Interdivisional Idiosyncrasies (Or, Your Division Is Not the Center of the Universe)

Academic Leadership // January 4, 2016

It’s easy to get caught up in the details and duties of your own division. Faculty meetings, evaluation and coaching, professional development, and perennial "fires" all demand your attention. But when you’re one Division Head of several in a multidivision school, you have to think beyond your own area. You must understand how your particular “cog” turns in the overall “machine” of the school, and how your students’ needs change as they age.

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The Caveats of Private School Vouchers

Board of Trustees // December 30, 2015

Some private schools today, looking for ways to alleviate budget demands, have turned to government vouchers to supplement tuitions. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice found that Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin are currently the top states in which private schools are accepting vouchers; 27 states have some variation of vouchers. Catholic schools serving inner-city and low-income neighborhoods comprise most of private schools participating in voucher programs.

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Board-Level Diversity

Board of Trustees // December 30, 2015

Start your school’s diversity efforts at the Board level. Here, diversity can be addressed without the kind of direct costs usually associated with achieving socioeconomic or socioethnic diversity in your student body, or diversity in your administration, faculty, and staff. As Board President, your starting point is in your planning document, every iteration of which should call for a Board profile to be developed to fit the strategic or long range plan. Open the way for a Board discussion of diversity, even for a broad topic like “Increase the socioeconomic and socioethnic diversity on the Board of Trustees.”

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Three Writing Tips for Your “Head’s Column”

School Heads // December 28, 2015

Your school’s newsletter is a powerful internal marketing tool, in addition to being an ongoing source of vital information for the school community. As such, you can work to guide casual conversations through your “Head’s Column”—the portion of your school’s newsletter in which you can talk as School Head about important topics that directly impact the school. Writing such a column on a monthly (or even bimonthly) basis can feel daunting, but take a deep breath. We have three things you can do that will immediately improve the column—and your community's response to it.

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Busting the Winter Blues for Administrators, Faculty, and Students

School Heads // December 28, 2015

The midyear doldrums will strike your school in the post-holiday haze, dragging at the school community as everyone gets back into the regular schedule. That’s not to mention the temporary onset of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), triggered by the waning daylight hours and plunging temperatures of winter. Re-inspire your students, teachers, and fellow administrators through these winter blues busters!

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Bethany Academy Offers Half-Off Tuition for Top Fundraising Family

Advancement // December 22, 2015

It was a once-in-a-lifetime shot, and Bethany Academy mother Angela Ramey couldn’t have had a better time to make it. Standing in the middle of the gymnasium, dwarfed by towers of boxes packaged for needy families to enjoy a hearty holiday meal and surrounded by cheering students and parents, Angela and her daughter Grace pump themselves up for the opportunity to halve their 2016-2017 tuition bill.

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“Text URSCHOOL to Give!” —Evaluating Mobile Donation Opportunities

Advancement // December 22, 2015

Everyone seems to be glued to portable screens these days, whether that’s a phone, tablet, or some other newfangled device that blinks and buzzes and glows at its porters. Considering this newfound attachment to cellular devices, some schools on our Development e-List have wondered whether text-to-give programs could (or should) be integrated into their general fundraising programs. We’ve compiled a list of benefits and disadvantages to consider when looking at your constituents’ phones as a gateway to their wallets.

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Six Midyear Parent Survey Tips

Advancement // December 21, 2015

It’s the holiday season once more. Family and faculty alike have had a semester to settle into the rhythms of academia, and you have a small breather between semesters. Still, it’s not quite time to relax before the new (calendar) year begins. Now is the perfect time to receive feedback through surveys from parents on your school’s processes to improve your funnel for next year’s recruits while retaining current students. Before you ask your parents the first questions that come to mind, however, let's take a deep breath and plan ahead to avoid possible roadblocks.

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Facebook Dumps Private School Reviews (Temporarily)

Advancement // December 21, 2015

Take a moment to look at your school’s Facebook fan page. There's probably a banner picture of smiling students. Your school’s general updates and accolades fill the feed, exciting prospective parents at the possibilities your academic program could offer for their child. Is anything missing? Well, not anymore. For the space of about a week, Facebook completely erased reviews for private schools before mysteriously reinstating them.

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LinkedIn for Administrators, Part Four: Genuine Connections

Private School News // December 15, 2015

In light of last month’s connection-spam lawsuit, we thought it’d be wise to talk about how to connect with new professional contacts on LinkedIn. After all, the point of social media is to be, well, social, which involves introducing yourself to new people and starting conversations. Today, we’ll discuss the top three unwritten rules of “connection invitations” over LinkedIn.

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