The board of education's role in a public school system is to establish policy, set goals, and evaluate the school system's mission. According to the National School Boards Association, school board policies are statements that set forth the purposes and prescribe, in general terms, the organization and program of the school system. They create a framework within which the superintendent and the staff can discharge their duties with positive direction. They tell what is wanted. They may also indicate "why"and "how much."It is inaccurate to simply state, "It is the board's role to make policy and the administration's role to implement policy."The board not only should adopt policies, but also should exercise the appropriate degree of oversight as the administration implements the policies. Are the policies, as adopted, being implemented? Are the policies achieving the desired results?
State law provides that "[a]ll powers and duties conferred and imposed by law respecting public schools, which are not expressly conferred and imposed upon some other official, are conferred and imposed upon [the board]."School boards have "general control and supervision of all matters pertaining to the public schools in their respective administrative units and they shall enforce the school law in their respective units."G.S. 115C-36. Further, state law provides that "[l]ocal boards of education, upon recommendation of the superintendent, shall have full power to make all just and needful rules and regulations governing the conduct of teachers, principals, and supervisors, the kind of reports they shall make, and their duties in the care of school property."G.S. 115C-47(18).
As with all actions taken by the local board of education, personnel policies adopted by the board must uphold the United States and North Carolina Constitutions, and comply with applicable federal law and regulations, North Carolina law, regulations and policies adopted by the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction, and federal and state case law that interprets the various statutes and regulations.
Source: NC School Boards Association
Policy Manual Conversion Project
Effective July 20, 2015, the Transylvania County Board of Education ("the board") will begin the process of revising the Transylvania County Board of Education Policy Manual using the Policies to Lead the Schools ("PLS") system published by the North Carolina School Boards Association ("NCSBA"). It is anticipated that this revision process will take one to two years to complete.
Some of the policies in the PLS manual cross-reference policies located in other sections of the PLS manual. At times a policy may reference a policy that has not yet been adopted by the board. Such references shall have no binding effect on the board until the board actually adopts the referenced policy. Existing Transylvania County Board of Education policies remain in effect until such time as each policy is superseded by the new PLS-based policy on the same topic or is repealed by the Transylvania County Board of Education.
In order to help school personnel and community members locate specific school board policies while the board is in the process of adopting policies based on the PLS system, NCSBA will provide Transylvania County Schools with a preliminary correlation table for the entire PLS manual, so that all interested parties may identify which policies in the current policy manual correspond with the policies that are being cross-referenced in newly adopted Transylvania County Board of Education policies.
Any school employee, student, parent or guardian, or other member of the community attempting to access a particular board policy should first review the board's new policy manual for an applicable policy. If there is no newly adopted version of an applicable policy ("new policy") in the board's new policy manual, the previously adopted policy ("old policy") shall apply; however, if there is or appears to be a discrepancy between any new policy and old policy, the new policy shall apply and supersede the old policy.
For more information about the policy manual conversion process, please follow this link to information and documents from the Board's July 20, 2015 meeting. You may also view policies currently under review by following the "Policies Currently Under Review" link in the menu at right.