A Key Partnership

1. A Key Partnership Board of Trustees and Head of School

2. Board of Trustees • Selects, evaluates, and supports the Head of School. • Guards and promotes the mission. • Sets strategic goals and policy decisions. • Speaks in one voice once decisions are made. • Assumes authority as a whole. • Maintains confidentiality. • Avoids conflict of interests. • Individually and collectively owns fiduciary responsibility.

3. Board Composition • Members and Ex-Officio Members • Parents (Current and Past) • Alumnae • Fellow Head of School or Senior Administrator • Friends of the School • (Faculty/Student Representative: NOT ADVISED)

4. Board Committees • Standing Committees • Examples: • Executive Committee • Committee on Trustees/Nominating • Development • Finance/Investments • Marketing • Buildings and Grounds • HR • Academic and Student Affairs

5. Task Forces • Examples: • Strategic Planning • Building Project Task Force • Alternative revenue • Make sure that the main thing is the main thing.

6. Developing the Board • Attention to Mission • Team Building • Performance expectations • Organizational structure, operating procedures • School history, finances, program • Fund-raising • Strategic plan goals

7. Head’s Responsibility to the Partnership • Listens to ideas/suggestions of constituencies; bring significant ones to BOT’s attention. • Insists on timely, consistent meetings with Board Chair. • Attends Board Committee meetings. • Meets, within reason, with individual Trustees. • With Board Chair, keeps BOT on task and in focus. • Educates constituencies to role/function of BOT. • Maintains confidentiality of Board discussions.

8. Board’s Responsibility to the Partnership • Recognizes that the Head of School is CEO – vested and trusted with this responsibility. • Discusses any disagreements with the Head in a private forum. • Directs issues to the attention of the Head. • Educates constituencies regarding Board’s role – boundaries of power and authority vested in the Board and Head. • Remembers that the Head is answerable to the Board as a whole. • Evaluates the Head in terms of the success of the school and mutually agreed upon annual goals.

9. Board Chair and Head: Essential Alliance • No surprises • Need to know and be well prepared • Agreement on pace and direction • Joint thinking & strategy in decision-making • On occasion, shared action • Head: responder to good counsel from a good Chair • Chair: nurturer of the Head

10. Seek First-hand Experience • Some ideas: • Strive to serve as a trustee of a local non-profit. • Ask the Head of School if you may join or audit a full board meeting or committee meetings. • Read the NAIS Trustee Handbook to familiarize yourself with best practices in school governance.

11. Leading the Team Head of School and Leadership Team

12. Strong teams • Share leadership goals, deriving from the strategic plan. • Engage in open dialogue, information sharing. • Lead with “why?” • Draw on strengths of each individual. • View the whole of the school together. • Embrace a shared vision; move the mission forward.

13. Leadership Team Composition Typically: • Head of School • Assistant/Associate Head(s) • Division Head(s) • Director of Finance and Operations • Director of Development/Advancement • Director of Admission/Enrollment

14. Other roles sometimes included • Academic Dean/Dean of Academic Affairs • Director of Multicultural Affairs/Diversity • Dean of Faculty • Dean of Students • Dean of Residential Life • Director of Athletics • Director of College Counseling • Director of Technology

15. Deterrents to Effective Teamwork • Lack of Trust • Aversion to Conflict • Lack of Commitment • Lack of Shared Vision • Avoidance of Accountability • Inattention to Results

16. Setter of TeamTone: Head of School