Member query:
I am interested in understanding how schools define the role of Trustee Emeriti, including selection criteria, expectations/ responsibilities, giving, access to information, access to school leaders, meeting attendance, if any, and importantly what do schools view as the …
Member query:
Should the Board Chair should be ex-officio on the Search Committee (committee doing a search for a new head of school)? Or is it ok for the Board Chair to be a full voting member of the Search …
Member query:
What is the best process to receive feedback on the performance of the Board Chair? What are the best questions to be asked of the board and/or HOS?
Reply from Cathy Trower:
If I had to name …
Member query:
How should the Governance Committee and the Board of Trustees go about conducting the Head of School’s annual performance review, analyzing compensation benchmarking data, and setting compensation this year? As you know, HOS goals agreed upon at the …
Member query:
Given recent ISCA online conversations about schools and the evolving COVID-19 situation, please advise Board Chairs on how the Board can act appropriately as ‘partners in leadership’ if schools are contemplating any of the scenarios listed below that …
Member query:
The 2018 NAIS Governance Study indicates that 87% of Heads of School and 97% of Board Chairs rate “guiding and supporting the Head of School” as very or extremely important. 67% of Heads indicate Boards do that very …
Member query:
What is your opinion about formally naming or voting in a Chair Elect 1 year before transition? Are there disadvantages to this? How much should the Chair-Elect shadow the Chair in all meetings?
Reply from Cathy Trower:…
Member query:
Please describe the board’s role in Head of School succession planning
Reply from Cathy Trower:
Harvard sociologist, David Reisman, once said that a board’s job is to protect an organization’s future from the present. This statement reminds us …
Member query:
How can boards get themselves out of the weeds and back to the strategic level after a HOS transition where the board needs to be more involved and getting ready for the new HOS?
Reply from Cathy Trower:…
Member query:
What are best practices around DEI board committees? Should we have them?
Reply from Cathy Trower:
I believe it is essential to engage the board in matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for many reasons, perhaps most …