The Los Angeles Times recently reported on an unusual fund-raising event at an LA area public high school—food truck night.

We live in a society that is plugged in 24/7/365. Whether we’re engaged through social media, working from home, or staying current on our smart devices, we’re constantly being fed information—at an enormous rate. This has enabled a trend of today’s work force working around the clock (or, at least checking in/being updated), putting their health aside in order to get ahead.

For those of us who grew up in the 1960s, getting excited about space travel seemed to be part of our daily life. First the Gemini missions, then Apollo 8 orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve. And who wasn’t holding their breath for “one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind”? For kids today, space missions are just, well, are. NASA wants to change that.

Commentary by Barbara Beachley, ISM Associate Consultant "I’m so tired of everyone talking about preparing us for the 21st century! Hello, we’re 10% done with it already!” An insightful junior made this statement in my advisory group when I was an academic administrator, and it reminded me of why students are at the center of my work. They usually know a lot more than I do, and that’s good news because they’re soon going to be running the world.

As the school year is now in full throttle, your Board can takes steps to foster a more productive relationship with your school’s faculty. Here are a few tips for bridging possible gaps between these two groups.

Bullying is a hot topic, and rightly so. In September, another teenager took his own life after being relentlessly cyberbullied (see the ABC News report on Jamey Rodemayer and Bullying http://abcnews.go.com/Health/jamey-rodemeyer-suicide-ny-police-open-criminal-investigation/story?id=14580832). Schools and school districts are ramping up anti-bullying programs to build support systems and build in consequences.

The relationship between education and earnings is a long-analyzed topic of study. Generally, there is a strong belief that achievement of higher levels of education is a well-established path to better jobs and better earnings. The “Education and Synthetic Work-Life Earning Estimates” report, published in September 2011 by the U.S. Census Bureau, provides one view of the economic value of educational attainment by producing an estimate of the amount of money a person might earn over the course of their working life, given their level of education. These estimates are “synthetic,” that is, they are not the actual dollars people earned over the complete working life of the person. But the data reported can spur some interesting discussions concerning how your school prepares its students for future success.

Blogs, forums, chat rooms, listservs—the list goes on and on. These are valuable resources to find alternative opinions and information about almost anything. From HR concerns to just needing a quick laugh to fuel the rest of your day, blogs can help remind you you're not alone in the all to often chaotic world of private-independent education.

Q: We offer faculty 10-month contracts (August 15–June 14). As a practical matter, though, we often ask faculty to stay a few days after the end of the contract in June to wrap things up after students have left for the summer, as well as having them come in for a few days over the summer for various reasons. I’ve heard a few faculty grumble about “not getting paid for this.” How can we address this?

School has been in session for almost two months now—leaves are changing colors; faculty, staff, and students have settled into the routines of the academic year; and you’re feeling that you can take a breather for a moment or two before budget season gets into full gear. You lean back and think … "now is the perfect time to rethink our faculty evaluation process.”