Winter break is a time to recharge your battery, as well as reconnect with family and friends. But, how many times do you and your faculty come back feeling down and discouraged? January hits like a dump truck and everyone’s enthusiasm is as flat as week-old champagne sitting in those glasses you still haven’t cleaned. While others daydream of their immediate vacation plans, you as Division Head should make plans now to counter the seasonal malaise.

The New Year is right around the corner. For some of us, it's a time to reflect and make changes within ourselves for our greater good. As a School Head, your role is to lead your leaders to excellence. It’s a term you’ve probably heard more than once, especially if you’re an avid ISM reader. The phrase carries more weight than you may think. It’s not about simply being able to direct, or appointing tasks, or having perfected communication skills. It’s about being a mentor.

This time last year, the education community was rattled by violence that swept through Newtown, Connecticut. Our televisions broke through regular programming to bring us live coverage of an enfolding tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. For days, new reports continuously scrolled through the photos of 20 innocent children who wouldn’t be celebrating the holiday season, as sobering music conflicted with joyful commercials announcing last day sales. On December 14, 2012, the holiday season stopped—everything stopped—as the world watched the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The holidays bring many of us closer. It’s a time to celebrate, unite, and reflect regardless what faith or nationality you are. However, the season isn’t bright for all of us. The season can also force us to face or remember loved ones lost, hard times, and difficult moments. If you find yourself slipping into depression this time of year, here are some techniques that might help you push through the season.

Q: I have to terminate an employee; what is the best way to do that?

Managing your school risk includes keeping on top bullying trends, legal cases, and, of course, your school’s personal incidents. Certainly, as the holidays near, it’s not a topic many of us want to sink into when we’d rather be celebrating the joy that the season brings. But, perhaps a recent court ruling will also shed some hope and light—U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadmueller recently decided in favor of a private school, stating, “our greater attention to bullying must also develop a more refined definition.”

Technology has given us the ability to take our electronic textbooks on the go. As we travel from here to there, so can our studies. And, certainly textbook publishing companies and Apple continue to push the transition from paper to electronic devices for schools and universities. But, we must stop and ask how electronic reading is impacting comprehension.

When it comes to the annual fund campaign, it is essential that Trustees not only set a strong example, but that they lead by example. As donors, their participation level must be 100%. They are viewed as “insiders” by your school’s constituent groups—if they don’t provide enthusiastic support, why should anyone else?

The demands on a Board President are considerable, and the second-in-command can do much more than stand ready to take the reins in the President’s absence. Other than waiting in the wings to assume the President’s position when absent or disabled, what tasks logically fall into the Vice President’s purview?

Your phone rings, and it’s an outraged parent on the other line, demanding to know why they’ve received a request to make a gift to the Annual Fund. “I just paid the tuition bill for this semester!” they say. “How could you ask me to give even more! It’s the holidays, and money’s so tight right now. I don’t know if I can give gifts for my family this year, let alone the school!”