Wilson, Douglas 1996. Understanding By-laws, Policies, and Guidelines. In Repairing the Ruins: The Classical and Christian Challenge to Modern Education, ed. Douglas J. Wilson, 199-208. Moscow, ID: Canon Press. (All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission from Canon Press.)

“But I thought you didn’t believe in the Horn, Trumpkin,” said
Caspian. “No more I do, your Majesty. But what’s that got to do
with it? I might as well die on a wild goose chase as die here. You
are my King. I know the difference between giving advice and
taking orders. You’ve had my advice, and it’s the time for orders.”1

FOR A NUMBER OF HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL REASONS, Americans have a distorted perception of how biblical authority works. We received a large measure of this distorted view in the process of our education. Consequently, identifying the problem is a matter of great importance, so that we do not pass the problem on to our children in the process of their education. Christians must seek to understand the nature of authority, and must understand this task to be a central aspect of recovering a truly biblical education.

Authority works two ways, and, unfortunately, many who set out to recover “authority” only recover one half of it—the half that lets them give orders to someone else. But it may be taken as axiomatic that someone does not have a biblical view of authority if he takes any less delight in receiving instructions as he does in giving them. Submission is required of all Christians, and of course someone who does not know how to submit is someone who is not to be entrusted with leadership.

There are some additional subtleties, however, which bear directly on the task of education. Most Christian schools operate under plural leadership—usually under the authority of a school board. Now Jesus taught that no man can serve two masters. How can this be reconciled with plural leadership? The pattern of plural, corporate leadership is certainly bibilical (it is required in the church, for example). So how is it possible for administrators, teachers, staff and students under this plural authority to keep from being pulled in different directions, and all by people equally “in charge”? Tragically, in many schools this pulling in different directions is a pulling apart.

In order to remain biblical, all forms of plural leadership must speak with a single voice. Several examples should serve to illustrate the principle. Suppose a school board is in the process of selecting a line of textbooks. Suppose further there have been vigorous and thorough debates in the board meetings about the value of this publisher versus the value of that one. The day comes, however, when the vote is taken, and the school board has made its decision. Now—the board member in the minority must not only submit to the decision (which he obviously has to do anyway), he must also support it.

This idea horrifies us. So in order to maintain our unbiblical approach to authority, we immediately rush to “worst case scenarios.” “But,” we argue, “suppose the textbooks in question are put out by Satan & Sons—‘We make humanism palatable for Christian schools!’?”

The answer here of course is that this is a school board from which godly Christians must resign. There are times when submission to human authority does constitute disobedience to God. No human authority is absolute; no human authority legitimately commands unquestioning obedience. But if it is impossible to submit to a school board, then it is impossible to stay on that school board. If it is legitimate to stay, then it is required to submit. We cannot take a middle ground and say that this is a big enough issue to allow us to be noisy and unsubmissive and small enough to allow us to remain.

Suppose further that you are now at the meeting where the new textbooks are being announced, the minority board member is chairing the meeting, and a parent in the back row objects. He lists seven compelling reasons why the other textbooks should have been selected. They are the same seven compelling reasons that the chairman himself presented last week in the board meeting. Now the chairman only has a biblical view of authority if he now stands publicly with the rest of the board. It was not the majority’s decision; it was the board’s decision. A majority vote is simply the device chosen by the entire board for the entire board to make a decision. Once the vote is taken, the entire board has decided whether or not the vote was unanimous. If being identified with such a decision is sin, then a godly board member must leave the board. If being identified with the decision is not sin, then that board member must swallow his pride—all of it—and say, “We thought we should choose these textbooks because . . .”

A second example of this type of authority can be seen in the family. Father and mother are both in authority over the children. Let us say one of the children has been disciplined by the father, and suppose the mother is not in full agreement with how the discipline was administered. Should this concern be expressed? Of course—in private. As far as the children are concerned, the parents should always present a united front. Because parents are a form a plural leadership over children, they must speak with a single voice. When they do not, children learn very quickly how to play one parent off the other. And in the same way, a group of parents in a school can learn very quickly how to play one board member off another.

It is only in this way—the way of true submission—that plural leadership can speak with a single voice. As we consider the implications of this, it is obvious we all have much to learn. The board of a classical Christian school must therefore understand authority from the beginning. As discussed above, for board members, knowledge of biblical authority is measured by how individual members of a plural authority themselves behave under authority. A plural authority does not have as many voices as it has individual members. All godly plural leadership must have a single voice. This means full submission after the vote, and clear separation from the board if submission is a moral impossibility.

Problems can come out in other ways as well. Some board members like to “think out loud.” And the speculations of just one board member may carry far more weight, and do far more damage, than one might think. “I think we should dismiss the students at 3:30 instead of 3:00. Just an idea.” Other problems can be caused by disagreements in public between board members. The problem is not the disagreement—that is necessary for a healthy board—but rather a public airing of those disagreements. Discussion and disagreement should be saved for the board meetings.

Debates between individual board members and the administrator should never happen. If there is a difference of opinion (and there will be), the administrator should always have the opportunity to express his convictions, in detail, to the board. The board should be free to question him, in order to determine what his convictions are, as well as to see the foundation for them. Under no circumstances should any one board member be permitted to debate the administrator. The administrator would be an extraordinary man indeed if he did not feel that this disagreement was coming from the entire board—after all, one board member is speaking to him this way, and the others are letting him. The administrator should be completely heard, and then the issue debated within the membership of the board. Such debates are healthy and necessary—it is the way a board thinks.

But after the thinking is done, action must be taken. The board, along with everyone else who is associated with the school, should have a clear understanding of what constitutes board action. Board action is not “anything that happens at a board meeting.” Logos School defines board action this way—“The board will be considered as having formally acted when, in a duly-constituted meeting, a proposal is moved, seconded, discussed, passed with the appropriate margin of votes, entered in minutes, and duly approved.”2 The by-laws go on to note that board discussion, consensus, debate, etc. do not constitute formal board action. If these criteria are not met, then the board has not acted. It should become clear below that the by-laws and all school policy are to be considered board action, but not all board action is in the category of by-law or policy. For example, if the board votes to hire someone, that is board action, but it is not a bylaw or policy. Nevertheless, anything which is to be considered board action must be established in the minutes. If it is not there, then the board has not spoken with a single voice, and various opinions of individual board members are just that–individual opinions.

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As a school is being established, the highest priority should be given to the approval of by-laws, policies, and guidelines respectively. If a school is already established, but without a clear and approved definition of these, then disaster awaits. Schools which are up and running without a “constitution” are probably managed on the basis of day-to-day decisions by an administrator or board, and the resultant inconsistency plagues the management of the school. Oftentimes, the school’s “policy manual” is an overstuffed Talmudic notebook—a jumble of minutes, ad hoc decisions, etc.

In order to establish by-laws, policies, and guidelines properly, the board must know what they are, and what their respective levels of authority are. By-laws govern the entire school community, board included. The policy manual governs the “in-house” operations of the school, and is the primary source of board direction to the administration. Guidelines are drafted and implemented by the school’s administrators as they give direction to teachers, students, et al.

The By-Laws
By-laws govern the entire operation—particularly the board. It is at this point that the board demonstrates whether it has a biblical view of authority, whether the board is willing to be itself in submission. If the school is a biblical operation, it will be governed by law, and not by men operating in their own individual capacity. Of course, a certain type of godly board member is necessary for the success of any school—but one of the first characteristics of an individual who can be trusted is the fact that he does not trust himself, and wants to submit the school to a constitution.

By-laws should set and define such things as the name of the school, and the school’s objectives and statement of faith. The composition of the board should be set, along with the way board members become board members. Qualifications for board membership should be clear. The board itself should have officers (chair, vice-chair, secretary, etc.) and they should be set by the by-laws. Clear, defined procedures should be set for the removal of any board member. The by-laws should grant the board authority to establish an executive committee in order to conduct certain specified types of business.

The by-laws will establish the way in which regular meetings of the board are held, as well as any special meetings. They will define matters such as the decorum of all meetings, the number necessary for a quorum, the procedures for meeting in executive session, and so forth. As mentioned earlier, what constitutes board action should be defined. The by-laws should also define the areas of fiscal responsibility—budgets, financial statements, financial accountability, and fund-raising. The same extends to the area of contracts, loans, checks and drafts, and deposits. The by-laws should define the fiscal year for the school.

Lastly, they should define the procedure for amendments to the by-laws. Because the board is under the authority of the by-laws, the board should not have the authority to amend the by-laws without public notification of the school’s constituency of the nature of the change, and the reasons for it. No change should be permitted unless full opportunity for a response from the school’s constituency has been given. In other words, the board is the entity which has the authority to amend the by-laws, but because the board is accountable to those by-laws, this should never be done “in secret.” The purpose is public accountability, and that purpose must not in any way be circumvented.

Policies
Policies are determined by the board. They regulate board action and are also the principal means of giving direction to the administration.

A common mistake which committed boards often make is that of micro-management. Board members are often visionaries who care very much how the school is managed and governed. This is as it ought to be. But unless everyone concerned watches these distinctions carefully, the board will find itself considering the Toilet Paper Roll Rotation Policy 6.2.

The board should therefore be, in a certain way, detached and distant from the day-to-day operations of the school. If the board is too close, it will resort to on-going crisis management, and will perpetually annoy their administrator, who was hired to do what the board is trying to do. The board is not supposed to be “on the spot.” A good board is distant, objective, Olympian, aloof. The board should be passionately committed to the vision of the school, but the board’s job is to articulate that vision, and then delegate. The board must not try to be the executive which implements that vision. A board which tries to muscle in on the administrator’s tasks cannot be a good administrator, and apparently will not be a good board.

When the board wants to see a change in how the school is run, the board should pass a policy which addresses the situation in question, and all other situations like it. Another way of putting this is that in dealing with policy the board should be concerned with genus and not with species. If a student shows up with tuberculosis, the response should not be a tuberculosis policy, but rather the problem should have been anticipated with a communicable disease policy. Such policies mean that the administrator knows what to do when any particular situation arises.

Individual cases should come before the board rarely, and that as a result of the administration’s application of policy. For example, say that the board has a policy on academic dismissal from the school—i.e., a student must be dropped from the program if his grade point drops below a certain level for two consecutive quarters. Because this is the policy, the administrator has his instructions and will drop a student if that happens. Now, suppose the parents want to appeal this decision. The appeal would have to be made to the board, but, importantly, it would only come to the board by means of appeal. The board is not involved because they knew about the situation from the beginning.
A good policy manual will reiterate some of the boundaries set by the by-laws, and go on to provide a structure within which the school operates. The policy manual should acknowledge both the school’s statement of faith, and go on to state the educational philosophy of the school, referring by name to certain books and articles which capture what the school is trying to do. This means that administrators are authorized and required to use these materials designated in the school’s policy manual as a basis of training for the staff. For two examples, the policy manual for Logos School mentions both Dorothy Sayers’ essay The Lost Tools of Learning, and John Milton Gregory’s The Seven Laws of Teaching. The school’s commitment to the principle of loco parentis should also be acknowledged here, as well as the way the school will handle divisive doctrinal issues.

Echoing the by-laws, but with a little more specificity, the policy manual should define the organization and operation of the board, the board’s major responsibilities (e.g. approval of the annual budget), the board calendar, recognition of board committees, and the procedures used by the board in making policy. The policy manual should define the school’s administrative personnel—superintendent, principals, development officer, office staff, etc.

The board should set policies for school operations and equipment, ranging from facility maintenance to the care and feeding of any bus the school owns which might be still running. The policy manual should define how the board determines compensation and benefits, biblical guidelines for fundraising, procedures for paying bills (including overdue bills), fee collection, capital expenditures, and so forth.

The board should have personnel policies (hiring, assignments, retention, certification, evaluations, firing, grievances, etc.). The policy manual should also have a section which addresses the academic program of the school (curriculum, academic probation, extracurricular activities, discipline procedures).

In all these policies, it must be remembered that the board is not addressing any particular situation, but rather a particular situation and any other like it. While a particular “story” lies behind many policies, a well-written policy speaks broadly and not just to one narrow situation.

Guidelines
Guidelines are to be determined by the administration. When the board has taken action (whether in the by-laws, in the policy manual, or in a minute individual action), the task of the administrator is to see that this decision is implemented. To return to an earlier example, that of academic dismissal from the school. Say that the board has determined that a student is to be dismissed if his grades fall below a certain level for two consecutive quarters. The superintendent, in applying this decision, may give certain guidelines to his staff on how to deal with a student, and his family, if he is in danger of dismissal (timely communications, etc.). These guidelines are consistent with the policy, and are a means of implementing it, but have a greater specificity than the policy itself.

Conclusion
At every level of authority in the school—board, administration, staff—there should be a good understanding of the differences between by-laws, policies, and guidelines. By-laws have the highest authority, policy has the next level of authority, and guidelines are next. Each is to be consistent with the level above. Moreover, as authority decreases, detail increases. However, the increasing detail must never be used to circumvent the higher authority.

1 C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1951), p. 92.
2 Logos School By-Laws, Article VIII, Section 8.