The school year has ended, summer program is rolling, and the Board needs time to revamp some policies. Where and when is the question! Now is the time to plan and finalize your Board’s annual retreat. It is suitable to hold the retreat at the beginning of the academic year so Board members have new policies in mind and are fresh for the new school year. It gives the returning members a chance to remind themselves about the important business of the Board. It is also a time to continue the orientation of the new members appointed the previous spring.

Students aren’t the only ones who should take advantage of the summer break and dive into a few good books. Blogs across the Web agree it’s the perfect season for both pleasure reading and professional development. Articles have been popping up with suggestions (even Pinterest pages!), so we’ve done a little research and selected a few we think our readers would find most useful for their betterment in the private-independent school world.

Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Health Care Reform Act—heard enough yet? Confused? Join a very large club!

There is nothing scarier than approaching retirement with uncertainty. You might have experienced this anxiety from retiring employees inquiring about their available 401K funds, or perhaps even on a personal level as you approach retirement and find yourself uncertain about how you will support yourself on limited income. To give workers a better sense of what their nest egg might look like, the U.S. Labor Department is considering having plan sponsors provide workers with insight.

Just because an enrollment contract is signed doesn’t mean that the student will attend the coming school year. A lot can happen over the summer months, including families simply feeling disconnected from your mission—especially new families.

Now that summer is upon us (or for some, nearly upon us), it’s time to step back and reflect. You’re thinking of your successes and perhaps even a few areas you’d like to improve for the coming school year. As Admission Officer, you’re probably focused on building and strengthening your school’s community.

As the school year comes to a close, after (hopefully) a short breather, you’ll be back at your desk, working on all the improvements you’d like to put in place next year. We have three words of advice and encouragement: “Keep it simple.” And maybe three more: “Don’t get overwhelmed.” This is easier said than done, of course—if, like many of us, you have a “Type-A” personality and strive to do as much as physically possible every given day (and it always seems like there are tons of things to do and improve). We’d like to share a few words of advice that we hope will help you.

Q: One of our veteran teachers was offended by a performance evaluation that she felt didn’t adequately reflect her contributions to the school—so she wrote a rebuttal. Do I have to include this in her personnel file?

When health care reform (aka, Obamacare or PPACA) was first passed in 2010, the year 2014—when perhaps the biggest change brought about by the law, the creation of state-run “exchanges,” would first come into place—seemed well in the distance. We find that it is only months away. As these changes approach, many schools wonder uncertainly, “What should we do? What can we do?”

As Division Head, you are probably going through the process of hiring new teachers for the coming school year. Just as your Admission Office is vetting applicants for mission-appropriateness, you are looking for the right fit in your new hires.