Loyal School Board approves contracting with policy consulting firm

By Valorie Brecht The average school district has about 300 policies on the books that govern everything from staffing to student conduct to technology, says Dave Laehn of Neola Policy Services. With so many policies, it can be hard for a school district to stay on top of routinely reviewing and updating policies to make sure they match the latest legal guidance. That is one of the reasons the Loyal School District has chosen to hire a firm to assist with that.

Neola is an education consulting firm that develops personalized bylaws, policies, guidelines and materials to more than 1,550 school districts in six states, including 341 of the 424 school districts in Wisconsin. Forty-seven of those are Laehn’s clients.

Laehn presented at the Loyal School Board meeting last Wednesday to explain how Neola could benefit Loyal. He first shared his credentials. He spent 35 years in education, with 20 of those years as a school superintendent. He worked for the Independence and Bangor school districts. He said his experience helps him understand situations from the school district’s perspective.

He said a lot of school districts gravitate toward Neola because it “saves the board and administration time.”

“Even though (reviewing board policies) should be a priority, it’s such a complex type of thing that having that service is beneficial,” said Laehn. “One of the biggest things that makes prospective schools interested is that even though they attempt to keep their policies current, it doesn’t always happen.”

Some nearby school districts that use Neola include Greenwood, Colby, Abbotsford, Osseo-Fairchild, Augusta and Eau Claire.

The Neola package costs $17,120 for the first year and $3,545 per year after that.

The initial cost covers 400 policy templates and a policy drafting process that includes 24 hours of faceto- face time with Laehn. The annual fee includes two update meetings per year, access to Laehn for questions throughout the year and a $795 web hosting fee to have the school’s policies placed on BoardDocs.

Laehn went into the specifics of each of those pieces. The 400 policy templates are all legally compliant.

“My boss is an attorney and we work closely with two law firms,” said Laehn.

The school certainly doesn’t have to use all the templates but is free to use as many as it sees fit. There are also options within the policies for wording and sections the school district can leave in or take out, to customize to the individual district.

The drafting process is a process in which the school district’s complete policies are systematically reviewed and brought up-to-date. District Administrator Chris Lindner and the administrative team will meet with Laehn five to six times for three hours at a time.

“After we draft a set of policies, they will go to the school board’s policy committee, which will look at it and suggest changes or accept the policy,” said Laehn.

After the policy committee approves the policies, they go to the school board for a first reading and a second reading. If both readings are approved, the new policy takes effect for the school district. There are 10 categories of policies that Laehn goes through. He said, on average, it takes a school district about one year to go through the drafting process.

Once the school district approves all the policies, they will be posted on BoardDocs, a web platform that Loyal already uses to upload its school board agendas and minutes. That means anyone with internet access will be able to view the policies online.

After the policies have been uploaded, the school district will move on to the update process. Neola monitors what policy changes are happening at the federal and state level, and Neola associates vet any proposed updates before they are sent to all clients. Laehn will visit the school two times a year, typically in August and January, to meet with the administrative team and go over any proposed updates to policies. The school district will also have Laehn on a retainer fee for additional questions or issues that may arise.

“Oftentimes, something will come up and the school district will contact me and say, ‘Do we have a policy on this?’ Well, with 340 clients, most likely someone has it,” said Laehn.

The school district will be able to use another client’s policy as a model for their own.

“Anytime, we can look at changes, revisions and new policies,” Laehn added.

Board member Dennis Roehl asked if there would be any extra fee when Laehn brought new policies for the school district to consider. Laehn said no. For example when new regulations on Title IX come out, they would be part of the contract the school district has already paid for. Roehl also asked about student and employee handbooks. Laehn explained that Neola offers professional and support staff handbook services for $250 each, and the student handbook is free.

“Not a ton of schools take it, but those that do like that it matches their policies,” he said.

Laehn also was asked how many policies a school was required to have per state statute. There are only about 75 required policies, said Laehn, but are a number of policies such as class rank or grading not required statutorily that the school district still wants the public to be informed about.

One of the board members asked how the school district would pay for it. Lindner said it would come out of the general fund.

He thought the service would be a positive for the school district.

“When something comes up, how many times do we end up talking to a lawyer? And those fees add up too,” he said.

He felt it would be better to be proactive and make sure the policies were current with what the school board and administration wanted, rather than looking to revise the policy when an issue came up relating to that policy.

“One thing that I really like about this is Dave being a past administrator so he brings that experience to it. He’ll review it and it will be vetted through the attorneys,” said board member Tom Odeen.

“I agree. The hardest thing for us is we just don’t know. We’re trying to get our point across and we just don’t know how to say it correctly (legally),” said Roehl.

The board agreed to approve entering into a contract with Neola for $17,120 for one year. Typically the fee is paid all at once or in two payments, but Laehn said other arrangements can be made, should the district request it. For Loyal, the plan is for it to be broken up into three or four payments. Lindner and Laehn will conference with other Neola staff to determine a payment plan.