Policies, Procedures, and Contracts
Communicating Expectations to Teachers, Students, and Parents
Aimee M. Bissonette
In chapter 9 Bissonette discusses the many policies that schools adopt to define the rights and responsibilities of students, teachers, and staff. Some of the major policies she lines out are acceptable use policies (AUPs), bullying policies, parent permission slips, photographic releases, and disciplinary procedures. The chapter defines all of these agreements as contracts that layout expectations, define rights and responsibilities, describe procedures, and detail consequences. These contracts can be constantly amendable to adapt to the changing school climate. Administrators can propose new policies, but they have to let all those affected know (students and parents). Bissonette, then goes into great detail about schools AUPs. She points out that for a school to have an effective Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) it must be under constant review and amending, because technology is constantly changing and new risks come up everyday. Bissonette then ends the chapter by discussing the role of schools in effective policy adoption. She outlines a five-step plan for policy adoption, in which communication is key (to students and parents).
Last year at my school we underwent a massive student/teacher handbook revision. Before last year no one could remember the last time major revisions were done to the student/teacher policies, so this was a major task that a group of teachers worked on for almost the entire year. However, looking from the perspective of the information in this chapter, we still do not have a very specific AUP. Our handbook most puts the terms of acceptable use squarely on the teachers judgement. This is a scary fact based on the information in chapter 9. I wonder if more schools are like ours? I believe many schools are behind the times when it comes to adapting their rules to include new technology. I wonder if other schools have gotten in major trouble from having very loose AUPs?
I don't know if any other school actually has this issue as your school did. I think most schools are not willing to go through new policy for students/teachers because it will cause too many problems, but the fact is that, if they don't change, there will be more problems. I think adapting new policy for school is hard, but somehow they need to do it because of the technology or whatever change in today's society.
ReplyDeleteI agree schools do not adapt to change very easily, they often are scared of it. I think this reservation is just, because schools are under the microscope when it comes to issues of privacy and conduct. Schools have to be careful what they say is acceptable use and what is not acceptable use. There is a growing need for schools to expand their use policies, but they must also adapt their adoption methods.
DeleteI am glad to hear that your school has set a precedent for themselves by updating the handbook. I am sorry to hear that all that work was expended and the AUP may not be great. Have you considered mentioning it to the administration and see what they think? From the sounds of the chapter the AUP seems like insurance. You never really appreciate it until you need it. Maybe in the wake of all the work on revising the handbook it can be easier to update it again with a better coverage. In either case, I hope you do not ever need to employ the coverage from the AUP.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this chapter it has made me seriously think about approaching our principal with a plan to adapt our AUP, just to help protect the rest of the staff. With the increased emphasis on technology by common core standards, schools are going to see more and more students collaborating over the internet, which brings added risk to the school, teachers and students.
Delete