The Superintendent shall not cause or allow any practice,
activity, decision, or organizational circumstance that violates (a)
any applicable and relevant requirements of the U.S. or Iowa
Constitutions, laws, court decisions, administrative regulations and
requirements, or binding contracts and (b) commonly accepted
standards of professional and business ethics and prudence.
POSITIVE STAKE HOLDER RELATIONS (LEVEL 2a):
With respect to interactions with stakeholders the Superintendent
shall not cause or allow conditions, procedures, or decisions that
are unsafe, undignified, unnecessarily intrusive, or that fail to
provide appropriate confidentiality or privacy.
The Superintendent shall not (LEVEL 3a):
Fail to establish with stakeholders a clear understanding of
their rights and what may be expected from the services offered by
the District.
Use application forms that elicit information for which there
is no clear necessity.
Use methods of collecting, reviewing, transmitting, or storing
client information that fail to protect against improper access to
the material elicited.
Fail to respond to communications (such as by phone, mail,
e-mail) at all, or as promptly as reasonably would be
expected.
Permit the use of abusive language or other behavior generally
considered to be lacking in civility and respect for others.
STAFF RELATIONS (LEVEL 2b):
With respect to staff and volunteers of the District the
Superintendent may not cause or allow conditions that are undignified
or inconsistent with the mission of an educational institution.
The Superintendent shall not (LEVEL 3b):
Operate without written personnel policies that clarify
personnel rules for staff, provide for effective handling of
grievances, and protect against wrongful conditions such as
nepotism and grossly preferential treatment for personal
reasons.
Discriminate against any staff member for expressing an
ethical dissent.
Prevent staff members from communicating with Board members,
either individually or as a Board, with regard to any matter,
especially any assertions that board policies have been violated
or that they do not adequately protect their human rights.
Fail to inform staff of their rights under this policy.
FINANCIAL PLANNING AND BUDGETING (LEVEL 2c):
Financial planning for the whole or any part of a fiscal year
shall not deviate materially from the Board's Ends priorities, risk
financial jeopardy, or fail to be derived from a multiyear
forecast.
The Superintendent shall not (LEVEL 3c):
Fail to provide the Board, and public, with (a) a budget
document that contains sufficient information to enable credible
projection of, among other things, revenues and expenses,
separation of capital and operational items, cash flow, and
disclosure of planning assumptions, and (b) additional budget
information in a form that is designed to be understood by the
media and public.
Prepare budgets that plan the expenditure in any fiscal year
of more funds than are conservatively projected to be received in
that period.
Fail to plan to maintain "unspent, unobligated balances" of
between 3 and 5 percent of budget authority.
ONGOING FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (LEVEL 2d):
With respect to the actual, ongoing financial condition and
activities, the Superintendent shall not cause or allow the
development of fiscal jeopardy or a material deviation of actual
expenditures from the budget.
The Superintendent shall not (LEVEL 3d):
Indebt the District in an amount greater than can be repaid by
certain, otherwise unencumbered revenues within sixty days (with
the exception of Board-approved long-term bonded indebtedness -
such as for new school buildings).
Allow government-required payments or reports to be overdue or
inaccurate.
Fail to provide the Board with quarterly summaries of the
financial condition of the District, including any "exception
reporting" detail relating to unexpectedly large receipts or
disbursements.
ASSET PROTECTION (LEVEL 2e):
The Superintendent shall not allow the District's assets to be
unprotected, inadequately maintained, or unnecessarily risked.
The Superintendent shall not (LEVEL 3e)
Fail to provide adequate insurance coverage for losses due to
theft, casualty or liability for the District as an entity, or
appropriate liability insurance coverage for its employees and
Board members.
Allow unbonded personnel access to material amounts of
funds.
Permit school buildings or other plant and equipment to
unnecessary and improper wear and tear, or insufficient regular
maintenance.
Unnecessarily expose the District, its employees or Board to
claims of liability.
Fail to follow normal business practices of ethics and
prudence with regard to purchases considering, among other things,
competitive bidding, benefit-cost analysis, and the appearance as
well as reality of conflicts of interest.
Fail to protect intellectual property, information, and files
from loss or significant damage.
Fail to comply with generally accepted auditing practices and
controls with regard to the receipt, processing and disbursement
of funds.
Invest or hold operating capital in ways that do not
conservatively optimize the District's balance of return or
risk.
Endanger the District's public image or credibility,
especially in ways that would hinder the accomplishment of its
mission.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS (LEVEL 2f):
The Superintendent shall not cause or allow jeopardy to the
District's fiscal integrity or public image with respect to staff
employment, compensation and benefits, nor conduct bargaining unit
negotiations with other than the maximum possible mutual respect and
good will, recognizing that all parties are professionals and
co-workers in a common enterprise.
COMMUNICATION WITH AND SUPPORT TO THE BOARD (LEVEL 2g):
The Superintendent shall not permit the Board to be uninformed or
fail to provide for such staff and other support as it shall require
for its work.
The Superintendent shall not fail to (LEVEL 3g):
Regularly provide the Board with two categories of information
in a timely, accurate, and understandable fashion: (a) that which
is necessary to monitor achievement of the Board's "Ends" and
compliance with these Executive Limitations, and (b) that which
the Board requests as a part of an overall "Management Information
Reporting System" designed to keep it informed of District
operations generally, even though action on such matters has been
delegated to the Superintendent.
Make the Board aware of such additional information as in
his/her judgment relates to relevant District trends, anticipated
adverse media coverage, material external or internal changes
(particularly those that affect the assumptions on which previous
Board policies have been established). Status reports regarding
ongoing crises or disasters shall be provided Board members as
soon as is consistent with the Superintendent's other
responsibilities at the time.
Inform the Board whenever in his/her judgment the Board is not
in compliance with its own policies regarding Governance and
Board-Superintendent Linkage, especially in any circumstance in
which the Superintendent believes Board behavior is detrimental to
the working relationship between the Board and
Superintendent.
Provide, or delay the provision of, negative information
regarding the District's performance, staff or image.
Include as much internal and external data, research, staff
and other opinions and points of view as are needed for fully
informed Board deliberations and choices when presenting
information, proposals or analyses to the Board on her/his own
motion, or Board request.
Comply with reasonable requests by individual Board members
for information, meetings with him/her, or other personnel,
although communications normally will be with the entire
Board.
Supply for the consent agenda all items delegated to the
Superintendent by the Board, and yet still required by law or
contact to be Board approved, along with such monitoring assurance
as may be relevant.
Adopted - 11/23/99
BOARD POLICY TITLE:
BOARD GOVERNANCE
BOARD GOVERNANCE (LEVEL 1):
The purpose of the Board, on behalf of the
stakeholders within the Iowa City Community School District, is to
see to it that the Iowa City Community School District fulfills the
mission of the district.
GOVERNING STYLE (LEVEL 2a):
The Board will govern with an emphasis on
(1) organizational vision, (2) encouragement of diversity in
viewpoints, (3) strategic leadership more than administrative detail,
(4) clear distinction of Board and Superintendent roles, (5)
collective rather than individuals' decisions, (6) future
orientation, and (7) pro-active rather than reactive
leadership.
GOVERNING STYLE (LEVEL 3a):
The Board will cultivate a sense of
group responsibility. The Board will work in partnership with the
Superintendent. The Board will use the expertise of individual
Board members to enhance the ability of the Board as a body, but
will not substitute individual judgments for the Board's
collective values.
The Board will hold itself accountable
to govern with excellence. This self-discipline will apply to
matters such as attendance, preparation for meetings, policy
making principles, respect of roles, and ensuring the continuity
ofgovernance capability.
The Board will guide and inspire the
district by being a policy driven Board. The Board's major policy
focus will be on the intended long-term benefits for the district,
not on the administrative or programmatic means of attaining those
benefits.
Board development will include ongoing
education of members in the Board's governance process and
periodic Board discussion and evaluation of process to assure
continued improvement.
The Board will monitor the Board's
process and performance. Self-monitoring will include comparison
of Board activity and discipline to policies in the Governance
Process and Board-Superintendent relationship
categories.
BOARD JOB DECRIPTION (LEVEL 2b):
The job of the Board is to represent the
Iowa City Community School District in determining and demanding
appropriate organizational performance and to provide the link
between the Iowa City Community School District and the stakeholders
of the district.
BOARD JOB DESCRIPTON (LEVEL 3b):
The Board will produce written governing
policies which at the broadest levels address:
Ends
Executive Limitations
Board Governance
Board-Superintendent
Linkage
The Board will assure Superintendent
performance in achieving Ends and complying with Executive
Limitations.
The Board or its designated
representatives will address legislative issues that impact the
Mission of the Iowa City Community School District.
OFFICER'S ROLES (LEVEL 2c):
The officers of the Board are responsible
for assuring the integrity of the Board's process and, secondarily,
occasionally representing the Board to outside parties.
OFFICER'S ROLES (LEVEL 3c):
The President shall ensure the Board
behaves consistently with the Board policies for governance and
Board-Superintendent Linkage, and those rules legitimately imposed
upon it from outside the Iowa City Community School District.
Specifically, the President will:
Ensure meeting discussion
will only concern issues within the Board's area of
responsibility;
Ensure deliberation is fair, open,
and thorough, but also efficient, timely, orderly and kept to
the point;
Ensure there is an opportunity for
input from individuals and organizations, including staff and
affiliated organizations, that have expertise and interests
specifically related to Board decisions and Board
policies;
Chair Board meetings with the
commonly accepted power of that position;
Represent the Board to outside
parties in announcing Board-stated positions and in stating
chair decisions and interpretations within the areas delegated
to him or her;
Have no authority to make decisions
about policies created by the Board within Ends and Executive
Limitations policy areas and, therefore, no authority to
supervise or direct the Superintendent.
The Vice-President shall serve in the
absence of the President and shall perform such other duties as
may be assigned by the President or Board of
Directors.
The Secretary shall perform duties from
time-to-time as may be required by the Board of
Directors.
The Treasurer shall perform duties from
time-to-time as may be required by the Board of
Directors.
CODE OF CONDUCT (LEVEL 2d):
The Board commits itself and its members to
ethical, businesslike and lawful conduct, including proper use of
authority and appropriate decorum when acting as Board members. The
Board shall have the authority and responsibility to interpret and
apply these standards of conduct.
Accordingly (LEVEL 3d):
Board members should represent the
interests of the citizens of the entire school district. This
accountability to the whole district supersedes any conflicting
loyalty to other advocacy or interest groups, and membership on
other boards or staffs. It also supersedes the personal interest
of any Board member who is also a stakeholder of the
District.
Board members shall not attempt to
exercise individual authority over the organization except as
explicitly set forth in Board policies.
Members' interaction with
the Superintendent or with staff must recognize the lack of
authority vested in individuals except when explicitly
authorized by the Board.
Members' interaction with the public,
press or other entities must recognize the same limitation and
the inability of any Board member to speak for the Board except
to repeat explicitly stated Board decisions.
Members shall not publicly make or
express individual negative judgments about Superintendent or
staff performance. Any such judgments of Superintendent
performance will be made only by the Board, meeting in
executive session as appropriate.
Board members shall maintain the
confidentiality appropriate to issues of a sensitive nature,
especially those discussed in executive session.
COST OF GOVERNANCE (LEVEL 2e):
The Board will regularly plan and monitor
the participation of the Board members in self-education, outreach,
legislative representation and other activities associated with
governance, including the costs of such activities.
BOARD PLANNING CYCLE (LEVEL 2f):
The Board will schedule its agenda items in
a manner that leads to timely resolution and appropriate linkage to
other Iowa City Community School District activities. Annually,
during the re-organization meeting in late September the Board will
develop a master agenda intended to guide the Board throughout the
Year.
Adopted - 11/23/99
BOARD POLICY TITLE: BOARD-SUPERINTENDENT
LINKAGE
BOARD-SUPERINTENDENT LINKAGE (LEVEL
1):
All of the authority of the Board of
Directors, which is delegated to its staff, is delegated through the
Superintendent.
(LEVEL 2a):
The superintendent is responsible for the
actions of the staff; therefore:
(LEVEL 3a):
The Board will never give instructions
to persons who report directly or indirectly to the
Superintendent.
The Board will refrain from evaluating,
either formally or informally, any staff other than the
Superintendent.
(LEVEL 2b):
The Superintendent is authorized to use any
reasonable interpretation of the Board's Ends and Executive
Limitations policies to establish all further administrative
policies, make all decisions, take all actions, establish all
practices and develop all activities.
(LEVEL 2c):
The Board does, of course, retain the
responsibility, option and power to modify or add to these policies.
The Board will respect and support the Superintendent's reasonable
interpretation of existing policies.
(LEVEL 2d):
Only decisions of the Board of Directors
acting as a body are binding upon the Superintendent. Decisions or
instructions of individual Board members, officers or committees are
not binding on the Superintendent unless the Board has specifically
authorized such exercise of authority.
(LEVEL 2e):
The Superintendent is the Board's single
official link to the operations of the District. As such, his/her
performance will be measured in terms of the District's
accomplishment of the Board's Ends Policies within the constraints of
its Executive Limitations Policies.
Adopted - 11/23/99
Transition Policies
With the adoption of the Board's
policies on Board Governance, Executive Limitations, and
Board-Superintendent Linkage, and following their effective date,
they will supersede any pre-existing policies of the Board, except
for such pre-existing policies as may be specifically required by
law or regulations to be created and maintained by the school
board (as distinguished from the Superintendent) which shall
remain in effect.
Draft Ends Policies will be developed by
the Board during the current school year (1999-2000). Until the
final version of Ends Policies has been created and promulgated
the Board's transitional Ends Policies are found in the ICCSD
Second Strategic Plan (1996-2001).
