It was the purpose of this study to develop a manual of policies and procedures as a guide for governing boards of Stanislaus County school districts to use in developing their own written policies.
In the development of the manual, an attempt was made to answer such questions as the following: What are the areas that should be included in a guide? What format will best serve the needs of governing boards in developing a policy manual? Is it possible to develop a policy manual completely free from administrative rules and regulations? Will one policy manual meed the needs of all districts?
In Stanislaus County there are thirty-nine school districts of all types and sizes. Seven of these districts have an average daily attendance of 901 or more and have some form of written policies. The remaining thirty-two are smaller districts and are, in most cases, operating without the use of adopted written policies. It was the intent of the investigator, who is an administrator in one of these smaller districts, to develop the manual for the purpose of facilitating the work of the governing boards. Although the manual may be adapted to the use of larger districts, it was prepared specifically for smaller districts with emphasis on elementary rather than on high school districts. The manual was not intended as an attempt to impose restrictions upon the governing boards but rather to indicate the laws and rules under which they have authority to function
