David Mallery

The news of David's death a few days ago came via a Facebook posting and I could hear him say, "Don't you just love the way people spread the word these days!?" David embraced Facebook and just about anything or anyone else who might do 'good work.' I am one of several thousand [ten's of thousands?] people who would like to claim a special relationship with David---for almost forty years I was one of David's lucky recipients of phone calls and notes of encouragement. After a particularly rocky posting or tough assignment, it brightened my day to be asked what new 'adventures' were heading my way! As a newly minted administrator I attempted to model my professional development programs after David's and after some embarrassing missteps I realized that David's 'secret' had everything to do with his attitude and very little to do with technique. Empathy was at David's core. David will be missed and I wish him well on his own fascinating, fascinating journey.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate..."

Don't let your board become like Cool Hand Luke! Develop a Communications Plan!

The Parents’ Association [PA] and Governance

Parents Association [PA]

AKA...

Parents Advisory Council [PAC]

Parent Teacher Association [PTA]

Parent Teacher Connection [PTC]

Parents Council [PC]

These groups go by many different names and, depending on school culture and history, Parent Associations [PA] serve a wide variety of functions-fund raising, socializing, recruitment, and yes, interest group. An important measure of a school’s health is the alignment between the PA, the Board, and the administration of the school.

Fund raising and the PA

It is important that the PA’s fund raising activities are, at a minimum, reviewed in concert with the other efforts conducted by the school. I routinely encourage PA representation on the development committee to help monitor the number and nature of solicitations for both in-kind and financial support.

A key element of healthy alignment is agreement regarding the purposes for which the PA raises funds; a common conflict is between a PA project and “the school’s” Annual Fund. Some PA’s serve as adjunct to the overall development effort and provide key volunteers for the annual fund. As a general rule the PA’s that are important in the fund raising mission have greater impact on the governance of the school. PA’s that are proudly independent of the school’s fund raising efforts often generate invidious competition or become hostage to a single faction.

Grievances and the PA

The PA can provide a valuable forum for parental concerns and, at times, may be the best conduit to the school administration and/or the board. If PA meetings are little more than coffee klatches for event planning, schools are at risk of creating a sense of frustration or may foster apathy among the parents. The PA executive committee can help interpret their understanding of parental sentiment to the head of school or to a board committee. PA’s can be a key player in helping stem attrition and promoting reenrollment—but only if they are taken seriously by the board and the school administration.

Factions and the PA

Occasionally PA’s become the forum for a vocal minority of parents who have a special interest or particular agenda. In the most extreme cases a self-perpetuating board may chose to revoke the charter of a dissident PA. Short of intervention the board may choose to ask the head to establish an ad hoc task force, conduct a series of open meetings, secure the services of a facilitator or even agree to arbitration.

Professional Development and the PA

The best PA’s just like the best boards model good governance practices especially;

• Current by-laws
• Regular organized meetings
• Broad stakeholder representation
• Gender balance
• Clearly articulated strategic goal
• Detailed plan for the year

Sexting? Not at Our School.

An overheard conversation verbatim. "Sexting? No, we don't have that sort of thing at our school." The speaker a parent/board member. This happy certainty seemed at odds with the statistics reported nationally and was doubly unsettling for those of us who remember the cluster of incidents of hidden pregnancies and abandoned babies at 'elite' girls schools in the 1970's. [Of course this wasn't confined to single sex schools but the shock was greater when older staff and alumnae had to come to grips with a new reality.] The flip side of blithe dismissal is the parent/board member who is a Web 3.0 expert and social media guru who decides that it is his/her mission to get the school in line because 'all the administrators are techno troglodytes.'

So, what's a board member to do? Here as in so many other areas it is important to ask 'the right questions.'

• What are the school's policies on 'sexting'?
• Is our computer use policy current/broad enough?
• Is social networking a part of the curriculum?
• Are there other areas such as PDA [public display of affection] or behavior at dances that are of concern?
• Do staff feel supported when they intervene?
• How does the school resolve the inevitable conflict between parents whose values are more restrictive/permissive?

Mini-cases for teachers

1. A parent stops you and asks what you think about the recent increase in the cost of a school lunch.

2. You are walking to your car and you see three teenage boys you don’t recognize.

3. Your cell phone rings and your cousin says, "CNN has a breaking story about a hostage situation in town."

4. A parent of one of your favorite students asks to be your ‘friend’ on Facebook.

5. At the Mall on Saturday night you see a group of 8^th Graders smoking.

6. A harried parent comes into class late with her child. She mumbles an excuse about traffic and you smell alcohol on her breath.

7. A visibly distraught student comes to you and says, ‘I have to talk with you. It’s incredibly urgent but you have to promise not to tell anyone about this.’

8. A parent tells you that the Board decided at its meeting last night to eliminate purchase of classroom materials for the remainder of the year.

9. A student drops his cell phone and when you pick it up you see a site that features a swastika.

10. You receive an e-mail from a parent asking why you, "refuse to give my daughter the extra help she needs."

11 You receive a request from a parent to help raise money for a class family whose home was destroyed by fire last night.

12. You drive into school and encounter a TV reporter who asks what you think about the report that the school gerbil tested positive for rabies.

SOX Appeal?

Strategic Governance, Philanthropy, and Planning: Does your board have SOX appeal?

Non-profit board members are well advised to reflect on what the corporate sector has been facing for seven years!

Accreditation and Independent School Culture

As a young teacher I simply assumed that all independent schools automatically were a part of the National Association of Independent Schools [NAIS]. It was only later in my career I became aware of the full spectrum of schools; traditional independent, religious, special need, ‘progressive’ and scores of others. Some belonged to NAIS, many others didn’t.

In recent years I have consulted with several schools that wanted to seek full membership in NAIS in addition to their current accreditation by state agency, regional association, or ‘brand’ such as Montessori. The decision to align with NAIS and/or regional associations requires a united commitment best articulated in a broadly supported strategic plan or at least as an ‘endorsed priority.’

For young schools, perhaps established by a charismatic founder or an energetic coalition of activist parents, the culture shift required by accreditation can be profoundly unsettling. Current parents or staff who picked the school because of its non-traditional ethos may fear that professional association represents the opening wedge to homogenization—‘soon our school will look just like all the others.’ Trustees who value informal governance arrangements can resist professional affiliations because they know that they will have to adhere to alien standards and practices.

In my work with one Montessori School I advised them to hold off on pushing for NAIS accreditation until there was school-wide alignment and active support from all key internal and external stakeholders. That school was being urged to seek accreditation by a small, vocal group of new parents who’d previously been at a nearby traditional independent school. The school finally achieved dual AMS/NAIS status, a process that took over four years. During the intervening 48 months the board expanded and added 1/3 non-present parents, bylaws were codified and a parent-staff task force investigated the full gamut of accreditation options. Once again the old saw proved itself ‘it’s not about the destination it’s about the journey.’