Administrative and Operating Procedures
2007 – 2008 Academic Year
District Wide Educational Improvement Council
In compliance with Education Code §11.251, the District-Level Committee shall advise the Board or its designee in establishing and reviewing the District’s educational goals, objectives, and major District-wide classroom instructional programs identified by the Board or its designee.
Chairperson:
The superintendent shall be the Board’s designee and the superintendent’s designee shall be the chairperson of the committee. The superintendent shall meet with the committee periodically.
Meetings:
The chairperson of the committee shall set its agenda and shall schedule meetings as needed. The chairperson shall be responsible for reporting to the Superintendent and the Board.
Agendas:
The agenda will be prepared by the Chairperson and distributed to the membership of the committee in a timely manner.
Elections:
Elections will be conducted by the campuses as soon after school begins in the fall as possible. Each campus will have campus representatives by the September meeting. Elections will be conducted under the direction of the Chairperson. An employee’s affiliation or lack of affiliation with any organization or association shall not be a factor in either the nomination or election of representatives on the committee. The consent of each nominee shall be obtained before the person’s name may appear on the ballot.
Composition:
School Staff:
The committee shall be composed of members who shall represent campus-based professional staff, District-level professional staff, parents, businesses, and the community. At least two-thirds of the District and campus professional staff shall be classroom teachers. The remaining one-third shall be professional non-teaching District and campus level staff. For the purposes of this policy, District-level
professional staff shall be defined as professionals who have responsibilities at more than one campus, including, but not limited to, central office staff.
Three campus teachers shall be elected from each campus and the campus principal shall serve ad hoc. Other non-teaching professional members shall be nominated and elected.
Parents:
The committee shall include two parents of students currently enrolled within the District, who shall be nominated and elected to the committee by professional members of the committee.
Community Members:
The committee shall include two community members who are representative of various areas in the community.
Business Representatives:
The committee shall include two business representatives that represent the community’s diversity.
Terms:
Each professional classroom teacher representative shall serve a staggered three-year term with the elected classroom teacher representatives from the same campus. There is no limit to the number of consecutive terms a representative may serve.
Vacancy:
If a vacancy occurs among the professional classroom representatives, nominations shall be solicited at the campus level and an election held for the unexpired term in the same manner as for the annual election.
Other Advisory Groups:
The existence of the District-level committee shall not affect the authority of the Board or its designee to appoint or establish other advisory groups or tasks forces to assist in matters pertaining to District instruction.
Duties of the Committee:
The District-level committee shall:
1. Be
involved in establishing and reviewing the District’s education plans, goals,
performance objectives, and major classroom instructional programs. Education Code §11.2519(b)
2. Be
actively involved in establishing the administrative procedure that defines the
respective roles and responsibilities of the Superintendent, central office
staff, principals, teachers, committee members, and campus-level committee
members pertaining to planning and decision-making at the District and campus
levels. Education Code §11.251(d)
3. Address all pertinent federal planning requirements. Education Code §11.251(f)
4. Assist the Superintendent annually in preparing, reviewing, and revising the District Improvement Plan. Education Code §11.252(a)
5. Hold one public meeting, annually, after receipt of the District –level performance report, to discuss District performance and the District performance objectives. Education Code §11.252(e)
6. Advise the District staff regarding the District’s discipline management program, including the Student Code of Conduct. Education Code §11.252(a)(3)(E), §37.001(a)
7. Participate in the development of and approve staff development of a District-wide nature. Education Code §11.2552(a)(3)(F)
8. If the District is not using State criteria for appraisals, be involved in the development of the appraisal process and performance criteria for teachers and administrators. Education Code §21.352(a)(2),§21354(c)(2)
9. As appropriate, provide written comments on requests for waivers submitted to TEA. Education Code§ 7.056(b)(2)
10. Annually, upon Board’s request, make recommendations to the Board regarding the number and length of written reports that District employees are required to prepare. Education Code §11.164
Role of Parent, Business and Community members of the DEIC:
The role of these members of the DEIC is two-fold:
A. to increase their specific group’s participation in decision making at the district level; and
B. to help communicate to the community in their particular areas regarding decisions being made by the school district.
District Improvement Plan:
The District shall have a District Improvement Plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in accordance with District policy, by the Superintendent with the assistance of the District-level committee. The purpose of the District Improvement Plan is to guide District and campus staff in the improvement of student performance for all student groups in order to attain state standards with respect to academic excellence indicators.
The District Improvement Plan must include provisions for:
1. A comprehensive needs assessment addressing District student performance on the academic excellence indicators, and other appropriate measures of performance, that are disaggregated by all student groups served by the District, including categories of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, and populations served by special programs, including students in special education programs under Education Code Chapter 29, Subchapter A.
2. Measurable District performance objectives for all appropriate academic excellence indicators for all student populations, including students in special education programs under Education Code Chapter 29, Subchapter A, and other measures of student performance that may be identified through comprehensive needs assessment.
3. Strategies for improvement of student performance that include:
a. instructional methods for addressing the needs of student groups not achieving their full potential;
b. methods for addressing the needs of students for special programs;
c. dropout reduction;
d. integration of technology in instructional and administrative programs;
e. discipline management;
f. staff development for professional staff of the District;
g. career education to assist students in developing the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for a broad range of career opportunities; and
h. accelerated education.
4. Strategies for providing to middle school, junior high school, and high school students, those students’ teachers and counselors, and those students’ parents information about:
a. higher education admissions and financial aid opportunities;
b. the need for students to make informed curriculum choices to be prepared for success beyond high school; and
c. sources of information on higher education admissions and financial aid.
5. Resources needed to implement identified strategies.
6. Staff responsible for ensuring the accomplishment of each strategy.
7. Timelines for ongoing monitoring of the implementation of each improvement strategy.
8. Formative evaluation criteria for determining periodically whether strategies are resulting in intended improvement of student performance.
Coordination
with DEIC:
To facilitate the work of both the DEIC and each Campus Education Improvement Committee (CEIC), coordination needs to exist as to the responsibilities of both groups. The DEIC representative needs to be an elected member of the CEIC or an ad hoc member of the CEIC for purposes of communication. CEIC meetings need to be scheduled in coordination with DEIC meetings to facilitate communication for all issues.
Communication
between CEIC and DEIC:
Each campus CEIC should schedule their meetings so that any item needing to be discussed in DEIC may come to the attention of the DEIC. There should be open communication between the two committees.
Communication
with Community:
A. Rusk Independent School District Website (minutes of each meeting shall be posted on the web).
B. Newspaper articles as appropriate.
C. When appropriate, communication with specific entities and persons in the community.
Administrative
Procedures and Reports:
The Board shall ensure that administrative procedures meet legal requirements in the areas of planning, budgeting, curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and school organization; adequately reflect the District’s planning process; and include implementation guidelines, time frames, and necessary resources. When appropriate, the Superintendent shall report to the Board on the status of the planning process including a review of the related administrative procedures, any revisions to improve the process, and progress on implementation of identified strategies.
Evaluation:
The Board shall ensure that data is gathered and criteria are developed to undertake the required ongoing evaluations to ensure that policies, procedures, and staff development activities related to planning and decision-making are effectively structured to positively impact student performance.
Updated June 2007