Model Policies

SDGA Model Policies offer the means to implement transparent governance, accountability of the staff to the elected school board, accountability of the elected officials to the community, and respect for the primary role of parents as decision makers and moral authorities for their children – all this in contrast to boilerplate promoted by insider consultants generally advising the education bureaucracy.

Where appropriate, these policies have been legally reviewed for conformance to NH and federal law (indicated in the table by date of legal review), so that NH school board members can propose these policies, or ideas derived from these policies, as responsible alternatives to the default position endorsed by most school district administrations.  When enacting policy, a school board is wise to obtain the advice of its own counsel, and needs to be sensitive to the fact that many of the lawyers working in this field tend to promote the conventional positions.

Any model policies, whether from the SDGA or any other source, are expected to be adapted to the specific needs of the adopting school district.

SDGA is actively developing new model policies.  Newly-published model policies include

• CBC – Superintendent Contract
• CCA – Superintendent Search and Hiring
• GCF – Hiring Professional Staff
• IHM – Access to Public School Programs by Non-Public, Charter School and Home School students

We have also updated our model policy AB – Parent Rights and Responsibilities to incorporate the newly-enacted Parental Bill of Rights law.

The Model Policy book is organized using the Section/Code structure promulgated by the NH School Boards Association, and generally followed by most school districts in the state.  The policy book of any given school district may not precisely align with these codes.