How we work – Project selection process

Education Committee of Los Amigos de La Peñita.

The objectives of the committee are:
To provide better education in our community
To empower parents and teachers to help their children to a better education
To develop leadership skills of students, parents and teachers

Education Committee Rules

These are the rules we use to conduct business in the Education Committee.

Anyone can attend the meetings of the committee.

The agenda:

Every meeting has an agenda. The purpose of the agenda is to make sure that the business of the meeting is completed.

The first item of business is to approve the agenda for the meeting. Members can add items to the agenda before approval. The meeting will follow the agenda. Subjects which are not on the agenda will not be discussed until the end of the meeting.

The last item on the agenda will be General Discussion where any discussion can take place.

The chairman:

The chairman of the meeting is responsible to keep order in the meeting. The chairman will be chosen by the members. If the chairman is not present the members will select someone to chair the meeting.

To speak a person must get the approval of the chairman so only one person speaks at a time. Speakers will speak in the order recognized by the chair.

The speaker must talk only about the agenda item being discussed. Other comments should be made at the end of the meeting during general discussion.

The Secretary:

The secretary will record all decisions made in the meeting. This record is called the minutes of the meeting. The second item of business of the meeting will be approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. Errors will be corrected before approval.

Motions and discussions:

There are two types of agenda items discussions and motions.

Discussions. This is an item where no decision needs to be taken by the meeting. Its purpose is to exchange information.

Motions: This is an item where the members need to make a decision. The rules for a motion are as follows:

There will a short discussion of the topic so that members understand the agenda item.

The chairman will then ask for a motion. The person presenting the motion (the mover) will make the motion. The chairman will ask for a seconder for the motion. The seconder is a person who also supports the motion.

If no one is willing to support the motion as a seconder then the agenda item is finished.

If a seconder is willing to support the motion then the mover has the floor to speak followed by the seconder if they desire. Then others may speak about the motion or ask questions. Speakers should try to keep their comments brief. Try not to repeat what others have said.

Once discussion is complete and the chairman feels that no new information is being presented he will ask for a vote. Votes will be counted and the decision will be recorded by the secretary.

All people at the meeting have the right to speak.

Only members of the committee can vote.

Voting members:

Voting members of the committee must be members of Los Amigos except special members as defined below for the purposes for prioritizing projects.

The chairman can vote in the case of a split vote.

All other members have one vote.

Members must be present to vote.

A quorum will consist of 3 members.

Each school who wants to participate in the committee will have three votes. Two will be elected by the parents group of the school. The third will be assigned by the director of the school. These will be called special members of the committee and whether they are members of Los Amigos or not they will act as consultants to the committee to decide the priority of the projects seeking support. After the special members decided on the priority of projects to be supported the voting members of the committee may change the priorities and vote to approve them or approve them without changes.

Only members of the committee and special members can propose projects to be supported.

Project Process:

To propose a project the member needs to provide the following information:

School Name:

Date:

Description of the project:

Why the projected is needed:

Steps of the project and detail cost for each step.

When the project can start:

In the month of February each year the committee will ask for projects to be included for support in the coming year. The committee will decide which projects it wants to support for the coming year. The committee will place a priority on each project. These decisions will be used to make the budget for the committee.