The School Board has scheduled a public hearing on a proposed amendment to the Charter for official ballot voting that would remove the quorum requirement.
The meeting is scheduled for Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Moose Hill chamber at Town Hall, the Board announced at its Oct. 6 meeting.
If adopted, the charter amendment would remove the quorum requirement restricting the authority of voters at the first session of the Annual Meeting to amend the warrant articles to meetings where a quorum of voters is present.
Superintendent Nate Greenberg said the change was mandated by a Superior Court decree in March 2011. Because the changes are minor, a charter commission was not necessary.
Several sections of the charter are to be amended to successfully remove the quorum requirement, including the following:
• Delete Section IV.C, which reads, “’Quorum of the meeting’ shall mean 4 percent of registered voters or 500 voters, whichever is less, at the first session of an annual or special meeting.’”
• Delete the last sentence of Section VI.A.2, which reads, “A quorum of the meeting will not be required to make such an amendment.”
• Delete in Section VII.B.1 the sentence that reads, “Regardless of whether a quorum of the meeting is present at the meeting;” and delete Section VII.B.2, which reads, “In order for the meeting to amend any warrant article, including the operating budget, a quorum of the meeting must vote and a majority of those voting must vote in the affirmative on said amendment to the warrant article.”
The proposed amendment is to be submitted to the voters following the public hearing. It may be viewed on the District’s website at www.londonderry.org.
In other business:
• Greenberg reported student enrollment for grades Kindergarten-12 was at 4,353 students as of Sept. 30, compared with 4,392 students at the same time last year.
However, enrollment is 100 students higher than was projected.
“It will be interesting to see moving forward if that holds,” Greenberg said.