Every business enterprise, whether nonprofit or for-profit, has a basic responsibility to attend to sustainability. Businesses establish a mission to serve their clientele, whether shareholders or stakeholders, with the intention of being successful for the long term. However, in the private-independent school sector, sustainability and the discussions around this topic have become increasingly focused on a misplaced concern. Conversations about sustainability often begin from the following premise—“Our tuitions have outpaced inflation for years. If we do not address this, the numbers suggest that our schools may not be sustainable.” ISM believes that addressing the sustainability issue in this manner leads to well-intentioned but wrong conclusions.

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Rather like the Finance Committee, it is hard to imagine a school that would not have a Buildings and Grounds Committee. Its role is complementary to the Finance Committee, caring for the current facility (including grounds) and planning for the facility’s development, reinvention, and sometimes expansion into the future. A metric in the Fourth Iteration of the ISM Stability Markers® (Stability Marker K, “Quality of Facilities,” and Marker L,1 “Master Property/Facilities Plan”) provides the role of the Buildings and Grounds Committee. This article will fully articulate what that metric includes.

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In the first article of this series, we outlined the conceptual shift of taking summer program from an extrinsic activity, only marginally important to the school, to an intrinsic activity that is central to the school’s mission. In this article, we outline some key questions from the upper school student’s point of view. The principal objection to the third semester has nothing to do with organization, faculty, money, or facilities. Rather, the principal objection is voiced by the student: I can’t imagine doing in the third semester what I’ve been doing all year. A third “semester” cannot be successful if the other two semesters are not considered—by the students themselves—as being of high value, entertaining, inspirational, and engaging.

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This is the third article in a three-part series on collecting and using data to assess your school and advance your school’s strategic initiatives. The first article dealt with building a “culture of data” in your school. The second outlined best practices for launching a successful survey initiative—from choice and design of the surveys to timing and implementation strategies. This article examines proper analysis and use of the data you have collected. While this is the last step chronologically, it is far from least. Data misinterpreted or misused can be more detrimental than no data at all, with consequences ranging from divisiveness within a faculty to expensive and misguided decisions to dramatic public relations issues with legal ramifications. These consequences are not unusual or hypothetical; this article is the response to a need presented to ISM by schools that have faced exactly these problems.

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A school refused to renew a teacher’s contract. She sued, claiming retaliation because of her participation in an earlier Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) discrimination charge against the school by another employee. She claimed a failure to promote or transfer her position, harassment, and emotional distress. The school lost its Motion for Summary Judgment. The litigation was settled after about three years for $125,000, with another $106,000 spent in Costs of Defense. A school terminated a third-grade teacher after a family, a large donor, threatened to withdraw their daughter if the teacher was not fired. The claimant had taught at the school for 12 years without incident. Although the school denied any wrongdoing, there was little documentation to support the claimant’s termination. To avoid costly litigation, the school settled this matter for $200,000

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There has been a raging battle over the past three decades around the kind of schedule that best benefits students. This has, generally speaking, taken two sides. On one side are those who have hewn to a “traditional” schedule of seven 40-minute periods a day, with every class meeting every day for the entire year.1 On the other side are those who have embraced what is known as the “block” schedule. This has many variations. In its pure form, it is structured as four 90-minute periods a day with each class meeting daily for a semester. The classes then change and the format is repeated.2 The following table delineates the major technical differences between these two types of schedule.

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In a recent article on endowment, we wrote: “Endowment is no panacea for poor governance, overreaching debt, or an unwillingness to charge what it costs. However, in a school that is mature in its governance and operations, endowment will be a powerful aid to enhance the school’s ability to deliver its mission.” While the optimum gift is unrestricted, many donors are inspired to donate in support of faculty excellence, thus directing their gift for a specific purpose. Setting up such an endowment is not quite as simple as just putting money in the bank. The following suggestions for both organization and intent are meant to provide guidance and to stimulate your own thinking. All boxed comments are illustrative only.

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Most private-independent schools now run some form of summer program. As more schools move toward year-round schooling, ISM makes the argument that the summer program can represent any school’s third semester. This, the first article in a series, lays out the broad framework for this position. Following articles will focus on how this concept affects upper school students, lower and middle school students, and your school’s finances and administration.

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As the School Head, you know communication with parents is essential. However, you’ve questioned whether that continuous stream of mailings your school sends home is really doing the job—especially considering the time and expense involved. Parents may receive daily information from the school, especially if they have children in more than one division. There’s the e-letter and the calendar, updates on the school website, notices from the Parent Association, the annual fund solicitation, letters and emails from teachers, and notes from Division Heads and even from you. Parents quickly become overwhelmed!

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Parental cooperation and support have always been critical aspects of school culture in private-independent schools. Today’s parents are involved and vocal—both of which can be positive qualities. But what do you do when a parent consistently refuses to follow the rules? Makes excessive demands? Stirs up discontent or behaves inappropriately? Let’s explore ways that you, as School Head, can proactively manage problematic parents

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