208.5 Policy and Procedure Drafting and Format Standard

1. Every policy carries: the CCS header (Crosslake Community Schools · District 4059 · "Online and In-Person School's Policy"); a policy number and title; Adopted and Revised dates (required on every policy for website posting and authorizer certification — a revision keeps the original adoption date and adds each revision date); Roman-numeral structure (I. PURPOSE, II. GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY, then substantive sections); and Legal References and Cross References at the foot.
2. Companion policies are paired as ### / ###.5 (e.g., 110/110.5, 302/302.5, 535/535.5).
3. Procedures, plans, and manuals use the same header and foot with a body structured for their purpose (steps, tables, checklists); where the state publishes a model or template that a document must be consistent with, that structure is followed.
4. Documents are titled per the district naming convention — "[Type] – [What It's About], [Month Year]" — with DRAFT in parentheses at the end and no version-number suffixes.

Document bodies are written in plain terms a parent or new staff member can follow. Statutes are cited once, in Legal References, not throughout the body; a legal requirement is stated as what CCS does, not as a recitation of the law. Exception: where law or a state model prescribes specific wording (required notices, model-plan language, 208.5 -1 assurances), that wording is kept verbatim and is never paraphrased for brevity.

Each requirement lives in exactly one adopted document; all other documents point to it rather than restating it. Handbooks point to policies; policies point to procedures; related plans cross-reference one another. When a source document changes, pointers remain accurate; restated copies drift and are not used.

Before shortening or revising any document, the drafter identifies its governing mandate and the minimum content that mandate fixes, and confirms each required element survives the edit. The Superintendent maintains the compliance-floor table below and adds a row before drafting any new document type.

Bracketed items, "confirm with" notes, and drafter instructions may appear only in documents marked DRAFT. At adoption they are resolved and removed; an adopted document carries only its content, its dates, and its references. Recommended-motion language travels in the board packet transmittal, not in the document itself.

Draft under this standard → legal review where the subject warrants it → first reading for new or substantively revised policies per Policy 208 → Board adoption with dates recorded → posted to the district website under the correct series → certified to the authorizer where the item is tracked → reviewed on cycle: annually where law requires annual review (e.g., CERP, Environmental Literacy Plan, handbooks, calendar submissions), each July for the succession plan, on the district's three-year rotation otherwise, and immediately upon a change in law, monitored each legislative session through the MACS new-law primers.

The District Superintendent administers this policy and maintains the compliance-floor table; the District Administrative Assistant applies the format and naming conventions to all board packet materials; every drafter of a district document follows this standard.