Section 9. Changing Policies in Schools

Learn how to change school policies that benefit students, promote health and safety, and improve the school system.

 

• What do we mean by changing policies in schools?

• Why should you work to change policies in schools?

• When should you try to change policies in schools?

• Who should be involved in changing policies in schools?

• How do you change policies in schools?

When the Watsons came to Perryville High School for their eldest son’s first scheduled parent conference of ninth grade, they found something that neither ever saw in a school when they were students. In the hallways on every floor, as well as in the cafeteria, there were vending machines offering soda.

Rita Watson was a hospital nutritionist, and her husband, Mel, was an athletic trainer who worked with the football and baseball teams at the local university. They had always provided a healthy diet for themselves and their two sons, and had taught their children good eating habits. Both of them were well aware of the rise in childhood obesity – it was more and more visible on the streets of Perryville these days – and they knew that soda was a major contributor to that rise. They felt that the high school – which, after all, offered health classes that taught students about good nutrition – should not be offering kids drinks that could be bad for them.

They returned from the conference with a glowing report of their son’s progress, and the beginnings of a plan. As they researched the issue of soda and snack machines in high schools, they found that their presence was all too common. They also found that schools made a lot of money from contracts with soft drink companies – money that paid for extracurricular activities, supplies, and equipment. While the Watsons were supportive of these activities – both of their sons were athletes – they felt strongly that the school should be safeguarding students’ health, not encouraging unhealthy habits.

The couple set out to change the school policy on vending machines. They wanted them either removed from the school, or to offer only foods and drinks that contributed to, rather than harmed, children’s health. Aware that they had an uphill battle on their hands – Perryville High made over $50,000 in contracts and soda sales every year – they enlisted their friends and determined to keep at it until they were successful.

Sometimes school policies, like those that allow vending machines that sell unhealthy foods, can be harmful to students’ health or education. Sometimes, schools or school systems lack policies that would benefit students in particular ways. Sometimes their policies, formal or informal, are discriminatory or abusive of students’ rights. Parents, students, or concerned citizens often find themselves wanting to change school or school system policies…and many do. This section looks at what kinds of issues school policies might cover, and what it takes to change policies in a school system.

What do we mean by changing policies in schools?

In the U.S., the variation among school systems – from state to state, from community to community, even from school to school – is enormous. There are obvious differences in size – many rural schools have fewer than 10 students a class, while some urban and suburban schools in large cities have thousands of students – but the variation doesn’t stop there. Looking at public schools alone, there are comprehensive and specialized high schools; charter schools; technical and trade high schools; magnet schools; alternative schools for students who can’t function in a standard classroom setting; and community-run schools, to mention only a few.

The ways in which these schools are organized and run vary as much as their purposes. Some are relatively independent: what goes on in the school is largely determined by the principal and teaching staff. Some involve parents as partners in planning and implementing both curriculum and school management. Some, unfortunately, have to be concerned with student violence, and feature metal detectors and police patrols. Some have strict dress codes – sometimes to the point of requiring uniforms – others have none. Some are devoted to academics, and to sending as many students as possible to top-ranked colleges; others seem much more concerned with sports or other extracurricular activities. By and large, schools mirror the educational philosophy and attitudes of the people in their districts.

All of these schools have policies regarding everything from academic and curriculum requirements to the scheduling of lunches. System-wide policies are generally decided upon by the local school committee, while policies unique to a particular school are often set and implemented by the school staff.

Most school systems and schools are hierarchical – they have a clear (at least to themselves) chain of command, and you have to follow that chain in order to communicate with the system. In the U.S., the links in that chain are usually (from the top down):

• School Committee
• Superintendent of Schools
• Assistant Superintendents
• Other system-wide administrators (coordinators of curriculum, athletics, special education, business, physical plant)
• Principals
• Teachers and other professional employees (nurses, guidance counselors and school psychologists, coaches)
• Support and custodial staff

Each of these levels is one you might have to deal with in attempting to change school policy. (See Tool #1 for a more detailed description of “the players.”)

In addition to whatever difficulties the system hierarchy might offer, there is the fact that most public school teachers and other non-administrative employees are unionized, a circumstance that can complicate (or, occasionally, make easier) a change initiative. The change you’re seeking might – or might appear to – conflict with the union contract, for instance, or might require a union member’s job description to change (a circumstance that would require union negotiations). Given the two factors of the management hierarchy and the union, advocates are often faced with the possibility of having to move the whole of a large and resistant bureaucracy in order to affect change.

There are alternatives. Some schools are relatively independent, and can make decisions without having to go through several layers of school system. Some unions are willing to make compromises in the service of better outcomes for students. Often, if the policy change in question relates only to a particular school, and if it’s not momentous, the principal or faculty can make the change quietly, without fanfare or bureaucratic hassle.

In general, however, the School Committee is responsible for setting policy, and the Superintendent for carrying it out. Although the two advise and consult with each other, system-wide policy changes usually have to be approved by the School Committee, but that usually means that they must have the approval of the Superintendent as well, since most Committees value the Superintendent’s advice. If you can convince the Superintendent that change is necessary, it will probably happen, though perhaps not always as quickly as you’d like.

That doesn’t always mean that administrators and teachers will go along. In Philadelphia in the 1960’s, a Superintendent was hired to shake things up in a less-than-stellar school system. He instituted, with the support of the School Committee, a number of reforms that actually spoke to improving education in the district...but the teachers essentially ignored them. By a combination of foot-dragging and outright defiance, they were able to frustrate most of the Superintendent’s plans, and he was gone within a fairly short time. If he had involved the teachers in planning, the situation might have been different, but the reality is that policy change was instituted, and nothing happened anyway.

The Watsons wanted to eliminate vending machines or change their contents. What kinds of school policies might you want to change? The list is almost endless – and there is often someone who wants a change exactly opposite from the one you want. A short list of possibilities:

• Institute a no-smoking policy in the school system (for teachers and administrators as well as students).
• Serve healthy food in the cafeteria, and eliminate food that is only empty calories or actively bad for kids’ physical and mental development.
• Change the discipline system (to be more rigorous, less rigorous, student-generated, to involve parents, etc.).
• Address school prayer (eliminate it; institute a moment of silence; reinstitute school prayer – philosophies vary).
• Institute or revamp a health or sex education curriculum.
• Change the dress code.
• Beef up or change the academic content for students at various levels.
• Add ESL (English as a Second or Other Language) or bilingual programs for a growing immigrant population.
• Change sexual harassment policies to better protect students and staff.
• Change policies on student use of school computers.
• Change policies toward Channel 1 and other advertising during the school day.
• Tighten or loosen the requirements for participation in extracurricular activities.
• Change the limits of students’ freedom of speech in school newspapers.

Why might you want to change policies in schools?

There are seven overarching reasons to change school policies: to improve students’ health; to improve education; to meet the needs of particular groups; to improve classroom and school climate and culture; to protect students (and staff) from harm; to safeguard students’ rights; and to respond to a perceived community need.

To improve students’ (and others’) health.

Schools often teach health courses, but they don’t always practice, or encourage students to practice, what they preach. Some policies that actually might improve student health:

• Smoke- and tobacco-free schools
• School breakfast as well as lunch, with healthy food for both
• Elimination of soda and snack vending machines
• A physical education or exercise period every day
• A good K-12 sex education curriculum (age-appropriate at each grade level), as part of a good K-12 health education curriculum

To improve education.

Changes in curriculum, in educational content, in expectations for students, in teaching methods, in class size, in teacher independence – all these and many other factors can lead to a better educational experience for students. Some other possible changes involve:

• Class content.
• Textbooks and other instructional materials.
• Foreign language requirements.
• Interdisciplinary approaches.
• Advanced placement.
• Expectations for all students.
• The academic schedule.
• Student assessment (i.e. grades).
• Graduation requirements.

In 2004, a Dover, PA school board voted to include the teaching of “intelligent design” – the assumption that the world and the diversity of species are too complex to have evolved in the way Darwin described, and that there must, therefore, be a guiding hand – in the ninth grade biology curriculum. Religious beliefs notwithstanding, this assumption is not grounded in science and is more appropriate for a theology class. When a federal judge in 2005 struck down the vote as an unconstitutional attempt to teach religion in the guise of science, he dramatically brought about a change in the content of the curriculum.

• The academic schedule.

Many high schools have in the past several years adopted block scheduling, which changes the standard class period from 40 or 50 minutes to twice that long, on the assumption that fewer, more intense classes give teachers better teaching opportunities, and create better learning experiences for students. Others have extended the academic year or the academic day. A few have attempted to schedule classes to match adolescents’ internal clocks, which are actually on a different schedule from those of adults and younger children.

To meet the needs of particular groups.

Some groups of students may need services in addition to those offered to the general school population, and it may take a policy change to obtain them. These groups include:

• Students with physical disabilities, including speech, hearing, and vision impairments.
• Students with emotional difficulties or mental illness.
• Students with developmental disabilities.
• Students with learning disabilities.
• Immigrants or other students who are not proficient in English.
• Teenage parents.

To improve classroom and school climate and culture.

“Classroom climate” is a term that refers to what a classroom feels like – student and teacher attitudes, the level of tension, whether the purpose of the classroom seems to be work or otherwise, etc.. The culture of a school can be considered in much the same way as the culture of a society – the customs, norms, standards, and behaviors that the majority of students, teachers, and other school personnel define as appropriate and approve of, as well as those that are disapproved by the majority.

The type of policy change needed in a given situation hangs on the character of the school. If the general atmosphere is too chaotic, it needs to be calmed; if it’s too rigid, it needs to be loosened up. Some of the potential targets of policy change that follow could be changed in either direction, depending upon what’s needed.

• Dress codes. These might be instituted, stiffened, eliminated, etc..
• Disciplinary systems. Discipline could be tightened to reduce in-school violence, changed to involve students in generating classroom rules and sanctions, loosened to allow particular activities, etc..
• Advising. A change might institute advising groups, change the focus of such groups, train teachers and/or counselors to be better advisors, etc..
• Counseling.
• Issues of tolerance. Promoting an atmosphere of acceptance and mutual respect among students of different races, ethnic backgrounds, language groups, sexual preferences, etc..
• Peer mediation and conflict resolution programs.
• Student-teacher and student-staff relationships.
• Democracy, both in the classroom and among teachers, administrators, and other school employees.

To protect students (and staff) from harm.

In some schools, particularly in gang- plagued urban neighborhoods – where a culture of violence may be entrenched among teens – this may mean protecting everyone from gang-related or random physical violence by students or outsiders. But, in any school system, it may also mean protecting students from physical or psychological bullying (by teachers as well as other students), from safety hazards, and from health hazards.

Some changes that might help provide protection:

• Metal detectors and police patrols. These may not improve the learning experience, but they may be necessary to prevent bodily harm.
• Anti-bullying policies. As mentioned, these can only work by changing the school culture. If teachers and other staff don’t see bullying as a problem, it will continue.
• Repair of building safety hazards. Falling plaster, broken windows, unshielded heaters, etc..
• Elimination of the use of dangerous or toxic chemical solvents, cleaners, and pesticides.
• Halting corporal (physical) punishment. There are still many school systems that use corporal punishment to discipline students, and many more where it is permissible, but rarely, if ever, used.
• Careful oversight of athletics. Guarding against overtraining, inadequate protective equipment, heatstroke, potentially injurious training or punishment exercises, etc..

To safeguard students’ rights.

Children have rights, just as adults do, although those rights are tempered by children’s need for structure and protection. Nonetheless, when those rights are violated unnecessarily, policy change to safeguard them is in order. Some of the constitutional rights that should be attended to:

• Separation of church and state. All children have a right to practice their chosen religion or lack of religion, and to be free in school of any attempt to impose someone else’s beliefs on them. (This doesn’t mean religion shouldn’t be discussed or studied, but rather that neither a particular religion nor religion in general should be presented as “the truth,” nor made part of any required school activities.)
• Free speech and expression. Federal law, dating back at least to a 1969 Supreme Court decision that states that students “do not shed their Constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” protects students’ rights in this area to a point. The law makes exceptions particularly in the case of speech or expression that is obscene; slanderous or libelous; or that would disrupt the orderly functioning of the school (hate speech, for instance, or a call for a student strike).
• Civil rights. In a school context, these might include, among others, the right to question disciplinary proceedings; the right to a hearing; the right to equal treatment regardless of race, ethnic background, gender, religion, sexual preference, etc.; and the right to freedom from bodily harm.

To respond to a perceived community need.

This may have to do with the establishment of a particular course or program (a multilingual program as a response to an influx of immigrants, for instance, or a tolerance course to address recent hate crimes), safety or security concerns (traffic patterns, procedures for school visitors), or the timing of the school day or school year (in Aroostook County, Maine, for instance, students get a three-week break in September and October to help with the potato harvest).

When should you try to change policies in schools?

Changes should obviously be attempted whenever it’s necessary, but there are some times that present especially good opportunities.

• Before the beginning of a new school year. Once school is in session, it’s difficult to convince a School Committee, administrators, or staff to change what they’re doing or to generate new policy. It’s much easier to effect change if you start well before you want the change to take place.
• When there’s an obvious need. When classes are overflowing with students who don’t speak English well, or when very few students are passing the state math exam, it’s easier to convince schools to examine the situation and change policies to address it.
• When a situation comes to light that makes a need obvious. When a sexual harassment case in the schools breaks, it may bring other students forward and highlight a problem that school officials have either been unaware of or have been successfully ignoring. The community – and, in the ideal, the schools as well – might well see this as an opportunity to change policy to protect students.
• When the School Committee or staff members do something that seems the opposite of good educational policy. Examples might be an ill-advised academic decision (eliminating foreign language study in the high school, for instance), misuse of funds, obvious racial discrimination, gross misconduct, or covering up or glossing over that misconduct.
• When there’s a clear threat to students’ or staff members’ health, safety, etc. This might be the time to bring up no-smoking policies, or metal detectors.
• When students’, parents’, or teachers’ basic rights are threatened. School policies may be contrary to existing law, or there may be no policies that govern the present situation. If students’ freedom of speech is being squelched, if teachers are being demoted or fired for voicing unpopular or critical opinions, if the wishes of a majority of parents for their children are systematically being ignored, there is probably support for policy change.

Who should be involved in changing school policies?

The more stakeholders – those affected by, or having to implement, the policy in question – that can be involved, the more likely it is both that the policy change will take place, and that it will be maintained once it’s made. Stakeholders include:

• Students
• Parents
• The School Committee
• The Superintendent
• Other school administrators
• Teachers
• Particular groups affected by the proposed change (Hispanics, for a bilingual Spanish program, for instance)
• Groups interested in the issue addressed by the proposed change (e.g., police, for a violence prevention program; health professionals for a healthy school food initiative)
• Concerned citizens

How do you change policies in schools?

School policy change, at least officially, has to happen from the inside. The School Committee (or at least the principal, if the change concerns only a single school) has to approve and institute the change. Furthermore, as we mentioned earlier, the school staff involved in implementing it have to actually do so, rather than just go through the motions, if the change is going to mean anything.

At the same time, policy change often originates from outside the system, and that’s where you come in. Schools, as we discussed, are hierarchical, and like many hierarchical organizations, they can be resistant to change of any kind. They are often particularly resistant to change that implies that what they’ve been doing is wrong, incompetent, or harmful. It may take a good deal of pressure from parents, students, community members, and/or officials to get them to respond.

Marshal your support and begin to strategize.

Make contact with the allies you’ve identified. As you start to put a group together, people will bring others in. You don’t have to be secretive, but at this point, you might not want to publicize your effort. You may decide that the best approach is to see if you can accomplish what you want without going through the School Committee, in which case, the less publicity, the better.

It is often crucial to find allies within the school system, at as many levels as possible. Teachers, administrators, the Superintendent, sympathetic School Committee members – anyone who’s supportive of what you’re doing should be involved to the extent possible. It’s important not to place anyone in a compromising position, but the more allies you can get inside the system, the better your chances of success.

Once you assemble at least a core group, drawing from as many sectors of the community as possible (the more sectors, the more support you can muster), you need to consider how you’re going to approach the situation. There are many possibilities: going around the School Committee entirely, a simple request, taking time to build support on the Committee, threatening a lawsuit, creating massive publicity through the media, using the steamroller of angry parents and community members (if you have one, and it’s appropriate)--every approach will work in some situation, and no approach will work in every situation. That’s why planning is important, and why it’s important to involve others in your planning. You may need only a bare-bones idea of whom to approach, or you may need a full-blown strategic plan; either way, you have to do some planning to decide on your course of action.

The other important tasks here are to work out systems of coordination and communication. If a particular organization takes the lead in a policy change effort, then that organization will usually act as the central point. If the effort is driven by an unorganized group of concerned parents, students, and others, they’ll need to establish some way to make sure that everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and to get the word out when action is needed. You don’t necessarily have to create a formal organization to accomplish these tasks, but it is important to set up a structure to make sure that they’re taken care of.

Do your homework.

The more you know about current policy, the school system, the issue your proposed changes relate to, and the individuals involved, the better your chances of success will be. The homework you need to do:

• Learn about current policy. Find out exactly what the current policy on the issue is. If it’s written down, be sure you have a copy. It’s possible that it already covers the situation, and that all you need to do is insist that it be followed. It’s also possible that it somehow conflicts with federal or state law, something that more homework and/or a lawyer can tell you. (It’s also possible that there’s no policy relating to your issue at all, which can often work to your advantage, since that may provide the opportunity for you to create one.)
• Know the issue inside out. Make sure you understand the issue well enough that you can answer any questions put to you, and anticipate and counter opponents’ arguments. Know your opponents’ arguments as well as your own, and make sure they can’t come up with anything you haven’t thought of.

• Research the alternatives. If the current policy is unacceptable or isn’t working – or if there is no current policy – what should be proposed in its place? It would do no good to adopt a policy that, in its own way, is just as harmful or ineffective as the one it replaced. Look for best practices, or at least policies that have worked elsewhere, to achieve the results you want.
• Prepare a solid rationale for the proposed change. Be prepared to:
  • Explain exactly why the change is necessary. If it’s to remedy a problem, you should be able to define and cite examples of the issue, demonstrate why it is a problem, and describe what the hoped-for results of policy change would look like. If the change is meant to fill a gap or add a needed program, you should be able to show convincingly how the change will benefit students (or the school, or the community), and how its consequences will be an improvement over the consequences of the current policy, or lack of one.
  • Show how whatever costs are involved in the change are outweighed by its benefits.
  • Refer to research that backs up your arguments. Studies that show improvements in various kinds of student outcomes – reading scores, attendance and graduation rates, etc. – as a result of the kind of change you’re seeking can help to convince the appropriate people to take action.
  • Defend your proposal against attacks and counterarguments. This gets back to knowing opponents and their arguments.

• Consult with or recruit experts in the field to add credibility to your arguments. This may be easier if your community houses, or is close to, a college or university.

• Learn everything you can about the structure of the school system and the personalities of those within it. You can’t deal with a school system without understanding how it operates. Once again, most systems are hierarchies, and hierarchies have protocols – rules – about whom to contact first, who makes decisions about various issues, etc.. If you don’t know the protocol, you can easily make a mistake that might offend or threaten someone whose support you need. An ally or sympathetic advisor within the system may be able to help you understand what your best approach might be.

Take the time to find out the structure of the chain of command in the system. Is it rigid or flexible? Who reports to whom? Where do you start if you have a complaint or want to discuss an incident or issue? At the lowest level? At the highest? Whom will you offend if you don’t follow protocol?

As important as the protocol are the personalities of the people involved. Who are the members of the School Committee? Which members are potential allies in a policy change effort, which are potential opponents, and which are the neutrals you’ll have to convince? What positions have they taken on the issue in the past? What’s important to them? Who are their friends and constituencies? Who is up for reelection or reappointment?

Attend School Committee meetings to understand how the Committee functions. Who are the powerful voices on the Committee? Whose opinions are respected, and whose are ignored? Who influences whom? Who responds to what kinds of arguments? Does the Committee function well as a body, or is it racked with disagreement and distrust?

How are decisions made within the system? The superintendent may be almost totally independent, or may only act on the direction of the School Committee. The standard is usually somewhere in between, with the superintendent free to develop programs and initiatives on his own and/or with staff, but having to get approval from the Committee to carry them out. The superintendent’s opinion carries a good deal of weight with most Committees. What’s his educational philosophy (or does he have one)? What’s his management style? Is he concerned with educational quality, or simply with keeping his job?

Other people to be acquainted with, at least at a distance, include other administrators, teachers, and staff, particularly union leaders and activists. Who is influential in the system, and whom do they influence? What are their priorities and concerns? What do they want and need (it’s often handy to know what you might be able to use as a bargaining chip)?

• Identify your allies and your opponents, both in the system and in the community. There may be groups that are obvious allies on a particular issue. More flexibility in the dress code would probably have strong student support; healthier cafeteria meals might garner support from parents, coaches, and health professionals.

Allies and opponents don’t always break down neatly into identifiable groups. Sometimes, where a policy doesn’t particularly benefit or harm a particular group, it’s simply a diverse collection of individuals on each side of the issue, disagreeing about the right way to do things. In that case, you have to identify allies and opponents one by one.

• Decide whether policy change is really what’s needed. Sometimes, a change in policy won’t solve the problem, or isn’t necessary. Depending on the situation, there may be a range of alternatives.
  • Change of personnel. The problem may not be policy, but simply the way an individual or group chooses to do things. Changing the people may solve the problem. We’ve already mentioned defeating School Committee members in an election. Another possibility is advocating for the firing of a superintendent or other school employee.

• Reframing the current policy. The School Committee may be willing to redefine the policy in a way that addresses the issue, without actually instituting a change.
• Compromise. A compromise may not give you everything you want, but may satisfy the basic need that prompted the effort for change.
• Passage of a law. You may be able to get a bill passed that settles the issue once and for all – banning smoking in all public buildings in the state, for instance, or making corporal punishment illegal.
• A lawsuit. This should be a last resort, because it’s expensive, hugely time-consuming, and there’s no guarantee of the outcome. The chances are that by the time the suit is settled one way or the other, the students who were affected by the policy you wanted changed will have kids of their own. It’s important to know that the option for a lawsuit is there, however, if there’s no other alternative.

Work to get your proposal for policy change implemented.

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork for policy change, it’s time to start taking action. You should almost always start by following established procedure. (You might make an exception when there’s already a huge controversy over the issue in the schools and/or the community, and you know you have a fight on your hands.) That procedure varies from system to system (and sometimes even from school to school within a system), but if you’ve done your homework, you’ll know what it is. If following procedure doesn’t work – your proposal is rejected out of hand, no one will even give you a hearing, you’re blocked by bureaucratic stalling – it’s time for community action. We’ll look at both possibilities.

Draft the policy you want

It’s absolutely necessary to be crystal clear about what you want the policy change to accomplish. The best way to clarify is to draft the ideal policy, so that you know it speaks to exactly what you’re looking for. Then review your draft with both your core group of supporters and your allies inside the system, to filter out potential snags with community members and the institution. If you’re careful and thoughtful in this process, you’ll find and correct any flaws in your original ideas as well. Some areas to pay close attention to as you work on your draft:

• Beware of unintended consequences. Try to envision all the ways in which your new policy could play out, not just the “obvious” positive ones. You might be surprised at some of the possible negative results. Better to be surprised now, and to revise your policy to guard against negative possibilities, than to be much more unpleasantly surprised later.
• Possible misinterpretation, either by the community or by those who will carry out the policy. Make sure your draft means exactly what you think it means, and that its intent is unmistakable. If people don’t understand it, it could get twisted, either in the implementation, or in the way the community views it.
• Possible misuse, intentional or unintentional. Again, if you’re not clear, school personnel who misunderstand it, or with a philosophy different from yours, could, in the future, use your policy to do the opposite of what you worked for.
• Cultural offensiveness. Make sure that there are no aspects of the policy that are culturally offensive to particular groups, unless you’re trying to correct an attempt to impose cultural or religious values on the majority, as seen in the evolution example earlier in this section.

Make your policy change effort as collaborative as possible. When you can, suggest setting up a committee of parents, students, teachers, administrators, School Committee members, and/or other interested citizens to consider alternatives, language, etc. to present to the School Committee.

In general, start your discussions at the lowest responsible level in the hierarchy.

This is both a matter of courtesy and a good strategic choice. Unless you already have an adversary relationship (and sometimes especially if you have an adversary relationship), it’s usually a bad idea to spring something on a school administrator with no advance warning. Suddenly appearing in a principal’s office with a group of angry parents, for instance, without first discussing with her the situation they’re angry about is more likely to make her defensive and entrenched in her position than to open her up to considering policy changes.

Furthermore, it is very much in your interest to gain the support of the person(s) who will have to carry out the proposed policy. If you have to go farther up the chain, that support will help at each level.

For a system-wide issue, protocol usually requires that you start with the superintendent, who will, if he views it favorably, work with you to present a proposal for policy change to the School Committee. Even if he doesn’t lend support, he won’t be surprised by your eventual approach to the School Committee. (If you’re seeking to change a School Committee-generated policy, start with the Committee.)

An advantage to starting at a low level is that sometimes, an issue can be handled at that level without going further. In many systems, a school principal can institute policy in his school (assuming it doesn’t have system-wide implications) without having to get permission from the superintendent or the School Committee. A teacher may be able to institute classroom policy to correct a problem, or may be able to change course content without any fanfare.

If your issue can be resolved at a lower level, you may be able to save yourself a lot of trouble. If, however, you want to see broader changes, it still makes sense to start with the people who’ll have to implement the policy – especially if you can enlist their support. At the very least, they won’t be furious at you for sneaking up on them with something new. If you’re successful at this lower level, many of the steps below won’t be necessary. If you’re put off or denied, simply go up to the next step on the ladder, until you get to the School Committee.

Get your group on the School Committee agenda.

If the Superintendent and some Committee members are involved, they can make sure that you get enough time for a proper presentation.

Present the proposed policy change at a School Committee meeting.

For real results, you have to do more than simply show up. Here’s where your prior organizing will pay off.

• Pack the meeting with supporters from as many sectors of the community as possible. Students, parents, teachers, interested community members, groups that are concerned with the issue the policy addresses (health professionals if it concerns smoking, for instance, or police if it concerns violence) – the more representation you can produce, the more obvious it is that there’s broad-based enthusiasm for your proposal.
• Do all you can to gain media coverage. Call your media contacts, send out press releases, etc., to assure that the media will be there, or at least report on the issue.

• Choose spokespeople carefully. If several members of your group are allowed to speak, use the opportunity to showcase people who are articulate (but not apparently too different from most of the community), represent a range of stakeholders (parents, students, particular groups affected), can present themselves respectfully but firmly, and have compelling stories to tell or arguments to make. Personal stories, particularly, can make a powerful impression, especially if those who tell them are familiar to the audience, or are people with whom they can identify.
• Make sure your message is clear and consistent, no matter who is delivering it. What your group has to say should be straightforward, informative, and non-confrontational (this isn’t always possible, but do your best). It should be backed up with facts, statistics, study results, the experience of other school systems, and/or educational (or psychological or scientific) theory. Most importantly, it should emphasize how this will benefit students, education, and/or the community. (If it won’t, why are you advocating for it?)
• Be prepared for opposing arguments. Make sure you can counter them with hard facts and other substantiation. If your group is asked a non-trivial question you can’t answer (no matter how much homework you do, you can’t cover everything), offer to find out the answer and bring it to the next meeting. Even if the question is trivial, treat it with respect unless it’s obviously meant to ridicule or humiliate you. If it is meant as ridicule, answer it with humor, not anger.
• Respect the Committee’s time limits, but don’t allow yourself to be pushed aside without making your point.
• Respect the Committee’s decision-making procedures. Some School Committee bylaws may mandate a one-or two-meeting delay on policy decisions. Often, even in the absence of such a bylaw, major policy decisions are not made the first time a policy change is brought up. Rather, time is allowed at one or more future meetings for more discussion before the change is brought to a vote. If this is the case, just be sure that you continue to produce a large, diverse, and vocal group of supporters at School Committee meetings leading up to the vote, and that your message remains consistent.

If your proposed policy change is rejected, regroup and strategize again.

There are a number of reasons your proposed change might have been rejected.

• The Committee honestly felt that it simply wasn’t in the best interests of the students. If you continue to believe they’re wrong, you should continue to push for change. Put together an even more impressive array of facts and figures to support your arguments, continue to build community support in order to exert pressure on the Committee, invite Committee members to be part of a group to study the issue, work for the support of teachers, etc.. Over time, if your proposed change really does make sense and will benefit students, it’s reasonable to expect that you’ll bring enough Committee members around to get the policy change approved.
• The Committee rejected the proposal because the change wouldn’t fit into the way things are done in the system. If a change is educationally beneficial for students, it should happen unless it actually isn’t affordable (Everyone knows that very small classes are better for students, but most systems can’t raise enough taxes to make them possible) or it would impose an unfair workload on teachers and administrators. If the reason is simply that it’s too much trouble, or that “we don’t do things that way,” that’s a failure of the Committee’s and the system’s duty to students. Your efforts should be aimed toward pointing this out, and, again, continuing to build support and substantiation.

In a sense, this may be even harder to deal with than the actual issue at hand. Most schools are, in fact, organized around the needs of the adults involved, rather than those of the children. “The way we’ve always done it” is often the path of least resistance, and steering people off that path can be extremely difficult.

• The Committee rejected the proposal for reasons that are irrelevant to education, mistaken, irrational, or simply unacceptable (lack of belief in evolution, unwillingness to confront the fact that a large percentage of teens are sexually active, racial prejudice, etc.). In this situation, you may have to convince the community either that the Committee is dead wrong, or that their reasons conflict with sound educational practice, logic, and/or common decency (not to mention the Constitution). That often calls for community action – organizing your support, using the media, and engaging in various kinds of direct action.

The reality is that a social action approach may be necessary in any of these three situations, if the School Committee proves immovable and you believe the proposed change is necessary for the educational, physical, or psychological welfare of students. Some social action tactics that might prove helpful:

• Organize to defeat oppositional School Committee members at the next election. This may take some patience. Some communities elect a whole School Committee at once for a set period (usually 2 or 3 years). Others stagger three- or four-year terms, so that only a third or a quarter of the School Committee is up for reelection in any given year. That means that you may have to wait two or three years to actually gain a favorable majority on the Committee, even if all your candidates win.
• Use the media. You can get your message out widely and quickly through careful use of the media. That involves, among other activities, establishing relationships with (sympathetic) reporters, editors, station managers, etc.; holding press conferences, orchestrating letters to the Editor, and making sure you get coverage for events and actions you stage; and contacting state- and nation-wide media, to broaden your support and put even greater pressure on the School Committee.
• Maintain a vocal presence at School Committee meetings. If it’s appropriate, continue to pack meetings with supporters, and call for the policy change at every opportunity. Media coverage of meetings will help spread the word. The worse you’re treated by the School Committee the worse they’ll look and the more sympathetic the community will be to your cause, as long as you remain reasonable and respectful at meetings.
• Take direct action. Stage public meetings, rallies, demonstrations, petition drives, picketing, and other events meant to draw attention to and explain the need for policy change. Such events will also demonstrate the extent of your support, and put pressure on the School Committee, as an elected body, to respond to public opinion.
• Recall the School Committee (or the members of the Committee blocking your proposal). This takes less time than the election process, but is dependent on there being a recall clause in the community’s (or the School Committee’s) bylaws. If there is, obtaining a certain number of signatures can force a recall election. Before you take this route, you should be sure that there’s at least a reasonable chance that the recall will succeed, and that the people who take the places of recalled School Committee members will be sympathetic to the policy change you want. Recall elections tend to create community divisions and animosities that can take years – even lifetimes – to heal, and shouldn’t be entered into lightly.
• Work to pass legislation that will make your policy change into law statewide. If you already have a legislative champion, or a relationship with one or more legislators, this may be a good direction to take. If you’re starting from scratch, it could still be worthwhile, but it will take much longer, and involve a major organizing effort. The advantage is, of course, that you won’t have to fight the battle over policy change again, and you’ll be benefiting far more students than those in your own community.
• File a lawsuit. As explained earlier,this is usually a last resort because of its expense and the length of time it’s likely to take. On the other hand, the threat or actual filing of a suit may be enough to move the School Committee to change its mind. A sympathetic attorney (there may be one among your supporters) can be helpful in developing strategy here.

Once you gain the policy change you’re seeking, reorganize and tackle the next issue.

Whether this effort was easy or difficult, you’ve put together a group that has worked together to effect a policy change . . . but your work’s not done. As with so much else described in the Tool Box, you need to maintain the gains you’ve made – make sure that the policy change is not only carried out, but carried out in the way that’s most beneficial to students, and continued for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, it’s unlikely that this is the only change necessary, either in the school system or in the community. Take some time to savor your victory, to celebrate, to congratulate yourselves . . . and then get back to the job of making the school system and the community the best it can be.

In Summary

Sometimes, it’s necessary to seek policy change in schools or school systems, in order to enhance or protect the educational benefits to students, the physical and psychological health and safety of students and school staff, or the management and integrity of the system. Because schools and school systems tend to be hierarchical and difficult to move, this can lead to conflict or impasse, leaving students to suffer the effects of inferior learning opportunities, deteriorating or dangerous schools, or unfair or abusive treatment by school personnel or other students.

It’s most effective to work collaboratively with the School Committee, the teachers’ union, and parents, students, and interested community members to arrive at the best solution to the problem and change and oversee policy accordingly. When there’s resistance to that course – because of a sincere difference of opinion, because of resistance to change of any sort, or because of unacceptable assumptions or ideas on the part of the policy makers (racism, for example), conflict of some sort may be inevitable. By putting together a strong and diverse community group of supporters of change, and

by using the leverage that group commands – public pressure, media attention, research into best practices, etc. – you can achieve the change you’re aiming for. The less nasty and the more collaborative you can make the process, the better the chances will be that the next change effort – and there will be a next change effort; there always is – will be easier.