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Discovering the Relationship Between Law and Your School

Christina Morales-Cota

College Name, Grand Canyon University

Course Number: EAD-505

June 22,2022
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Principal’s Role

As a principal there are many roles within the school that you will be performing during

the school day. There are small things that need to be done such as working with different grade

level teachers, doing evaluations and walkthroughs, and having a communicative relationship

with students and all staff. Many of these experiences will be both positive and negative and easy

and hard. One of the biggest roles that a principal will have to do is ensuring that district policies

are being upheld.

Many of these policies are those such as dress code, attendance, evaluations,

walkthroughs, disciplinary situations, and communication with the families. Now when it comes

to the Tombstone Unified school district policies the very first thing it states is that “It is the

responsibility for all students, factuty and staff must follow all policies stated within the policy

manual. (Tombstone, 2022) Every single school year wether you are new or returning into the

district a meeting is held district wide. Within this meeting they discuss all the policies and

procedures that must be followed.

Once this meeting has concluded all staff and faculty must sign off that they understand

what is expected of them, and that all policies and procedures will be followed and upheld at all

times. It also states if any policy or procedure is broken it will be taken upon by the principal to

ensure that proper training or reprimand is taken into action. So the principal is essentially the

first on the scene when it comes to policies and procedures within the school. The principals job

and role is to ensure that he/she maintains the the vision and mission of the school as well as the

the district policies.

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Legal Consequences

One big thing most people don’t realize is that these policies and procedures are not just a

set of rules given to people to follow. It goes down farther into the laws of education within the

state that you are teaching in. If a policy is broken, not followed or ignored there are serious

ramifications for breaking the law. These ramifications are that of the legal aspect as the district

policies and procedures are created based off educational law given to the school board and

superintendent.

Kevin Beaman, principal of Huachuca City School discussed in great detail, that any

policy that has been violated, ignored or not followed he as the principal would be held

accountable. He could be fired or suspended by the school board. (Kevin Beaman, personal

communication, June 2022). Mr. Beaman stated that these rules are policies are there to keep a

school safe, running smoothly, holding everyone accountable and keeping things safe. If he was

to not focus on that it could put the school community in danger and legal ramifications can

follow.

Mr. Beaman also stated that without these rules the school system would be chaotic and

there would be so many legal situations that could cause problems for the surrounding

community. Just as there are rules and procedures in the classroom to ensure things run smoothly

this is the same for the school itself as well.

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Principal Enactment

The mission statement for Tombstone District are as follows: We cultivate responsible

citizens by maintains a positive culture where lifelong learning is valued and encouraged. This

can be found in the district policy guide as well as all manuals for students, teachers and parents.

The role of the principal in this place is to ensure that the mission statement becomes real and put

in place and followed. This would mean that all district policies are meeting met, and followed.

Any decisions that are made within the school should be done by following the mission

statement as well as district policy. Now after the pandemic there have been a lot of new district

and school policies that have to be implemented. So as the principal he is the one to ensure that

everyone is following all policies and procedures. Since students are the reason we do what we

do everyday then everything will work out with everyone working so close together.
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Reference

Tombstone Public School, (2022) Staff policy handbook. Tombstone public schools.

Tombstone Public School, (2022) Student policy handbook. Tombstone public schools.

Tombstone Public School, (2022) District policy book. Tombstone public schools.
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