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The Governance Corner

A forum for discussing issues in Independent School governance in the second decade of the 21st Century

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The Business of Learning

6/30/2013

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My family has a long history of running small businesses. My grandfather emigrated from Greece at the beginning of the last century and eventually owned a small hotel and a restaurant (which is still around today). My Dad ran a magazine and tobacco store (Christopher’s Smoke and Gift); my eldest son (a former restauranteur) runs Theatre Kingston in Eastern Ontario; and my daughter has her own online nutrition consulting enterprise.

As for me, I thought that I had broken the mold with a life in academics. But family history has a way of catching up with you! 

A number of years ago when I was being interviewed to become the Head of my previous school in Bermuda, a teacher on the interview team asked whether I looked at the school as “a learning community” or as a “business”. The answer was, and is, simple. Independent schools, like ours, are wonderful learning communities. However, they cannot provide a long-term sustainable, positive and productive learning environment for the students in their care unless they are led and managed like a business. The two are not mutually exclusive or even in conflict. They are just the two key dimensions of any successful school.

It is the Head’s job, in partnership with the staff to deliver the best possible educational experience for each and every child. It is the Board of Governors’ job, in partnership with the Head, to ensure that whatever we undertake is financially sustainable in the long-term.

In the case of a school like KGMS, this is no mean feat! Without the large endowments and long list of wealthy alumni that characterize many other independent schools, we have to operate pretty much on a “pay as you go” cash basis. The result is that we have to be creative and frugal at the same time. 


Each spring we let parents know how deeply they are going to have to dig into their pockets to pay for next year. Although paying for schooling for a child is a bit of an act of faith, it is also critically important that parents know where their valuable dollars are going.

To begin with, it is essential for them to understand the costs of schooling at a school like ours. With a staff/student ratio of 1:3, our projected per pupil expenditure for next year will be about $28,000. By comparison, our tuition fees will continue to be the same as this year, just under $20,000 per student. We endeavour to be lean (but never mean!) in our operations, keeping our overhead as low as possible. But given that tuition doesn’t cover all of our expenses, where does the additional revenue come from? Well, to begin with, the Ministry gives us significant support – an average of about $7,500 per student. This gets us 95% of the way! We have other “hard” income as well through rentals, student material charges, and outreach services. These "revenue centres" bring us up to our required operating funds and allow us a small surplus for contingency. In addition, we generate about $200,000 per year in "soft" revenue. This is made up of donation income from our Gala, parent council fundraising and personal and corporate donations. It is these generous contributions which enable us to provide almost $150,000 in bursary support each year and allow us to continuously upgrade technology and acquire additional new resources.

Where does all of this money go? Well, needless to say, education is a “people” business. Consequently about 83% of our revenue goes to salaries and benefits, outside services and professional development. This means that we can offer competitive salaries and benefits and provide timely professional development and training to keep our staff current and on top of the latest trends and best practices in teaching and learning. Other major expenditures out of our budget include: renting the school building and grounds (8%); classroom supplies and resources (4%); transportation (3%); and general office/communications costs (2%). 

For us, as a school, the real challenge is to maximize our services while minimizing our costs. We have a hard-working staff and a dedicated Board, but what really tips the balance is the amazing generosity of time and resources provided by our parent community. It would be a betrayal of their trust if we were to squander their financial and volunteer contributions through sloppy management of our finances. 

School is a business. But it is a business based not on making money, but rather on a collaborative effort to provide a unique and meaningful learning experience for our students. What more profitable a business could you ever ask for!


 

 

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Who's being served?

6/28/2013

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Even in the second decade of the 21st century, there is still some confusion among Board members (and even occasionally Heads!) about who is the principal stakeholder in an independent school.
When I ask this question of Boards, more often than not I get the answer that they see their role as taking fiduciary responsibility to oversee the effective use of financial resources provided by fee-paying parents. A second answer, although often with less force, is that they are their to ensure that students receive a high quality educational experience. For the most part, this is about "inputs"; programmes and services offered, co-curricular opportunities provided, quality of faculty employed, etc.

Unfortunately, in 21st century schools, input-based governance, just doesn't cut it!

Independent School Management (ISM) postulates that schools must demonstrate "service leadership". This is an indication that students are the centre of every decision. They note that: "Great schools understand that the Board serves the Management Team through the provision of resources; the Management Team serves the faculty through its translation of those resources; and the faculty serves the students by delivering the mission."

This is a continuum. Every Board decision for the provision of resources must be able to demonstrate a resultant positive outcome for student learning. Every Leadership decision must be designed to increase the capacity of faculty to optimize the teaching and learning experience; and every action of faculty must have student performance, engagement and enthusiasm for learning as its focus.

What we are really talking about is distributed leadership, that is "leadership practices [that encourage] professional growth and renewal"; and a collaborative approach in which each level of leadership from Board to classroom teacher has an understanding of the mission with respect to student outcomes that is "intrinsic to every individual who works at the school."

To be effective, this means implementing a leadership development process at every level because to implement 21st century learning a school "needs a network of leaders for it to be successful."

As long as Boards, Heads, academic leaders, faculty and staff are constantly aware that the real goal of the school is to maximize the learning experience for every student then no-one will lose track of who the real stakeholders are.


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To close or not to close? There's no real question!

6/25/2013

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Many Boards of independent schools have adopted a variation of the corporate model of holding a closed session, without the Head, at the end of each meeting. Their reasoning is that this will ensure a frank and open discussion of issues or expressions of concern. It has been further argued that by holding a closed session at every meeting, it removes some of the potential anxiety which such a practice might create in the mind of the Head. On the other hand, if the majority of these sessions usually last five minutes (nothing to discuss) and then one month it goes for two hours, the level of CEO angst would undoubtedly be increasing exponentially with each passing minute. By the same token, some Boards when faced with a perceived crisis of confidence in the Head, rather that address the issue directly, will choose to agonize about it in closed session without the key person present.

I have pressed Boards and Chairs to give a concrete rationale for adopting this practice. First they often claim that it is "best practice". Well, it isn't. Effective governance is about openness and transparency; not about secret meetings rife with gossip, rumour and innuendo. Secondly, I have been told that there are some Board members who feel intimidated by speaking out in front of the Head. They claim to fear reprisal for either themselves or their child if they question a policy or practice. There is a simple way to deal with this this fear. If it is totally unfounded, then you probably have the wrong Board member. If they are justified in their fears, then you definitely have the wrong Head!


In my experience, it is in these closed sessions that Board governance goes off of the rails. Unless the discussion is about the results of a formal performance review of the Head or a discussion of her or his contract, there is no other business that should ever be conducted without the Head present. Asking the Board Chair to be the conduit of Board concerns or parent issues or staff complaints disrupts the unity of the Board. If there are tough questions to be asked, or issues to be raised, or even accusations to be made - they should be done face to face. Everyone who hears the issue, needs to hear the Head's answer, first hand.


Boards who practice this approach need to ask themselves three key questions:
1. What issues about institutional performance could we discuss more effectively without the CEO present?
2. If the issue is that some Board members are reticent to speak their minds in front of the Head, then isn't this either a governance or personnel issue that should be addressed openly and resolved?
3. If the concern centres around third party accusations against the Head, why are we escalating the issue by giving it closed session credence, as opposed to trying to get to the bottom of it through a frank and open discussion with the Head?

To avoid straying off course, Chairs and Boards should consider closed or "executive" sessions under the following two categories:
- With the Head, for the discussion of: personnel issues; sensitive financial or enrolment data; or significant student discipline concerns.
- Without the Head, for the discussion of the Head' s (formal) performance review; or, contract negotiations.


Boards should never meet in private without the Head for the discussion of: "parking lot gossip"; staff/parent complaints; or the personal issues of individual governors.


For those Boards who remain wedded to this practice, the minimum safeguards to good governance that should be required are: an agenda shared in advance with the Head; detailed and specific minutes of all discussions; and, a provision for a formal response from the Head at the next meeting.


In the final analysis, closed sessions without the Head present have little to contribute to the good governance of the school and present grave dangers to the productive working relationship between the Head and the Board which is essential for school success. If the issue is fundamentally concerning the performance of the Head, then there are far more productive, and responsible means of addressing them.






 

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Don't sweat the small stuff!

6/22/2013

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There is a confused mythology that surrounds the issue of school size. As most Heads know, the responsibilities, expectations, and administrative tasks are always pretty much the same no matter what the size of the school. And, in actual fact, given the general tendency to add administrative staff in pace with enrolment growth, in larger schools the jobs get spread out fairly thinly among a growing number of people. I remember having a conversation with the Head, now retired, of one of the largest independent schools in Canada. I asked him how he found managing such a large and complex organization. He laughed and told me that in actual fact, he only managed four people - his Director of Academics, Business Manager, and Senior and Junior School Heads - they, in turn, had their own infrastructures to help them lead and organize the day to day operations of the school. Compare this with the Head of a small school who not only directs programme, but evaluates teaching and non-teaching staff performance, handles communications, manages the finances, admissions, student life issues, and parent relations. Adding to the mystique is the fact that there is always a certain gravitas that is attached to the role of Head in a large school. Where the head of a small school is seen as a highly accessible "jack of all trades", the Head of a large school is often seen a bit more remotely as the CEO in a wood-panelled office somewhere. The final irony of this comparison is the fact that the Head of a small school, with infinitely more responsibilities and personal performance expectations is paid, on average, about half as much as the Head of a large school.


This perception can have an impact on Head tenure as well. Statistics show that the longevity of the Head of a school tends to be linked to it size. Heads of small schools, particularly ones with a significant day population, are on the firing line every day. Rather than being insulated from the ebbs and flows of parent satisfaction by a buffering infrastructure, the Head of a small school is seen as the "fixer" of every problem, and expected to be the guarantor of a successful school experience for each child in attendance. As a result, these Heads either burn out and move to another Headship somewhere else, or get forced out by a Board that perceives that the way to get restive parents off of their case is to "take action" - not by looking at the systemic or strategic issues that are usually at the root of most parental concerns - but rather by replacing the Head.
By contrast, at a large school similar complaints or concerns tend to be addressed by adding another layer to the infrastructure. Teacher performance issues? Add a "Director of Faculty and Professional Growth"; behaviour and discipline issues? Create a "VP of Student Life"; A muddled technology plan? Expand the IT department; etc.

Even parents are often seduced by the lure of size. If there is one comment that the Head of a small school can be certain to hear each June, it's "our daughter/son loves it here but we all think that there would be more opportunities in a larger school". This is nothing new. Decades ago, when I was Head of Weston School in Montreal, my Board Chair came in and said that his son would be moving the next year to a bigger high school. When I asked why, he replied, "dances". "I met my wife at a large high school dance, I want him to have the same chance."  This is a pretty common refrain. To many parents, their memories of high school centre around sports and their social lives. To them, no matter how successful their child is in a small academic environment, they yearn for them to have the same collateral experiences that they had. 



So with all of these facts, in addition to the challenges of delivering competitive programmes and services with considerably less money, why do small schools still exist? The answer is simple. Smaller schools can deliver a level of personal service that often eludes a bigger institution. Every student, every parent, every employee is an important member of the community. Volunteerism is more prevalent; finances are managed with more care and respect; communication is clearer and more direct; and celebrations of success are more personal and heartfelt.


At the end of the day, isn't that what we all want for our school? 

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    Author

    Dr. Jim Christopher
    has been working with Boards and Heads on Governance issues for the past 15 years. He is a former Superintendent of Schools, ED of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools and Canadian Educational Standards Institute and is the author of a number of books and articles of education and governance. His latest book, Beyond the Manual: A Realist's Guide to Independent School Governance is available on iTunes or at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/388729

    View my profile on LinkedIn
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