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Business and Operations // September 27, 2016

Q. As I began preparing paperwork for the new school year, I noticed that our school has two employees who will be turning 65—and so become newly eligible for Medicare. Is there anything that the school needs to do?

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5 Strategic Planning Detours You Must Avoid

Board of Trustees // September 27, 2016

When in the process of strategic planning for your school, you want to continue the favorable growth of your school. In conducting this session, however, don’t allow the momentum of understandably favorable feelings to sidetrack your process from a truly strategic path.

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Don’t Let Your D&O Lapse!

Board of Trustees // September 27, 2016

Although private-independent schools rarely lack D&O insurance, it is prudent to be aware of your insurance’s cost, limits of coverage, policy specifics, retroactive date and exclusions—and, of course, its renewal deadline.

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Setting Up An Effective Mentor Program

Business and Operations // September 27, 2016

With the start of a fresh school year comes the opportunity to incorporate new programs and incentives for your faculty and staff. If your culture doesn’t already incorporate a mentoring program, we strongly encourage you take advantage of the new academic year to instill one. The benefits greatly outweigh the pains of initiation.

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Announcing a Tuition Increase: Write a Benefit-Based Letter

School Heads // September 21, 2016

Typically, those involved in setting and announcing tuitions fear that parents will complain and rebel at any increase. Will you lose families? Will there be angry telephone calls and demands for meetings? Will there be negative feedback on social media? You need not worry if you plan your announcement in a way that highlights your reasonable cause for raising tuition—the benefits for the students.

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4 Tips for Monitoring Your School’s Messages

School Heads // September 21, 2016

Paid advertising, social media sites, newsletters (emailed or printed), admission packets, banners hung around campus, posters throughout your hallways, your marquee—all of these are just a few examples of how your school communicates with its families and community as a whole. Your school’s story—what truly makes your school special—should be incorporated into most, if not all, of your school’s communications.

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3 Ways to Effectively Communicate Your Student Handbook

Academic Leadership // September 19, 2016

Student handbooks contain all the policies, rules, and regulations that outline expectations for everyone at your school. However, they’re often notoriously dry documents that can be dismissed by folks not paying attention. Sure, you can send home a “contract” stating that the student (and his or her parents) have read the handbook and will abide by the policies, but that’s hardly a guarantee of painstaking attention to every detail. So for our September 2016 issue of The Source for Academic Leadership, let’s take a moment or two to discuss your school’s plan for policy dissemination to your students.

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The Advising Role in Your Faculty Hiring Process

Academic Leadership // September 15, 2016

For a comprehensive approach to the faculty hiring process, include the advising role you require of your middle- and upper-school teachers. Your advisory program and advising role(s) should be not merely included but also highlighted in the process. Candidates should walk away from their campus visits with a clear sense of the role, some understanding of how it supports school mission, and, ideally, some enthusiasm for taking it on. Failure to inform (even inspire) prospective teachers in this way implicitly undermines, from the outset, a sense that the role is taken seriously at your school.

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The Potential of Pokémon Go

Advancement // September 14, 2016

In the last issue of The Source for Private School News, we discussed the impact that the new mobile game Pokémon Go may have on the private-independent school community. The Admission Office, in particular, could leverage the gaming sensation to great benefit during its recruitment sessions this fall.

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Remind Donors of What They Accomplish: An Ice Bucket Challenge Update

Advancement // September 14, 2016

Two years ago, The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association ran an extremely successful fundraiser that encouraged people to donate to their organization, film themselves dumping buckets of water on their heads, and challenge others to do the same. We wrote about the lessons to be taken away from the viral episode and filed it away as a one-and-done subject. We were wrong to dismiss it so easily, as The ALS Association beautifully leveraged their previous success to offer those of us in the development world another great lesson: Remind your donors what their sacrifices have accomplished, and so grow the relationship.

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