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Holmdel board begins multi-month review to convert district policies to NJSBA platform
Summary
The Holmdel Township School District policy subcommittee reported an Oct. 15 conversion of the districtpolicy library from Strauss SMA to the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) platform; board members assigned three review teams to vet hundreds of policies before formal adoption.
President Terrence Wall and Vice President DeMari told the committee of the whole the district has received a full conversion of its Strauss SMA policy set into the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) format and the administration will work with board review teams to vet the new policies before formally adopting them.
The policy subcommittee met Oct. 15 with NJSBA staff and obtained documentation comparing current Strauss SMA language and the NJSBA equivalents, Vice President DeMari said. The board was asked to divide the work into three teams, each responsible for a category of policies (community/property/students/programs; administration/teaching/support staff; finance/operations/bylaws) with at least two board members reviewing each policy, DeMari said.
The move, DeMari and President Wall said, stems from platform difficulties experienced elsewhere and the districtadministration's decision to adopt what they described as a more reliable provider. "We proactively moved to a new platform through NJSBA," President Wall said.
Board members discussed logistics and timelines and set a target of completing the reviews by Christmas, with Dr. Cascone (district administration) to formalize liaison roles and next steps. One board member said the NJSBA version marked a different set of mandatory policies compared with Strauss SMA, making careful review important.
The discussion produced no formal vote or policy adoptions. Board members agreed to return with recommended group leaders, review schedules and any suggested redlines before any policy is placed on the consent or action agenda for a formal vote. The board signaled it will solicit input from absent members before finalizing team assignments.
