School boards demonstrate accountability for the policies they have adopted by monitoring them on a continuing basis to assure that they are being implemented effectively, are accomplishing the purpose for which they were developed and comply with legal requirements. Policies must be reviewed and updated regularly to be useful.

Written policies are only effective and worthwhile if they are actually being implemented. It is very important that people who are affected by the policy or who have responsibilities for implementation of the policy are informed about the policy. If people do not know that the policy exists, they will not follow it. In informing people about the policy, school boards may want to:

• stress the benefits of the policy;
• prepare fact sheets, talking points and other materials that may help communicate the policy to those affected by it;
• translate the policies into "user friendly language" and other languages as needed;
• present the policy to the media and applicable school and community groups so that the policy is widely disseminated throughout the school community.

Here are a few suggestions for overseeing the implementation of school board policies and keeping them up to date:

• Provide for regular policy and/or policy manual reviews. Policies should be reviewed on a regular basis to evaluate their effectiveness. This can be done, for example, by:
  • Establishing a standing policy committee to meet monthly to evaluate existing policies and recommend new policies;
  • Scheduling time at each regular board meeting to review specific policy topics and/or policy manual sections;
  • Creating a policy review calendar which identifies specific dates to review existing policies;
  • Requiring the district administrator to provide timely and well-organized reports to the board about policy implementation; or
  • Scheduling special board meetings on an annual basis to review the entire policy manual and make appropriate revisions.
    
• Keep aware of legislative changes that affect policy. Information about law changes is disseminated regularly by the WASB on its Web site and in the New Laws and the WASB's two policy publications, Policy Perspectives and The FOCUS. This information should be shared and discussed with the entire board.
  
• Review each month's board meeting minutes. Decisions made by the board at regular or special meetings may create or revise policy; therefore, policies should be continually reviewed. Your board may want to assign someone to be responsible for reviewing board minutes and making necessary changes in policies.
  
• Review your district's collective bargaining agreements, individual employment contracts and/or personnel handbooks. When new agreements, contracts and/or handbooks are adopted, review them to see if the district's existing personnel policies correspond. Personnel policies included in the policy manual which do not correspond should be revised accordingly.

When approaching the process of evaluating a current policy, the following questions may be helpful:

• Does the policy have a legitimate educational purpose, meet the community's needs and reflect the community's values?
• Does the policy actually serve its intended purpose?
• Can the policy be implemented in the district using available staff and other resources?
• Does the policy reflect current board views on the issue?
• Is the policy reasonably clear and specific enough to provide the administration with necessary guidance?
• Is the policy consistent with the following:
  • relevant state and federal laws and regulations?
  • provisions of current collective bargaining agreements, individual employment contracts and/or personnel handbooks (if applicable)?
  • other district policies?
  • current school district practice?

If the answer to any of the above questions is "no", the board has identified a need to revise its policy and should update it accordingly.