It is the school board's obligation and responsibility to write district wide policies.
For example, they might decide that they want to,
as a matter of policy, ban student cell phone use.
It then becomes incumbent upon the administration,
to create a procedure for implementing the ban.
It is described in what is called a procedural directive.
In a normal world, the board would inform the superintendent of their new policy and charge him with the implementation.
The supt would tell some underling; "write a procedural directive, run it by the board". And it would be done.
In APS, the process is not nearly so simple
It requires the "use" of a number of administrators over many, many hours.
(I am not going to go through and repair all of the line breaks, chalk it up the fact that they could offer up the document in a user friendly format, and choose not to. It is presented here so you can fully appreciate its scope. If you really want to read it, you're far better off going to the link ) Note; the link used to work, it no longer does.
Consider for a moment, how much this 1250 word document cost taxpayers.
How many dollars did unwitting taxpayers fork over,
thinking they were buying education for 89,000 of their
sons and daughters,
to be used instead, to write this;
The superintendent shall carry out, through procedural directive, the policies established by the
Board of Education. Procedural directives shall specify required actions and reflect the detailed
arrangement under which the district operates. Procedural directives and policies shall be the
responsibility of the superintendent's designee.
Changes in policy shall require approval by the Board of Education. Procedural directives shall
require approval from the district leadership team and may be taken to the Board of Education
for review only.
Policy/Procedural Directive Process
Once an issue has been raised and it has been determined by appropriate parties that a
policy/procedural directive must be created or changed, the superintendent shall appoint a
leadership team member responsible for the policy/procedural directive if there is not a position
title already designated as responsible.
•
The leadership team member shall work with the policy analyst to identify all current district
documentation regarding the policy/procedural directive.
•
The leadership team member in charge of this area may appoint a committee, if necessary, to
work on the policy/procedural directive. The policy analyst shall be a standing member of any
committee appointed to work on a policy/procedural directive.
•
The initial meeting of the committee shall discuss the policy/procedural directive and identify all
the necessary changes or additions needed. It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst
provide all relevant federal and state statutes that correspond to the policy/procedural directive
in addition to National School Board Association and New Mexico School Board Association
suggested language. This language shall be modeled, if appropriate, for any corresponding
district policy/procedural directive.
•
The leadership member designee shall write a draft of the policy/procedural directive in the
approved format of the district.
•
It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst to research all cross references and
classifications for the policy/procedural directive. The policy analyst shall check language for
legal concerns in the policy. The policy analyst shall also act as a liaison with leadership and
department directors who may also be affected by the policy/procedural directive and bring any
concerns to the committee. A copy of the draft shall be provided to the committee for
discussion.
•
The drafts of the policy/directive shall be sent to the committee no later than 72 hours prior to
their next meeting. Members of the committee shall be responsible for review and language
changes to the draft policy/procedural directive and shall bring those suggestions to the
committee for discussion.
•
There shall be a limited number of meetings of the committee after the initial meeting, unless
additional meetings are deemed necessary by the majority of the committee.
•
The final draft of the policy/procedural directive shall be completed upon the final meeting of
the committee.
•
The leadership team member responsible for the policy/procedural directive, the policy analyst
and any other appropriate district personnel shall take the final committee draft of the
policy/procedural directive to the superintendent for approval.
•
If there are significant changes from the superintendent, the leadership member responsible for
the policy/procedural directive may call a special meeting of the committee to address the
superintendent's concerns if deemed necessary. It shall be the responsibility of the policy
analyst to author any changes made by the superintendent. Once these concerns are addressed,
the leadership team member responsible for the policy/procedural directive, the policy analyst
and any other appropriate district personnel shall take the final draft back to the superintendent
for approval.
•
Upon approval • of the superintendent, the policy analyst and leadership member shall take the
Development of Policies and Procedural Directives
Policy & Procedure Policy Page 1
draft to the leadership team for review and possible changes.
It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst to author any changes agreed upon by the
leadership team. If the leadership member responsible for the policy/procedural directive
deems it necessary, the policy/procedural directive shall be taken back to the original committee
and/or leadership team for review.
•
After review from the leadership team, the policy analyst shall take the policy/procedural
directive for a legal opinion.
•
The policy analyst shall serve as the liaison between the district's attorney regarding all polices
and procedural directives. The policy analyst shall take any changes from the attorney to the
leadership member and superintendent for discussion and change. These changes will only go
back to the original committee and/or leadership team if the leadership member and
superintendent deem it necessary.
•
The policy/procedural directive shall be taken to the District Policy and Procedural Directive
Work Team for review and approval as soon as possible.
•
The policy analyst shall create the action memo with recommendation from the leadership
member responsible for the policy.
○
The final draft of the policy/procedural directive must use tracked changes and be
presented both in a physical and digital format to the Board Services Office.
○
Only once the final draft has been approved by the attorney and the Board Office shall the
policy/procedural directive become an agenda item for Board of Education review. The policy
analyst shall act as a liaison to the Chief Academic Officer's Executive Administrative Assistant
and the Chairperson of the Policy Committee for inclusion on the Policy Committee agenda for a
courtesy review of the procedural directive by the Board of Education and action if a new or
revised policy is included.
•
The Board of Education shall review the policy/procedural directive during an open meeting.
The policy analyst shall present the policy/procedural directive to the Board of Education in
conjuncture with the leadership member responsible and any other appropriate staff. If the
Board of Education has significant changes, the leadership member may call back the original
committee to rework the policy/procedural directive.
•
The leadership member and the policy analyst may confer with individual board members
previous to the board committee meeting, but shall identify changes a board member makes so
they can be discussed at the board committee meeting. Only upon approval by the majority of
the members of the board shall these changes be adopted.
•
If the Board of Education approves the policy/procedural directive with changes, the policy
analyst shall be responsible for authoring these changes and they shall be completed previous to
the policy/procedural directive being placed on the consent calendar.
•
The policy shall be approved by the Board of Education. The procedural directive shall be placed
on the leadership meeting agenda as soon as possible following adoption of the policy by the
Board of Education.
•
An action memo shall be required for the leadership team adoption of the procedural directive.
This action memo shall be prepared by the Board Services Office. The action memo shall be
signed by the superintendent and the leadership member responsible for the procedural
directive.
•
Once the policy and procedural directive have been approved by the appropriate parties, the
Board Services Office shall be responsible for posting the new material to the Albuquerque
Public Schools website and maintaining a physical and digital copy of any relevant
documentation.
•
The leadership member responsible for the policy/procedural directive shall have the
responsibility of conveying any changes to all appropriate departments and departmental and
school site administrators.
•
Administrative Position: Board Services Executive Director
References:
Board Policy Cross Ref.: B.03 Suspending or Revoking Policies
B.13 Policy Adoption
Policy & Procedure Policy Page 2
NSBA/NEPN Classification: CH, BGE, CHC, BGA, BGC, CHA, CHB
Approved:
Policy & Procedure Policy Page 3
Flow Chart
Thursday, March 11, 2010
2:52 PM
Policy & Procedure Policy Page 4
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