About the Board of Directors
The Dover Area School District Board of Directors comprises a nine-member elected school board whose members live within the school district boundaries. School directors are elected at large on odd-numbered years to four-year terms. The school board is locally elected and serves as the legislative body for the community.
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association describes the school board's roles as engaging in the strategic plan process required by the state board of education, setting policies to carry out the school board's goals, and evaluating results aligned to the strategic planning process.
The Public School Code of 1949 is the primary statutory law that addresses nearly every aspect of public school operations, including school boards' organization and general powers. While the School Code is a significant piece of legislation that impacts public schools, many Commonwealth of Pennsylvania laws also affect school district operations through other statutes. School districts are corporate bodies with the necessary powers to carry out the School Code’s provisions. The Board of Directors collaborates with the superintendent to lead the district. The Board’s job is to govern the district, and the superintendent’s job is to manage the district by implementing the board’s decisions. The law does not convey any power or authority upon individual School Board Directors to act on their own merely by their election to a school board.
Responsibilities of the Board
The Dover Area School District board sets the policies and engages in planning within the guidelines of the Pennsylvania School Code. The board's responsibility to provide free public education contains three significant functions: planning, setting policy, and evaluating results.
- Planning - The board is required to engage in long-range planning by the State Board of Education regulations. Appropriate reports of the results of such planning are filed with the Department of Education. Long-range planning activities include enrollment projections, staffing needs, building usage, and budget requirements.
- Setting Policy - The central responsibility of the board is to be the policy-forming body. Policies governing the operation of Dover Area schools are formed in response to local needs and desires. Policy means actions of the board that set written goals and objectives for the school.
- Evaluating Results - The board's third responsibility is to evaluate the results of planning. Evaluation occurs continually, both formally and informally.
Some Required Duties
- Adopt courses of study in consultation with the superintendent.
- Specify the time and place for board meetings.
- Establish the length of the school term.
- Adopt textbooks.
- Retain the minutes, the auditor's annual reports, each annual financial report, and other documents.
- Act on certain matters only by an affirmative vote of the majority of all board members, showing how each member voted.
- Elect a superintendent and hire necessary employees.
- Enter into written contracts with professional employees and into collective bargaining agreements.
- Adopt an annual budget.
- Levy taxes.
- Provide necessary grounds and school buildings.
- Provide special education for students.
Board Meetings
Each board meeting follows a set agenda that is available before the start of each meeting. The agenda is available online via BoardDocs.
The Dover Area School District invites all residents of the Dover area to attend School Board meetings. Decisions of the School Board affect the quality of our children's education, our tax rates, and the quality of community life.
Meeting Dates
The planning meeting is held on the second Tuesday of the month and begins at 7:00 PM. The voting meeting is held on the third Tuesday of the month and begins at 7:00 PM. Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are held in the Board Meeting Room on the first floor of the Dover Area School District Administrative Office Building, located at 101 Edgeway Road, Dover, PA 17315.
