Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Eldridge and Zawislak
Field Interview
Troy School District Board Policies
with Dr. Richard Machesky
Julie Eldridge
Brian Zawislak
EA 7780 Educational Law
July 29, 2019
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Every organization needs policies and procedures in place to ensure it runs efficiently.
The policies create roles and responsibilities for employees in the organization that ranges from
daytoday operations of the organization to the overall big picture of an organization’s mission,
vision, and values. Dr. Richard Machesky, Superintendent for the Troy School District (TSD),
made time to talk about the district’s board policy.
Dr. Machesky provided great insight because he has served in different roles both in
public and parochial school settings. He began his career at Mount Calvary Lutheran School,
which is a K8 building on the eastside of Detroit, teaching a bit of everything before moving to
Lutheran East High School, which is the high school he attended. There, he not only spent five
years teaching history and government, but he also fulfilled roles as athletic director and dean of
students. Those roles provided him with, and instilled a passion for leading, so he moved to the
Utica Community Schools for 12 years where he served as an assistant principal, then as a
principal before moving to central office. Shortly thereafter, he joined the TSD to lead the
secondary schools as assistant superintendent before becoming the superintendent in the
20132014 school year.
Dr. Machesky is proud of the work that has been done within the last four years to update
the TSD Board Policies. In many instances, school boards will hire an outside law firm to
safeguard an objective perspective. This was the case when Dr. Machesky and the board
reevaluated the district’s policies. The district hired educational law experts from the firm Lusk
Albertson to ensure that all policies fulfill federal and state requirements. Since the previous set
of board policies were over 80 pages long, the board’s goal is to streamline and make policies
user friendly. Each policy has been analyzed piece by piece by the board policy committee,
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which include Lusk Alberston representatives. After working through all the policies, the board
policy committee was able to reduce it by about half while still maintaining the integrity of the
document. Furthermore, as time goes by, any policy that is irrelevant is removed from the
bylaws and, as the times and society changes, new policies are required. When the board policy
committee recognizes a need for a change or a new policy, they make recommendations to the
larger group which includes the board and Dr. Machesky. At this recommendation meeting, the
group considers the recommendations on the new policy. Once a new policy has been accepted,
it is brought to a board of education meeting for two public readings. A public reading is done to
notify community members of the new policy, which allows the public to provide their opinion
on the policy. According to Dr. Machesky, the public rarely comments. Following that meeting,
the policy is reintroduced at a second meeting where a vote is held to determine if the policy is
adopted into the bylaws. Once the policy is added, it needs to be communicated to the rest of the
employees in the district.
District administrators are responsible for communicating a new policy, implementing
procedures, and assessing those procedures. The communication could take on several forms.
If the change is a straightforward one and has a limited audience, that particular staff might
receive a memo via email describing it. For example, at the beginning of the 20182019 school
year, district administrators notified building administrators about changes to the TSD Code of
Conduct that were voted on and approved by the board. In the email, district administration
pointed out a handful of changes that building administrators were to make note of regarding the
code. Building administrators were aware that the code was being examined by a team of
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administrators, so it was just a matter of getting the final product in the hands of those employees
that work with it the most with a short summary of changes.
Other policy changes, which require more information, and are spread across a wider
audience, require a different set of action. After reviewing policies with Lusk Albertson, the
TSD realized that in order to be incompliance with the following policy, “The Superintendent
will develop a school crisis response plan to be implemented in the event of an emergency,” they
needed to reevaluate their procedures to see if the district was using best practices to provide a
safe learning environment for students, staff, and other members of the school community. A
crisis committee made up of district and building administrators was formed and determined it
was not using the best method. Furthermore, they recommended that the district utilize the
A.L.I.C.E. response to a school crisis. A.L.I.C.E., which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform,
Counter, Evacuate, is a response to an emergency which is used by police and government
agencies, health care systems, businesses, and houses of worship. Prior to unveiling A.L.I.C.E.
to the entire staff, district administration briefed the administrative staff to explain to them the
rationale for the change. Next, district administration disclosed A.L.I.C.E procedures to the
entire staff by explaining the rationale for the change via an email. The email also gave the next
steps for the staff to complete, which included info about a professional development training
prior to the start of the 20182019 school year. The entire administration staff was trained at the
end of the 20172018 school year to be A.L.I.C.E. certified trainers so that they could work with
their individual staff on plans that best meet the needs of their building. Prior to the start of the
20182019 school year, all school personnel watched a video, which included an assessment, to
become certified in ALICE protocols. An email was sent to parents regarding the procedural
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changes to school crisis along with rationale for the changes at the start of the 20182019 school
year. Moreover, each school’s principal completed a video to inform parents of the new
procedures that was shown at the school’s curriculum night. A timeline was also coordinated so
that each school could determine dates for crisis response drills. These dates were
communicated to students, staff, families, and community members. Prior to these drills, videos
were completed in conjunction with the Troy Police Department to inform students of the
different ways they can respond in the event of an emergency. After the conclusion of each drill,
data was collected at both the building and district level through discussions, surveys, and
questions to ensure nothing was overlooked. These procedures ensure that a crisis response plan
is in place which adheres to the board policy on school safety and that they are continuously
being reevaluated.
Having the ability to create its own policy provides a board the opportunity to meet the
needs of the community it is serving. As time goes on, some policies carry more weight than
others. Dr. Machesky was proud of the work the board policy committee put in to review past
policies and, as a result, he stated he does not believe there are any weaknesses in the board
policies. However, he did state that the board policy committee did make changes to the
nepotism policy. Prior to the new policies, an employee could not be promoted or appointed to a
position that a relative was already placed in. Dr. Machesky stated that this handcuffed some
employees who were very qualified for a position, yet did not meet this strict nepotism policy.
The new policies remove this condition so that qualified candidates are given a chance.
Dr. Machesky was quick to point out the section in the policies that defined the work of
board members for the district as a strength. To serve on a board of education, members of a
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community simply need to live within the district. Therefore, these elected officials might have
an agenda they come into office with, or may not have a solid background in education. As a
result, Dr. Mackesky feels that the policy which governs the board members is one of the most
important and one of its strengths. According to him the policies provide guidelines and roles
for new members to follow when they take office which is very important so that new elected
officials do not abuse power in the position.
The Michigan Constitution and the Revised School Code Act of 1976 governs the action
of school districts, and give school boards the authority to make decisions for a school district.
Consequently, the TSD school board created policies to regulate the following: bylaws, students,
curriculum and instruction, personnel, business, facilities and operations, schoolcommunity
relations, and general policies.
The bylaws chapter defines how the board is to function and be organized, meetings of
the board of education, and adoptions or amendments of bylaws and policies. Bylaws are
intended to provide for the board’s own internal governance, providing the basic framework for
board operations. These bylaws clearly define individual requirements for each board member
and how members are elected or removed from office. Additionally, the bylaws follow the
requirements of the Michigan Open Meetings Act.
The student chapter consists of policies regarding admission and enrollment, learning and
achievement, education records, extracurricular activities, communication, behavior, and health
and safety. The core function of the TSD is to educate students to prepare them to become
productive and responsible citizens and adults. The policies in this chapter help to accomplish
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this goal by laying out guidelines that not only direct curriculum and assessment decisions but
also ensure student safety and wellbeing.
The curriculum and instruction chapter explains how curriculum is developed, parent
involvement and objections, instruction, materials, school calendar and day, and equal
educational opportunities for students with limited English proficiency. These policies promise
that the curriculum TSD utilizes are legally compliant, research based learning, and meet
achievement standards for students.
The board understands that a quality education program is a function of the personnel
employed to implement the educational goals of the board. They hire personnel who have high
character, skills and qualifications necessary to meet staffing requirements. To ensure all
personnel are held to the same standards, the board created policies in the personnel chapter.
These policies describe administrative duties, equal employment considerations and conditions,
evaluations and matters of employment.
Dr. Machesky is responsible for establishing financial procedures to ensure proper and
effective accounting of all TSD monies. He prepares financial statements and submit them to the
board on a monthly basis, or as requested by the board. Policies regarding the TSD finances are
in the business chapter which has the following policies: budget, purchasing, investments, risk
management, audits, and fixed assets.
The facilities and operations chapter intends that all education programs are fully
supported by suitable facilities. To ensure the district has suitable facilities and a safe
environment for students, employees, and TSD visitors, the board created policies regarding
safety and security, school crisis, hazardous chemicals and substances, tobaccofree environment,
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electronic cigarettes, pest management, transportation, and naming of school buildings or
facilities. These policies provide for regular inspection and periodic maintenance of all TSD
facilities and to be legally compliant with all safety, health and environmental requirements.
The schoolcommunity relations chapter expresses how the board communicates
information to the community in accordance with the Michigan Freedom of Information Act,
how the community may use district facilities, how the superintendent may accept gifts, bequests
and donations, ways for the community to share constructive criticism or complaints, advertising
and solicitations, and the protection of intellectual property and trademarks. These policies
demonstrate the board’s recognition of the importance of community input and encourages active
involvement in TSD planning and operations.
The final chapter of the bylaws includes general policies that are required by law. Policies
found in this chapter include: acceptable use, web accessibility, Americans with Disabilities Act,
Bloodborne Pathogens, cardiac emergency response plan, communicable diseases, copyrighted
works, discrimination and harassment, and privacy policies regarding social security numbers.
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