Red Flags on Résumés

Business and Operations // November 20, 2015

We’ll be coming into hiring season before too long, which means you’ll be inundated with resumes to fill vacant faculty, staff, and administrative positions. While it’s hard to gauge a candidate based on a piece of paper, a résumé can tell you a lot about a candidate. Here are some potential “red flags” on résumés so you can be aware of potential warning signs that a particular candidate might not be the best fit for your vacant position.

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Unleash Your Inner Monster: An Interview With Katie Johnson, Founder of the Monster Project

Academic Leadership // November 19, 2015

Source readers, we’d like to introduce you to Katie Johnson. By day, she’s an art director from Austin, Texas. By night, she’s the founder and CEO of the Monster Project. Her organization fosters imaginative play by sending student-created drawings of monsters to professional designers all over the world. These designers then create their own versions of the students’ prototypes and return them to the schools, so students can see how their monsters—and their own creativity—can “grow up.”

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Grading Your Report Card Communication

Academic Leadership // November 19, 2015

Report cards: One of the few things that parents are guaranteed to read. It’s a unique opportunity for your teachers to communicate—clearly and authentically—with both students and families. This semester, evaluate your students with more than a letter grade or a percentage; it’s time for teachers to tell families what they really need to know.

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The Importance of Attending Board Meetings

Board of Trustees // November 18, 2015

As a Trustee, you are expected to carry out your due diligence roles—particularly when it comes to Board meetings. In your service to the school, your participation in Board functions is imperative. The Board acts as an entity, not as a collection of individuals. Your attendance and participation are vital to the success of the Board and its actions.

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Emerging Technologies in Schools

Board of Trustees // November 18, 2015

Private-independent schools must always consider how technology can be best used in the classroom. Your Board, controlling the purse strings through the strategic financial plan, must be mindful of the school’s needs concerning emerging technologies.In a competitive landscape, parents often consider how a school integrates computers and other learning technologies for their children. You don’t want your school to be perceived as “antiquated.”

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Mailing Lists Are Money Sinks

Advancement // November 16, 2015

Electronic communications make reaching potential students and their families as simple as pressing the “send” button. To do that, however, you need email addresses, which can be time consuming to collect when you have to advertise your upcoming enrollment events next week. The temptation to purchase the emails of likely local prospects is like a siren call, luring you to trade your budget dollars for easy access to information—but they’re not worth your time or money. Why? Well, we’ve got a few reasons for you.

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Three Reasons Your Faculty and Staff Need to Be on Social Media

Advancement // November 16, 2015

If you’re a follower of social media trends, you know that the more “authentic” a post sounds, the greater a response it will generate from your audience. “Natural” voices help foster relationships and prevent readers from feeling like you're selling something instead of engaging them in conversation. One of the best ways to unleash your school’s “authentic” and “natural” voice is to encourage your faculty and staff to post about your school on their personal social media profiles.

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Can Employee Assistant Programs (EAPs) Combat Drug Addictions?

Business and Operations // November 3, 2015

There is a new type of drug user entering corporate (and non-profit) America, reshaping the image of addiction: abusers of prescription medications. Drug screening, clear and updated employee handbooks outlining policies on substance abuse, background checks, and criminal records are tools for reducing risks to your school. However, these tools and methods for protecting your school and your students aren’t enough to combat the growing number of people addicted to prescription medications. Researchers are urging companies to remember the positive impact Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) programs can have.

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Wellness Programs, the ACA, and EEOC

Business and Operations // November 3, 2015

October is a great month to think about your personal and school’s health. It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, World Blindness Awareness Month, and Bullying Prevention Month. It’s also National Financial Planning Month. And, as you probably know, it’s nearly impossible to think about health prevention without also thinking about your—and your school’s—bottom line. Wellness programs are known to help reduce a school’s health insurance costs. They can be designed to work in several ways that match your mission and reflect your values. However, if your school offers a wellness program either in connection with your health insurance or as a stand-alone program, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have implemented rules about your program—and the regulations depend on the type of plan you offer.

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Ask ISM’s Risk Manager

Business and Operations // November 3, 2015

Q: Can you share some information that may help clarify the need for a claim form when it comes to International Student Accident Insurance? We have a student covered by an accident and sickness plan, and he has been asked to submit a claim form for a doctor visit due to an illness.

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