The Block: CASE 11
Institutional roles
1: STORY
Students hear about a calendar change from their principal and decide the principal caused it. The starter tells us the district board approved the change. But the practice packet contains no calendar vote, announcement, or minutes. We must distinguish information supplied by the story from conclusions that these three documents can establish independently.
Lupa opens the board agenda. Adopting a budget and approving a superintendent recommendation sound different from receiving comments or hearing a facilities report. An agenda describes planned business. It does not show that every planned vote happened, that a proposal passed, or that a speaker's request became policy. Those questions require a later record.
Pauta uses the organization chart to trace the board, superintendent, and principals. The arrows describe reporting relationships. They help explain how a decision can travel through a district, but they do not list every power. A principal may communicate or implement a decision approved elsewhere. A familiar face is not necessarily the final decision maker.
Nexo checks the policy manual's contents. Governance, finance, instruction, student policy, and personnel are useful places to start searching. Contents headings cannot settle a particular calendar dispute. The crew's task is to match the decisions actually named in the packet to likely actors, marking where the match is direct and where a full policy or meeting record is still needed.
2: EVIDENCE
These are NPW practice documents. Real-world sources are credited separately below.
SOURCE A — Board agenda
NPW practice document. Items: adopt budget; approve superintendent recommendation; receive public comment; hear facilities report.
What it establishes: Shows formal board business for one meeting.
Question while reading: Which items involve a vote, and which are information only?
SOURCE B — District org chart
NPW practice document. Board to superintendent; superintendent to principals/central offices.
What it establishes: Shows reporting structure, not every legal power.
Question while reading: Why is “principal works for the board” too simple?
SOURCE C — Board policy manual contents
NPW practice document. Sections include governance, finance, instruction, student policy, personnel.
What it establishes: Shows that boards act through adopted policies and oversight.
Question while reading: Where would you look for the board’s own rules?
Source A places budget adoption and approval of a superintendent recommendation on the board agenda. It also includes informational and public-comment items. Source B supplies the reporting structure behind those activities. Together they support a provisional role map, but an agenda is not a record of completed decisions and reporting lines are not a complete authority code.
Source C identifies policy areas through which the board governs. It is a search guide, not the policy text itself. None of the three proves who proposed the calendar change, how individual board members voted, or what the principal said. Those facts need calendar records or the relevant adopted policy.
3: PRACTICE
Source A establishes planned board business. It does not record an outcome, and none of these receipts documents the calendar vote.
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4: TASK
Match each decision to the actor most likely to have authority. Include one clear claim or question, at least two source references, one statement of uncertainty/scope, the person or office with relevant authority, and one realistic next step.
My role map assigns budget adoption and approval of the superintendent's recommendation to the board because those actions appear on its agenda (Source A). The superintendent makes the recommendation and sits between the board and principals in the reporting structure (Source B). Principals report to the superintendent; these sources do not establish every decision principals can make. Board policy is organized by subjects including finance and instruction (Source C). The starter says the board approved the calendar change, but this packet cannot verify that vote. I would ask the district office for the calendar resolution, approved minutes, and policy assigning calendar authority.
If a superintendent emails a new lunch schedule, what records would distinguish the person announcing it from the person authorized to approve it?
45–55 min core, 80–100 min full
| Criterion | Beginning | Developing | Strong | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy & scope | Repeats claim. | Mostly accurate; scope incomplete. | Accurate and properly scoped. | Accurate, scoped, and explicit about uncertainty. |
| Evidence | Little or unrelated. | Relevant source, sometimes overstated. | Explains what sources establish. | Compares sources and limits. |
| Authority | Names actor without role. | Plausible authority. | Explains who decides and why. | Maps proposal, approval, implementation, review. |
| Communication | Vague or audience-mismatched. | Main point understandable. | Clear, specific, audience-aware. | Clear, accessible, precise, well-qualified. |
