You, as School Head or Business Manager, may be aware of the new Department of Labor (DOL) guidelines issued on April 6, 2016, as they pertain to fiduciaries. Generally noted as the “Fiduciary Rule,” it will be phased in with initial compliance obligations beginning on April 10, 2017, and full compliance expected by January 1, 2018. The new rule amends regulations related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). It mainly targets financial advisors, broker/dealers, and insurance agents who give investment advice and/or sell annuities and other investment vehicles used in 403(b) and 401(k) accounts found in many employer plans and in IRA pension plans. This article primarily focuses on 403(b) and 401(k) plans.

Any professional, knowledgeable architect will ask your school for educational specifications—a definition of the “who, what, when, why, and how” for each space in the structure. These “building blocks” make the difference between a generic, restrictive structure and one specifically designed to: support your school’s mission; meet the needs of your program; serve the students, faculty, and staff who use the building daily; and stay within your budget constraints.

ISM has been largely concerned with management and leadership research and improved practice. Throughout, we have advised school leaders within the context of a school’s own mission and the impact of our advice on the lives of students. In our research, we discovered the principle of “freedom-within-structure,” ISM’s predictability and support model that is the foundation of great teaching practice. While structure/predictability was construed as “what the teacher wanted to do” in the conventional (20th century) educational paradigm, the new paradigm (21st century) includes the teacher and the student in an ever-evolving relationship.

As School Head or Division Head, you may already be immersed in the practice of Professional Learning Communities (PLC), or you may be just starting to integrate them into your practice. They can, of course, exist in various settings—here we will apply it strictly to teachers working together. The term dates from the 1960s when researchers were already trying to find an antidote to the isolation experienced by teachers. It gained popularity in 1993 with the work of Milbrey McLaughlin, when she and her collaborators identified the major characteristics of a PLC that have largely survived intact to this day.1 These characteristics include:

ISM’s long-standing recommendation is that the Board President annually form a Head Support and Evaluation Committee (HSEC) to work with the School Head to: create a list of major School Head goals at the start of each year; identify or develop an array of data bearing on each goal; support the Head throughout the year in analyzing the data and introducing, as needed, midcourse corrections; and produce at year-end a summary/critique pertinent to each goal for presentation to the Board President.

As the Marketing Communications Director, you understand that a five-minute speech is a valuable marketing tool—an effective strategy that generates good word-of-mouth. Handled properly, the speech shares accurate, positive information about your school. Whether the audience is an auditorium full of families waiting for a performance to begin, a representative of the media, or a small group of donors, use the opportunity to train your listeners in ways they can talk about your school. Each speech should be personalized, not generic or “canned.