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02 ADHERENCE TO ADOPTED BOARD POLICIES

2.3- PROCEDURE FOR UPDATING AND MAINTAINING POLICY BOOKS

Once a policy has been approved and updated, revisions are added to the policy book
which is maintained online and is accessible via the District webpage�

The Board also designates one copy of the local policy manual as the official policy
manual of the District� The official copy is kept in the central administration office, and
the superintendent or designee is responsible for its accuracy and integrity and maintains
a historical record of the District’s policy manual� The official policy manual is housed in
the office of the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resource Services� In the event of a
discrepancy, the official policy manual governs�

Galena Park ISD has subscribed to the TASB Policy Online service since April of 1997,
eliminating the need for hard copies of the district policy manual to be distributed district-
wide� Policy Online is accessible on the District webpage, where all stakeholders can peruse
district policy at their convenience�

2.4- BOARD DECISIONS BASED ON POLICY STATEMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED WHEN
SUCH ACTION WAS OPPOSED BY OTHERS

Over the last five years, despite the pandemic and the overall drop in student enrollment
district wide, the number of students with a disability requiring Special Education (SPED)
services has consistently grown in Galena Park ISD, thereby increasing the needs and
demands of the program�

2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024

2,015 2,153 2,296 2,392 2,685 2,834

In an effort to improve the SPED program and to better meet the needs of this growing
population, the District solicited the services of Gipson Consulting for the purpose of
conducting a comprehensive program evaluation� Though the results of the evaluation
yielded positive findings in support of many of the current practices, it also strongly
recommended Galena Park ISD end the practice of only offering self-contained SPED
programs on a few select campuses� This practice required many identified students to be
transferred to schools across the district rather than being served on their home (zoned)
campus� The overwhelming recommendation was for the district to offer all services on each
campus, allowing students to attend their home, or zoned, school in the community where
they live along with their general education and mainstream SPED counterparts�

After careful review of district programs, funding and staffing, district administrators
developed a two-phase implementation plan to present to the Board� Although
challenges were expected since both phases would require both teacher and student
campus reassignments, Galena Park ISD wanted to ensure a long-term solution was being
implemented rather than a quick fix�

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