There is much concern, at the Board and management level, over the increasing cost of financial aid.* Yearly, it seems, this budget line item (whether you recognize it as contra revenue or an expense) increases. But an increase in that line item does not necessarily mean the financial aid is costing your school more. A better way to think about the true cost of financial aid is to understand the concept of net tuition revenue per student.

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Schedule reform is becoming one of the most important and adaptive strategies that academic administrators can lead and support—it has the capacity to shift student and faculty cultures in a dramatic and immediate way. ISM has always called for the schedule to be re-examined every eight years, but recently suggested that, with the increased strategic importance of the schedule, School Heads “require, fully engage in, and support schedule review every four years and have a standing faculty committee that continues to review the ongoing research and practice in schedule, student performance, and healthy faculty cultures.”1

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One of the second-tier markers of the ISM Stability Markers™ is to have mature and effective internal marketing strategies.1 The value of effective internal marketing is accepted by all in independent schools. Satisfied families will re-enroll their children year after year because the school has validated for them the quality and mission fit of the education their children are receiving. In addition, informed parents provide an independent school with an excellent “sales force” to spread the word about the school to potential families.

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More and more, government agencies, businesses your school deals with, parents, and major donors are asking to see your business continuation plan (BCP)—or at least questioning if you have such a plan. The BCP, simply stated, answers the question: “How can our school remain in business—or re-open as quickly as possible—if a crisis or catastrophe forces us to close our campus?” Without a business continuation plan, your school could face business interruption, which can lead to lost income, damaged reputation, added expense, and, if serious enough, the closing of your school.

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Recently, I&P published an article about internal marketing for your summer program. The following article shares effective ideas for external marketing of your program. The targets of your external marketing are families who have not enrolled students in your summer program in the last two years—whether the students are enrolled in your school during the academic year or not.

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ISM has written extensively on the subject of the Head Support and Evaluation Committee (HSEC), including an article that provided a lengthy checklist. But the nuances of this committee’s functions can escape even the longest lists, and ISM here provides further commentary and examples on this critical topic. The HSEC serves as the linking unit between governance and operations. Its composition, thus, should include a small number—often two or three—of management-savvy individuals,1 each of whom (a) has the institution’s long-term, mission-specific success as her/his only agenda, coming into the role; (b) has no predetermined (other) special agendas, no axes to grind, no hearsay-based “fixes” to impose on the School Head; and (c) has a dispassionate relationship with the Head (not too close, and certainly not adversarial).

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Paid time off (e.g., sick, vacation, personal time) is an important element of a school’s overall compensation and benefits program.1 As a robust employee benefits and compensation program is one of ISM’s Stability Markers®, ISM encourages schools to be as generous in this area as financially possible. However, some schools extend this generosity in the form of paid leave “banks” in a way that creates risk for the school. This article examines those risks and proposes alternate paths to reach the same desired end—that is, attending to employee needs in a way that is compassionate but also significantly less risky.

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Recently, ISM had the privilege of sharing some of its risk management ideas with over 100 school administrators. In our discussions, it quickly became clear that many well-intentioned schools have neither a comprehensive crisis plan nor a business continuation plan. The former is required by law in some states (and represents good stewardship and the “right thing to do”); the latter, simply good business practice. This I&P article outlines an appropriate crisis plan for private-independent schools. A future article will target the business continuation plan.

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ISM has published before on athletics and character development, including an athletics checklist for schools to employ. However, there seems to be a changed environment for athletics, certainly in the United States. Some schools seem to be getting to the point in secondary athletics (with its trickle-down impact in middle school) where they must make a decision regarding this question: To what extent are we going to allow our school to be driven off course (off mission) to meet the perceived competitive needs of our own and the next (college) level? Just as some schools are (appropriately) moving away from a mass curriculum/testing version of education encapsulated in Advanced Placement,1 so ISM believes that schools need to think carefully about their obeisance to college athletic pressures and focus on their own school cultures.

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One of your most vital tasks as School Head is to supervise your school’s operations. All of your school’s constituencies expect a consistent level of excellence in all the programs and functions. However, while you are responsible for these operational tasks, you are not responsible for actually performing them. Joining you is your Management Team—the deputies to whom you have delegated supervision of various portions of the day-to-day programs and functions. However, always keep in mind that you must hold your deputies accountable for performing their tasks, and that ultimately it is your duty to evaluate them accordingly.

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