This document outlines procedures for following the Chicago Board of Education procurement policy of providing fair and representative employment and business opportunities for minorities and women to remediate the adverse affects of historically discriminatory and exclusionary practices. These procedures are to be used in awarding contracts for…

After-school care for children of working parents is a natural extension of the services schools provide. Setting up a school-based child care program requires making the commitment and establishing a task force that collects relevant information about the community, its needs, and opportunities for meeting needs. Programs are operated by the…

Experiences in coping with an acquired immune deficiency (AIDS)-struck child demonstrated that the public can be trusted to be responsible if people are informed promptly and fully, and they see school officials acting quickly, decisively, and confidently. (MLF)

Procedural burden-of-proof issues led Federal Circuit Courts to affirm changes in pupil assignment systems in Norfolk, Virginia, but reject changes in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Supreme Court's decision not to review the Virginia case leaves school boards and federal courts without guidance on questions raised by resegregation. (MLF)

Describes advantages and forms of cooperation between schools and the elderly community, including political support for schools, older adults as educational resources, change of attitude toward elderly, and school involvement in community education. (LFL)

A restructuring of federal, state, and local relations is ceding considerably more control of education to the states. State mandates are now far more common than technical assistance and focus increasingly on the core of instructional policy, leading to a standardizing effect as local discretion declines. (DCS)

This guide is intended to be a tool to help those involved in the superintendent selection process. Section titles reflect the guide's contents. "The Decision to Seek a Superintendent"; "The Case for Using a Search Consultant"; "Setting a Timeline"; "Involvement of Parents, Citizens, Students and Staff";…

With state budgets in trouble across the United States, many school districts have already been hit with midyear cuts. Morale is the first and biggest issue administrators and school boards have to tackle. Successful leaders must be able to forecast what lies ahead and plan for the future. Good communication with staff and the public is crucial to…

Although the Supreme Court's "Mergens" decision settled the controversy over the constitutionality of the Equal Access Act, the ruling seems to make more ambiguous the definition of a limited open forum for student expression and the legal status of devotional activities. (55 references) (MLF)

Budgeting trends that will occupy the attention of school boards in the coming years include: (1) learning to do without; (2) streamlining the number of administrators; (3) repairing aging school infrastructures; (4) responding to changes in demographics; and (5) removing environmental hazards. (MLF)

Section 1983 of the 1871 Civil Rights Act includes the option of money damages for violations of the Constitution and federal laws. The focus of this paper is on the scope and limit of school district liability. Questions decisions where boards may have avoided liability by intentional ignorance of inaction in the face of supervisory incompetence.…

This survey of 39 state boards of education and state schools for the hearing impaired found that policies regarding HIV/AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) vary in comprehensiveness from brief paragraphs to detailed instructions. Many policies were judged to provide insufficient guidance for the residential…

This report outlines recent efforts and offers specific policy recommendations to improve transfer and articulation policies within the Oregon State university system. After taking note of the growing scope and complexity of transfer and articulation throughout the nation, and in Oregon in particular, it discusses the effects of distance…

Changing the conditions under which teachers are prepared is a necessary condition for changing schools. This policy guide emphasizes the role of the state in providing an environment for change. The guide particularly discusses the state's use of incentives and sanctions to raise the visibility and urgency of teacher education reform to the…

Guidelines which explain five phases of the consulting process are offered to educators contemplating the employment of consultants. Discussion of the first phase, "contact/entry," contains seven tips to consider before hiring a consultant and six tips on forming the base of the working relationship with the consultant. The second phase,…