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 This manual
contains the official policies of
the Hanover School Committee
(reproduced on white paper); the
major regulations intended to
implement policy (yellow paper); and
certain reference or "exhibit"
documents that relate to policies
and/or regulations (green paper).
Policy
development in a modern,
forward-looking school system is a
dynamic, ongoing process. New
problems, issues, and needs give
rise to the continuing need to
develop new policies or to revise
existing ones. This is why the
committee employs the loose-leaf
format for this manual. It is easy
to keep up to date.
Each person
holding a copy of this manual should
make a diligent effort to keep it up
to date as new policies,
regulations, and exhibits are
distributed by the central office.
How to Use
this Manual
The school
department operates according to
policies established by the school
committee. The committee then
appraises the effects of its
policies and makes revisions as
necessary.
In the interests
of harmony, efficiency, uniformity
of interpretation, coordination of
effort, and in fairness to all
concerned, the committee makes this
manual available to all who are
affected by its policies.
Please Note: All
copies of this manual are the
property of the Hanover Public
Schools.
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How the Manual is Organized
The manual is
organized in accordance with the
classification system developed by
the National School Boards
Association. This system provides an
efficient means of coding, filing,
and finding policies and other
documents. There are 12 major
classifications each assigned an
alphabetical code: Click on the
PDF or DOC icon to view a
particular section.
You may search
within any PDF document by clicking
the search button or entering
keywords in the the find area.
Sub
classification under each heading is
based on logical sequence and
alphabetical sub coding. For an
example of the sub coding system,
examine the white pages immediately
following the tab for Section
AD--Foundations and Basic
Commitments.
The white pages
that follow the tab for each major
section present the classification
system, section by section, and
serve as the tables of contents for
each section or "chapter" of this
manual.
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How to Find a
Policy
There are two
ways to find a policy (or
regulation) in this policy manual:
1.
Consider where the policy
statement (or regulation)
would be filed among the 12
major classifications. Turn
to the Table of Contents for
that section and glance down
the listing until you find
the term that most closely
fits the topic you are
seeking. Use the code
letters given for that term
to locate the policy you
need. The pages are arranged
in alphabetical order by
code within the section. All
pages are coded in their
upper right hand corner.
2. Turn
to the
Code Finder Index at
the end of the manual. The
code finder is an
alphabetical index of all
terms used in education.
Look up your topic as in any
index, find the code, and
use the code to locate the
correct page in the manual.
In each
section, you may be able to
search using Adobe
Acrobat Reader. You may
download this software by
clicking the link on the
left page menu.
What if you can't
find the term you are seeking? The
code finder index lists more than
1,800 terms, but no index of useful
size could include every
possibility. If the term you are
seeking is not included, look up a
synonym or a more general or
specific term appropriate to the
topic.
What if you can
find the term and code, but there is
no policy or regulation? This
probably means that the school
system has no written policy or
important regulations in that
particular area. All terms used in
the classification system appear in
the sectional tables of contents and
Code Finder Index to accommodate the
coding, insertion, and finding of
policies or regulations that may be
issued later. But there is one other
possibility. A brief statement
related to the policy you are
seeking may be incorporated in a
"superior" policy, which covers the
area generally. This "superior"
policy will be coded under a more
general term. To find it, read up
the classification system. For
example, a policy statement, which
relates to all meetings of
the school committee, might be filed
under "School Board Meetings" (BD)
rather than "Regular Board Meetings"
(BDA). (Please note: In the
classification system and Code
Finder Index, read "School
Committee" for "School Board".)
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Using the
Signs and Symbols
Various signs and
symbols are used in connection with
the classification system. They are
for your use in locating and/or in
examining policies. Included are the
following:
Also: Certain
policies bear two codes in the upper
right hand corner. The second is in
parentheses and is preceded by
'Also'. This means that the
identical policy (or regulation)
is filed under both codes.
-R This
symbol following a code
indicates that the statement
is a regulation, not
a committee policy. The
statement appears on a
yellow, rather than a white,
sheet.
-E
Exhibit. This symbol
following a code indicates
that the statement is a
reference document such
as a calendar, application
form, etc., rather than a
policy. Such statements are
printed on green paper.
DATES:
Where possible,
the original date of
adoption/issuance appears
immediately following each policy or
regulation. In other instances, an
approximate adoption or re-approval
date is used.
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LEGAL
REFERENCE:
Pertinent legal
references are given to inform the
reader where in state law s/he may
find the statutes that relate to a
specific policy. Unless otherwise
noted, all references direct the
reader to the General Laws of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts (cited
as M.G.L., Chapter and section).
CONTRACT
REFERENCE:
Agreements
reached through negotiations with
recognized staff organizations have
the full force of committee policy.
References to negotiated agreements
are provided, as appropriate, to
direct the reader to statements in
these agreements.
CROSS
REFERENCE:
Certain policies
and regulations relate to others.
Cross-references are provided
following many statements to help
the reader find all of the related
information needed.
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About Policies
and Regulations
Generally, the
role of a School Committee is to set
policy and the role of the
administration is to implement it
through regulations. Written
policies are the chief means by
which a School Committee governs the
schools, and regulations are one of
the means by which the committee's
policies are implemented. The
following definitions provide a
distinction between these two types
of statements:
POLICIES
are principles adopted by
the School Committee to
chart a course of action.
They are broad enough to
indicate a line of action to
be taken by the
administration in meeting a
number of day-to-day
problems while being narrow
enough to give the
administration clear
guidance.
REGULATIONS are detailed
directions usually developed
by the administration to put
policy into practice.
These definitions
are serviceable some of the time.
They reflect sound theory of
governance and administration. But
policies and regulations are
obviously closely related. They can
and do merge, making it difficult to
ascertain where one begins and the
other ends. For example:
* State and
federal governments require school
committees to make or officially
approve detailed regulations, and
procedures in certain areas.
* A School
Committee signs contracts and
agreements that may contain and
interweave policies, regulations,
and procedural detail.
* The public
staff, or school committee members
may demand that the School Committee
itself, not the administration,
establish specific regulations and
procedures in certain sensitive
areas.
It is the
intermingling of policy and
regulation in law, in contracts, and
in adopted statements of the School
Committee that can cause confusion.
Sometimes they are not easily
separated. Therefore, the separation
of policies and regulations in this
manual follows several "rules of
thumb" in addition to basic theory:
1. When
the school system's practice
in a particular area is
established by law, any
informational statement
covering the practice is
presented as "policy" and is
printed on a white page. (A
law may, of course, be
quoted or referred to in a
regulation.)
2. When a
school system's practice in
a particular area has been
established through a
negotiated agreement, any
statement pertaining to that
practice is presented as
"policy".
3. Where
the School Committee has
interwoven regulations with
policy and where separation
would interfere with their
meaning, the entire
statement is presented as a
policy.
4. Where
the School Committee has
adopted rules and by-laws
concerning its own
organizational and operating
procedures, these statements
appear as policy. As long as
the administration operates
within the guidelines of
policy adopted by the
committee, it may issue
regulations without prior
committee approval, unless
law requires committee
action, or unless the
committee has specifically
asked that certain types of
regulations be submitted for
committee approval. The
School Committee is to be
informed of all school
system regulations issued by
the administration. All such
regulations are subject to
committee review.
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Is the Manual
Complete?
No. The manual
contains all of the current
written policies of the school
committee to date. But, the need for
putting additional policies in
writing, for adopting new or
revising existing ones, becomes
apparent.
Additionally,
state laws; and regulations change.
No matter how well conceived and
well developed, a policy manual can
never be 100% complete and 100%
up-to-date. Policy development is a
continuing process. From time to
time, new policies, regulations, and
reference documents will be
developed, coded under the
classification system, and issued
for insertion in the manual.
Should the need
arise, supplemental sub codes may be
added to the classification system
to accommodate topics not covered by
existing codes. For example, IGA is
the code for BASIC INSTRUCTIONAL
PROGRAM. The Code Finder Index lists
various programs from IGAA,
CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION to IGAJ,
DRIVER EDUCATION.
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Order of
Precedence
School committee
policies and regulations, as well as
negotiated agreements with staff
bargaining units, must be read and
interpreted in the light of the
Massachusetts General Laws and State
regulations. Wherever
inconsistencies of interpretation
arise, the law and state regulations
prevail. A conflict between a local
policy or regulation and a
negotiated agreement must be
interpreted in line with the
contract for members of the
particular bargaining unit.
Terminology
The masculine,
feminine and neuter genders as used
in this manual import one another,
and the singular shall include the
plural whenever applicable.
*****
It is the hope of
the Hanover School Committee is that
this collection of policies and
regulations will make greater
harmony and efficiency possible in
all areas of school operations. This
will enable the committee to devote
more time to its primary duty--the
development of long-range policies
and planning for the future of the
school system.
Hanover Schools
Adoption Date: June 28, 2006 |
A
-- FOUNDATIONS AND
BASIC COMMITMENTS
