As the school year winds down, the question often arises, "When should we end health insurance coverage for faculty who aren't returning next year?" The answer depends on what is written in your contract with the insurance carrier as well as how your employment contracts are structured.

Since the fall, we've written a good amount about social media and school policies. In fact, we even released a storybook and postcard series alerting schools to the risks of using social media to screen applicants—which seems to be the latest fad in the HR world—Risk #86: Curiosity Sued the School. But, just as there are risks associated with social media, there are tons of positives, too. Let's weigh a few of the pros and cons again as a refresher before summer sweeps our focused thoughts under the shade.

The suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince—attributed to relentless, vicious bullying by a group of fellow students—has once again put an exclamation point on a problem that is rampant with youth today. In the Prince case, the community has been torn apart—citizens demanding justice for Phoebe, the police attempting to conduct a thorough investigation while they simmered, indictments for the alleged bullies, parents being charged, and fingers pointed at the high school's faculty and staff who knew of the bullying.

Just a big iPod Touch. Just a big iPhone. Just a big gaming device. And that name. You are probably hearing all these things about the latest release from Apple, the iPad—the company's new e-tablet. But just walk into an Apple retail store (if you can manage to get in—even at the height of the recession, the place was always mobbed), wait your turn, and then belly up to one of the dozen or more iPads on display.

Q: We issue contracts to all faculty members and some (but not all) administrators and staff. We're thinking of eliminating contracts for administrators. What issues does this raise?

Let's come out and say this first—text messaging is NOT the root of all evil. And, it's certainly not the only reason why teens are sleep deprived. It is, however, a major contributor to the issue. Teens need an average of nine hours of sleep each night. However, if you take into consideration all the activities, homework, chores, and social networking "required" of the average teenager, that hardly leaves six hours dedicated to sleep, let alone the recommended nine hours.

As school is already out for the summer in some parts of the country (and rapidly wrapping up in most other regions), we wanted to offer a "Top 12" list of tips and "action items" to help you enhance your HR practices this summer. We'll present the first six in this edition and the final six in next month's e-Letter before taking a break for the summer.

If an application for a new student with same-sex parents came across your desk, would it affect your decision on whether or not to admit the child? A private Catholic school in Hingham, MA, is currently dealing with this sensitive issue—and the school administrators are finding themselves at the center of a heated local debate.

In the Spring 2010 edition of Independent School, NAIS writes persuasively and interestingly in the article, "A Game-Changing Model for Financially Sustainable Schools." ISM has written a commentary that agrees that the "game changer" will be seen within the finances of schools; however, ISM argues that finances are the wrong focus for understanding what the change is.

Just a big iPod Touch. Just a big iPhone. Just a big gaming device. And that name. You are probably hearing all these things about the latest release from Apple, the iPad—the company's new e-tablet. But just walk into an Apple retail store (if you can manage to get in—even at the height of the recession, the place was always mobbed), wait your turn, and then belly up to one of the dozen or more iPads on display.