Administrators can avoid legal and personnel problems by ensuring that staff members, students, and parents clearly understand school board policies and procedures. Five steps are essential: adoption of official policy, policy dissemination, policy interpretation, development of handbooks, and action to ensure thorough communication with affected…

School-based health clinics can be effective, but they are not easy to establish and operate. Provides a list of areas to consider when establishing such a clinic. Important considerations are liability, accountability, confidentiality, informed consent, and parental involvement. (MD)

Outlines a board activity calendar developed by the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District in California. It groups board actions by month and by meeting for the whole year, listing all actions and items the board anticipates considering. (MD)

Evaluating a superintendent's job performance is an important function of the school board. This proposed evaluation process includes short narratives as well as numerical ratings for use by board members. Includes a copy of the form. (MD)

If school boards do not forbid an overseas trip by students and teachers, they should formally approve the trip, check the school insurance policy, and--if necessary--buy an insurance rider to meet the legal responsibility they would face in court should there be a mishap. (MLF)

School boards and superintendents can work most effectively together when their operating styles are compatible. Boards may tend toward either the corporate or the familial style, while superintendents' administrative styles may tend toward the structured and task-oriented or toward the personal. Mismatches can be ameliorated through conscious…

Reviews a Pennsylvania higher court decison in which a student sued the school board for reducing her grades as punishment for misconduct during a school outing. The court found in the student's favor. The punishment must fit the crime. (MD)

A superintendent outlines a three-phase, wide-ranging search strategy for new principals. Included are a list of do's and don't's and a list of questions for use in the interview. (MD)

The question for school boards is no longer whether to become involved in politics, but how to stay alive in the political arena. Suggestions for staying alive are offered. (Author/IRT)

This essay, part of a series on change in higher education stemming from the American Council on Education (ACE) Project on Leadership and Institutional Transformation, aims to help higher education governing boards at both public and private institutions understand the complexities of the change process and find practical advice about policies…

What is the best course of action when students engage in non-aggressive intimidation of teachers? Fortunately, only about 34% of teachers in Wyoming report ever being harassed, threatened or intimidated by students at anytime during their career. As such, Wyoming Schools are considered some of the safest working environments for teachers in the…

Explains the attitude of the Kalamazoo Board towards staff accountability and presents a copy of the contract with its current superintendent. (WM)

Twenty important things to know when you buy a school bus. (WM)

This article is an attempt to answer questions about professional staff contracts. (RK)