POLICY DEVELOPMENT
To truly understand your role, the board must have a working knowledge of “policy.” A board policy is a carefully-crafted collective for operation so that your school can always function in a reasonable and regular manner for everyone involved with your charter school.
The charter school board sets policy and hires an administrator to implement it. Simply put, the board thinks and passes guidance leaving the leadership to act upon that guidance. Often, charter school boards cross the line of governance and venture into management. This pitfall must be avoided; and to do so, charter school boards must create clear, coherent policies that focus on outcomes.
As an analogy, think of yourselves as the board of a major shipping company. The governing board determines the ports of call and has established a facility where the freight must be delivered and a processed. You hire a captain to command the ship and make informed decisions while in open water about the route, and those decisions weigh the best interest of the company, protection of the ship staff, and efficient delivery of cargo. Merchant mariners staff the entire ship and are specifically charged with keeping it in working order – they power the ship by maintaining the turbines. The cargo being moved from one location to the next is the sole reason why everyone bands together to promote efficiency and effectiveness.
As you might have guessed, the captain of that ship is the school administrator. The merchant mariners are the instructional and non-instructional staff in the school; and of course, the precious cargo is the students. The governing board establishes policy that stipulates where the ship is to go and leaves the actual process of getting there to the administrator and the staff; however, should they not arrive at the decided upon destination, an investigation should occur and someone must be held accountable. The governing board policy protects the staff and provides boundaries from which the administrator must operate. The process utilized by the entire school staff is to promote efficiency (because charter school budgets are razor thin) and effectiveness (because charter schools exist to provide a high quality education for its students).
Mistakes in Board Policy:
1. Too detailed
2. Restates the law – the law may require compliance through a board policy; however, the policy fits the law within the school’s operation
3. Codifies existing practices – just because something has always been done a particular way does not mean that is the right way.
4. Assumed to be either of the following:
a. By-laws that describe how the board will conduct its business
b. Board decisions because they are just the board’s action in following the established by-laws
Good Policies are: Mission-oriented Evolve over time
Product driven (not process) Written
Follow legal dictates Adopted properly
Communicated to stakeholders
How is Policy Made?[1]
1. A need is identified.
§ Previous policies are examined to see if they may, in some way, already address this need. If not, the process continues.
2. Data is collected.
3. Recommendations are made by several groups.
§ Seek the opinions of those the policy with directly affect – staff, students, parents, etc.
4. The recommendations are debated by the board (or its assigned committee) to decide on the framework for the eventual policy.
5. A draft policy is created that follows a standard format.
§ Focus is on outcomes
§ Establish boundaries within which the staff will operate
§ Sensitive issues should be reviewed by legal counsel
6. Notice is provided for first reading where public comments may be made
§ Based upon the comments, revisions could be a result.
7. Notice is provided for second reading where the policy is adopted.
§ The new policy is printed and provided to each member of the board and administrative team to keep the policy manual updated.
8. The policy is implemented consistently and fairly.
9. The policy is evaluated and, if necessary, revised.
What Policies Should a Charter School Board Create at the Beginning?
1. Operational
a. Grievance
b. Sexual Harassment
c. Equal Opportunity Employment
d. Evaluation (including the board and school leader)
e. Conflict of Interest (address all levels: board, administration, staff)
f. Facility Use (if owned by the charter)
g. Leadership Ethics
h. Financial Guidelines (budgeting and reporting)
i. Emergency Response
2. Programmatic
a. Discipline
b. Extracurricular Eligibility
c. Enrollment/Lottery
Template for Policy Development
1. Topic:
2. Why policy is needed:
3. Constraints (such as existing law related to the topic, or possible conflict with precedent or existing policy or contract):
4. Key Points to be covered:Ø
Ø
Ø
Ø
Ø / 5. Board’s position on points:
Ø
Ø
Ø
Ø
Ø
6. Expert advice needed?
Committee/staff involvement?
Research needed?
7. Next Action:
[1] This section assumes two major points: (1) the charter board has already devised an index and coding system (including the date of adoption) that helps them reasonably locate policies; and (2) every member of the board and administrative team has copies of the board policy manual and has been trained in how to use it. If those two steps have not been addressed prior to the creation of new policy, STOP!! Fulfill those to obligations before moving forward.