Council Member Orientation

Who and What at the Monthly Meeting

Your primary opportunity and responsibility as a Council member will be through regular attendance at CREC Council meetings. A little preparation for that meeting, as well as regular attendance, will benefit you, your school district, and CREC's overall mission.

The CREC Council consists of one representative from each of the thirty-five school districts that comprise the capitol region. We meet the third Wednesday of every month during the school year in order review CREC's activities, approve budget revisions and policy changes, consider personnel decisions, and also to share information with one another about issues affecting our own school districts. Meetings start at 11:30. Lunch is provided.

Your Participation at Council Meetings

Your service on the CREC Council will help you be a better board member for your own district. Regular attendance at Council meetings will provide you with a wider and deeper perspective about many issues facing our region's school districts. You will understand more, and share more, about how to face these issues. Together, we can serve CREC while also making our own districts better.

Preparing for the Council Meeting

The week before each meeting you will receive an email asking you to confirm your attendance for the next meeting. You will also receive an email with your meeting agenda and exhibits to be considered. This is your opportunity to consider these materials one by one before we vote on them as a group.

Your Opportunity to affect the Consent Agenda

Most of the consent agenda materials are revisions to the budget. Each item has been considered in detail by the Council's Finance and Audit committee and passed on to the whole Council for approval. If you have a concern about any item, you can email or phone the Council Chair, the Executive Director, or the Secretary Treasurer of the Council. You may ask to have your item of concern taken out of the consent agenda in order for it to be considered individually. Your single action is enough to have any item removed from the consent agenda for general consideration. You can see why it is important for you to receive and review these materials ahead of time.

Prepare by asking your Colleagues

The Agenda may list special guests, such as a legislative leader or policy maker, who will be presenting at the upcoming meeting. This notice gives you the time to ask your district's superintendent, or your fellow board members, if they have issues that these special guests might address. The more input from others you bring to the Council meeting, the more successful your experience there will be.

More Opportunities

As a CREC Council member, you have both voice and vote at every Council meeting, and you have the opportunity to ask questions of the CREC staff in attendance. The entire CREC administrative Cabinet is required by our constitution to attend each meeting. This includes people such as the Superintendent for the magnet schools, as well as CREC's Deputy Director for Finance and operations. The Executive Director and all cabinet members will be available to answer questions.

Council and Board of Directors

Ten members of the Council also serve as the Board of Directors of CREC. Apart from their service as mentors and liaisons for other Council members, the Directors also explore long-term “big picture” CREC issues. The Board of Directors will meet several times this year to consider CREC's leadership and future. You are welcome to stay for these meetings. Time will be provided at the end of each for your comments.

It's your Meeting

Just like your local Board, the CREC Council exists to oversee the operations of a great organization through regular review of its activities. Your role is vital in that oversight function because only you can represent the interests of your school district. So do not hesitate to ask Council leadership, or CREC's Executive Director, any questions before or during the meeting. And come prepared to share your perspective and lend your effort to making CREC the best regional resource it can be.