School Land Trust (SLT)

School Land Trust Council
Guadalupe Charter’s council consists of four parents and two staff members. Meetings are held at Guadalupe Charter School (1385 N. 1200 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116). During the pandemic, meetings are held via Zoom.  Meeting time and invitation will be posted the week before the meeting date.

Guadalupe Charter’s Rules of Order and Procedure
Public Comment and Pattern of Formality Guidelines
The following are guidelines that were taken from Robert’s Rules of Order and modified to assist Guadalupe Charter Council in running efficient meetings:

Public Comment:

1. During the agenda under the Public Comment section, the public may address any issue not related to items already on the agenda. Please state your name for the official minutes.  Please limit your comments to two minutes.
2. After an item has been introduced and debated by the council, the President will call for a public comment on that item only.  Each public attendee shall have the opportunity to speak two times on the same issue on the same day.  It shall proceed that everyone will be given their first opportunity to speak before anyone will be given their second opportunity.
3. To maintain order, if someone from the public is out of order, the President will verbally counsel him or her by calling, “point of order”.

Order of Debate

1. The item will be introduced by the sponsor if the sponsor is not present, then the President will assign someone to do the introduction.
2. Members debate the item (unless no one wished to debate it). Each member is allowed two separate opportunities to speak on the item.
3. The President will then open the item up for Public Comment following the directions in public comment section 2.
4. The item will then be opened up to the Board for additional debate if necessary.
5. A member makes a motion by saying “I move that…” if it is long; it should be made in prepared and writing and given to the President or Secretary.  If no motion is made then the item dies, and no further debate will occur
6. Another board member may amend the motion.  If the motion is amended the President asks is there any objection to adopting the amendment.  If even one member objects, the amendment is subject to debate and vote like any other motion.
7. If the motion is amended the President may open it up to further board comment if necessary.
8. The President will then call the question and take a vote on the item.
9. The President announces the vote.

Pattern of Formality

1. The President should be addressed as Mister or Madame President as appropriate.
2. Wait to be acknowledged verbally or with a nod before speaking by the President.
3. Speak only to the President or through him / her.
4. Avoid personalizing any issue; speak to the subject, not the person you disagree with.  An example of this would be if you believe something said to be untrue, you would, I believe the member is mistaken instead of saying something was lie.
5. If anyone breeches Robert’s Rules or for example speaks out of turn, it is called a point of order and will be corrected by the President or any other board member that catches it.  One would say “Point of order”.  The President would acknowledge the person and they would say what breech occurred.  The President would then say, “The point of order is well taken” or if unfounded, “The point of order is not well taken”.

Questions Board Members Consider When Making Decisions

1. How will the decision affect the school?
2. How does this decision relate to our mission statement and philosophy?
3. What’s the potential for legal problems if I vote Yes? What if I vote No?
4. Does this decision affect:
   1. The students and families we serve? How?
   2. Guadalupe Charter staff? How?
   3. Our community? How?
   4. The Board of Trustees? How?
5. Is the impact on any of these groups negative?  If it is, will the decision benefit significantly more people than it will harm?
6. Have we voted on this matter before? If yes, why are we considering it again?  How have conditions changed?
7. Do I have all the information I need to make a sound decision? What questions should I ask before making this decision?
8. If someone asked me to justify why I made this decision, can I explain my reasoning?

To view current and previous SLT plans and SLT funding visit: https://schoollandtrust.schools.utah.gov/publicschooldashboard?schoolDistrict=185837&schoolId=185837&schoolNumber=100