December 2007 News

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Board Policy Updates

The board of education has been systematically updating board policies and administrative regulations in nine policy areas:

• Series 1000 Mission, Goals, and Plans
• Series 1000 Community Relations
• Series 2000 Administration
• Series 3000 Business and non-Instructional Operations
• Series 4000 Personnel
• Series 5000 Students
• Series 6000 Instruction
• Series 7000 Facilities
• Series 9000 Bylaws of the Board

As policies are revised, they are being added to the districts’ web site.

The most recently revised policies are the 1000 series on community relations. The 1000 series includes communications with the public, media relations, district and school web sites, political processes, citizen advisory committees, visitors/outsiders, educational foundations, solicitation of funds from and by students, advertising and promotional materials, access to district records, relations between other governmental agencies and schools, waivers, and relations between private industry and schools.

The next block of policies being updated is the 2000 series on administration, followed by the 3000 series on business and non-instructional operations and the 6000 series on instruction.

The National School Boards Association outlines the role of school board policies: “Policy: it is a crucial school board role in our system of education governance. Like Congress, state legislatures, and city or county councils, school boards establish the direction and structure of their school districts by adopting policies through the authority granted by state legislatures. School board policies have the force of law equal to statutes or ordinances. Policies establish directions for the district; they set the goals, assign authority, and establish controls that make school governance and management possible. Policies are the means by which educators are accountable to the public.”