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HCPSS / POLICIES

Policy 2020 Implementation Procedures - Policy Development and Adoption

Policy Document

Implementation Procedures

I. General

  1. The Superintendent/designee will coordinate Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) policy development, revision, and modification processes. This includes the development, review, and presentation of proposals for policy and implementation procedures to be considered by the Board of Education of Howard County.

  2. Accountability for the substantive components and content of policy and implementation procedure proposals lies with the designated HCPSS content leads, Policy Advisory Committee chairs, committee members, and appropriate department administrators. All proposals are presented to the Superintendent’s Cabinet for examination and comment.

  3. The Superintendent will designate a Superintendent’s Standing Policy Group (SSPG), which includes at least one member from each division, to review the oldest policies on an annual basis. This committee will recommend what action, if any, will be taken on each policy.

II. Policy Development, Revision, and Modification Proposal Development

  1. Requests for policy development, revision, or modification from the Board will be directed to the Superintendent/designee, who will coordinate employee preparation of a draft policy language.

  2. Development, revision, or modification of a policy or implementation procedures proposal may be initiated by an administrator or supervisor with the approval of the Superintendent/designee.

  3. The Superintendent/designee may contact an administrator or supervisor to request that a policy on a particular topic be developed, revised, or modified.

  4. For those policies deemed by the SSPG as needing comprehensive revision:

    1. The Superintendent/designee will submit a Policy Advisory Committee Charter to the Board that:

      1. Explains the purpose for development or revision of the policy.

      2. Includes members of the Policy Advisory Committee.

      3. Identifies existing data sources to guide policy development and revision as appropriate.

      4. Provides supporting rationale.

    2. A Policy Advisory Committee will be convened. The Superintendent/designee will ensure that representatives from the community and other HCPSS stakeholder groups will be invited to serve on a Policy Advisory Committee. Example of invitees include but are not limited to a representative from:

      1. HCPSS Bargaining Units

      2. The Community Advisory Council (CAC)

      3. Superintendent Advisory Groups

      4. General Resident (After the selection of one general resident, another general resident may be selected for every additional 10 resident interest forms received.)

      5. Other formal community organizations with knowledge and interest.

        To obtain the greatest committee participation, the offering of a range of meeting times is expected. Additionally, multiple meeting strategies including face-to-face, virtual, electronic reviews, information collection questionnaires, and phones conference lines are encouraged. The lack of meeting times or formats that support committee participation will initiate a reconvening of the committee and/or the implementation of a new meeting strategy.

    3. The Superintendent/designee will notify the public on the HCPSS standard communication channels about the chartered committee and remind the public about opportunities for providing input.

    4. The committee chair will submit a draft of a new or revised policy to the Superintendent/designee.

    5. As appropriate, the Superintendent/designee will examine whether the draft policy has taken into account other policies of the Board, similar policies adopted by other school systems, related federal, state, and local laws and regulations, noteworthy research literature, budgetary and programmatic implications, how the policies impacts affected individuals, and how the policy will be monitored. The Superintendent/designee will ensure that a draft policy includes components and conforms to the approved Board style and format.

    6. The Superintendent/designee will ensure that the draft policy is examined by HCPSS General Counsel.

    7. The Superintendent/designee will ensure that the draft policy is distributed to the Superintendent’s Cabinet for examination and comment prior to its public presentation report at a regularly scheduled Board meeting.

    8. The Superintendent/designee will post the development/revision timelines on the HCPSS website for each policy under revision by a Policy Advisory Committee.

  5. Those policies determined as needing to be proposed to the Board for modification do not require review by either the SSPG or a comprehensive revision by a Policy Advisory Committee. In these situations:

    1. The Superintendent/designee will coordinate the proper staff to complete the modification. The Superintendent/designee may also seek public comment for changes not required by state or federal legislation and/or guidance.

    2. A draft of the modified policy will be submitted to the Superintendent/designee.

    3. The Superintendent/designee will ensure that the policy draft is distributed to the HCPSS General Counsel and Superintendent’s Cabinet for examination and comment.

    4. The Superintendent/designee will present the modified policy to the Board for action at a regularly scheduled Board meeting.

    5. The Superintendent/designee will notify the public on the HCPSS standard communication channels about the completed modifications to the policy.

III. Implementation Procedures

  1. If necessary, implementation procedures for a new Board policy will be developed concurrent with that policy.

  2. Implementation procedures for a policy under revision will be evaluated and updated as part of the policy revision process.

  3. All implementation procedures will include a responsibilities section to note the Division or Office responsible for overseeing that the procedures are being executed as intended.

  4. After considering input from Cabinet, the Superintendent will adopt the updated implementation procedures. Implementation procedures recommended by the Superintendent will be submitted to the Board concurrent with the corresponding draft policy.

  5. Implementation procedures adopted by the Superintendent that are revised without changes to a corresponding policy will be provided to the Board as an information item at a regularly scheduled Board meeting.

  6. Information on revisions to implementation procedures will be provided to affected stakeholders by the appropriate administrator or supervisor.

IV. Responsibilities

These implementation procedures will be overseen by the Office of Grants, Policy, and Strategy.

V. History

ADOPTED: January 22, 2004

REVIEWED:

MODIFIED:

REVISED: April 27, 2006, January 26, 2012, September 5, 2019

EFFECTIVE: July 1, 2020

Policy History Key

  • Adopted-Original date the Board took action to approve a policy
  • Reviewed-The date the status of a policy was assessed by the Superintendent’s Standing Policy Group
  • Modified-The date the Board took action to alter a policy that based on the recommendation of the Superintendent/designee did not require a comprehensive examination
  • Revised-The date the Board took action on a that policy based on the recommendation of the Superintendent/designee needed a comprehensive examination
  • Effective-The date a policy is implemented throughout the HCPSS, typically July 1 following Board action.