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Task force urges policy overhaul to clarify advisory committees, bylaws and chairs' authority
Summary
A superintendent-appointed task force recommended rewriting Board policy 10‑70, creating an advisory‑appointee interest list, setting a five‑year bylaw review cycle and new processes for committee recommendations and chair/onboarding training. The board asked staff to return with a proposed workshop item and draft policy edits.
A superintendent task force that reviewed Broward County Public Schools’ advisory committees recommended several changes to policy 10‑70 aimed at clarifying roles, speeding bylaw approvals and improving committee training.
The 11‑member panel, chaired by Cynthia Dominique, presented its final report at the June 24 workshop, saying volunteers spend hundreds of hours on committees that provide “cost‑effective” services and community input. The group recommended creating a publicly available advisory‑appointee interest list to broaden and diversify volunteers, moving bylaw reviews from a two‑year to a five‑year cycle and adopting a formalized, transparent process for committee recommendations to the superintendent and board.
The task force said the district lacks consistent training and technical support for committee liaisons and chairs and recommended recorded onboarding, a clarified liaison role, an annual meeting between committee chairs and the superintendent (proposed for September and January) and a single place on the district website for committee information. The group also suggested reducing the size of a handful of especially large committees (for example, Diversity and Facilities) and gave three structure options: retain the current 13 district advisory groups with procedural fixes; group committees under broader “umbrella” themes; or a hybrid that preserves visibility for ESE and ESOL. Members voted unanimously to keep the current committees while adopting the other procedural reforms as immediate priorities.
Board members generally praised the report’s detail and hours of public outreach, but several members asked for time to review recommendations and asked staff to bring the item back for a workshop so the board could give clearer direction on which structural option to pursue. Superintendent Dr. Vance Hepburn said staff will take the task force recommendations and return with a workshop item (the board scheduled follow‑up work for August). The task force also requested that the board vote on bylaws within three months after a committee submits them to the district.
The board and task force members repeatedly emphasized that the work should preserve parents’ and community members’ access to advisory roles while improving accountability and the speed of staff response to committee recommendations.
The task force report and a matrix of suggested edits to policy 10‑70 were delivered to the board and posted with the meeting materials; the group said the district should align committee work to cabinet portfolios and consider phased implementation of any structural changes to avoid disrupting existing parent engagement channels.
