2020 Delegate Assembly Update

View Report of Actions Taken at the Delegate Assembly Here

Because of the extraordinary circumstance of the pandemic and upon the advice and guidance of MASC general counsel Stephen J. Finnegan, the Board of Directors has authorized the Delegate Assembly to be held by remote participation. The 2020 Delegate Assembly will begin at 1:00pm on Saturday, November 7, 2020. If you are not a delegate, you can register to join the meeting here; delegates will be sent the meeting link and details automatically. In addition to the Zoom link, delegates whose districts have notified MASC of their appointment will also be sent A SPECIAL SECOND LINK FOR VOTING prior to the Assembly. This will permit delegates and alternates to attend, but only official delegates will be permitted to vote. Delegates and alternate nominations must be submitted to MASC by October 26.

Because there is a contested race for the position of President-Elect, the Delegate Assembly will include a ballot to determine the winner. There will be a separate voting platform used for this contested ballot. A special second link will be provided to delegates prior to the assembly. Information about the contesting candidates was included in the Delegate Manual distributed to the entire membership in September. Candidates will be allowed three minutes to speak before the vote during the assembly.

Resolutions

The members of the Resolutions Committee met virtually on June 25, 2020 to consider resolutions proposed by member districts and the MASC Board of Directors for consideration at this meeting. The resolutions are available here, as well as in the Delegate Manual.

Special Procedural Rules

In addition, because of the logistical challenges of conducting a large business meeting electronically, the MASC Board of Directors has approved several special procedural rules for the 2020 Delegate Assembly.

  • There is a limit for each school committee to one vote. (There are some members who sit on two boards because they represent regional districts where elementary and high schools are governed by separate school committees. In 2020, each school committee should have its own delegate.)
  • We will use “screen-share” to present resolutions (excluding the preliminary “whereas” paragraphs).
  • Amendments to resolutions must be received by MASC by 12:00pm on Friday, November 6. Amendments should be faxed to the MASC office at 617-742-4125 or email: gkoocher@masc.org.
  • The chair shall be allowed consolidate resolution votes for which there is unanimity, but may call for “holds” on any resolutions that members wish to debate to ensure that deliberation will take place on them.
  • The chair shall be allowed to call for adoption of items or procedures “if there is no objection” to expedite items that are routine or not controversial. If objections are raised, the matters may be debated.
  • The chair will be authorized to ask the body to postpone any deliberations that become overly complex or chaotic to a subsequent association-wide meeting later in the year.
Delegate Training

All delegates, alternates and interested persons will be invited to attend delegate/resolution training sessions that will be held on Friday, October 30 at 12noon and repeated on Saturday, October 31 at 10am. It is strongly advised that delegates have two devices (e.g. computer and smart phone) available for the voting portions of the training session as well as the assembly. The training sessions will also be recorded so you may review them prior to November 7.

Missed the delegate training? View the video here.

Dates to Remember
  • Prior to October 26: Delegate/Alternate Registration
  • October 30 - 12:00pm: Delegate Training Session
  • October 31 - 10:00am: Delegate Training Session
  • November 6 - 12:00pm: Deadline to register for morning program; Deadline for submitting amendments
  • November 7 - 9:45am: Convening of Morning Program
  • November 7 - 1:00pm: Convening of Delegate Assembly
Related Links