources being spent by candidates. Signs, mailings, political consultants, all have become common. With these changes have come more questions from the public about the elections and allowable candidate activities. Greater scrutiny of expense filings, questions about candidates’ signs, etc. have come our way. If we received questions like these for non-district elections, I would send folks to the County Board of Elections for an authoritative answer. That is not a great resource for district elections like ours. Is there an entity that has oversight of our elections? Is it the School District Chief Elections Inspector? Does NYSED have a role? Is it different for different types of school districts and associated school district public libraries? Are election rules for a school district public library potentially different than for the associated school district? Where can we direct questions from the public to receive solid answers? |
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| School district public library election deadlines falling on weekends Our trustee petitions to run for board seats are due 30 days before our election. That date happens to fall on a Sunday. What is the best practice for dates that fall on a Sunday? What is the best practice for dates that fall on a Saturday? Our petitions are due at the school, the school is closed on Saturday and Sunday. |
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| Petition Needed for School Ballot Vote For public libraries seeking school ballot funding, there's some gray area around whether a petition with signatures of eligible school district voters needs to be submitted to the school. Is the petition actually needed and if so, what laws and policies define this process? |
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| Code of Ethics Conflict of Interest What, if any, are the ramifications if a school district public library board of trustee member refuses to sign the code of ethics and/or the conflict of interest/whistleblower policy? |