Board Policies and Administrative Directives

The PPS Board of Education and the Superintendent of PPS are responsible for creating and maintaining Board Policies and Administrative Directives for district business. According to Board Policy 1.70.020-P, "it is the responsibility of the Board to develop, evaluate, and adopt policies for the governance of the District", and "it is the responsibility of the superintendent to initiate and direct the development of administrative directives, which implement board-adopted policy." The following is an overview of the purposes and the development of Board Policies and Administrative Directives.

Board Policies

Flowchart of PPS Board Policy Adoption

Purpose

A Board Policy refers to "a statement of general governing principles adopted by the Board." It is to create a framework for the following purposes:

1. Regulating Board or District business;
2. Establishing educational, operational, and other expectations for the District’s staff and students;
3. Guiding the actions of those to whom the Board delegates authority and responsibility; and
4. Ensuring compliance with state and federal law

Policy Proposal

Those who can propose a new board policy or a change to an existing one can be a Board member, the Superintendent, a District employee, a parent or guardian of a student, a student, a District volunteer, a committee appointed by the board, or a community member who is also a resident of the District.

Policy Review

After a policy is proposed, the Board or relevant Board Committee can perform the following actions:

• Collect additional information concerning the policy proposal, including a staff evaluation;
• Appoint an advisory committee soliciting the views of persons representing the interests of those likely to be affected by the proposed policy to assist the Board in this policy development process;
• Seek appropriate legal and other advice as necessary to ensure that the policy proposal, if adopted, will comply with applicable law; and/or,
• Take no further action on the policy proposal.

First Reading

After the Board decides to adopt a proposal, they may elect to schedule the policy for a first and second reading at a regularly scheduled Board meeting. At the first reading of the policy, the reading must include:

• A summary of the content of the proposed policy or amendments
• A posting of the draft policy on the Open Draft Policy Page on the PPS website of the proposed language if the language is new, or redlined version if the policy is a revision
• A stated opportunity for the public to submit comments on the proposed policy, with a deadline date for submission of such comments

Second Reading

The second reading of the policy must only occur after a period of 21 days has passed to give ample time for public comment. If the language has changed substantially since the first reading, the revised proposed policy must be set for an additional first reading to allow for public input on the changes.

Decision on Policy

After the second reading, the Board can make the following decisions on the proposed policy:

• Approve the policy proposal as written
• Modify the policy proposal and approve it as modified
• Schedule the policy proposal for an additional first reading
• Defer the policy proposal for further discussion or action
• Reject the policy proposal

Exceptions to Policy Protocol

There are two exceptions to the Board Policy protocol

1. If corrections or revisions that do not substantially change a policy: In this case, the policy may be adopted without a recommendation of a board committee; but such changes must have a First and Second Reading.
2. Emergency Policy: If there is an emergency necessitating urgent action on a policy proposal, the Board may adopt a policy on the same day it is proposed at a lawfully called meeting of the Board. If the Board takes such action, the Board must "state and enter into the record the nature of the emergency and the basis for its determination that urgent action was necessary."

Policy Reviews

The Superintendent can recommend that the Board review a policy for potential revision, repeal, revision, or replacement under the following conditions:

• Practice is not in compliance with the policy and the practice differs to such an extent that a review of existing policy is warranted
• State or federal law has changed as to require review or modification of existing policy
• A policy is not aligned with professional practices, district values or is ineffective

The Board is instructed to review all policies every 4 years, with at least one to two sections reviewed annually for relevance and compliance with state and federal law. In addition, following adjournment of the Oregon State Legislature, a review to reconcile policies and directives with new statutory language is conducted.

Administrative Directives

Administrative Directives are issued and modified by the Superintendent and doesn't need prior approval from the Board. The Superintendent must inform the Board and the parties impacted by the policy prior to the issue of the directive. Administrative Directives must comply with Board policy.