Salary alone is not enough to attract and retain a quality faculty. When looking for jobs today, teachers have expectations about benefits. While health coverage is the most costly of all the benefits your school may offer, it is critical for the recruitment and retention of valued faculty.

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Everyone — especially those of us who have spent any time in New Orleans and the Gulf region — is distressed by the soul-wrenching pictures and almost surreal stories emanating from the region devastated by hurricane Katrina. Many issues are now being debated concerning how relief efforts could have been enhanced, what could have been done to prevent the massive losses, and how disaster policies and actions can be improved in the future. The key question is: What can we learn from Katrina?

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The School Head, Heads of the middle and upper divisions, and the school’s advisers have impressions about the success of your advisory program. These impressions may be based on how engaged students have been in group activities or on how committed teachers are performing their one-to-one guidance roles as advisers. Impressions do not, however, constitute adequate assessment of any important program or service at your school.

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In 2002, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) as its response to the financial and accounting scandals at several large, publicly traded companies. Its primary purpose is to protect investors by ensuring that financial statements are accurate, that Directors and Officers have no conflicts of interest, and that each Board actively works to fulfill its oversight role. SOX also includes provisions spelling out the rules surrounding document alteration and destruction, auditor independence, Audit Committee requirements, and, notably, how Executive Officers and Directors should conduct themselves as they lead their publicly traded companies.

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As you develop or enhance your disaster plan, take time to review your insurance policy with your agent to ensure that your school is adequately covered, beyond your basic flood and fire insurance, for any type of disaster or emergency situation. Coverage in the following areas is often far less than recommended, or may even be excluded, in typical policies. To determine if your risk factors are high in any of these areas, discuss them with your agent and consider increasing your coverage or adding riders if necessary.

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It’s hard enough to get people to agree to change something they’ve been doing for a long time. It’s even worse when—instead of saving time, money, and energy—a plan you, as School Head, had anticipated would truly enhance your school begins to turn into what looks like a nightmare. Those who were originally opposed say, “I told you so!” The doubters begin to head for the “winning” side. Those who were with you begin to hedge their bets. Even your greatest ally wants to have a “deep” conversation with you.

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ISM introduced the Stability Markers™. While some Boards may be relatively new to these variables and their planning implications, many others may be experiencing factors that may contribute to the Stability Markers being under-valued or even dismissed. The outcome of these factors over time is “Stability Marker fatigue,” a chronic condition that can usurp Board culture and contribute to institutional health problems down the road.

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In early fall of the 2004-05 school year, ISM conducted a study of School Head leadership to determine those characteristics most closely associated with strong faculty cultures (the criterion variable in the study). That variable—the faculty culture—had been chosen as the study’s anchor in view of two earlier ISM studies.

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I have encountered numerous Trustees in recent years whose viewpoint on the School Head’s role can be summarized succinctly. The Head is to carry out the “vision” of the institution—usually an abstract list of descriptors, rather than a strategic plan—as developed and promulgated by the Board. Central to the Head’s fulfillment of this vision are, first, hiring—and especially firing—faculty and staff, and, second, raising all the money needed to address the physical components of the Board’s vision.

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Many private-independent schools, especially those without high schools, find themselves on small parcels of land with little hope of purchasing contiguous acreage. Their leaders, searching for additional classroom space and buildings, are often staggered by the costs of buying land for a completely new (or second) campus. They are financially and emotionally defeated by the apparent alternative: relocating the school for a year or more, razing the buildings, and then returning to a campus that is fresh, exciting, and more functional.

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