Decisions, decisions: Putting your manual online |
On Board Online • May 29, 2017
By Stephanie Combs
Associate Policy Consultant
In the digital age, many districts have posted their policy manuals online or desire to do so. This article will explain how to select the best option for your district.
Ready for prime time?
Before posting your manual online, your board should ask three questions:
- Is the district's manual current? Posting an outdated manual has the potential to cause more harm than good.
- Is the board satisfied with its policies? Each policy should be easy to understand, and it's important that policy language reflects the purpose. Your policy committee and board may want to edit and revise policies before posting them online.
- Does the district intend to post the entire manual online or just a subset? For example, the district may choose to post policies related to students or related to certain subjects that are frequently asked about.
The next decisions involve how the manual will be posted online and who will be responsible for updates. Districts have several options to consider.
DIY
The do-it-yourself movement has taken residence in the world of policy. Districts that have the staff to post and maintain policies online may opt to do the work themselves. One option is to post individual PDF files of each policy directly on the district's website. Others provide a link on the website that directs users to one large PDF version, which includes the entire policy manual.
It's important to remember that each time a policy is edited or added, all relevant online documents must also be updated - either by replacing documents or revising them. This can be tedious and time-consuming.
Searchability is another consideration. Unless your staff can create an index or a customized search function, users may find it difficult to find what they are looking for.
External hosting
Rather than post PDF files on your district website, your district could consider using one of several free or low-cost online document hosting services. Some examples of these services are Scribd, PDFY, PDFSR, Hashdoc, Calameo, DocDroid and GoogleDocs. While these platforms work well with many documents, it can be difficult to use them to navigate through large, complex policy manuals.
Full-service outsourcing
A few services are tailor-made to host policy manuals. Keyword search and a table of contents are standard functions in outsourced manuals - a great time saver.
Some outside vendors will do everything for you on a contract basis, while others will set up your online presence, then provide your staff with the ability to make changes in the online system.
In New York State, two services that are endorsed by NYSSBA are BoardDocs and E-Policy. BoardDocs includes modules for meeting agendas and minutes, but requires your staff to do all uploading and revising. E-Policy is just for policy manuals, but handles the uploading, revising and archiving, plus maintains hyperlinks to legal citations. Some districts use both.
But what would Twitter say?
Maybe your district is full of bloggers and tweeters who don't always report on district happenings accurately or fairly. Isn't posting the policy manual online inviting criticism?
"In our experience, that does not end up happening," said Jessica Goldstein, NYSSBA's deputy director for policy services. "In fact, community members tend to appreciate the openness."
Um, no thanks
The final option is to not post any policies online for your district beyond what is required by law (e.g. Code of Conduct and the Dignity Act) or specific policies that the district has obligated itself to post online through board policy. If your district is very small and providing a hard copy policy manual is enough to satisfy the majority of interested parties, then this could be your best option financially.
Still have questions about online policy manuals? Contact NYSSBA's Policy Services staff at policy@nyssba.org or (800) 342-3360.