Pub. 4 2014-2015 Issue 2
22 Why A Policy and Procedure Manual? The creation of a Policy and Procedure manual is a critical piece in the formation of a charter school. Policies set the operational tone of the school, help to establish the culture within the school, ensure all employment laws are understood and followed, and give everyone involved a common set of clear and reasonable standards to abide by. Without the Policy manual, administrators and staff are left to guess at the intent of the founders or school board, and to make assumptions that may or may not meet that intent. In some situations, this could even put them in violation of the law. How Do We Create This? It is common to panic or experience anxiety when assigned the task of creating a Policies and Procedures manual. Where do you start? What should be included? How specific do you need to be? Certainly the job can seem overwhelming at first. But there are many ways to break the task into more manageable pieces, and numerous resources available to pull from, both online and within the national charter school community. The first, and often most daunting, piece of writing a Policy and Procedure manual is deciding what to include. Don’t let this put you off, as a large portion of the content is dictated by national, state and local laws governing charters. Your legal counsel, your state school board and state charter school association (UAPCS) should be able to provide a list of these policies and, quite often, samples used by other organizations. Other content will be more specific to charters, or to your own school. Rather than starting from scratch, consider contacting other charters in your area to see if they might share an outline of their own manuals. Also, schedule time with stakeholders in your organization – those who will be most impacted by the manual – to gather input and feedback on content they feel should be included. Once the content is decided, it is time to establish a struc- ture and a tone for your manual. Having a consistent format for policies and procedures will make them easier to write, easier to update, and easier for future authors to add to as needed. Tone, while not as readily characterized as format, is certainly no less important. A quick read of many existing policy and procedure manuals may have you thinking that most of them were written by, and for attorneys. In writing your own, be careful to communicate to the correct audience: your management team and employees. The goal is to make your policies understandable to everyone they affect, not just to your legal team. I n a charter school environment, as in any workplace, it is important to have specific guidelines in place for day-to-day interactions and operations. Most commonly these guidelines are spelled out in a policy manual, accompanied by procedures designed to implement the policies in a fair and consistent manner. While policy sets the overall framework for conduct within an organization, and may address anything from what to wear, to travel reimbursement, to employees’ legal rights regarding harassment or discrimination, procedures are the step-by-step explanation of how the policies will be carried out. BY SHANNON GREER, BOARD CHAIR & PHIL LOOMIS, BOARD MEMBER, GEORGE WASHINGTON ACADEMY
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