Administration, Development and Revision of Board Policies and Administrative Procedural Directives- September 2018 Revision

Policies and School Board Governance and Operations Procedural Directives shall be the responsibility of the Board of Education at the direction of the chairperson of the Policy and Instruction Committee, or his/her designee. Administrative procedural directives shall be the responsibility of the superintendent, or his/her designee. Procedural directives shall specify required actions and reflect the detailed arrangement under which the district and board operates.

Revisions in policy and board procedural directive shall require approval by the Board of Education. Administrative procedural directives shall require approval from the superintendent in consultation with the district leadership team and may be taken to the Board of Education for review only.

The superintendent shall carry out, through administrative procedural directive, all other policies established by the Board of Education.

The Board of Education shall carry out board policies and shall carry out, through board procedural directive, any board policies that pertain only to governance and operations of the Board of Education.

Policy/Procedural Directive Process

• Once an issue has been raised and it has been determined by appropriate parties that a policy/procedural directive must be created or changed, the superintendent shall appoint a leadership team member responsible for the policy/procedural directive if there is not a position title already designated as responsible.

• The leadership team member shall work with the policy analyst to identify all current district documentation regarding the policy/procedural directive.

• The leadership team member in charge of this area shall appoint a committee with minimal membership of a leadership team member and the policy analyst to work on the policy/procedural directive. 

• The initial meeting of the committee shall discuss the policy/procedural directive and identify all the necessary changes or additions needed.  It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst to provide all relevant federal and state statutes that correspond to the policy/procedural directive in addition to National School Board Association and New Mexico School Board Association suggested language.  This language shall be modeled, if appropriate, for any corresponding district policy/procedural directive.

• The leadership team member, or his/her designee, shall write a draft of the policy/procedural directive in the approved format of the district with collaboration from the policy analyst.

• All policies and procedural directives shall include:
• Title
• Narrative
• The administrative position responsible for the policy/procedural directive
• Department directors whose area of supervision is affected by the policy/procedural directive
• Legal, board policy, procedural directive and district forms cross references
• National School Board Association Classification
• Approval, review and revision dates

• It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst to research all cross references and classifications for the policy/procedural directive.  The policy analyst shall check language for legal concerns in the policy.  The policy analyst also shall act as a liaison with leadership and department directors who also may be affected by the policy/procedural directive and bring any concerns to the committee.  A copy of the draft shall be provided to the committee for discussion. 

• If deemed appropriate by the leadership member responsible, the policy analyst may work with the Albuquerque Public Schools web editor to post a draft of the policy/procedural directive on the website for staff, student and community input in the form of email to an Albuquerque Public Schools email account or private survey.  This draft may be posted at any point during the process, not necessarily during its primary formulation.  It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst, or his/her designee, to compile information from staff, student and community input for discussion when drafting policies/procedural directives.  At his/her discretion, the policy analyst may not respond to individual emails but simply take the comments input for discussion and future drafts.  There shall be no requirement for the amount of time a draft must remain on the website for comments.  The leadership member responsible and/or the policy analyst shall reserve the right to take a draft down from the website at any time if he/she deems appropriate.  Staff, student and community input may be considered, but may not necessarily be reflected in the final version of the policy/procedural directive.

• The drafts of the policy/procedural directive shall be sent to the committee no later than 72 hours prior to their next meeting.  Members of the committee shall be responsible for review and language changes to the draft policy/procedural directive and shall bring those suggestions to the committee for discussion.

• At the final meeting of the committee, the draft policy/procedural directive may be accepted as completed or tabled/rejected by majority vote of the committee during a scheduled committee meeting.

• If the committee approves the policy/procedural directive, the leadership team member responsible for the policy/procedural directive, the policy analyst and any other appropriate district personnel shall take the final committee draft of the policy/procedural directive to the superintendent for approval.

• If the committee tables/rejects the policy/procedural directive, the leadership team member responsible for the policy/procedural directive, the policy analyst and any other appropriate district personnel shall report the rejection to the superintendent and chairman of the Policy and Instruction Committee.  The superintendent may direct the leadership team member in appropriate future action after consultation with the chairman of the Policy and Instruction Committee.  Suggested action may include, but is not limited to, the development of another committee, action by the leadership team and/or executive action from the superintendent to recommend language for a policy/procedural directive.

• If there are significant changes from the superintendent, the leadership member responsible for the policy/procedural directive may call a special meeting of the committee to address the superintendent's concerns if deemed necessary.  It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst to author any changes made by the superintendent.  Once these concerns are addressed, the leadership team member responsible for the policy/procedural directive, the policy analyst and any other appropriate district personnel shall take the final draft back to the superintendent for approval.

• Upon approval of the superintendent, the policy analyst and leadership member shall take the draft to the leadership team for review and possible changes.

• It shall be the responsibility of the policy analyst to author any changes agreed upon by the leadership team.  If the leadership member responsible for the policy/procedural directive deems it necessary, the policy/procedural directive shall be taken back to the original committee and/or leadership team for review.

• After review from the leadership team, the policy analyst shall take the policy/procedural directive for a legal opinion.

• The policy analyst shall serve as the liaison between the district's attorney regarding all policies and procedural directives.  The policy analyst shall take any changes from the attorney to the leadership member and/or the superintendent for discussion and change.  These changes shall only go back to the original committee and/or the leadership team if the leadership member and/or superintendent deem it necessary.

• Only once the final draft has been approved by the superintendent, attorney, leadership team and the Board Services Office shall the policy become an agenda item for Board of Education review and action.  The policy analyst shall act as a liaison to the committee coordinator for the Policy and Instruction Committee and the chairperson of the Board of Education Policy and Instruction Committee for inclusion on the Board of Education Policy and Instruction Committee agenda for review and action if a new or revised policy is included. 
  • The policy analyst shall create the action memo with recommendation from the leadership member responsible for the policy.
  • The final draft of the policy/procedural directive shall use tracked changes and be presented both in a physical and digital format to the Board Services Office.

• The Board of Education may review administrative procedural directives but shall not take action on administrative procedural directives.

• The Board of Education shall review the policy/procedural directive during an open meeting.  Review of a policy/procedural directive shall take place at the appropriate Board of Education Committee meeting, typically a regularly scheduled meeting of the Policy and Instruction Committee.  The policy analyst shall present the policy/procedural directive to the Board of Education in conjuncture with the leadership member responsible and any other appropriate staff.  If the Board of Education has significant changes, the leadership member may return to any previous step in this process as appropriate to edit the policy/procedural directive.

• The leadership member and the policy analyst may confer with individual board members prior to any board meeting, but shall identify changes a board member makes so the changes can be discussed at the board meeting.  Only upon approval by the majority of the members of the board shall these changes be adopted.

• If the Board of Education approves the policy with changes, the policy analyst shall be responsible for authoring these changes and the changes shall be completed prior to the policy being placed on the Regular or Special Board meeting agenda. 

• The final vote for approval or rejection of the policy shall occur during a Regular or Special Board meeting. 

• If a policy is approved, the related administrative procedural directive shall be placed on the leadership meeting agenda for action as soon as possible following adoption of the policy by the Board of Education.

• An action memo shall be required for the leadership team adoption of the administrative procedural directive.  This action memo shall be prepared by the Board Services Office.  The action memo shall be signed by the superintendent and the leadership member responsible for the procedural directive.

• Once the policy and/or procedural directive have been approved by the appropriate parties, the Board Services Office shall be responsible to post the new material to the Albuquerque Public Schools website.  The Board Services Office shall maintain a physical and digital copy of any relevant documentation. 

• The leadership member with support from the policy analyst is responsible for the policy/procedural directive shall have the responsibility of conveying any changes to all appropriate departments and departmental/school site administrators.

The superintendent, when necessary due to an emergency situation and after consultation with the leadership team and/or Board of Education, has the right to operate outside of this procedural directive.  The superintendent shall, as soon as possible, provide any changes done in response to the emergency situation to the Board of Education for appropriate discussion and/or action.

Board of Education Member:    

• Policy and Instruction Committee Chair

Department Director:                  

• Board of Education Services Office Executive Director

References:

Legal Cross Ref.:                                

• §22-5-4 NMSA 1978

Board Policy Cross Ref.:                   

• BG – Board of Education Policy Development, Adoption, Revision and  Revocation
• BG1 -  Emergency Administration, Temporary Suspension of Policies and   Procedural Directives

Forms Cross Ref.:                             

• Development of Board Policies and Administrative Procedural Directives Flow Chart

NSBA/NEPN Classification:        BD

Introduced: March 12, 2010
Reviewed: May 14, 2010
Approved: June 25, 2010
Reviewed: November 11, 2015
Revised: November 18, 2015
Reviewed: September 12, 2018
Revised: September 19, 2018

This page was last updated on: December 9, 2009.