Although it is not apparent by looking at the state of my house, I am a fan of order. I find comfort in knowing what the protocol is in a situation and where the lane is in which I am supposed to run…okay…walk. I like rules so much, in fact, that I got a doctorate in jurisprudence, and I spend my days helping education officials understand what the laws are and how to operate within their framework.
Being a rule follower is not flashy or exhilarating. However, I encourage anyone lacking appreciation for order over chaos to play Candy Land with my six-year-old. “It is shockingly simple,” you say. You would be wrong. The Candy Land board is merely a scene in which pieces are shuffled around to kingdoms arbitrarily, where cards are not utilized, Queens and Kings subject players to their evil whims, and the colorful trail of blocks on the board mean absolutely nothing. The game morphs into a narrated creative play session resembling Game of Thrones, without the gratuitous sex and violence. This is a kids’ game after all. Playing the totalitarian version of this game with no discernable patterns and few opportunities for controlling one’s own destiny reminds me, in a minute way, of the unease of trying to stay on a legal path in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting in the spring of 2020, every day seemed to unveil a new order, guidance document, temporary regulation, or other opportunity for legal interpretation and consternation. Each time this happened, we were forced to determine who had the power to make the rules, whether there was an obligation on the part of districts to follow them, what other laws with which they were in conflict, and what compliance would require. We were in a constant state of stress and chaos because the rules were always shifting. We could not simply play the game of running an educational entity because we simply did not know the rules. I believe Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory summarized that time best when he said, “[o]h, what fresh hell is this?”
Luckily, we have moved on. It no longer feels like the rug is constantly being pulled out from under our feet, and we can go back to focusing on the business of providing educational opportunities for students. However, I encourage you to remember the role policy plays in preventing and addressing future chaos. K.S.A. 72-1138(e) provides that school boards may adopt policies they deem appropriate to perform their constitutional duty to maintain, develop, and operate the local public schools. Although this subsection specifies that this power does not allow board policy to trump applicable law or to usurp powers that other entities possess by law, it allows boards to affectively create the law governing how the districts will be run. And, when a board only meets once or twice a month, having a policy manual or handbook school staff may refer to for direction in those times between meetings is essential for legal, efficient, and consistent day-to-day operations.
I have had the opportunity to assist a lot of districts with updating their policy systems. Twice a year KASB provides policy update suggestions to our members, and the legal and policy services staff members are available to help board members and administrators with their policy questions. This summer legislation requires many revisions to our policy recommendations, and I encourage board members to seek out those updates and supplementary information thereon in our member portal.
Of course, a board is not limited to adopting only the policy KASB makes available as templates. It is critical that the board makes the policy its own through customization, and boards may always use their home rule authority to create their own policy from the ground up. Although there is no secret recipe for success in this area, I would like to share some tips I have picked up along the way. First, when adopting a policy, I encourage you all to reflect on why it is you are doing so. Please consider the following questions.
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What, if anything, does the law say about this?
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Is it required or prohibited by law?
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Do we have data available to guide us on this policy measure?
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Are we being proactive or reactive?
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Is this a promising idea in moving forward or just a solution to a one-time problem?
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What are the unanticipated consequences of this policy action?
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Do we have the sphere of control, staff, time, and monetary resources to properly enforce it?
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Do we have a problem in this area, or is this a solution looking for a problem?
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Will the policy solve the problem we want it to address?
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Is this the most effective use of our resources in pursuing this goal?
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Are we making promises, and thus assuming potential liability, with this policy shift that we can consistently keep, or are we setting our district and its staff members up for failure?
Sometimes it is helpful to think of this process and these reflection items in a less abstract way. Recently, we have had an influx of policy questions regarding school security in the aftermath of the devastation in Uvalde, Texas. We had a similar groundswell of activity after the tragedy in Sandy Hook years ago. Even those of us who were fortunate enough to not be directly impacted by these senseless acts of violence were rattled by these events. Our hearts hurt for these families and teachers. Parents that generally had full confidence in their schools’ safety protocols may have felt some anxiety putting their kids on the bus the next day, and board members and administrators were immediately questioning what more they could do to quash any potential threats to student safety in their district.
In the wake of these atrocities, I suspect our board members will be approached by parents, family and community members, and vendors trying to sell you on policy shifts and expenditures with student safety in mind. As these suggestions are made, I encourage you to thoughtfully consider them. However, I hope that your board will ask the reflection questions mentioned earlier herein and get responses prior to adopting the policy or signing the contract for sale. The school safety industry is burgeoning in recent years, and for good reason. But, when the market is saturated with products and services to improve threat response, I suggest you do your homework. With a finite budget and limited staff availability to effect change, you want to make sure that your return for investment is the best it can possibly be. Your staff, students, and families deserve that.
I also ask that you take special care to explore the unintended consequences of any action or inaction you choose. Will the district still be able to get insurance coverage if you do this? Will you tie up so many human and capital resources in this that you will not have the capacity to operate your current programs? Are there ways to use those dollars more effectively toward the same goal? Finally, will you make promises that you simply cannot keep?
Although I wish that we could create a perfect world through policy, the fact remains that policies are generally aspirational. The policies do not usually fix the problems. They serve to provide direction to those responding to the problems. So, any policy shift requiring a significant amount of staff time and attention to enforce may require injection of more dollars for hiring additional staff or a redistribution of duties to ensure that the other requirements of the responder’s position are being handled while the staff member’s attention is diverted. It can be done, but we must be strategic in our thinking and planning efforts.
During a speech in November 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said:
Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of “emergency” is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning.
Sixty-five years later, this adoptive Kansan’s advice still rings true for school district policy. We need to try to anticipate the unexpected when writing policy. However, every time we base a policy on the presumption that we have thought of everything, the policy generally buckles under an extraordinary situation. Exhaustive lists are a fallacy when dealing with the unpredictability of human behavior. Thus, the sweet spot with policy seems to be providing general direction for staff member action under most circumstances but, when possible, deputizing them with the authority and flexibility to deviate from that direction as appropriate based on the facts and severity of the situation.
Finally, we need to acknowledge that adopting the policy is only the first step. Then your focus must shift to consistently enforcing it. Policy only gives us the benefit of instilling order from chaos if we let it do its job. If we make a habit of allowing individuals to circumvent the policy process, then we are no better off then we were before we adopted it. And, if you find you are frequently suspending or going around the policy, I recommend you revise it to reflect your practice to the extent the law allows. It does you no good from a liability or orderly process perspective to have policy you are not following.
Since we have a good roll going with these presidential quotes, I want to leave you with one from President Ronald Reagan. He said, “[s]urround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out.” Being a school board member is one of the hardest, but hopefully most rewarding, jobs for which you will never get paid. Do yourselves a favor and protect what little free time you have. I encourage you to put in the work up front to enact quality policy and then sit back and allow it to do the heavy lifting for you. Trust your process and your employees to put your direction in action. And, if the absence of special board meetings to put out fires leaves you restless at first, feel free to pop by for a little game of Candy Land.
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