Explanatory Note: These policies of the Iowa City Community School District are but one of four categories of Board policies, and presume the reader's familiarity with the Board's "Explanatory Preface" as well as John Carver and Miriam Mayhew Carver's book, Reinventing Your Board (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1997) on which the policies have been modeled.

A. Policy Level 2(a). Positive Stakeholder Relations. 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.
 

1. Use application forms that elicit information for which there is no clear necessity.

2. Use methods of collecting, reviewing, transmitting, or storing client information that fail to protect against improper access to the material elicited.

3. Maintain facilities that fail to provide a reasonable level of privacy, both visual and aural.

4. Fail to respond to communications (such as by phone, mail, e-mail) at all, or as promptly as reasonably would be expected, or permit the use of abusive language or other behavior generally considered to be lacking in civility and respect for others.

5. Fail to establish with stakeholders a clear understanding of their rights and what may be expected and what may not be expected from the services offered by the District.
 

B. Policy Level 2(b). Staff Relations. With respect to staff and volunteers of the District the Superintendent may not cause or allow conditions that are unfair, undignified, or inconsistent with the mission of an educational institution.
 

1. 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.

2. Discriminate against any staff member for expressing an ethical dissent.

3. 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.

4. Fail to acquaint staff with their rights under this policy.
 

C. Policy Level 2(c). Financial Planning and Budgeting. 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.
 

1. Provide the Board, and public, with (a) a budget document that does not contain 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 not easily understood by the media, public, and others unsophisticated in the intricacies of school finance and accounting.

2. Prepare budgets that plan the expenditure in any fiscal year of more funds than are conservatively projected to be received in that period.

3. Fail to maintain "unspent, unobligated balances" of between 3 and 5 percent of control budget.
 

D. Policy Level 2(d). Ongoing Financial Activities. 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 Board priorities established in Ends policies.
 

1. 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).

2. Allow government-required payments or reports to be overdue or inaccurate.

3. Fail to provide the Board with [monthly*] summaries of the financial condition of the District, including any “exception reporting” detail relating to unexpectedly large receipts or disbursals.
 

F. Policy Level 2(e). Asset Protection. The Superintendent shall not allow the District’s assets to be unprotected, inadequately maintained, or unnecessarily risked.
 

1. Fail to provide adequate insurance coverage for losses due to theft, casualty or liability for the District as an entity, its employees and Board members.

2. Allow unbonded personnel access to material amounts of funds.

3. Permit school buildings or other plant and equipment to unnecessary and improper wear and tear, or insufficient regular maintenance.

4. Unnecessarily expose the District, its employees or Board to claims of liability.

5. 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.

6. Fail to protect intellectual property, information, and files from loss or significant damage.

7. Fail to comply with generally accepted auditing practices and controls with regard to the receipt, processing and disbursal of funds.

8. Invest or hold operating capital in ways that do not conservatively optimize the District’s balance of return and risk.

9. Endanger the District’s public image or credibility, especially in ways that would hinder the accomplishment of its mission.
 

G. Policy 2(f). Compensation and Benefits. 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.
 

H. Policy Level 2(g). Communication With and Support to the Board. 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.
 

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Provide, or delay the provision of, negative information regarding the District's performance, staff or image.

5. Include as much internal and external data, research, staff and other opinions and points of view as are needed for fully informed Board deliberation and choices when presenting information, proposals or analyses to the Board on her/his own motion, or Board request.

6. Although the Superintendent normally will communicate with the entire Board, s/he also will comply with reasonable requests by individual Board members for information, meetings with her/him, or other personnel.

7. The Superintendent will not fail to 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.