Halladay Education Group - School Operations & Management https://halladayeducationgroup.com/blog/school-operations-management en What's The Magic Formula Behind An Effective Private School Board of Governors? https://halladayeducationgroup.com/Private_School_Board_Governance_Consulting_Firm <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p class="bodytext1">Our firm has worked with for-profit and non-profit schools around the globe and recognize that high performing schools have a number of key attributes in place. Though some of the parameters of the two models may vary, our belief is that a sound school will be grounded by four cornerstones:</p> <p class="bodytext1"><img src="/sites/default/files/small_Board%20Gov.jpg" alt="Private School Board Governance Consulting Firm" title="Private School Board Governance Consulting Firm" width="90" height="90" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 3px;" /><br /><br />One of the key attributes of successful schools is a board that can effectively govern their school and one that understands their role and responsibilities within the oversight of their institution in partnership with senior leadership. Providing oversight for an organization should not vary whether the institution is a non-profit or for-profit. By definition, an effective board should be engaged in long-range issues and planning (rather than day-to-day operations) and "big picture" planning, budgeting, and approval. This includes a focus on:</p> <ul> <li class="bodytext1">Defining/affirming the school's mission and providing overall leadership and strategic direction for the school.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Actively setting policy and ensuring the school has adequate resources to carry out its mission and programs.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Providing direct oversight and direction for the Head of School and responsibility for evaluating the Head's performance and their own effectiveness as a governing body.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Acting as representatives for their community in upholding the public interest served by the school.</li> </ul> <p class="bodytext1">Really there's no magic formula for effective boards; just an ability for members to adhere to clear and proven principles of governance and oversight. However, the barriers to an effective board mislead by a:</p> <ul> <li class="bodytext1">Temptation to micro-manage.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Ineffective nominating committee.</li> <li class="bodytext1">No plan for rotation.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Failure to remove unproductive members.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Too small.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Lack of functioning committee structure.</li> <li class="bodytext1">No strategic plan.</li> <li class="bodytext1">No plan for orientation of new and old members.</li> <li><span class="bodytext1">No proactive plan to manage founder's syndrome.</span></li> </ul> <p class="bodytext1">If you were to take a 'snapshot' of your board's health, the following responsibilities should be present:</p> <ul class="bodytext1"> <li>Establish and articulate the school's mission, vision, and values.</li> <li>Ensure the school engages in long-term planning to achieve the mission.</li> <li>Recruit and select the Head of School.</li> <li>Support and assess the performance of the Head of School.</li> <li>Determine the programs the school will deliver to accomplish its goals and monitor performance of these programs to assess value.</li> <li>Ensure the school has adequate financial resources to implement the plan's priorities.</li> <li>Ensure effective management and use of the school's financial resources.</li> <li>Enhance the school's credibility and public image.</li> <li>Ensure organizational integrity and accountability.</li> <li>Assess and develop the board's own effectiveness to govern and negate involvement in in day-to-day management.</li> </ul> <p class="bodytext1">Building on this, an effective board is guided by the following principles:</p> <ul class="bodytext1"> <li>Distinction between governance work of the board and management work of the staff.</li> <li>Distinction between the "ends and means" with a bias in favour of high impact decision-making.</li> <li>Clarity about who does what - specifically what the board and staff do.</li> </ul> <p class="bodytext1">But the board cannot do it alone. There must be a constructive partnership with the Head of School. To do this, there needs to be: open and honest communication; common expectations; cooperative planning; and respect.</p> <p class="bodytext1"><span class="header2">Next Step</span><br /><span class="header2"> </span><br />If you would like to find out more about how we can support your board's ongoing development, please contact HEG by email at <a href="mailto:info@halladayeducationgroup.com">info@halladayeducationgroup.com</a> or calling directly at +1-604-868-0002.<br /><br />To your success,<br /><br />Douglas Halladay<br />President<br />Halladay Education Group</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis-blog field-type-addthis field-label-above"><div class="field-label">addthis:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="What&#039;s The Magic Formula Behind An Effective Private School Board of Governors? - Halladay Education Group" addthis:url="https://halladayeducationgroup.com/Private_School_Board_Governance_Consulting_Firm"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_tweet" tw:count="horizontal" tw:via="AddThis"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_google_plusone" g:plusone:size="standard"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_pinterest"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_compact"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Category: </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/blog/school-operations-management">School Operations &amp; Management</a></li></ul></div> Tue, 18 Aug 2015 01:20:38 +0000 admin 250 at https://halladayeducationgroup.com Developing A More Effective Parent Organization For Your Private Independent School https://halladayeducationgroup.com/Developing_A_More_Effective_Parent_Organization_For_Your_Private_Independent_School <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p class="bodytext1">Good morning all and a happy Friday!</p> <p class="bodytext1">We're officially into the first few days of fall. Don't get me wrong. I love the fall. It's the start of our hockey season and another year of hope that the Canucks will make it to the Holy Grail...the Stanley Cup. Here in Vancouver it feels like the switch has gone with our classic weather forecast of cloudy and overcast with the possibility of showers (although I could probably make the same forecast till next April!). For most of you, you're wrapping up your first month of the new school year and you're back in the saddle and the routines of running your school.<br /><br />One of the routines that most schools overlook, but is critical to the culture and viability of your school, is the role your parent organization plays in your school. This volunteer group varies from school to school in regards to its contribution, function, and engagement. For some its contribution has been financial, for others it's fundraising. For others it workshops, speakers, and fun-raising. At new schools, they may even have a hand in day-to-day tasks.<br /><br />Today, I'd like to provide another perspective on how you can enhance the role and contribution of your parent community to help make your school an even better place for students to learn and thrive.<br /><br /><span class="bodytext-bold">Developing A More Effective Parent Organization</span><br /><br />Parent organizations at private independent schools have become extremely varied just as the mission of schools have become more diverse to meet the needs of an ever changing community and demographics. Parent needs and families as a whole are continuously evolving in today's society. Consider the following developments:</p> <ol> <li class="bodytext1">Parents have less time to volunteer as house-holds are made up of more dual-income and single-parent families.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Parents are more demanding as they've had their children later in life and have higher standards and expectations.</li> <li class="bodytext1">There's a generation of parents who've never attended private schools and the only model they know is the more political version of public schools.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Parents that are available to volunteer may not always be the most suitable ones to serve.</li> <li class="bodytext1">More diverse parent communities place more pressure of support for more complex parenting programs.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Growth of more sophisticated non profits that create false expectations for other volunteer groups.</li> <li class="bodytext1">Parents new to private schools have a false sense of entitlement and treat schools more like a country club than a place where they're fortunate to be a part of.</li> </ol> <p class="bodytext1">That being said, it's critical to engage and bond your parents to your school, to keep them informed, and involve them (and make them the best promoters of your school...think word-of-mouth marketing). However, many challenges arise including finding parents that are willing to take on volunteer leadership positions. As a starting point, here are some tips to consider:<br /><br /><span class="bodytext-bold">1. Review The Purpose Of Your Parent Organization:</span><br /><br />An effective parent organization should serve the school's best interests by supporting its mission and programs. You need to be clear about the expectations of your parent organization and its bylaws to ensure it doesn't have an adversarial role or any semblance of authority or political position / agenda to offset your board and staff. They should:</p> <ul class="bodytext1"> <li>Raise funds in parallel with the school's development priorities.</li> <li>Foster communication between parents and school.</li> <li>Assist with special administrative and classroom needs on a volunteer basis.</li> <li>Build positive school spirit.</li> <li>Support other parents to develop their parenting skills.</li> </ul> <p class="bodytext1"><span class="bodytext-bold">2). Parent Organization Reports To Board:</span><br /><br />The parent organization's purpose is to serve the school and their role needs to comply within this context. Hence, the board needs to ensure that this group promotes a positive image of the school. This can only be achieved if the group is part of the school rather than independent of the school. If they become separate they're more likely to become more independent, political, obstruct authority, work with cross purposes, and may even create legal/tax liabilities if they're allowed to establish their own bank accounts. The bylaws should also be reviewed and approved by the board (remember the Parent Association reports to the Board).<br /><br /><span class="bodytext-bold">3). Board Attendance At Parent Organization Meetings:</span><br /><br />The board and admin should actively monitor and support the parent group through board representation and support. Alternatively, placing a member of the parent organization on board committees (ex-officio) will groom them ("train them") as prospective trustees.<br /><br /><span class="bodytext-bold">4). Coordinate Fundraising:</span><br /><br />We all know it, poorly timed fundraising events by the parent group will nickel and dime your school and annoy everyone. It distracts from your primary development activities and in the end reduces parent contributions. It's been proven that an annual campaign is the most productive tool to raise funds for a school. It builds loyalty and momentum. To ensure that everyone is on the same page, you should ensure that:</p> <ul class="bodytext1"> <li>The annual fund is your primary source of fundraising.</li> <li>All fundraising activities are approved by the Board.</li> <li>The Chair of the Parent Committee sits on the Development Committee.</li> <li>Coordinate all fundraising around the annual campaign (unless you've a major capital campaign).</li> <li>Develop a calendar by the Development Committee that includes all approved fundraising events. And all events are vetted by them.</li> </ul> <p class="bodytext1"><span class="bodytext-bold">5). Funds Raised By Parent Organization Belong To The School:</span><br /><br />This is critical. These funds belong to the school not the agenda of a few individuals on the parent committee. You need to make this understand at the start and set-up an account number within the school's accounts. All funds raised are turned over to the school's business manager for deposit...no separate bank accounts. Furthermore, disbursements of funds are done by the school. But make sure that parents are involved and informed during the process. This will promote transparency, loyalty, and harmony, and avoid controversy. Ask your staff what their wish list is and have the Head make a short-list and share this with the parent group. From this list, your parent group can make the final selection. And make sure you promote the purchases as coming from the parent committee's contribution and celebrate their successes and future efforts.<br /><br />By encouraging and coordinating your parent organization, you will have a stronger and happier parent community, and more successful outcome. You will have more volunteers and a far happier school community that will positively impact your bottom line.<br />  <br /><span class="bodytext-bold">Next Step:</span><br /><br />If you're interested in finding out more about our private independent school consulting services, please contact HEG directly by email to <a href="mailto:info@halladayeducationgroup.com">info@halladayeducationgroup.com</a> or call HEG at +1-604-868-0002.</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis-blog field-type-addthis field-label-above"><div class="field-label">addthis:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Developing A More Effective Parent Organization For Your Private Independent School - Halladay Education Group" addthis:url="https://halladayeducationgroup.com/Developing_A_More_Effective_Parent_Organization_For_Your_Private_Independent_School"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_tweet" tw:count="horizontal" tw:via="AddThis"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_google_plusone" g:plusone:size="standard"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_pinterest"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_compact"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Category: </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/blog/school-operations-management">School Operations &amp; Management</a></li></ul></div> Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:33:40 +0000 admin 245 at https://halladayeducationgroup.com Internationalizing Your Private School - Recruiting International Students https://halladayeducationgroup.com/Internationalizing_Your_Private_School_Recruiting_International_Students <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><span class="bodytext1">Today we want to share with you a few tips on how to set up an international student recruiting program for your school. As the former Head of an international boarding school in Canada, I was tasked with aggressively expanding both domestic and international enrollment. Something that takes both foresight and investment.</span><br /><br /><span class="bodytext1">When I was the Head of an international girl's boarding school I was challenged with expanding  international and domestic boarding enrollment quickly. This was a challenge when faced with a limited budget and assurance that the school would continue to only accept students who reflect the mission of the school. In some ways, having a finite budget makes one more deliberate on where the most value from the investment comes from; a habit that I further expanded as I required all marketing results to be measured on an enrollment basis (or ROI - Return On Investment).</span><br /><br /><span class="bodytext1">Here are few tips that I uses when I was at the school to help increase international student enrollment. Some of it may be more suitable for a boarding school, while others may be more applicable to a day school. Either way, these strategies should not be done on a one off basis and certainly shouldn't be done separately - they should be done in combination to build momentum and....enrollment.</span></p><ol class="bodytext1"><li>Attend 3-5 agent recruiting fairs a year, culling the bottom bottom list of your current agents and replacing them with new, more productive and eager agents (new agents always want to please you at the start).</li><li>Attend 4-7 international student recruiting fairs globally in key markets that provide the best return (e.g., Korea, China, Taiwan, Mexico, Germany). Note: regional demand is always dependent on your school's location and program.</li><li>Visit agents at their office in each city and update your school's files and hold a meet-and-greet session with local parents/students at the agent's office (who also promotes the event) and they get their cut.</li><li>Host alumni cocktail sessions in each city with current/former parents/students and have them invite a new parent to the event.</li><li>Have multi-lingual parents come to your recruiting booth at the recruiting fair and have them talk to prospective parents...who better to sell your school than a happy parent.</li><li>Set up a graduated commission fee system with agents whereby they receive bonuses on top of their regular commission when they reach specific milestones, with the top recruiters being invited to your school to meet the Head and Board, visit your campus, have a photo shoot and framed photo and trophy or plaque to commemorate their achievement to take back home (parents always ask where this trophy came from...who doesn't like to brag!), and even give them an inscribed watch etc. Whatever it may be, you need to recognize and reward them and ultimately separate you from the other schools.</li><li>Ramp up your recruiting office with regional admissions staff focused on specific markets.</li><li>Always add a new market each year as part of your expansion and diversification.</li><li>Prepare marketing materials and web site in multi-languages.</li><li>Set up a back-end to your website portal that allows agents access to the most recent marketing/enrollment materials for your school that they can use for their presentation to parents/students.</li><li>Set up a sister-school program in other countries to attract students.</li></ol><p class="bodytext1">As a Head, I set up a progressive commission system with recruiting agents to incentify them to put my school at the top of their list. It worked very well, doubling enrollment over a three year time frame. Take a look over the list above and see what's applicable to your school and put a budget, timelines, and staffing against each strategy. <br /><br /><span class="bodytext-bold">Next Step:</span><br /><br />If you're interested in finding out more about expanding your schools international student enrollment or other services HEG provides, please contact our firm directly by email to <a href="mailto:info@halladayeducationgroup.com">info@halladayeducationgroup.com</a> or call HEG at +1-604-868-0002.</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis-blog field-type-addthis field-label-above"><div class="field-label">addthis:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Internationalizing Your Private School - Recruiting International Students - Halladay Education Group" addthis:url="https://halladayeducationgroup.com/Internationalizing_Your_Private_School_Recruiting_International_Students"><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_tweet" tw:count="horizontal" tw:via="AddThis"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_google_plusone" g:plusone:size="standard"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_pinterest"></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250" class="addthis_button_compact"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Category: </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/blog/school-operations-management">School Operations &amp; Management</a></li></ul></div> Mon, 17 Aug 2015 23:38:36 +0000 admin 240 at https://halladayeducationgroup.com