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From the Private School Blogosphere
Private School News // April 2, 2012
Blogs, forums, chat rooms, listservs—the choices go on and on. These can be valuable resources for finding alternative opinions and information about almost anything. From general private school news to just needing a quick laugh to fuel the rest of your day, blogs can remind you that you're not alone in the all-too often chaotic world of private-independent education.
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ISM’s New Faculty Evaluation Template
Private School News // April 2, 2012
During the past two years, ISM has engaged in an intensive effort to forecast the needs of schools in the rapidly evolving 21st Century environment. One of the outcomes of this effort was the recent publication of a new template for faculty evaluation, which we are pleased to publish in excerpted form this month.
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Bullying the Food Allergic Student
Private School News // April 2, 2012
Bullying takes on many forms. Cyberbullying, playground bullying, and yes, even food bullying are all common forms that schools need to be aware of and in control of. Although all forms are risky, perhaps the most life threatening among them is food allergen bullying because of the reactions that can be triggered even from smelling certain trigger foods.
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From the HR Blogosphere
Business and Operations // March 27, 2012
Blogs, forums, chat rooms, listservs—the list goes on and on. These can be valuable resources for finding alternative opinions and information about almost anything. From HR concerns to just needing a quick laugh to fuel the rest of your day, blogs can remind you that you're not alone in the all-too often chaotic world of private-independent education.
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Green Corner
Business and Operations // March 27, 2012
It’s time to start thinking about your outdoor space again. Whether you’re a home gardener or volunteer time in your school’s garden, organic gardening tips can really help boost your patch’s volume. Here are a few tips for maintaining organic beds.
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Ask Michael
Business and Operations // March 27, 2012
Q: We’re preparing for our upcoming recertification visit and are trying to tidy up our personnel files. What documents should and shouldn’t be in our personnel files?
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Planning for Retirement
Business and Operations // March 27, 2012
If lack of familiarity with financial plans or fear of becoming involved are among the reasons you avoid retirement planning, this article will give you some encouragement to help your employees and yourself plan for the future.
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Can Evaluation Really Drive Faculty (and Student) Performance?
Business and Operations // March 27, 2012
ISM recently published a new teacher evaluation model for private-independent schools. In that same vein, today’s lead article summarizes the key elements of teacher evaluation from ISM’s view. In many schools (and most other organizations, as well), performance evaluations are considered a waste of time or a meaningless bureaucratic exercise. What if evaluations could be used to actually increase performance—to help average teachers become excellent, and excellent teachers become even more outstanding? This can be achieved if the right things are being evaluated—and if the evaluation is communicated to the teacher in a way that helps them grow and develop.
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How Evaluations Can Help Prevent EPL Claims
Business and Operations // March 26, 2012
In 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 99,947 charges of employment discrimination. In any given year, as many as 25% of schools might experience an employment-related claim against their Directors and Officers/Employment Practices Liability (D&O/EPL) insurance policy. An individual claim might result in judgments of hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more.
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The Transition to Adulthood
Board of Trustees // March 22, 2012
The National Center for Education Statistics recently released its report America’s Youth: Transitions to Adulthood, which examines numerous aspects of the lives of youth and young adults, ages 14 to 24, in the United States over the last several decades. The report features status and trend data from multiple surveys on the distribution of youth and their family structure; on school-, employment-, and health-related factors; and on future plans.
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