Students at Bellingham Christian School (WA) got exciting news on May 1— a Sun Day! No school due to nice weather! The school did not have to shutter for any snow days this year, and School Head Bob Sampson said he wanted to re-create how excited the kids get on snow days. So he started a teaser campaign about a possible day off earlier in the week.
Life After Newtown
The mass shooting at Newtown Elementary School in Connecticut back in December, resulting in the death of 20 young children and six adults, fanned the flames of the gun control/second amendment rights debate nationwide. You more than likely took another look at your school’s safety policies and precautions—especially since ISM research has shown that keeping their children in a safe haven is the top reason parents choose private schools.
Community Service and Service Learning: Designing a Successful Program
Many private-independent schools encourage students of all ages to become involved in community service—an ongoing, schoolwide program of service to others. These schools may also specify that students complete a prescribed number of hours as a graduation requirement.
These service programs are designed to broaden students’ sense of social awareness by exposing them to the “real world” and to instill in these young people a lifelong commitment to caring for and about others. In addition, a school should offer service learning—those components of the school’s curriculum that support and complement the community service efforts.
Financial Questions the Head Candidate Should Ask During the Interviews
As a candidate for a private-independent school headship, you must learn, in a short amount of time, a great deal about the school you are considering. If, like many candidates, you have more experience in programmatic areas (e.g., curricular and cocurricular programs, student issues, parent communication, faculty support) than in operations (e.g., facilities, finances, human resources, risk management), acquiring an understanding of a school’s financial condition could present a challenge. Look to the on-site interview(s) as the best time to gather the information you need about the budget and other monetary matters. Make sure you talk to the Chair of the Finance Committee and Business Manager/CFO separately. These people (with the current School Head) will provide the most useful detail in answering your questions.
Coaching the Coaches
During the past year, ISM’s Consultants have been writing and speaking on the primary role of academic leaders as building the capacity of their faculty—that is, coaching, mentoring, supporting, and guiding faculty toward delivering your mission with excellence every day, with every student. This is a lofty goal, of course—but one that we passionately believe is vital to the success of private schools in the 21st century. This begs the question: If academic leaders (e.g., Division Heads and Department Chairs) are coaching faculty, who coaches the coaches?
The ABCs of School Choice Guide Just Released
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has just released its 2013 edition of The ABCs of School Choice, a comprehensive guide to every kind of private school choice program available in the United States. Currently, 21 states and Washington, DC offer some formass of private school choice.
Maintain Personnel Records Diligently to Protect Your School
While many schools expend significant effort to manage student records appropriately, they often pay less attention to handling employee records properly. In an increasingly litigious and regulated operating environment, schools must attend to employee records in a consistent and prudent fashion. This article provides record-keeping recommendations for each employee-related process, and describes how to maintain various files and records for the protection of the school and employees.
Research Report: Faculty Culture Profile II and Student Culture Profile II, Fall 2012 Data
ISM published its Student Experience Study (SES) outcomes in January 2012, and published related articles in Ideas & Perspectives throughout the spring. Among the features in the report were a revised Faculty Culture Profile—ISM’s long-standing measure of the quality of a school’s faculty culture—and a revised Student Culture Profile, along with the study’s statistical findings and an instrument for use as part of any school’s approach to faculty evaluation, the Characteristics of Professional Excellence II.
Public Schools Recruit International Students for Income, Diversity
Back in 2011, we profiled Millinocket, Maine’s Sterns High School; the school's mission is to recruit up to 60 students from China in an effort to boost numbers and income. The rural school district brought in only six students, hampered by a VISA restriction of one year for international students in public schools, as well as a recruiter in China that did not deliver. And it didn't help that a writer gave a Chinese newspaper a less-than-stellar description of Sterns, the AP reported. Still, Sterns is continuing its program to allow it to grow.
Ask the Consultant
Q: It has recently been suggested that we should stop using employment contracts with staff employees. Do you agree with this advice? And, if we discontinue using contracts, we have to communicate their new salaries to employees in some way. What do you suggest?