Bylaws

Amended: March 15, 2009 by General Members of CNCS

Article I Name

Section 1 The organization shall be known as the Chicago North Chinese School of the State of Illinois hereinafter referred to as The School.

Article II Affiliation

Section 1 The School is an independent, non-political and non-religious organization.

Article III Incorporation

Section 1 The incorporation of The School is under the laws of the State of Illinois.

Article IV Objectives

Section 1 The School is a not-for profit cultural and educational institution. The objectives are:

    1. To operate as a Chinese language school;
    2. To promote awareness of the Chinese culture and heritage in the community;
    3. To promote the establishment of a permanent school-community center in the Chicago metropolitan area;

Article V Policy

Section 1 The School operates under voluntary system that all its Board of Directors, teachers, and household members are volunteers to serveThe School.

Section 2 The Bylaws shall apply to all policies enacted by the Board of Directors of The School.

Article VI Household Member, Membership, Duties and Dues

Section 1 Household member shall be at least eighteen years of age with at least one of the following qualification criteria:

    1. A teacher of The School;
    2. The parents or guardians of any student registered at The School for the current School Year;
    3. A non-minor student registered at The School for the current School Year in a language class;
    4. The spouse or domestic partner of a non-minor student registered at The School for the current School Year in a language class.

Section 2 Membership

    1. A family having any household member (shown in Section 1) represents one membership.
    2. Each membership is entitled for one vote on issues of The School;

Section 3 Duties

    1. Each household member may hold any position serving as Board of Directors, or be a language class teacher of The School;
    2. Each membership has the duty of at least one household member serving as any Board of Directors for a minimum of one term (two years) or language class teacher for at least two years while maintaining membership status.
    3. Each membership has the duty of at least one household member serving active parent duties annually as required for operation with the only exception that one household member is currently serving as a Board of Directors or language class teacher.

Section 4 Dues

    1. Fees and tuition shall be approved by the Board of Directors between the School Years (see Article VIII, section 1).

Article VII Organization

Section 1 The operational structure of The School consists of the following functions,

    1. Administration – To administrate and support school operation, which includes President, Principal and Secretary.
    2. Curriculum – To address educational requirement and coordinate class activities
    3. IT – To administrate, configure and support school activities involving computer, peripheral hardware, and software
    4. Registration – To administrate and coordinate registration activities
    5. Activity/Purchasing – To administrate and support educational program and related purchasing activities
    6. Treasury/Accounting – To administrate and coordinate financial activities.
    7. Disciplinary – To administrate and support disciplinary activities.

Section 2 The Board of Directors.

    1. Each of the functions stated in Section 1 requires at least one Director responsible for the function.
    2. The number of Directors for each function shall not exceed three (3)
    3. Each Director shall serve a term of maximum two (2) years, and may be re-elected once
    4. No person can hold the same function for more than two (2) consecutive terms
    5. All Directors serve as member of The Board of Directors, which is the highest governing body of The School
    6. Any vacancy on the Board shall trigger Volunteer Process defined under Article IX to fill in the open position
    7. Directors shall have operation budget to administrate school functions within assigned responsibilities, but no monetary compensation for their services

Section 3 The Advisory Board.

    1. An Advisory Board shall be assembled to oversee any activities of the Reserve Fund Account of The School, which is to be defined in Section 2 of Article XI
    2. The Advisory Board shall consist of the current Board President and Principal, two (2) latest former Board Presidents and two (2) latest former Principals of The School
    3. The last former Board President of The School shall be the Chairman of the Advisory Board
    4. All Advisory Board decisions shall be cast and approved by a majority of the Advisory Board members attended

Article VIII Operation

Section 1 School Year

    1. School Year is defined to start in August of current year and will end in May of the following year. Any educational activities and functional duty transition shall follow the School Year schedule.

Section 2 Board of Directors

    1. Fulfill the responsibilities for the functions described in Article VII, Section 1
    2. Assume the functional responsibilities to set the policies of The School
    3. Assume the functional responsibilities to oversee and implement the objectives and policies of The School
    4. Attend a minimum of two-thirds (2/3) of all Board meetings, or provide mandatory written notice to Board President if absent
    5. Request to call for emergency Board meetings
    6. Review and approve new membership applications
    7. Review and approve school budget
    8. Provide functional assistance to the immediate successor of the Board Director

Section 3 Board meeting

    1. Valid Board meeting shall require participation from a minimum of three-fourths (3/4) of all Directors of The School
    2. Board decision shall be determined by a minimum of two-thirds of total number of votes (2/3) cast by participating Directors of The School
    3. Three (3) regular Board meetings shall be scheduled, one during the summer, and one for each semester
    4. Written notice of upcoming meetings shall be sent to all board members at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting date

Section 4 Board President

    1. Oversee general operation of The School
    2. Act as representative and coordinator of all administrative functions
    3. Implement the policies set forth by the Board of Directors
    4. Call Board meetings and general membership meetings (Is it general household meetings or general membership meeting? Need to be consistent. Suggest: general membership meeting)
    5. Call emergency Board meetings upon receiving request from Directors to discuss matters vital to The School
    6. Appoint Election Board members
    7. Preside over all Board meetings and general membership meetings
    8. Supervise the disbursement of funds of The School and tax preparation
    9. Approve any expense amount over $200

Section 5 Principal

    1. Plan and manage the administrative affairs of the educational programs
    2. Oversee the hiring and termination of language and extra-curriculum teachers
    3. Prepare and submit school budget to the Board for approval
    4. Attend education program exchange meetings with other Chinese language schools in the community

Section 6 Handbook of CNCS Directors Duties - Chicago North Chinese School

    1. ”Handbook of CNCS Directors Duties - Chicago North Chinese School” defines the duties of all Directors in details.

Article IX Volunteer Process

Section 1

Any vacant position (Director and/or teacher) shall be posted with sign-up start/end dates on the Web site of The School, and at front office during school hours.

Section 2

Any member of The School may volunteer for the vacant position by entering his/her name to the posting at front office during school hour, or through verbal communication to any Board Directors to enter his/her name on the posting.

Section 3

If more than one volunteer for the same Director position, voting from all memberships by secret ballot shall be required

Section 4

Votes can be submitted by mail prior to the announced Election Day, which is 2 weeks after the sign-up end date

Section 5

No proxy votes will be permitted

Section 6

Election Board with minimum of 3 members shall be assembled during Election Day to open the ballot, count the vote and announce the newly elected Director/teacher

Section 7

In case of no volunteer to fulfill the vacant Director position by the posting end date, Board of Directors shall adopt lottery process to select onemembership from those who have not met the requirement under Article VI, Section 3, item (a).

Section 8

If more than one volunteer for the same teacher position, Principal shall work with all volunteers to identify and select the teacher for the class.

Section 9

In case of no volunteer to fulfill the vacant language teacher position by the posting end date, Principal shall work with parents from that class to establish rotation schedule for parents to teach the class until the end of the School Year.

Article X General Membership Meeting

Section 1

The passage of any resolution shall be determined by a majority of the membership present at the General Household Meetings except matters related to the amendment of the Bylaws.

Article XI Finance

Section 1

The fiscal year of The School shall be from July 1 to June 30 of the following year. A fiscal year consists of two (2) semesters.

Section 2 Operation Fund and Reserve Fund

    1. The revenue of The School may include:
      1. Tuition;
      2. Donations;
      3. The net surplus of funds derived from a school activity project;
      4. All other incomes
    2. The expenditure of The School may include:
      1. Expenditure and revenue from an activity or project;
      2. All other expenses in support of the operation of The School, including language program and extra-curriculum program.
    3. At least two (2) separate accounts shall be kept to reflect the following:
      1. Operation Fund Account: Recording revenue and expenditure of the Organization;
      2. Reserve Fund Account: Capital reserve donated by those parents who founded The School in 1981
    4. Part of the net surplus of the Operation Fund Account in each fiscal year shall be transferred into an Emergency Fund Account under the direction of the Board President. The amount of the net surplus to be transferred shall be determined by the decision of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board annually. A net deficit of a fiscal year for The School may be funded by a transfer from the Reserve Fund Account to the Operating Fund Account at the approval of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board.
    5. The decision to use the Reserve Fund Account for any other purposes must be approved by the Advisory Board.

Section 3

Disposal of Funds upon Dissolution – Upon the dissolution of The School all remaining funds after the payment of its debts and obligations shall be turned over to an organization which espouses similar purposes to those of The School and which is exempted from taxes under IRS Code Section 501 (c) (3) of 1954, as the Board of Directors shall so direct.

Article XIII Amendment to the Bylaws

Section 1 Any household member of The School may propose amendment to the Bylaws.

Section 2 Any proposed amendment shall require petition signed by at least ten (10) other memberships of The School.

Section 3 The proposed amendment and its purpose shall be communicated to each household member of The School at least ten (10) days for their review and approval.

Section 4 The proposed amendment shall be effective with two-thirds of the total number of the votes (2/3) cast by the household members present at any General Membership Meeting or via mailing process for such purposes.

Article XV Termination of Membership and Directors

Section 1 Any household may terminate its membership by written notice to the Secretary of The School.

Section 2 The Board of Directors may terminate the membership of any household who violates the Bylaws of The School.

Section 3 The Board of Directors shall recommend to the membership the removal of any Director who deliberately violates the Bylaws of The School, and initialize the Volunteer Process outlined in Article IX.