As the School Head, you know communication with parents is essential. However, you’ve questioned whether that continuous stream of mailings your school sends home is really doing the job—especially considering the time and expense involved. Parents may receive daily information from the school, especially if they have children in more than one division. There’s the e-letter and the calendar, updates on the school website, notices from the Parent Association, the annual fund solicitation, letters and emails from teachers, and notes from Division Heads and even from you. Parents quickly become overwhelmed!
Problematic Parents and the Enrollment Process
Parental cooperation and support have always been critical aspects of school culture in private-independent schools. Today’s parents are involved and vocal—both of which can be positive qualities. But what do you do when a parent consistently refuses to follow the rules? Makes excessive demands? Stirs up discontent or behaves inappropriately? Let’s explore ways that you, as School Head, can proactively manage problematic parents
When (and How) to Call a Snow Day
Deciding to cancel school for a snow day remains one of the most public and potentially contentious decisions a School Head can make. After all, parents, faculty, and staff alike can play armchair-Head and declare what they would (or would not) have done in your place with the clear vision of hindsight.
Your school community's safety lies in your hands during bad weather. At the same time, as Head, you don't want to force parents to scramble to arrange child care for no reason. How, then, can you determine whether you should cancel school for wicked winter weather?
Top Ten School Head Articles of 2014
Over the past year, we’ve written about everything from handling criticism and crafting job descriptions to the dangerous ways students try to get high—and we’ll be sure to cover more hot topics in the year to come. Before we move on, though, let's look back to the top-read articles in the School Head e-Letter over the past year.
School Head Longevity and Attrition
A new study (building on previous work) throws important light on School Head longevity and attrition—perhaps something of some concern to you, the Board President. The statistics on this are extremely hard to get industrywide, and many numbers have been thrown around based on gut feeling or personal experience.
A report from the National Center for Education Statistics sampled 7,400 public and 1,700 private schools to obtain the findings on school principals.* The study allows us to compare two different calendar years—2008–2009 and 2012–2013. The following table considers whether the School Head (principal in the study) remained at the school from one year to the next, left the position of Headship entirely from one year to the next, moved to take up a Headship at another school, or stayed at the school. The column marked other denotes those for whom there is no information available. The base year for 2008–09 was 2007–08; the base year for 2012–2013 was 2011–2012.
Comprehensive Interviewing: In-Person Interviews
Every employer wants to hire the best candidate for an open position, but private-independent schools must be even more discriminating than just aiming for the best. After all, hiring for mission-appropriateness requires more careful scrutiny of a person’s character and bearing than simply checking off requirements from a resume. So the in-person interview is an essential part of every hiring process.
But, if the importance of this interview has you working yourself into a tizzy trying to craft the best interview question or considering how your body posture could intimidate candidates, take a deep breath. In a previous article, we gave you some advice on handling phone interviews. This month, we’ve compiled some quick in-person interviewing tips to make your interviews successful and as stress-free as possible.
A Different View on Head Lice Policies
We guarantee that you’ll start scratching your head at some point during this article. Why? Because we're talking about head lice.
The Board’s Role in the School Head’s Personnel Decisions
School Heads must make unavoidable decisions about the renewal of teacher contracts. Often teachers react as a “family” when one of their members is caught in the crosshairs—even if that individual has been deemed ineffective or undesirable by some colleagues. The mere threat of dismissal or nonrenewal can polarize faculty, administrators, influential parents, and Trustees.
The ISM Faculty and Management Compensation Survey, 2013–14: School Head Salaries
The School Head is the sole employee of the Board, and management of the Head’s compensation is a high priority. Numerous entities are now asking how much compensation is too much for nonprofit CEOs. Never has it been more important that the Board be fully conversant about Head compensation. Only then can the Board determine what adjustments are needed to ensure that the school compensates competitively to retain the Head or enhance its ability to be competitive in its next Head search. Trustees must educate themselves about the marketplace and understand the complexities of the School Head’s job.
ISM surveyed a random sample of I&P subscriber schools concerning compensation for faculty and administrators. This article focuses on the survey results regarding the salaries of School Heads at our participating day schools.
Debt Management: A Cautionary Approach
Since the economic collapse of 2008, money has been cheap. This is not the first time this has been so, but it is unusual that interest rates have remained low for so long. This has led school leaders—School Heads, Business Managers, and Trustees—to consider long-term financing to move their schools ahead, typically within the context of buildings and renovations. While tempting, we urge caution around debt financing.