2000 Administration

The administration of this school system is responsible for directing and coordinating the staff in realizing the educational philosophy, goals and general objectives adopted by the Board of Education within the guidelines established by Board of Education policy, law, and employee agreements. (cf. Series 6000 re Goals and Objectives, and 6210 Objectives of the Instructional Program)

To demonstrate leadership and to resolve the inevitable problems and obstacles which will arise both inside and outside the school system and in its relations with the community, the Board of Education expects the administration to specialize in: 

1. processes of decision-making and communication.

2. planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating educational programs.

3. ways to coordinate and guide the school system and community to cooperate for the benefit of delivering educational services to the students of the West Hartford Public Schools.

Adopted: November 17, 1987
Reviewed: December 19, 2006

The superintendent of schools shall provide for the preparation and maintenance of job descriptions for all personnel according to acceptable personnel practice. Such job descriptions shall be kept in the personnel office.

Adopted: November 4, 1987
Reviewed: December 19, 2006

The superintendent of schools is the chief administrative officer and shall be elected by the Board of Education as required by Connecticut General Statutes 10-157.

The Board of Education shall evaluate the performance of the superintendent annually in accordance with the functions, duties, and responsibilities listed below, along with guidelines and criteria mutually determined and agreed to by the Board and the superintendent.

Functions, Duties and Responsibilities

The superintendent of schools is the chief executive officer of the West Hartford Public Schools. In harmony with the policies of the Board of Education, the State Laws, and the Commissioner's Regulations, the superintendent has executive authority over the school system and sole responsibility for its effective functioning. The office of the superintendency has the general authority to act for the Board and use discretion, subject to later approval by the Board of Education, upon all emergency matters and those to which the powers and duties are not particularly set forth or limited. The superintendent attends all meetings of the Board of Education and participates in all Board deliberations, except when matters relating to the superintendent's own employment are under consideration. The superintendent advises the Board on policies and plans that the Board takes under consideration, and the superintendent takes the primary initiative in presenting to the Board policy and planning issues for the Board's attention. The superintendent provides the Board with data concerning planning and policy issues, and informs the Board concerning progress and problems of the West Hartford Public Schools. The superintendent represents the profession of education in the Board deliberations. Among other duties and responsibilities, the superintendent 

1. Is responsible for the general supervision and direction of all the public schools of the district, of all educational programs within the purview of the Board, and of all the personnel of the school system;
2. Is responsible for the program of instruction in the schools and shall offer such suggestions and make such rules as seem necessary to maintain and improve the quality of instruction;
3. Is responsible for periodic review of the organization and functioning of the administration of the school system and for recommending to the Board such changes as may improve the efficiency and productivity of the schools;
4. Delegates to personnel in the school system the expertise of powers under Board policy without, however, relief from responsibility for actions taken under such delegation;
5. Makes recommendations to the Board on personnel policies governing recruitment, selection, training, tenure, salary, promotion, assignment, and discipline such as will provide the district with the ablest personnel available;
6. Appoints principals;
7. Nominates anyone above the rank of principal for Board approval;
8. Appoints all other professional personnel authorized by the budget and employs regular and substitute teachers in accordance with Section 10-151 of the General Statutes. As an executive agent of the Board of Education, the superintendent shall be empowered in accordance with the regulations of the Board to
   - assign and transfer teachers
   - classify teachers for salary purposes
   - grant leaves of absence in accordance with established policy
   - recommend teachers for dismissal by the Board in accordance with the General Statutes
   - accept resignations
   - suspend teachers and other personnel from duty for serious misconduct and behavior detrimental to the welfare of the schools;
9. Reports to the Board monthly, changes in teaching personnel, resignations, leaves of absence, transfers in positions, and new appointments;
10. Employs, assigns, transfers, and dismisses noncertificated employees, in accordance with adopted regulations of the Board;
11. Supervises the annual school enrollment reports for reporting to the state;
12. Provides direct supervision of principals and other administrators and for general supervision of the personnel who report to them;
13. Develops the annual budget for the school system and recommends the budget to the Board for its attention, assisting the Board in its assessment of the budget;
14. Is responsible for the administration of the budget and for insuring that all expenditures are effectively carried out;
15. Is responsible for the general supervision and direction of school plant operation, maintenance, and construction; for ascertaining future school building needs, and for recommending appropriate action to the Board of Education;
16. Grants the use of school buildings outside of school hours in accordance with Board policies concerning such use;
17. Develops and maintains working relationships with institutions of higher learning and educational foundations to maximize research and institutional support for the school system from these institutions;
18. Ensures that the school system takes full advantage of programs to improve educational practice that may be initiated by local, state, national or private agencies, and represents the school district in communications with such agencies;
19. Provides for the assessment of the educational expectations of the community;
20. Develops and maintains continuing programs to inform the community of the policies, plans and practices of the West Hartford Public Schools, using a variety of media, including the press;
21. Maintains working relationships with all agencies of municipal government and represents the profession of education to these agencies and to the community;
22. Attends local, regional, state and national educational meetings as a representative of the school system and reports appropriately. The superintendent is expected to participate in committee activity at the local, regional, state and national level for the improvement of education or the profession. The superintendent is also expected to interpret education as a speaker for social, fraternal, patriotic, service, and other organizations when the opportunity presents itself.

Adopted: November 17, 1987
Reviewed: December 19, 2006

Policy Manual

The superintendent shall establish and maintain an orderly plan for preserving and making accessible the policies adopted by the Board of Education, the bylaws adopted by the Board, and the regulations of the administration.  The Board policies, the Board bylaws, and the administrative regulations shall be published in a manual, maintained in current condition, and made available to all persons concerned.

Policies

Policies are statements of intent which are adopted by the Board of Education.  They serve as guides to the administration in the development and implementation of regulations for operating the school system.

The superintendent takes the primary initiative in the policy-making process by recognizing the need for specific policies and giving the Board proposed policy statements for consideration, modification and adoption.  The superintendent shall develop a regulation specifying the procedures by which policies will be developed and presented to the Board.

Regulations
 
The superintendent shall specify the required actions and design the detailed arrangements under which the schools are to be operated.  Those regulations and procedures which apply throughout the school system are to be designated as regulations and are to be placed in the school system's policies and regulations manual.  The regulations shall be presented to the Board before implementation in the school system, but the Board will not adopt a regulation unless required to do so by the superintendent or unless adoption is required by federal or state law.  Administrative regulations must be consistent with the policies adopted by the Board of Education.

The superintendent is responsible for development and implementation of the school system's regulations.  The superintendent should, as a matter of good administrative procedure, develop a system whereby staff members are involved in development of regulations in order to make certain that each regulation is complete, efficient, sufficient to the need, consistent with adopted Board policy, and capable of full implementation.

Bylaws

Bylaws are the rules governing the internal operations of the Board of Education.  When need for a new bylaw or modification of an existing bylaw is recognized, the superintendent may be directed to develop and present the Board with an effective new or modified bylaw for consideration, modification if necessary, and adoption.

Distributing Revised Pages to Manual Holders

Whenever the Board adopts, revises or deletes policies or bylaws, and whenever the administration approves, revises or deletes regulations, all holders of policy, bylaw and regulation manuals must be notified.
 
(cf. 9310  Formulation, Adoption, Amendment of Policies)
(cf. 9320 Formulation, Adoption, Amendment of Bylaws)
(cf. 9330 Formulation, Adoption, Amendment of Administrative Regulations)

 Legal Reference:   Connecticut General Statutes
10-157  Superintendents                                                                        
10-240 Control of Schools      
 
Adopted:  November 4, 1987
Reviewed:  December 19, 2006

In cases where emergency action must be taken within the school system and where the Board of Education has provided no guide for administrative action, the superintendent shall have the power to act, but the superintendent's decision shall be subject to review by the Board of Education at its next meeting. It shall be the duty of the superintendent to inform the Board of Education promptly of such action and of the need for possible additional policies or revisions of existing policies.

Adopted: November 4, 1987
Reviewed: December 19, 2006

The Board of Education encourages the superintendent and administrative staff to create and maintain appropriate mechanisms such as councils, cabinets and committees to 

1. foster good communications within the staff.
2. allow each member of the staff to have a voice in the development of policies and in the making of decisions affecting them.
3. establish reasonable and easily used avenues of communication for the public, the pupils, and the school system staff.

Adopted: November 4, 1987
Reviewed: December 19, 2006

All requests to conduct research within the school district must be directed to the Superintendent of Schools. The following criteria will be utilized to make a determination regarding approval of such requests.

1. The study results in direct benefits or provides direct services to the children within the school district;
2. The study provides in-service opportunities for the growth and development of faculty and/or staff;
3. There should be no expenditures of district funds or use of staff/faculty time unless there are benefits as described in 1 and 2 above.
4. Students participating in studies, authorized by school administration, must have the approval of their parents.

Adopted: May 16, 2017

Subject to the provisions of law, all recruiters, including commercial, military and nonmilitary concerns, recruiters representing institutions of higher education, and prospective employers shall be provided equal opportunities of access to students enrolled in the district's secondary school[s]. Access may be granted through programs conducted by the Guidance Department. Such programs may consist of career days, college fairs, individual school visitations, in-school recruiting.

 Except as provided below, military recruiters and institutions of higher education shall, upon request, be given access to the names, addresses and telephone numbers of secondary school students.

 On an annual basis, the school district will notify parents of secondary school students of their right to object to the disclosure of the student's name, address and telephone number to military recruiters or to an institution of higher education. If a secondary school student or the parent of a secondary school student objects in writing to the disclosure of a student's name, address or telephone number to a military recruiter or an institution of higher education, then the district shall not disclose the student's name, address or telephone number to a military recruiter or an institution of higher education. The objection shall remain in force until the district re-issues the annual notification referenced above, after which time the parents and/or secondary school student must inform the school district in writing again of their objection to the disclosure of the information described above.

Legal References:

Conn. Gen. Stat. §10-221b    Boards of education to establish written uniform policy re treatment of recruiters

Every Student Succeeds Act § 8025, 20 U.S.C. § 7908

Armed Forces recruiter access to students and student recruiting   information

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 § 544, 10 U.S.C. § 503   Enlistments: recruiting campaigns; compilation of directory information

Adopted: January 17, 2023

The Board of Education (the “Board”) complies with all state and federal regulations regarding the retention, storage and destruction of electronic information and paper records. The Superintendent or his/her designee shall be responsible for implementing administrative regulations concerning the placing of a “hold” on electronic information and paper records that may reasonably be anticipated to be subject to discovery in the course of litigation.

All school officials and employees have a duty to preserve all paper records and electronic information, including records and electronic information that might otherwise be deleted or destroyed, that relate to any matter that is currently in litigation or may be anticipated to involve future litigation.

The Superintendent or his/her designee shall be responsible for developing and implementing administrative regulations to preserve records, including e-mails and electronically stored information, that could potentially be related to any matter that is currently in litigation or may be anticipated to result in future litigation. Such regulations shall identify those individuals responsible for identifying those matters for which records must be preserved as well as developing procedures, with the help of technical staff, for the preservation of electronically stored information.

Legal References:

Rules 34 and 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

General Letter 2009-2 of the Public Records Administrator Record Retention

Schedules Towns, Municipalities and Boards of Education

Adopted: December 5, 2023