Despite decades of campaigns to promote female engineers, computer scientists, and role models like Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer or former Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker, women are still underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions. A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that the tendency for women to avoid these careers may be due to unintentional teacher bias during their early school years.

Everyone likes a rags-to-riches story, but one small community in Vermont was stunned to learn of the wealth Ronald Read, a gas station attendant and janitor, had amassed during his lifetime—and left to the local library and hospital. When he passed away last June, his attorney discovered stock certificates ultimately worth $8 million in Read’s safety deposit box, ready for dispersal between his kin and community. While the story is sensational, it serves as a reminder to cater to all the “Ronald Reads” in school communities. You never know where your next legacy gift is coming from, and it could be from someone as seemingly humble as the janitor whose nephew attends your school.

Consistent communication with donors keeps them coming back to your school with the necessary funds to pay for improvements. But, as one non-profit fundraising expert discovered, organizations like your non-profit private school often lack follow-through with online donors—losing out on future donation opportunities.

In a recent poll on our Admission Director’s e-List, schools discussed their rationale for having (or forsaking) sibling discounts. A myriad of options were presented, running the gamut from capped tuition or percentage discounts to none at all. We’d like to take a moment to share some perspectives on the situation, based on what participants have contributed.

It’s that time of year again: re-enrollment. Images of you chasing tardy families down the street waving paper contracts might spring to mind. The struggle to underscore the importance of deadlines to your school community—only for them to tell you that they didn’t know the deadline and its importance!—may haunt your dreams. To avoid these night terrors, try these communication strategies to encourage your parents to enroll on time. Ranging from gentle reminders to downright entertaining videos, we’ve got a solution for just about every school.

Schools, both private and public, are beginning to adopt drug testing policies. After all, the theory goes, the chances of getting caught rise tremendously with such policy, thus acting as a deterrent for regular drug use. If your school decides to implement its own drug testing policy, there are a lot of "moving parts" to consider—from communicating with the school community and avoiding potential discrimination suits, all the way to coordinating testing efforts and selecting vendors. One of those "parts" is the test itself. While the urine drug test predominates school drug-testing conversation, there are other options available, depending on what you want to accomplish—and what you want to spend.

Q: Our school offers medical insurance to full-time staff. Several staff members have opted to stay on their spouses' insurance and are reimbursed, up to the cost of school provided insurance. The employees who chose this option are happy, and our school has been pleased with the significant savings as well. However, we were informed during a recent audit that this practice is neither legal nor in compliance with the ACA. We were also told we cannot give raises to offset the cost of the insurance, if the raise is directly tied to insurance—a practice we have done for years! What do these practices have to do with mandated employee health benefits and the ACA?

Over the past year, we’ve written on a range of topics, from navigating compliance issues to handling awkward conversations—and we’ll be sure to cover more hot topics in the year to come. Before we move on, though, let’s look back at articles from our top-read editions of the Business Manager e-Letter in 2014.

Over the past year, we’ve written about everything from handling criticism and crafting job descriptions to the dangerous ways students try to get high—and we’ll be sure to cover more hot topics in the year to come. Before we move on, though, let's look back to the top-read articles in the School Head e-Letter over the past year.

Deciding to cancel school for a snow day remains one of the most public and potentially contentious decisions a School Head can make. After all, parents, faculty, and staff alike can play armchair-Head and declare what they would (or would not) have done in your place with the clear vision of hindsight. Your school community's safety lies in your hands during bad weather. At the same time, as Head, you don't want to force parents to scramble to arrange child care for no reason. How, then, can you determine whether you should cancel school for wicked winter weather?