Bylaws
The association is called Seattlen Suomi Koulu Finnish School of Seattle. Its purpose is to provide a motivating Finnish speaking community for children and their parents. The school’s mission is to help children maintain the Finnish language and appreciate Finnish traditions among children of Finnish heritage and those interested in Finland. The parents of children attending the school become members when they pay the tuition in full (i.e., the membership fee). In addition, all active teachers and current board members are considered voting members of the school.
General
The board determines the school year. Children up to eighteen years of age are eligible students. Teachers determine the placement of children into groups according children’s age and Finnish language skills. School fees are due by the first day of the school term.
Membership
Each family of a child whose tuition for the semester has been paid in full is a member of the organization during the current semester. Each member, i.e., family, has the right to vote in member meetings. Each family has one vote. The vote shall be cast by a parent or legal guardian of the children registered to attend the school.
Quorum
When one fifth of the voting members are present at the annual meeting or any other general meetings a quorum has been reached.
The Board and Its Duties
The board members are elected at the annual meeting. There are a minimum of six voting, or Executive Board members, the majority of whom (4 of the 6) must be present so that quorum for the Board can be achieved. An Executive Board member’s term is two years. The terms are staggered so that only three Executive Board members’ terms may end at the same time. The terms end on June 30 in any given year. The Board selects the Principal and determines the teachers’ compensation.
The tasks and duties of the Executive Board are as follows:
1. President
• Calls the board and parents’ meetings and the annual meeting, leads these meetings.
• Oversees the operation of the school.
• Develops and updates the strategic plan for the school.
• Acts as a liaison between the school and the facility where the school meets.
• Establishes networking relationships to benefit the school.
• Acts as tiebreaker if a pending Executive Board decision is deadlocked.
2. Vice President
• Acts as president in the absence of the president and as needed.
• Acts as secretary in the absence of the secretary.
• Acts as treasurer in the absence of the treasurer.
• Is involved in activities generating publicity for the school.
• Vice President supports the President in networking activities.
• Acts as the liaison between Suomi-Seura/Finland Society and other organizations and the school.
3. Secretary (communications manager)
• Records the meetings of the board and the annual meeting and minutes of the meetings.
• Archives all the meeting minutes and correspondence.
• Transfers kept records to the archivist at the end of the secretarial term.
• Updates school’s student database and registration information.
• Communicates the board’s decisions to the board members, parents, teachers and others.
• Helps keep the school mailing list up to date (all members, supporters, benefactors, sponsors).
4. Treasurer
• Responsible for the collection of registration fees and camp fees.
• Pays the teacher’s salaries and other compensations once a month.
• Reimburses the board and teachers for their expenses as authorized by the board.
• Keeps the books of the expenses and income, informs the board about the financial standing in the meetings and balances the books at the end of the accounting season (June 30th).
• Conducts banking transactions.
• Explains the method of accounting to any auditors and provides them.
• Keeps the accounting books and bank records.
• With the board, drafts the budget.
• Develops the financial strategy for the school.
• Responsible for the inventory of school assets.
5. Teachers’ representative or Principal
• Can be the principal teacher or another teacher selected by the principal teacher.
• Selects teachers
• Acts as a liaison between teachers and the board.
• Plans the curriculum for the school year in cooperation with other teachers.
• Plans and is in charge of the school’s end of the term parties (Christmas, spring).
• Plans and contributes to teachers’ meetings.
• Plans and contributes to parents-teachers’ meetings.
• Keeps the Parent’s Handbook up to date.
• Takes care of registration forms (collection & cataloging).
• Helps keep the school mailing list up to date (all members, supporters, benefactors, sponsors).
6. Fundraising Manager
• Acts as a special events coordinator and a fundraising manager.
• With the board, executes grant applications.
• Generates publicity for the school.
• Helps keep the school mailing list up to date (supporters & sponsors).
In addition to the above, the Executive Board has the option to oversee the one-year, non-voting, (non-Executive) Board positions below:
1 Immediate Past President
• The purpose of the position is to help ensure continuity in the goals, projects and tasks of the Suomi Koulu board.
• Assists new school President in his/her tasks in order to help the new President become familiar with and effective in those tasks
• Meets or communicates regularly with the President in-between Board meetings
• Connects with the membership and community and communicates about the change to gain support for the new leadership.
• Participates as an active and contributing but a non-voting member in all Board meetings.
2 Librarian
• Manages the library materials (books, videos, games and others) in an orderly way.
• Informs the membership about the variety and new acquisitions.
• Writes reviews and keeps up a wish list in the newsletter.
• Keeps the records of projects and events.
• Archives photo albums and other materials for the record.
3 Newsletter Editor
• Acts as the editor of the Finnish School newsletter.
• Helps keep the school mailing list up to date (all members, supporters, benefactors, sponsors).
• Responsible for Finnish School mailing list.
• Mails newsletter (circulation).
5 Web Master
• Updates and develops the website.
• Troubleshoots technical issues with the website.
• Trains website users how to update the site.
• Provides periodic update of website visitor statistics.
• Helps keep the school mailing list up to date (all members, supporters, benefactors, sponsors).
The board has also the right to name Honorary Members whom they unanimously regard as those with outstanding records of support and contributions to the school.
Finnish School of Seattle meets at
Lake Washington United Methodist Church
7525 132nd Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033