Running a Private School

I can remember when many school administrators raised their collective eyebrows at social media a few years ago. You could almost hear them saying under their breath, "Over my dead body!" That was probably because few people back then understood social media. The marketing people were suspicious of social media because it was not as familiar as the analog marketing methods to which they were accustomed.

The way we used to market schools

Decades ago, your beautiful school brochures and catalogs were how you got the word out about your school and its mission. Those printed materials were expensive and time-consuming to produce. But that's all we had. Then along came the Internet. Schools built websites—pretty basic ones at first. But as the technology advanced and professional graphic designers got their hands on those school websites, the result was a product just as elegant and compelling as any of those brochures and catalogs we used to have lithographed. While most schools still produce brochures and catalogs, most of these are done in-house.

It seemed that you had barely got your website tweaked to dazzling perfection, replete with online applications, inquiries, video tours, and all the bells and whistles 21st-century web designers could cram into them when along came Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest. Social media was suddenly socially acceptable. Not only was it good, but it was essential to include it in your marketing strategy.

Let's look at social media and see how best

Who in their right mind starts a private school? Starting any enterprise is a daunting project. Yet many parents and teachers are the impetus behind the dozen or so new private schools that appear on the scene each fall. Some schools begin modestly with a grade or two and grow by adding one grade a year. Other schools have much more elaborate plans. Why do these brave parents and teachers start a school? The main reason seems to be that they are passionate about teaching a certain way or adhering to a certain philosophy. Sometimes they do it simply because they want to run their own school and do things their way.

No matter what the genesis of the idea might be, the recipe for bringing a school into existence is straight-forward enough, although there are many ingredients. Staring a school requires equal parts persistence, business acumen, and vast amounts of patience. To those basic ingredients, you add huge lashings of money. Mix thoroughly. As you do, you discover that you will have to add more money regularly as the other ingredients soak up gobs of money.

This video offers an overview of starting a nonprofit organization like your school.

Here is a template for planning and opening your own school. Good luck! I did it. Lived through the experience. I still recall it as one of the best things I ever did.

36 months

Most of us like to start a project and see it through from start to finish. Signing on to run a going concern is a pretty safe bet. But what about tackling something which is going to make enormous demands on your abilities, energy and experience but which has a lot of risk? Such as taking over a struggling private school?

Actually, taking over anything which is struggling entails a lot of risk. Anyway, you have talent and experience. So let's examine what's involved in investigating a head of school position at a struggling school before you sign on. Here are eight keys to a successful business turnaround.

First of all, let's agree to define the struggling school as a school which is having financial difficulties. Once you understand that you are going to have to do some very heavy lifting raising money, that will help you focus on what has to be done. The truth is that most struggling schools didn't arrive in their present condition overnight. This is train wreck which the previous head of school and the board saw coming for several years before now. Things have unfortunately gotten to the point that either the school gets turned around or it closes its doors for good.

Let's look at some of the reasons why a school finds itself facing difficult times.

Its business model is flawed.

A flawed business model usually is the result of the trustees and administration implementing programs and structures which do

"Popular teacher murdered"

"Accusations of sex abuse at prestigious private school"

"Lavish expenditures on headmaster's house renovations"

I am not making these up. These are examples of incidents that have actually taken place at private schools. In the course of running any business, things happen that can generate negative and unwanted publicity. A private school is a business. How you handle a crisis will have a huge impact on the future of your school.

It's the head of school's worst nightmare to read a story about something that happened at his school.

It's a parent's worst nightmare to read a story about something that happened in her children's school.

It's a teacher's worst nightmare to be in the midst of the maelstrom which is the evolving story with all its investigations.

The Head of School

21st-century heads of schools know that they cannot simply circle the wagons and deny the existence of the story. A couple of decades ago, when social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, email, and blogs did not exist, the fortress mentality was how many heads handled tough situations. You expelled a few students and fired some staff, and hopefully, the matter was put to rest permanently. Not anymore. Unfortunately, smartphones flash photos, comments, and opinions around the world in seconds. Your story better deal with all those reports effectively and professionally.

Now when bad press appears, it takes on a life of its own. It is bad enough to see a

Have you ever thought about starting your own private school? There are a couple of reasons why you might be pondering a large scale project such as starting a private school. Perhaps you are discouraged by the lack of education options in your area and want to do something about it. Maybe you have a vision and philosophy of education which is ahead of the curve. Rudolf Steiner and Maria Montessori are examples of educators who established entire movements based on their teachings and philosophies. Or perhaps no school in your area is doing what you know and feel strongly is necessary and beneficial for young people. Many determined people have established private schools because they want to be able to include religious instruction in their curricula. These are just a few of the reasons why private schools get their start.

Separation of Church and State

Historically this has been one of the major reasons why private schools were established. Public schools legally cannot teach faith-based religion. So if you are a devout follower of your religion, you will probably want your children to have a thorough grounding in their faith. That's why 22,731 private schools are affiliated with a religion according to the data available from the Private School Universe Survey of the National Center for Educational Statistics. To put that number of schools in context the PSS shows that there were 33,366 private schools in the United States. Based on those statistics religious private