Information for District Clerks

In order to assist district clerks with frequently asked questions regarding the maintenance of policy manuals, Policy Services has developed two PowerPoints:  one on the numbering and dating of policies, and another on the deletion of policies.  We encourage you to consult these resources if you have any questions or concerns related to the issues they address.

Numbering and Dating Policies

Deleting Policies

Why Your District Should Not Adopt the First Draft of Its Policy Manual

Developing a new policy manual generally involves a three-draft process, with the third draft being the one actually adopted by a district’s Board. A district’s review of a first draft manual is a lengthy process that should not include Board action. When districts adopt directly from a first draft, we often see the following issues arise

1. Policies are adopted with district changes that do not comply with applicable laws, regulation, and/or administrative guidance;
2. Policies are adopted without a choice having been made between multiple options listed;
3. Policies are adopted with blanks where specific information must be listed by the district;
4. Policies are adopted without deletion of customization notes intended for review purposes only;
5. Policies are out of date because they have not been revised for developments occurring after the district received the first draft; and
6. Policies are adopted over a variety of dates leading to difficulty tracking adoption dates and the status of particular policies which, in turn, makes it harder to keep the manual up to date.

To avoid these and other issues, we recommend that districts focus their first (and second) draft review on having the district policy committee customize the sample policies to reflect district practice, choose among presented options, and fill in any blanks. Once a district returns its draft edits to their assigned policy coordinator, the coordinator will both review the edits for compliance (and suggest changes where needed) and update policies that have been affected by legal and administrative developments since the district received the previous draft.

The third draft is generally the final draft that the policy committee presents to the Board for adoption. Ideally, the Board adopts the manual in full, resulting in a uniform adoption date for all policies.

Please remember that the draft process, and your assigned policy coordinator, are in place to ensure your district’s policy manual is as current as possible when it is finalized and adopted by the Board.

	Janell Hallgren, Manager (716) 821-7084 jhallgren@e1b.org		Patricia "TC" Ferrito, Coordinator (716) 821-7612 pferrito@e1b.org
	Cynthia Gross, Esq., Coordinator (716) 821-7553 cgross@e1b.org		Katherine Peterson, Esq., Coordinator (716) 821-7428 kpeterson@e1b.org
	Ashley Watkins, Esq., Coordinator (716) 821-7183 awatkins@e1b.org		Renee Siepierski, Coordinator (716) 821-7363 rsiepierski@e1b.org

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