As the year winds down, now is the perfect time to tackle the to-do list that was put on the back burner during deadlines. A high priority on that list is a staff manual
Staff manuals are an asset for maintaining style guidelines and providing guidance for new staffers. They also provide guidance and structure for student media policies and procedures, a helpful guide when issues or questions arise. While younger staffers may be focused on theme and the book arrival, editors and seniors could work on putting together a staff manual. Consider including:
- Staff policies: This should include any topic or issue that regularly comes up and possibly ones that haven’t. This could include refunds, missing orders, mistakes, name changes, senior ad guidelines and deaths. Never created a policy? Here’s a media policy from Leander ISD, a school district in Texas where the six high school advisers collaborated on a district-wide policy.
- Code of Ethics: The Society of Professional Journalists outlines the four principles journalists should follow: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent.
- Story guidelines: Provide information on interview techniques, quotes and writing styles. Provide examples of stories and clear explanations of how they should be written.
- AP Style & publication style: Include a glossary of the most common AP styles used, like the numbers and abbreviation rules. Run the most common words that trip up writers (more than vs over, principle vs principal). Feature common sports terminology with the correct spellings of running back (two words) and cornerback (one word). Note the correct way to refer to teams and how to write scores. Decide and follow a style for your school’s common words and phrases. For example, will you capitalize class names that aren’t proper nouns?
- Organizational chart & job responsibilities: Consider including a chart or diagram that shows the hierarchy of leaders and staffers. Or include a list of all positions and the responsibilities involved. Download our recruiting guide for two pages of job responsibilities already listed for you.
- Expectations: work nights, spread assignments/workload, money/fees, behavior, equipment contracts, contact/discussions, social media expectations
- Photography information: location of cameras and equipment, check out procedures, assignment procedures
If you plan to update the staff manual every year, consider including an editor list, staff phone numbers and social media accounts, and a yearbook style guide with fonts, colors and graphics that will be used. Sound intimidating? Take a look at the staff manual Katie Moreno put together for Seven Lakes High School publications, which she encourages other advisers to use, modify and share.