How "Policy
Governance" serves your students' academic achievement
Durango School District 9-R adopted policy governance
about 10 years ago to clarify the board's policy-making
and oversight role and the superintendent's role as academic
and management leader in the district.
The board is responsible for clearly defining
on behalf of the community what students should know
and be able
to
do
by the time
they
graduate
from
high school. Under policy governance, the board consciously
stays out of the district’s day-to-day
management decisions and adopts policies that give the
superintendent
the authority
to select the resources, teachers, and educational programs
that he or she believes best serve student-learning
needs. The board also defines expectations for how the
superintendent exercises authority in the Superintendent
Expectations Policies. These policies give the
superintendent wide latitude to make decisions. In
surrendering its management role, the board assumes a strong
oversight
role
by holding
the
superintendent
accountable
for ensuring that students make adequate annual progress
toward meeting the district’s educational goals.
The
board’s policies also require the superintendent
to involve stakeholders in decisions that would result
in significant change, and they require the superintendent
to provide annual monitoring reports that demonstrate compliance
with policies and student learning goals.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Under 9-R’s governance system, the board seeks public
opinion to understand community values, and then incorporates
those values in the academic goals it sets for students.
The board charges the superintendent with the responsibility
of creating the environment and selecting the academic
programs that will ensure students meet those goals.
As part of that charge, the board requires staff to take
reasonable
steps to involve students, parents, and the community
to gather sufficient information to make good decisions,
and
we are held accountable for our decisions by reporting
annually on student progress.
Because board policy requires significant public
participation, the district has developed a number of ways
for our community to be involved in decision-making, including
town-hall meetings open to anyone who may have a concern
or idea; focus groups on specific topics; surveys; committees
and task forces; and public participation during board
meetings, to mention just a few.
Here are other ways that the community can get involved
in the district:
School accountability committees. Parents,
teachers, and community members ensure that curriculum,
budget, and resources are aligned with district, state,
and
federal student achievement goals. They also serve as sounding boards for school
and district initiatives.
District Accountability Advisory Committee. This
community group reviews each school’s assessment
data and action plans, conducts parent surveys, and during
2004-05, asssisted with the development and implementation
of a plan to accredit each school based on student performance.
The accreditation informs
parents about their school’s success in meeting student achievement goals.
Curriculum committees. Each year, teachers,
parents, and administrators review one or more of the district’s
academic programs, compare district practices with the
latest research, modify the curricula as
needed to improve student achievement,
and recommend changes to the board’s academic goals.
Special project
committees and task forces. The district takes on new initiatives
every year to address community concerns. For example, more than
70 volunteers
provided research and advice for our $84.5 million construction program
through the Blue Ribbon Facilities, Fiscal Planning, and
Construction Oversight committees.
Other special-project initiatives have included a study of the Durango
High School open/closed campus debate, which included three community
meetings and five task force meetings to ensure that constituents had
an opportunity to be involved in the decision-making process.
QUESTIONS?
Contact us with your questions about policy governance. |
