§ 1702. Board of education; election; terms of office. 1. Whenever a union free school district shall be established, pursuant to the provisions of subdivision three of section fifteen hundred four of this chapter, or, pursuant to the provisions of sections fifteen hundred twenty-two and fifteen hundred twenty-three of this chapter, it shall be the duty of the meeting at which such union free school district is established to elect by ballot not less than three nor more than nine trustees, who shall, by the order of such meeting, be divided into a sufficient number of classes so that as nearly as possible an equal number of members shall be elected to the board each year, based upon a normal term of three, four or five years, as such meeting may determine. Thereafter there shall be elected in such districts, at the annual meeting, trustees to take the places of those whose terms of office expire. Such successors shall be elected to serve for a full term of three, four or five years, as the case may be.

2. The trustees thus elected, shall enter at once upon their offices, and the office of any existing trustees in such districts, before the establishment of a union free school district therein, shall cease, except for the purposes stated in section fifteen hundred eighteen of this chapter. The said trustees and their successors in office shall constitute the board of education of the union free school district thus established.

3. Each union free school district, at the next annual meeting subsequent to the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand five which amended this subdivision, may submit to the qualified voters of the district for approval, the issue of ex officio student membership on the school district's board of education, by a student attending a high school within such school district. Upon voter approval, each such district shall establish a process for student membership selection pursuant to paragraph c of this subdivision. If, prior to August fifth, two thousand three, a school district had a policy that allowed a student or students to be ex officio members of the school board, such policy shall be deemed to meet the requirements of this subdivision and shall be deemed to have full legal effect. In any district that contains more than one high school, such process shall take into consideration the number of high schools within the district and provide for a mechanism which allows for fair representation among the schools. Such school district shall allow such selected student to serve as an ex officio member of such district's board of education, and, if so, provided further that:

a. The ex officio student member of the board shall be entitled to sit with board members at all public meetings of the board and participate in all board hearings and meetings.

b. The ex officio student member of the board shall not be allowed to vote, shall not be allowed to attend executive session, and shall not be entitled to receive compensation of any form for participating at board meetings.

c. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the ex officio student member of the board may be any of the following: the student that has been duly elected as student president of the high school; a student duly elected by the student body; a student selected by the high school student government; a student selected by the high school principal; a student selected by the superintendent of schools; a student selected by majority vote of the school board. Provided, however, in districts having district-wide student governments or advisory committees, the student ex officio member shall be selected by the superintendent of schools from among the members of such district-wide student governments or advisory committees, subject to ratification by majority vote of the school board.

d. The ex officio student member shall be a senior at the high school and shall have attended such high school for at least two years prior to selection.

3-a. Each union free school district may offer to the voters once every two years, on the same date as the annual school district budget vote, a separate referendum to decide whether the school district shall allow a student, as established under this section, to serve on the school board as an ex officio, non-voting member.