Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Policy Review topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
MASC outlines multi-month policy review for Town of Uxbridge schools
Summary
Tracy Novak of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees told the Uxbridge School Committee on June 24 that MASC will align the district's policies to model language, distinguish required policies from recommended ones, and work with a policy subcommittee via a public Dropbox.
Tracy Novak of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees told the Town of Uxbridge School Committee on June 24 that MASC has received the district's current policy manual and will work with a policy subcommittee to align local policies with MASC model language.
Novak said the review will proceed section by section, using a public Dropbox link to share memos and redline recommendations in advance of subcommittee meetings. "I'll be giving you one of the things that I'm always very upfront about and make sure that you're clear on is this is a policy that you have to have versus this is a policy we recommend," Novak said.
Novak described the practical workflow: the subcommittee will review sections A through L; in some cases one meeting may complete a section, in others several meetings will be necessary. She said items that appear to create legal risk (for example, out-of-date nondiscrimination language) would be flagged for full-committee action and expedited.
Committee members discussed meeting cadence and participation from administration. The committee agreed a monthly schedule is common and that administrators or other stakeholders should be looped in for sections that affect their areas (finance, special education, transportation).
Chair and members asked that MASC memos be provided at least two weeks ahead of subcommittee meetings when possible. Novak said she will use Dropbox (public links for transparency) and may move to SharePoint later; Anne Marie Martin of MASC will coordinate document handling.
The committee asked whether urgent policy work (for example, residency reviews) should proceed immediately or be held for formal section review. Novak recommended looping MASC into urgent reviews and sending the draft so MASC can mark it as the model JF or recommend language, rather than delaying action.
The subcommittee will schedule an initial meeting this summer; the committee indicated Matt, chair of the policy subcommittee, will reach out to Novak to set dates.
