As you know, Obama's new administration has been busy on many legislative fronts since taking office, some of which have directly impacted employers. Here are a few quick updates.

November recognizes International Education Week, celebrated worldwide. Your student body may include students from other countries, or your students may study abroad in one form or another. Even if your school has no international ties, incorporating IEW activities during that week will give your students a new perspective on the world. Themed "Creating a Vision for a Better Future," IEW week is designed to prepare Americans to live, work, and compete in the global economy.

This one's especially for those of you in the upper division. Let's say that you don't get enough drama around college applications and acceptances in your day-to-day working life. Someone out there in TV world has your back.

The Employee Free Choice Act is a bill that is being given serious consideration in Congress this summer. What does this mean exactly? Well, while the HR world is abuzz with discussion of the pending EFCA legislation, very little has been heard of this in the private-school world.

We've made it through the holidays and into a new year—it's 2009! What's a better way to start off the New Year but with a plan to release tension in the office? Are you thinking, "easier said than done?"

It's the dead of winter, and unless you're one of the lucky ones living in the southern states, you're lacking some sunlight—and warmth. Decreased sunlight can lead to what's become commonly known as SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. Not to be confused with cabin fever, SAD is more serious.

We all want to deliver a positive, insightful, motivating welcome back, lets-go-get-them employee speech. However, you might be wondering how it's possible to be positive when your staff and faculty are going to have to embrace salary freezes, salary cuts, layoffs, new working hours, 403b match reductions, and benefit cuts this year.

Now is the time to buckle down and get serious about finances. Experts predict that 2009 will offer little relief to our suffering economy, as no rebound is assumed to happen until 2010—2011 more likely. So, with no easy-to-swallow antidote in sight to aid our sore pockets, it's in our hands to cushion our own accounts.

If you're looking for a health article to add to your newsletter, updating parents on the ongoing controversy surrounding Gardasil could be a perfect topic. Since 2006, Gardasil has been at the center of a controversy. Commercials on TV tell us it's a miracle drug, yet the Internet tells us it comes with risks. Giving our kids a vaccine that protects against cancer would seem to be a "YES!", but knowing all the facts is important before beginning the series of Gardasil vaccines.

Many schools have an "Acceptable Use of the Internet" policy published in their employee handbooks—which we absolutely recommend, for the protection of the school and its employees. However, unless your HR policies are on the cutting edge (and kudos to you if they are!), the "acceptable use" policy probably doesn't mention social networking (like use of MySpace, Facebook, etc., by teachers and administrators). The question arises, "Should we? Is it any of the school's business what employees do on their personal time online?"