ISM has long written about the key role that healthy faculty cultures play in the long-term success of a school. One aspect of faculty cultures that administrators need to examine is the level of trust between teachers and administrators, as well as trust among all teachers. One simple but powerful way of assessing the state of your culture regarding trust issues is by using a continuum chart, which we’ve drawn in informal fashion below.

Q: We have a number of faculty members who have been advocating for us to move to a merit-pay program. The Board is also encouraging us to move quickly in that direction. How long does it take to implement a merit-pay system effectively?

All too frequently, the Board urges the School Head to root out weakness and develop an “ideal” faculty, and then drifts away when the Head makes a difficult, unpopular, but necessary decision. Without Board support, the Head fights a lonely battle.

What you hear through your school’s “whisper down the lane” network may give you an incomplete, exaggerated, or just plain inaccurate picture of what the school community is thinking. While murmurings may tip you off to a potential problem, need, or strength, the opinions of the loudest parents are not necessarily shared by the majority.

When was the last time you looked at the Financial Aid line on your budget? I mean, really looked. Financial Aid seems like a stepchild in school finance circles— too big to ignore, and yet, because its inner workings are carried on behind closed doors to protect the identity of families, never really brought out into the light of day and really talked about. And it IS too big to ignore.

The last thing on your mind as the school year kicks into high gear is your benefits package. Your contracts are signed, excitement is at its peak, and all systems are go. However, now is one of the best times to start thinking about your employee benefits and perhaps consider a change.

School lunches are once again a topic of discussion. Beyond the vending machine arguments, the sugar wars, and the heated debates about healthier lunch options is a new motion—milk cartons. An anti-cheese group claims that the real culprit for childhood weight worries is the standard serving of milk that is traditionally offered with school lunches.

Among all the back-to-school commotion are always ideas on how to keep this year’s costs as manageable as possible. Suggestions come pouring in from your Head, teachers, parents, and most likely even your Board. While technology brings benefits to your students, it comes at a cost—an extremely high cost for some.

In the seven decades following its 1923 establishment, Glassboro State College in South New Jersey was essentially the teachers' college for the area. A solid, growing college for many locals and in-staters, it was best known for hosting the historic summit between President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in 1967.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy just published an interactive online tool to show you how America gives its money to organizations.