BEF-R

Remote Participation Regulations

All references to “Committee” shall refer exclusively to the School Committee, standing Sub-Committees and Ad-Hoc Committees as defined in the AWRSD Bylaws.

Remote participation may be permitted subject to the following procedures and restrictions. However, the Attorney General strongly encourages Committee members to physically attend meetings whenever possible. Committee members have a responsibility to ensure that remote participation in meetings is not used in a way that would defeat the purposes of the Open Meeting Law, namely promoting transparency with regard to deliberations and decisions on which public policy is based.

A. Minimum Requirements for Remote Participation.

• 1. Members of the Committee who participate remotely and all persons present at the meeting location shall be clearly audible to each other;

  2. A quorum of the Committee including the chair or, in the chair’s absence, the person authorized to chair the meeting, shall be physically present at the meeting location, as required by M.G.L. c. 30A, sec 20(d);

  3. Members of the Committee who participate remotely may vote and shall not be deemed absent for the purposes of M.G.L. c. 39, sec. 23D.

B. Permissible Reasons for Remote Participation.

A member of the Committee shall be permitted to participate remotely in a meeting if the chair or, in the chair’s absence, the person chairing the meeting, determines that it is unreasonably difficult to attend.

C. Technology.

1. The following media are acceptable methods for remote participation. Remote participation by any other means is not permitted. Accommodations shall be made for any Committee member who requires TTY service, video relay service, or other form of adaptive telecommunications.

a. telephone, internet, or satellite enabled audio or video conferencing;

b. any other technology that enables the remote participant and all persons present at the meeting location to be clearly audible to one another.

c. When video technology is in use, the remote participant shall be clearly visible to all persons present in the meeting location.

2. The Committee shall determine which of the acceptable methods may be used by its members.

3. The chair or, in the chair’s absence, the person chairing the meeting, may decide how to address technical difficulties that arise as a result of utilizing remote participation, but is encouraged, wherever possible, to suspend discussion while reasonable efforts are made to correct any problem that interferes with a remote participant’s ability to hear or be heard clearly by all persons present at the meeting location. If technical difficulties result in a remote participant being disconnected from the meeting, that fact and the time at which the disconnection occurred shall be noted in the meeting minutes.

D. Procedures for Remote Participation.

• 1. Any Committee member who wishes to participate remotely shall, as soon as reasonably possible prior to a meeting, notify the chair or, in the chair’s absence, the person chairing the meeting, of his or her desire to do so and the reason for and facts supporting his or her request.

  2. At the start of the meeting, the chair shall announce the name of any member who will be participating remotely and the reason under 940 CMR 29.10(5) for his or her remote participation. This information shall also be recorded in the meeting minutes.

  3. All votes taken during any meeting in which a member participates remotely shall be by roll call vote.

  4. A member participating remotely may participate in an executive session, but shall state at the start of any such session that no other person is present and/or able to hear the discussion at the remote location, unless the presence of that person is approved by a simple majority vote of the public body.

  5. When feasible, the chair or, in the chair’s absence, the person chairing the meeting, shall distribute to remote participants, in advance of the meeting, copies of any documents or exhibits that he or she reasonably anticipates will be used during the meeting. If used during the meeting, such documents shall be part of the official record of the meeting, and shall be listed in the meeting minutes and retained in accordance with M.G.L. c. 30A, sec. 22.

LEGAL REF: 940 CMR 29.10

M.G.L. c. 30A, sec 20(d)

M.G.L. c. 39, sec. 23D

Remote Participation Adopted : 05/26/15