Board Policies & Administrative Procedures

Administrative Procedure 105: SITE-BASED DECISION MAKING

Background

Each school community has a role in analyzing local educational needs and providing commentary into the provision of supporting services, programming and resource allocation at their school site. This process of utilizing stakeholder commentary ensures that local concerns are considered from multiple perspectives and that the resultant decisions reflect a community input framework.

In concert with this belief is the equally supported philosophy that a Division needs to have an aligned set of educational goals that guide each school site and concurrently, strives to provide equity in relation to the resources needed to accomplish this vision. The following commentary describes the processes inherent in establishing that balance.

Procedures

The following procedures outline the relationship of these two philosophies and provide a foundation for how they will be put into practice in the Division.

1. All directives outlined by the Ministry of Education are paramount in the planning process. The structure for implementation of the directives from the Ministry of Education is the responsibility of the Division and each school educational community must align with the goals, resource structures and timelines devised by the Division to meet these provincial directions.
   
   
2. Educational goals devised by the Division must also be integral to the planning process of each school site. This includes a planning structure that recognizes divisional timelines, resource allocations and accountability structures.
   
   
3. Resource allocations at the school site that are designed to achieve the goals of the Division or the Ministry of Education must be utilized in accord with the guidelines set out by the Division. These will be outlined by the respective departments. Concurrently, structures will be put in place to ensure that these funds are limited to certain goals or educational directions.
   
   
4. Accountability structures, whether devised by the Ministry of Education or the Division, must be reflected in school planning and detail how, and to what degree, they are being achieved at the school site.
   
   
5. School-based goals should be devised to augment the direction of the Division. This ensures that resources and deployment of personnel in the Division are aligned and support the common vision.
   
   
6. Role of the Superintendent
   1. In accordance with the aforementioned procedures, the Superintendent will develop the processes that will construct a framework for:
      1. The allocation structure that provides the resources for each school site to accomplish the goals of the Division, the mandates of Alberta Education and the educational programming needs that are appropriate to the capability of the school.
      2. The accountability structures that monitor the utilization of the resource allocation at each school site. This also includes a framework so that the school and the Division can address student performance and make recommendations relative to needed modifications or adaptations of the resource allocation.
      3. The establishment and guidelines for a collaborative team (school council, staff, students and school community) that has advisory capacity relative to the deployment of resources and the design/provision of programming at the school site. It is of note that this advisory capacity does not extend to the hiring, deployment or supervision of school staff.
      4. The establishment of, and monitoring structure for, a framework of local policies that impact the operations of the school site. These will reflect the ongoing needs of the educational site but must be in alignment with the educational directions of the Ministry of Education and the goals/directives of the Division.

Reference

Section 52, 53, 55, 68, 197, 204, 222, 225 Education Act
School Councils Regulation 94/2019

Last updated: July 2021

Approved: August 21, 2018

Last Updated: July 6, 2021