Since the tragedy last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School, our nation’s schools and government have been discussing new policies for protecting schools. Stricter gun laws, armed guards on campus, proposed gun/shooting classes—these are circulating topics of discussion. Surely, your Board, Head, key administrators, and yourself have taken a fresh look at your school’s risk management policies over the past few weeks, comparing your school’s standards to how other schools are securing their students and faculty.

According to The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations, an employee only needs to give an employer a short and plain statement of his or her need for leave. He/she doesn’t have to mention FMLA at all when asking for extended time off. It is up to you, as Business Manager or School Head, to determine if the employee qualifies for FMLA.

It’s flu season. Sniffles, sneezes, achy head, sore muscles, fatigue, cough, chills, fever, upset stomach—a perfect storm of symptoms guaranteed to make you feel miserable. Like it’s close cousin the common cold, the flu virus comes on strong and sudden. Symptoms are similar, only when it’s the flu that has struck you, symptoms are intense and lasting—sometimes for up to three weeks.

Q: Our school is thinking about instituting a merit pay plan. How would you recommend putting this in place?

Those who are drawn to HR work in schools generally are givers by nature. This is a wonderful characteristic and should be duly celebrated. Sometimes, though, givers give to everyone else without remembering that they occasionally need to give to themselves, renewing their own energies and passions. As 2013 begins, we want to offer a few words of encouragement along these lines.

We know that part of a school leader’s job is to build up the confidence of faculty and staff—helping “set them up” for success. A recent story reminded us, though, that sometimes we also need to build up the confidence of those whom we assume are already very confident: the Head’s direct reports and other senior professionals at the school.

In this report, just released in December, we describe the results of the 2012 Re-Enrollment Survey, an instrument administered by Hanover Research on behalf of ISM. The survey, which was taken by independent schools throughout the U.S., serves as a follow-up to the National Private School Parent Survey, and is aimed at determining whether the intentions captured in the parent survey matched the “reality for schools.”

Q: What does the term “Defense Costs Outside of Limits” mean?

Admission at your school is either fixed date, rolling, or a combination of the two. Whatever your method, you are going to be sending each applicant a letter of acceptance, a deferral until some criteria is completed, a regret, or placement into the waiting pool of candidates.

Part of your job as Risk Manager (or Business Manager, or School Head) is to protect your school from lawsuits—and there are so many ways your school can be the center of a lawsuit.