June 1, 2023

Same Page

The absence of daylight between the board's and the head's expectations of each other is the hallmark of strong independent school governance. Success lies in how school leaders structure the stewardship of this unity in the board's calendar of activities. Danger lies in even small gaps in this narrative, a circumstance we often stumble upon, for instance, when we arrive at the November board meeting to kick off a school's strategic plan and discover that approval of the head's yearly goals is also on the agenda. June is the month when heads and board chairs should be readying the head's goals for approval at the first board meeting of the new year. If you don't have a structure for this process, these pieces will guide you.