School Board of the City of Virginia Beach
Bylaw 1-9
SCHOOL BOARD BYLAWS
Qualifications
Qualifications for election or appointment to, and continuing service on, the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach are established in the legal reference to this bylaw.
Upon election or appointment, School Board members shall make oath, as required by Virginia Code Section 15.2-1522, to qualify for office.
Upon election or appointment, as a condition of assuming office, School Board members shall file a disclosure statement of their personal interests with the Board Clerk, as required by Virginia Code Section 2.1-639.14, on the form set forth in Virginia Code Section 2.1-639.15, titled "Statement of Economic Interests."
Legal Reference:
Charter of Virginia Beach, § 16.06. Qualifications of candidates for election to the board. In order to qualify as a candidate for election and to have his or her name placed on the ballot, a candidate for the school board shall meet the qualifications to hold public office in accordance with general law and shall be nominated by petition pursuant to 24.1-168 of the Code of Virginia.
Code of Va., § 22.1-29. Qualifications of members. Each person appointed to a school board shall, at the time of his appointment, be a qualified voter and a bona fide resident of the district from which he is selected if appointment is by district or of the school division if appointment is at large; and if he shall cease to be a resident of such district or school division, his position on the school board shall be deemed vacant.
Code of Va., § 22.1-57.3. Election of school board members. A. If a majority of the qualified voters voting in such referendum vote in favor of changing the method of selecting school board members to direct election by the voters, then the members of the school board shall be elected by popular vote. Elections of school board members in a county, city, or town shall be held to coincide with the elections for members of the governing body of the county, city, or town at the regular general election in November in the case of a county or the regular general election in May in the case of a city of town. In no event shall any election of school board members take place prior to 1994.
E. In order to have their names placed on the ballot, all candidates shall be nominated only by petition as provided by general law pursuant to 24.2-506.
G. No employee of a school board shall be eligible to serve on the board with whom he is employed.
Code of Va., § 24.2-506 (previously § 24.1-168). Petition of qualified voters required, number of signature required; certain towns excepted. The name of any candidate for any office, other than a party nominee, shall not be printed upon any official ballots provided for the election unless he shall file along with his declaration of candidacy a petition therefor, on a form prescribed by the State Board, signed by the number of qualified voters specified below after January 1 of the year in which the election is held and listing the residence address of each such voter. Each signature on the petition shall have been witnessed by a person who is himself a qualified voter for the office for which he is circulating the petition and, in the case of a statewide office, is a resident of the same or a contiguous congressional district as the voter whose signature is witnessed, and whose affidavit to that effect appears on each page of the petition.
Each voter signing the petition shall provide on the petition his social security number, if any; however noncompliance with this requirement shall not be cause to invalidate the voter's signature on the petition.
The minimum number of signature of qualified voters required for candidate petitions shall be as follows:...
Code of Va., § 24.2-507. Deadlines for filing declarations and petitions of candidacy.
Code of Va., § 15.2-1522. When and how officers qualify. - Every elected county, city, town and district officer, unless otherwise provided by law, on or before the day on which his term of office begins, shall qualify by taking the oath prescribed by § 49-1 and give the bond, if any, required by law, before the circuit court for the county or city, having jurisdiction in the county, city, town or district for which he is elected or appointed, or before the clerk of the circuit court for such county, city, town or district. However, members of governing bodies and elected school boards may qualify up to and including the day of the initial meeting of the new governing body or elected school board. Whenever an officer required to give bond is included in a blanket surety bond authorized by § 2.1-526.9, such officer shall furnish an extract of the master blanket surety bond on file in the Comptroller's office, reflecting the name or position of the officer and the amount of the coverage, which shall be the equivalent of giving the bond for purposes of qualification.
An appointed officer as used in this article means a person appointed to temporarily fill an elected position. District officer as used in this article means a person elected by the people other than national and statewide officers and members of the General Assembly.
Code of Va., § 2.1-639.14. Disclosure by local government officers and employees.
A. The members of every governing body and school board of each county and city and of towns with populations in excess of 3,500, and persons occupying such positions of trust appointed by such bodies as may be designated to file by ordinance of the governing body, and persons occupying such positions of employment as may be designated to file by ordnance of the government body shall file, as a condition to assuming office or employment, a disclosure statement of their personal interests and other information as is specified on the form set forth in § 2.1-639.15 and thereafter shall file such a statement annually on or before January 15.
B. Nonsalaried citizen members of local boards, commissions and councils as may be designated by the governing body shall file, as a condition to assuming office, a disclosure form of their personal interests and such other information as is specified on the form set forth in § 2.1-639.15:1 and thereafter shall file such form annually on or before January 15.
C. The disclosure forms required by subsections A and B of this section shall be provided by the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the clerks of the governing bodies not later than November 30 of each year and the clerk of the governing body shall distribute the forms to designated individuals no later than December 10 of each year. Forms shall be filed and maintained as public records for five years in the office of the clerk of the respective governing body.
D. Candidates for membership in the governing body or school board of any county, city or town with a population of more than 3,500 persons shall file a disclosure statement of their personal interests as required by § 24.2-502.
E. Any officer or employee of local government who has a personal interest in any transaction before the governmental or advisory agency of which he is an officer or employee and who is disqualified from participating in that transaction pursuant to § 2.1-639.11 A 1, or otherwise elects to disqualify himself, shall forthwith make disclosure of the existence of his interest, and his disclosure shall be reflected in the public records of the agency for five years in the office of the administrative head of the officer's or employee's governmental or advisory agency.
F. In addition to any disclosure required by subsections A and B of this section, in each county and city and in towns with populations in excess of 3,500, members of planning commissions, boards of zoning appeals, real estate assessors, and all county, city and town managers or executive officers shall make annual disclosures of all their interests in real estate located in the county, city or town in which they are elected, appointed, or employed. Such disclosure shall include any business in which such persons own an interest, or develop or derive compensation through the sale, exchange or development of real estate in the county, city or town. Such disclosure shall be filed as a condition to assuming office or employment, and thereafter shall be filed annually with the clerk of the governing body of such county, city of town on or before January 15. Such disclosures shall be filed and maintained as public records for five years. Forms for the filing of such reports shall be prepared and distributed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the clerk of each governing body.
G. An officer or employee of local government who is required to declare his interest pursuant to § 2.1-639.11 A 2 shall declare his interest by stating (i) the transaction involved, (ii) the nature of the officer's or employee's personal interest affected by the transaction, (iii) that he is a member or a business, profession, occupation, or group the members of which are affected by the transaction, and (iv) that he is able to participate in the transaction fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. The officer or employee shall either make his declaration orally to be recorded in written minutes of his agency or file a signed written declaration with the clerk or administrative head of his governmental or advisory agency, as appropriate, who shall, in either case, retain and make available for public inspection such declaration for a period of five years from the date of recording or receipt. If reasonable time is not available to comply with the provisions of this subsection prior to participation in the transaction, the officer or employee shall prepare and file the required declaration by the end of the next business day.
Adopted by School Board: July 21, 1992
Amended by School Board: September 5, 1995
Amended by School Board: August 17, 1999
Amended by School Board: February 20, 2001