Types of documents found in the board policy manual
Viewing policies
Using mobile devices
Finding policies
Adoption date vs. "Date Issued"
Editing policies
Sample policies and drafts
Who should I contact with a question not covered here?
Types of documents found in the board policy manual
A board policy manual contains up to four types of documents
at any given code. Not every code will have every type of document.
- LEGAL policies compile federal law, state law, and court
decisions, providing the statutory context in which all other policies should
be read.
- LOCAL policies reflect decisions made by the board of trustees.
- REGULATION documents are administrative procedures that implement
board policies.
- EXHIBIT documents may contain forms, charts, and other kinds of
supporting information.
Viewing policies
Policy documents are delivered as HTML, PDF and Word (DOCX)
files. How these files are displayed will depend on the configuration of your
Web browser, operating system, and any other software you may be using to open
documents.
HTML is the most accessible and responsive of the three
formats.
Unless your Web browser or operating system includes a
built-in application for viewing PDF and Word documents, you'll need to install
a third-party application such as Adobe Reader
(for
PDFs) or Microsoft Word (for DOCX).
If you don't have Microsoft Office for viewing Word
documents, there are other options. For users of Windows, Microsoft offers a
free Word
Viewer
and Compatibility
Pack
for reading and printing Word documents. Both must be installed to
read a Word 2007 (DOCX) file in the absence of Microsoft Office.
Other word processors may open Office documents, but the
policy formatting might be displayed incorrectly.
Using mobile devices
Policy On Line® has been tested with a variety of
mobile devices and appears to work normally in modern mobile browsers. Some
older browsers, however, are known to work poorly (particularly the original
Android browser). Opera Mobile is a good choice for viewing Policy On
Line on an older device.
- HTML. HTML policies will open in a new tab and adjust to fit the
size and orientation of your screen.
- PDF files. Sometimes a policy PDF does not open with a normal tap.
However, in other browsers tested you can still download and open the policy by
long-pressing the PDF icon and selecting "Save Link" from the pop-up
menu.
- Word documents. The Word documents available in Policy On Line contain
advanced formatting that may not render well in a mobile context.
Finding policies
There are four tools for navigating the online policy
manual: search, go to a policy code directly, browse the sections' tables of
contents, and browse the topic index.
To return to the home page just click anywhere in the
header.
You can search through all the documents in your policy
manual by typing a word or phrase into the search field and clicking the search
button. Policy On Line will return a list of documents containing the
word or phrase.
To search within a policy you are already viewing: press
CTRL+F.
Advanced search
Advanced search lets you build a complex query and then
filter the results according to what types of document you want to see.
Complex queries can be built manually, too, by using the
following syntax:
- Find exactly this phrase: "keyword1 keyword2"
- Find all of these words: (keyword1 AND keyword2 AND keyword3)
- Find any of these words: (keyword1 OR keyword2 OR keyword3)
- Find none of these words: -keyword1 -keyword2
Go to policy code
This tool allows you to jump straight to a policy code: just
enter the code (for example, "DEC") and click the button. You will
see a list of all the documents available at that code, along with a glossary
explaining what each type of document is.
Browse sections
Click a section to see its table of contents.
Browse topic index
The topic index is an alphabetically arranged index of the
policy manual. Click a letter to view the topics beginning with that letter.
Hover your mouse over a linked policy code to see the title and subtitle of
that code.
When looking at the index you may notice that some codes are
shown as hyperlinks while others are not. The unlinked codes exist in TASB's
organization scheme but are not present in the manual being viewed. Not all
manuals contain all codes.
Adoption date vs. "Date Issued"
To look up the adoption date of a policy, contact the
superintendent, president, chancellor, or executive director of the institution
in question. The adoption date will be marked on the official copy of the
policy manual maintained by that administrator, or it will be found in the
board meeting minutes.
"Date Issued" is not an adoption date; it is a
TASB record-keeping device.
Editing policies
For detailed information about editing a policy in Word using TASB standard styles and formatting, please watch the tutorials
found in the Policy Service Resource Library.
Sample policies and drafts
Membership in TASB Policy Service entitles a school
district, community college, or education service center to receive personalized
help from a dedicated policy consultant whose job includes researching and
drafting sample policy language. To find the consultant assigned to you, please
log in to your Policy On Line administrator account via myTASB.
Individuals with questions about a policy, regulation, or
exhibit should contact their superintendent, chief executive officer, or executive
director as appropriate.
Administrators with questions should call TASB Policy
Service at 800-580-7529. Questions about policy language should be directed to
your policy consultant. For technical help, ask for Policy On Line support or
e-mail pol-support@tasb.org
.