Good policy is essential to good management

OSBA's rewrite service will coordinate the board policy rewrite project from draft stage, through review, and finally to completion. Along the way OSBA staff provides training and consultation, and preparation of recommended changes to the board's current policy manual.

The complete rewrite process may take 8-10 meetings, most often in 2- to 4-hour meetings, or can be completed in as few as 1 to 2 meetings that may be day long. The committee may be made up of board members, administration and other district staff, or just the administration and/or other staff. Meetings are generally held monthly, but may be scheduled to meet the needs of the parties involved, however OSBA recommends holding meetings no more than six weeks apart. The board policy rewrite process encourages discussion, consensus building and clarification of policy and related issues, resulting in a complete, up-to-date board policy manual.

Watch a video training about this Policy service.

Policy drafts are crafted and existing language will be used when possible.

The policy manual is divided into nine sections*:

• Section A/B - Board Governance
• Section C - Administration
• Section D - Fiscal Management
• Section E - Support Services
• Section F - Facilities
• Section G - Personnel
• Section I - Instruction
• Section J - Students
• Section K/L - Community Relations

*OSBA requires all rewrite project participants to convert to a letter coding system and Word.

Using analysis information, drafts are written by section. These drafts are sent electronically prior to the scheduled meetings to allow time for review. An OSBA policy specialist facilitates each policy meeting, refers to related laws or rules, discusses possible options and answers questions as each policy and administrative regulation are reviewed.

The cost of a rewrite is based on the organization size. We encourage subscribers to consider OSBA's Policy Update, manual maintenance or online policy services, and a subscription to Policy Plus, following a rewrite to keep the board policy manual current and up-to-date.

Policy analysis - Another option to document the current status and needs of your existing policy manual.