New Policy Development and Review Process and First One to Comment On by Feb. 14

In the fall of 2022, I outlined a new process for policy development at NOVA; and since that time, my office has worked with members of the College Senate to ensure that it aligned with the senate’s own internal process.

As I noted in the fall, the first policy to test this new process will be the Policy for Policy Development and Review and its accompanying procedure (101 and 101-P).

You may provide your feedback on this policy beginning today on the NOVA Policy webpage.

The new Policy for Policy Development and Review, and its corresponding procedure, support shared and informed governance and make the policy creation and review process as inclusive and transparent as possible. The procedure honors the subject matter expertise of colleagues tasked with administering policies, while also supporting continuous improvement by providing the college community with the ability to propose new/revised policies on matters of collegewide significance. Finally, the new procedure offers clearly defined timelines with a goal of moving most new/revised policies from proposal to adoption within a single academic year.

The full policy and procedure are available for your review, and I’ve included a summary of the workflow below:

1. A new policy or a change to an existing policy may be proposed by any NOVA stakeholder, provided:
   1. the new policy or policy change does not put NOVA in violation of local, system, state or federal rules, requirements or policies;
   2. it does not create a level of authority that is outside the scope of the College.
2. This proposal is submitted to the Administrative Council (AC) member who represents the Responsible Office (RO) charged with administering/managing the policy.
3. The AC member will advance the policy to the RO with a copy to the Policy Liaison (the President’s Chief of Staff) whose sole role is to track the process.
4. The RO will conduct an initial holistic review of the policy as subject matter expert and take one of two actions:
   1. If the RO determines a new or revised policy is appropriate, the RO will write the draft policy.
   2. If the RO determines a new or revised policy is not appropriate, the RO will provide a written explanation to the AC member.
5. The RO submits the draft policy to the Policy Liaison, who will update the tracking system and submit the draft policy to the Office of System Counsel for legal review.
6. Office of System Counsel will return the reviewed draft policy, with any required changes, to the Policy Liaison (for tracking) and to the RO for revision.
7. After legal review, the RO will make all required changes to the draft policy and share the updated draft policy with College Senate for review. College Senate will determine and carry out its own review process and will provide its feedback to the RO within 30 business days.
8. Concurrently, the Policy Liaison will initiate a comment period of 15 business days during which faculty and staff can provide comments on the draft policy by signing in to the system using their NOVA credentials. The Policy Liaison will provide all comments to the RO at the end of the 15-day period.
9. After receiving comments from the portal and College Senate, the RO has 15 business days to:
   1. revise the policy, as appropriate, based on this input;
   2. provide a final version of the policy to the NOVA community in the Daily Flyer with a summary of changes resulting from the feedback; and
   3. submit the final policy to Administrative Council for action.

10. Administrative Council will take action on the policy at its next formal meeting and, if needed, advance the policy on to the NOVA College Board for action at its next meeting. Approved policies will be posted online.

I encourage you to participate in the review process for the Policy for Policy Development and Review and its accompanying procedure (101 and 101-P) and look forward to receiving your feedback.

Republished from President’s Tuesday Topic from Jan. 24, 2023