Preface
The policies and administrative rules of USD 434, Osage County, are the results of a combined effort of the professional staff of the Kansas Association of School Boards and the staff of Santa Fe Trail, Osage County, USD 434, 1663 E. US Highway 56, Box 310, Carbondale, Kansas 66414.
The staff of KASB first wrote the policy and rule model and integrated into that model the existing policies and procedures being used by the school district at the time of the first draft. Upon completion of the first draft, a KASB staff member and selected staff members of the district edited all of the proposed policies and rules resulting in preparation of the second draft to be presented to the board of education. The board met with the KASB staff member and selected staff members to arrive at the final draft. This final draft was then adopted by the board of education.
The board of education gratefully acknowledges the many hours spent on the part of the KASB staff and the school district’s staff in the preparation of these policies and rules. A special acknowledgment should go to the board of education members who spent many hours studying the various drafts of these policies and rules. This effort is indeed a typical example of the unselfish attitude of the district’s school board.
Understanding the Policy System
Policies are principles adopted by the school board to chart a course of action. The tell WHAT is wanted and may include also WHY and HOW MUCH. They should be broad enough to indicate a line of action to be taken by the administration in meeting a number of problems day-after-day; they should be narrow enough to give the administration clear guidance.
Rules are the detailed directions that are developed by the administration and staff to put policy into practice. The tell HOW, BY WHOM, WHERE, and WHEN things are to be done.
This philosophy was incorporated into thinking that produced the model and guided the district’s staff in developing the final, adopted policies and rules.
There are two binders and 13 sections of policies and rules. They are as follows:
I - Binder A-G II - Binder H-M
A - SCHOOL DISTRICT ORGANIZATION
B - SCHOOL BOARD OPERATIONS
C - GENERAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
D - FISCAL MANAGEMENT
E - BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
F - FACILITY EXPANSION PROGRAM
G - PERSONNEL (certified and non-certified)
H - NEGOTIATIONS
I - INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM
J - STUDENTS
K - GENERAL PUBLIC RELATIONS
L - INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONS
M - RELATIONS WITH OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES
This type of classification system is designed for computer use and conforms to sound principals of information storage and retrieval, to sound principles of school governance and also to the mandates of practicality. The system’s ultimate success or failure will depend on the extent of its day-to-day usefulness as a management tool to facilitate school and board operations.
Basic to the system is the vocabulary of policy development descriptors. This vocabulary included more than 1000 discrete terms, e.g., "Underground Newspapers," "Psychological Testing," "Nepotism," etc. These terms set forth specific issues and concerns for possible school board action at the policy development level.
The coding or "tracking" of terms is by letter rather than by number. Letter encoding offers two major advantages over number coding. A letter system offers more flexibility. The code has available 26 separate letters to use compared to only 10 digits. A letter system requires no decimal points. This tends to reduce the likelihood of error in reproduction and filing.
At first glance, letter codes may look strange compared to the more familiar decimal system. Yet, it takes but a moment for a code user to appreciate the logic and simplicity of letter coding.
The Index
The index is designed to help the user find the subject described in the appropriate policy. The index is also cross-referenced to state law as is each table of contents.
The index also includes many terms not used in the classification system. These "extras" appear in bold face and are cross-referenced to official descriptors. Some of these topics are synonyms, e.g., Administrative Regulations; see "Administrative Rules." Other classifications are included to show where they might be placed into the system by local classifiers, e.g., Jury Duty; see "Leaves and Absences."
When Using These Manuals
To use these manuals properly, the reader should look up the subject matter in the index and turn to the policy section first. The reader should check the table of contents found in the front of each policy section to determine whether the desired subject is cross-referenced to any other policy and also to see if the symbols "Cf.", "Also" or "see" are present. The reader should turn to the alpha code in the appropriate section and read the policy and any applicable rule. After the reader has done this, he should read all cross-references and other similar referrals.
If by chance a policy statement is not found, one of three things has occurred: (1) the board does not have a policy or rule on the subject, (2) another classification (Cf.) is overriding and should be read to determine the board’s policy or (3) the code is consolidated with another code. This latter statement makes it incumbent on the reader to check the index and/or the table of contents before looking for the subject matter.
State Law and Negotiated Contracts
The policies do not contain any statutory language or negotiated contract language. They exist in other separate documents. If the reader is in doubt about the subject being pursued, he should ask the superintendent or some other administrative staff member for guidance.
Any district may request KASB policy writers to assist them in the drafting of locally generated policies or amendments or in the alpha coding and placement of new policy.
Symbols
The policy classification system employs these signs and symbols which are explained below:
SN Scope Note - A brief statement used when necessary in order
to clarify and/or limit the intended use of a descriptor entry, e.g.:
Administrative Personnel
SN For school management and supervisory personnel below the district superintendent level.
Also A prefix to a parenthetical code to indicate that the identical term
(and similar school board policy) appears elsewhere in the classifications system, e.g.
BCBI (Also KCA) Public Participation
KCA (Also BCBI) Public Participation
Cf. A prefix used to indicate a cross-reference to another policy or rule of similar subject matter, e.g.,
AFC (Cf. JGFA) Emergency Closings
JGFA (Cf. AFC) Emergency Drills
-R An affix to a policy code to indicate that the statement following is an administrative rule, not a school board policy.
See A prefix to a parenthetical letter coding to indicate that the preceding code is consolidated with referenced code in the parentheses, e.g., KD (See CG).
Definitions
1. The masculine pronoun is used throughout these policies in the generic sense and refers to both the feminine and masculine antecedents.
2. Wherever the word "superintendent" or "principal" occurs, the words "or designated representative" are assumed to follow.