15.2-627 - Department of education.
§ 15.2-627. Department of education.
The department of education shall consist of the county school board, thedivision superintendent of schools and the officers and employees thereof.Except as herein otherwise provided, the county school board and the divisionsuperintendent of schools shall exercise all the powers conferred and performall the duties imposed upon them by general law. Except for the initialelected board which shall consist of five members, the county school boardshall be composed of not less than three nor more than nine members; however,there shall be at least one school board member elected from each of thecounty's magisterial or election districts. The members shall be elected bypopular vote from election districts coterminous with the election districtsfor the board of county supervisors. The exact number of members shall bedetermined by the board of county supervisors. Elections of school boardmembers shall be held to coincide with the elections of members of the boardof county supervisors at the regular general election in November. The termsof office for the county school board members shall be the same as the termsof the members of the board of county supervisors and shall commence onJanuary 1 following their election.
A vacancy in the office of school board member shall be filled pursuant to §§24.2-226 and 24.2-228.
In order to have their names placed on the ballot, all candidates shall benominated only by petition as provided by general law pursuant to § 24.2-506.
The county school board may also appoint a resident of the county to cast thedeciding vote in case of a tie vote of the school board as provided in §22.1-75. The tie breaker, if any, shall be appointed for a four-year termwhether appointed to fill a vacancy caused by expiration of term or otherwise.
The chairman of the county school board, for the purpose of appearing beforethe board of county supervisors, shall be considered head of this department,unless some other person in the department shall be designated by the schoolboard for such purpose.
(Code 1950, § 15-324; 1956, c. 153; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-644; 1980, c. 559;1981, c. 246; 1982, cc. 32, 75; 1995, c. 8; 1996, c. 873; 1997, c. 587.)