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We cover such topics as how to communicate with your constituencies, work with your fellow school leaders, leverage new technology trends, utilize recommended reading and resources, implement new strategies—all to better serve your school's mission.
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Compliant e-Mail Practices
Business and Operations // March 20, 2014
In efforts to reduce printing costs and “go green,” your school might have decided to make the switch to primarily electronic communications. As Business Manager, you probably don’t have a lot of influence over what promotional material is distributed to whom, but it is part of your job as your school’s Risk Manager to know what practices are legally compliant, reducing your risks of law suits, and which practices are not.
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Ask ISM’s Health Care Reform Expert
Business and Operations // March 20, 2014
Q: We are a small school with 15 employees. I heard we could get money back for offering health insurance to our employees.If this is true, how do we apply or qualify for this?
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Medical Bill Bankruptcy
Business and Operations // March 20, 2014
There has been a lot of change regarding health insurance and coverage since President Obama came into office. The Affordable Care Act and the laws and provisions that it entails have made a rather large impact on everyone, both personally and in terms of business. Opinions on new provisions vary; however, without venturing down that slippery slope, let’s take a look at some medical debt facts resonating for those with and without coverage.
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When Professional Development Is Useless for Your Teachers
Academic Leadership // March 18, 2014
It’s a waste of your teachers' time as well as your school's resources to provide inadequate professional development, as what happened to some unfortunate Chicago public school teachers. In a video that’s gone viral, a participant secretly recorded a full 63 seconds demonstrating this district’s take on professional development.
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Four #EdTech Blogs to Bookmark
Academic Leadership // March 18, 2014
Constant, reliable technology news about what’s important and pertinent to private schools can be difficult to find, much less rely on. (That’s why you subscribed to our e-Letters!) But sometimes you can find resources that, while only tangentially related, still help you keep abreast of conversations and imagine ways to take your school into the 21st Century. Take a look at these four ed-tech blogs and see if you’re not impressed and informed by each.
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How Donor Incentive Programs Backfire
Advancement // March 7, 2014
Tiered memberships. Financial incentives. Substantial rewards. These dangle like carrots tied to the proverbial stick, encouraging potential donors to reach for their wallets to make gifts to your private-independent school. But, are donor incentive programs really the way to drive donations?
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Your “Ask” Calendar
Advancement // March 7, 2014
Sometimes it can feel as though fund raising never stops. As soon as one campaign is over, another begins. Once the Parent Association raises enough money to send students to band camp, they begin another for basketball uniforms—and doesn’t the biology lab need new beakers? All of these requests can drown your families in a tidal wave of requests for money, leaving them exhausted by the time the annual fund comes around. An easy way to fix this is an “ask” calendar.
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Three Social Media Sites You Don’t Hear About Anymore
Advancement // March 5, 2014
Remember when a “post on your wall” meant some strange form of graffiti and everyone had an AOL chat handle? In memory of some of our favorite social Web sites of days gone by, here is a list of three defunct social media sites, why they tanked, and what your school’s social marketing campaign can learn from their errors.
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“Welcome!" Now What?—What You Send to Accepted Students
Advancement // March 5, 2014
After days of maneuvering around stacks of unopened envelopes balanced on desks like paper Jenga towers and peering at indecipherable handwriting on recommendations and evaluations, you’ve done it. You have created the perfect incoming class for next school year. You are about to make some fortunate children (and their parents) incredibly happy. Now, to tell them the great news! Enter your acceptance packet.
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Bullying: Address the Problem, Attack the Cause
Private School News // February 27, 2014
How do you define “bullying”? Each state has a unique legal definition of what it means to bully, but what do you think of when you hear that one student has bullied another? Is it the boy who had his head flushed in a toilet, or the girl whose lunch money was taken? Sure, but bullying can also be more subtle and insidious. Take Colin, an eleven-year-old boy suffering from a sensory disorder similar to Asperger’s syndrome. Colin told his mother that he didn’t want a birthday party because no one would come. While indirect, this social ostracism certainly constitutes a sort of bullying—all the more difficult to combat because it’s so hard to identify.
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