Decision Making Process

H1 forms is a great way to start change you want to see in the school and anyone can do it! For information on this process you can read below. The image to the right is a flow chart of the change process at Harwood.

Decision-Making Process at Harwood Union High School

On February 4, 2009, the Harwood School Board approved a very important proposal: Harwood's Decision-Making Process. Principal Duane Pierson distributed drafts of this idea to numerous student, staff, and community groups since August, collecting feedback and revising charts to achieve a very difficult, delicate, democratic balance: involving many people in decision-making while holding school administration accountable for those decisions. After seven months, Harwood can now act on suggestions from anyone in the Harwood community. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Someone completes the H-1 Proposal form to explain the idea in detail. This must include a champion, the person who will ultimately be responsible for carrying out the plan if approved.

Step 2: This form is submitted to any Harwood administrator. The Administrative Team reviews the proposal to ensure that it does not violate state law or contradict the school mission statement. Next the proposal moves to the Department Heads and Student Government. With a simple majority of 51%, the proposal moves into the H-2 phase of action planning.

Step 3: The champion assembles a team to fully research and develop the proposal; this team may be an existing group, such as Natural Leaders, or can be assembled for this purpose only. Together they complete the H-2 Action-Plan and submit it to the Admin Team for approval. If the decision involves budget, personnel, policy, or curriculum, a Harwood School Board vote is required.

Step 4: The proposal becomes a new school policy, procedure, strategic goal, or improvement plan and is carried out by those responsible for its implementation. This innovation must be communicated to the school community, evaluated for effectiveness, and refined for improvement.

Overseeing the decision-making process is the Highlander Council, consisting of 2 students, 1 staff member, 1 administrator, 1 school board member, and 1 parent. They ensure that applicable decisions are made school-wide following this structure and suggest ways of improved communication, implementation, and evaluation. Still in the development phase, membership of the HC and the meeting schedule are forthcoming.

Now with School Board approval, students, staff, and community members can advance their ideas through this decision-making process. Look on Harwood's website in the next few days to access the H-1 and H-2 forms and make a difference in our school. All completed forms will be posted on the website so that proposals can be easily tracked. For more information, see your Department Head or Student Government representative, or speak to any administrator.

http://www.harwood.org/index.php?page=decision-making

You can see current proposals here

You can get the H1 form here

You can get the H2 form here