Wearing The Important Hat Of Policy Maker
As Board of Education members, we wear many different “hats.” We are accountants during budget times; educators when making important decisions regarding curriculum and instruction; and human resource experts when approving the hiring of new personnel. Thankfully, the Board of Education has the school administration, faculty and staff who inform, support, and guide us as we are taking on each of these different roles. This enables the Board to make knowledgeable decisions regarding the Pennsauken School District, which in turn, helps our schools to run smoothly and our students to be successful.
One of the most important “hats” that the Board members wear is that of policy maker. Policies guide each and every decision that the Board makes. Some policies are specific to our particular school district and the issues that are important to this community. However, most policies are mandated due to state and federal law. For example: a few months ago, our Board Bits article focused on a discussion of the mandated residency policy. This policy helps to guide the Board procedures regarding the students who are permitted to receive an education in our school district and outlines what steps need to be taken when students who are not eligible to be educated in our district are found to be attending school. The policy is based on state law; by adopting it, it ensures our compliance with New Jersey’s education statutes.
Over the last year, the Board of Education Policy Committee, a subcommittee consisting of two Board members, has been working diligently to update all of our school district policies. The last policy manual update had occurred decades ago; there was a significant amount of work to be completed. In order to ensure that the policy manual was compliant with all state statues and federal laws, the Board of Education enlisted the help of a Strauss Esmay, a company that specializes in guiding school districts and municipalities in creating and maintaining current and effective policies. The school administration, faculty, and staff were also crucial to this policy work.
By the time this article is published, the Board of Education will have almost completed its policy work, with the last of our policies scheduled to be approved at the August meetings. Once this project has concluded, we will have adopted a policy manual that contains over 400 policies, as well as 325 regulations, which describe the procedures associated with carrying out these policies. We have also adopted over 30 bylaws that establish guidelines for how the Board operates. The 400-plus policies, associated regulations and the bylaws are broken down into nine numerically based categories: 0000s-Bylaws, 1000s-Adminstration, 2000s-Programs, 3000s-Teaching Staff Members, 4000s-Support Staff Members, 5000s-Pupils, 6000s-Finances, 7000s-Property, 8000s-Operations, and 9000s-Community. This numbering scheme was adopted to ensure that the Board, administration, faculty, staff, students, and community are able to easily locate and review the policies. Once the final drafts of our policies have been completed, our new policy manual will be available in print at the Board of Education Administration Building and online via the school website.
The Board of Education is dedicated to ensuring that our school district runs efficiently and effectively. It is our belief that the updated policy manual is one of the tools that will enable us to achieve this goal. While wearing the “hat” of policy maker has proved to be very daunting, the Board members are very proud of the work that has been accomplished and look forward to sharing our new updated policy manual with the Pennsauken community soon!
Board Bit Of The Month
Board of Education members are elected officials. They volunteer their time and do not receive monetary compensation for their work. To complete the policy manual described above, the Board members who spearheaded the Policy committee dedicated a nearly combined 3,000 hours of their time over the last year. It was a lot of work but for a great cause… the Pennsauken School District!
The members of the Pennsauken Board of Education are Nick Perry (President), Dung Nguyen (Vice President), Armando Diaz, Michael Hurley, Diane Johnson, Dr. Allyson Meloni, Leona Moss, Meg Snyder, and JoAnn Young. For more information on the Board of Education, visit Pennsauken.net.
