The school board establishes policy. It determines why a policy is necessary; discusses a policy proposal; and ultimately adopts a proposal as official district policy. The superintendent implements policy and the school board oversees its implementation.
The school board cannot delegate its policy responsibility; however, it can designate the superintendent to draft policy language. If the superintendent is clear on the school board’s policy objective, then the superintendent can facilitate the policy draft process.
The superintendent may approach the policy draft process in two ways.
- Ask the school board to establish an ad hoc policy draft committee of two or three board members who will collaborate with the superintendent.
- Enlist other administrators, teachers, support staff or parents to serve on a policy draft committee.The committee considers the school board’s policy objective and drafts appropriate policy language.The committee develops the policy draft and the superintendent proposes it to the school board for further deliberation.
After careful deliberation, the school board has options:
- Reject the proposal completely;
- Return the proposal to the committee for further revision; or
- Consider the proposal with no additional revision.If the school board exercises the third option, then the superintendent recommends the policy proposal for action at the next school board meeting.A policy draft committee, under the superintendent’s leadership, is an efficient way to draft policy language. It eliminates what could become an involved discussion of policy language between board members at the board meeting, which may become divisive or distract the school board from other important board business.
A policy draft committee does not conduct the school board’s business outside the public forum, which is prohibited under the Open Meetings Act. The board’s ability to explore its options prior to adopting a policy proposal is preserved in the public forum.
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