Private schools can suffer late-summer teacher resignations, often in August, mere weeks before the start of the new school year. Despite having signed a contract, a teacher may leave your school to work at another school, or even pursue another career—forcing you to find an immediate replacement. What can your school do to develop a plan of action to prevent this from happening?
The Tale of a Tooth: A Principal Plays Tooth Fairy
Sometimes it’s the smallest things you can do that make the biggest impact on your students, and this is certainly true for a young lady at James Hill Elementary School as reported by the Huffington Post. Having lost her tooth during recess, third-grader Avery Patchett was upset that the tooth fairy wouldn’t see her baby tooth.
Everything But the Kitchen Sink: Five Common Job Posting Mistakes
Writing an online job posting for an open position can be a real struggle. There’s a delicate balance to strike between honeyed words to attract suitable candidates and brutal honesty about the work your school needs done. Here, then, are some common mistakes we see private-independent schools make when submitting job advertisements for various online career boards.
Office "Hacks" for School Heads
“Life hacks”—or innovations to make your life easier in unexpected and original ways—are inventions of the Information Age. If you’d like some modern tips and tricks to reorganize your cluttered workspace and improve your office efficiency, read on.
"Detoxing" Faculty Negativity
Contract renewal season is here once again! For many of your faculty, it’s a formality. Their classes are vibrant and exciting; their students are engaged and growing; their teaching methods blossom under your school’s dedication to their professional development. You look forward to working with them for years to come. Some teachers, however, have not met your standards for retention. Keep reading for some common attributes and attitudes of toxic faculty and ways to mitigate the damage to your school and students.
Conflict Resolution: Moving From Risk and Toxicity to Predictability and Support
A positive work environment has a direct impact on your school’s ability to retain and attract highly qualified, mission-appropriate faculty and staff—the people you rely on to bring your program to life. As School Head, you know from experience how quickly the positive tone you strive to maintain can deteriorate. This is especially true when one person is frustrated with the school’s requirements or has a conflict with a colleague, and shares his/her views with increasing intensity and frequency. Minor disgruntlement can lead to full-blown toxicity, spreading quickly from individuals to small clusters and larger groups if there is no policy in place to resolve the dilemma and promote healing.
Mac vs Microsoft: Don’t “Scroogle” Your Advertising Strategy
(Picture credit to Whos.gr)
Advertising goes beyond a branded color scheme and happy pictures. All pieces of your school’s marketing should be a part of a single cohesive vision, and as the School Head, part of your responsibility is to steer that overall strategy.
Let's take a close look at two advertising campaigns for computers and associated programs that have run in the last few years by two different companies. Each told a similar story with its advertising, but one succeeded while another failed. Though not school examples, there are lessons we can take away for your own marketing campaign.
Electives: What Should You Offer?
Two weeks ago, ISM's Deans e-List buzzed with some questions on elective requirements and offerings. As you learn more about the talents of your students and faculty to prepare programs for the next academic year, now is the perfect time to consider adding dynamic new electives.
Ammo for Your Conversations With Disappointed Financial Aid Families
Financial aid season is upon us. Applications are pouring in, taxes are being verified, acceptance and rejection letters are being sent, and your school’s future classes are being determined. Your Admission Office is in high gear, and your Financial Aid Committee is running in overdrive. All of this is happening as most of us are trying to recover from the holiday excitement and fight off those wintertime blues that tend to creep in from fewer daylight hours. There’s a lot of energy on campus this time of year, and as Head, you’re right in the midst of it all.
Marijuana: A Legal Drug on Campus
As more states move to legalize marijuana, it's surprising not to find more chatter about how schools are affected. In fact, until Education Week published an article about it in its January 8, 2014, issue, we hadn’t found much at all outside the norm of statistics and headlined, random stories.