District Policy
0001 - Policy and Procedure
Board of Education / Planning and Goals Washington County School District - Adopted 9-9-97; Revised 12-8-09
1. Purpose:
To establish the framework for the generation, review, approval, publication, and issuance of Washington County School District policy and procedure.
2. Policy:
2.1. Policy will define what is needed critical to the effective, efficient, and consistent operation and management of the District.
2.1.1. Policy is established as required by law, direction from the Board of Education, or based on administrative need.
2.1.2. A policy is a guide for action. It should be narrow enough to give clear guidance to the administration, but broad enough to allow discretion in meeting individual circumstances. Policies set the rules and regulations providing specific direction to school district personnel.
2.1.3. Policy is adopted by the Board of Education. Draft policies are initially presented to the Board for discussion. Unless the Board determines that a shorter time frame is necessary, the Board shall have at least 30 days to adopt or disapprove presented policy.
2.1.4. Not all policy requires administrative procedure.
2.2. Procedure, for the purposes of this District, can be regulatory, procedural or both.
2.2.1. Procedure is established by the administration.
2.2.2. A regulatory procedure implements Board policies. It is a specification of a required action. It tells what is to be done, and usually tells who is to do it, and when. In establishing regulatory procedure, the administration determines whether the rule will allow wide discretion or no deviation whatsoever.
2.2.3. Non-regulatory procedure simply outlines the way to accomplish a task. It is a step-by-step description of what is to be done, by whom, and how.
2.2.4. Although the Board does not adopt procedure, it shall be presented to the Board for information and review. The 30-day comment period required for policy is not required for procedure; however, where time flexibility is available, it is the best practice.
2.2.5. The Superintendent or designee approves all procedure.
2.3. Policy Development and Modification
All policy suggestions or modifications received from the public, employees, or employee associations shall be submitted to the Superintendent. The Superintendent or designee shall review all requests and forward administrative recommendations on all submissions to the Board. The Board shall consider submissions and the Superintendent's recommendations. The Board may advance, modify, or reject recommendations; or the Board may direct the development of alternative proposals. Under the direction of the Board, the Superintendent will assign administration to research and evaluate acceptable proposals according to a reasonable schedule. If necessary or helpful, an ad hoc committee may be organized for additional input. The Board may reject, accept, or advance the recommendations or findings for policy development, modification, or implementation. Nothing in this paragraph restricts the Board from advancing or developing policy modifications or additions pursuant to the authority and responsibility of the Board or from independently developing policies in response to legal or administrative matters affecting operations of the District.
3. Procedure:
3.1. Policy and procedure will be written in the following outline format:
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2. Policy: Section 2 is always reserved for the approved policy statement. If there is no policy related to the procedure, section 2 will contain an annotation to the fact and not be used. 2.1. Paragraphs will be numbered in sequential order. ( i.e. 2.1., 2.2., 2.2.1, 2.2.2, etc.). 2.2. Definitions of terms critical to the implementation of policy will be included at the beginning of the statement. 3. Procedure: If a regulatory or non-regulatory procedure is required, then it will follow in section 3. If there is a policy statement related to the Procedure, a page break and new header will always follow the policy to introduce the procedure. 3.1. Procedure section may contain a list of definitions or terms. 3.2. Procedure paragraph format will be the same as that for policy. 3.3. Procedure may involve the use of tables, flow charts, or other information used to explain or describe the business process and responsibility. 3.4. Forms, letters, or other documents related to the procedure will be attached as addendum and explained in the body of the procedure. |
3.2. Procedure/policy will be numbered using the following sections, identified as Series:
| Series* | Title | Office |
| 0000 | Board of Education/Planning and Goals | Superintendent |
| 1000 | Personnel Administration | Personnel Director |
| 2000 | Students | Assistant Superintendents |
| 3000 | General Administration | Business Administrator |
| 4000 | Staff Development, Curriculum and Instruction | Assistant Superintendents |
| 5000 | Facilities Management | Physical Facilities Director |
| 6000 | Business, Accounting, Purchasing | Business Administrator |
| 7000 | Transportation Management | Transportation Supervisor |
| 8000 | Special Programs/Special Education | Program Directors |
| * The beginning of each series will contain an index to related subsections. (i.e. Section 2000 could be subdivided into subsections 2011 Employment and 2200 Awards.) | ||
3.3. Administrators may initiate or be assigned responsibility for a new or revised procedure. The policy/procedure will identify the responsible department or administrator's name in the "Office" section of the policy header.
3.4. A date annotation in the "Adopted" section of the policy header will certify the policy was adopted by the Board of Education.
3.5. Elements of policy that result from negotiation will be annotated as "Negotiated" followed by the negotiated date. This annotation will identify that the element of policy is both negotiated and approved by the Board of Education. Policy language not so designated is Board adopted.
3.6. The office responsible for development of the approved new or revised policy/procedure will forward a copy to each School, Principal, Administrator, Board Member, or Association that may have a need for the information. The approved distribution list is identified in the footer section of the document.
3.7. If critical reoccurring dates are related to this policy/procedure they will be noted and summarized in the footer section of the document.
3.8. Committees, Planning Units, or groups related to the policy / procedure are identified in the document.