NAIS - Schools at the Crossroads: Accelerating Toward a Faster Future

Aspiring leaders often have the motivation and drive—and it’s critical that they find mentors and build relationships with others who have the same goals. Through this journey, many have come through the NAIS Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads, a year-round program where the six of us first met at the Annual Conference in February 2020. As part of our work, we’d get career counseling (résumé and interview prep), and we’d get a comprehensive look at headship before navigating our own searches.

During the year of the fellowship, each group is tasked with preparing an action research project to be presented at the next Annual Conference. Each cohort chooses the topic and scope of its project, and how the group will present it. Presentation topics have included financial aid; leadership development; diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) work; board culture; admission trends; and philanthropy. Our group chose to focus on opportunities for schools that have come out of the pandemic.

We decided to name our group “Crossroads.” We felt like we were at a crossroads in our leadership journeys and knew that the year ahead would present us with an opportunity to think about the paths, including headship, that we could follow. We didn’t imagine that our schools would be at a crossroads because of the pandemic and the rallying cry for social justice.

So, in fall 2020, our group created a list of the most pressing questions to ask senior school leaders about their learnings since the spring in an effort to uncover the opportunities that schools now have. During the winter of 2020, we interviewed each of our schools’ leadership teams, which included heads of school, advancement directors, admission directors, human resources directors, business office directors, and division heads. We then compiled the information from our six schools, identifiedthe common themes, and presented the information as a virtual on-demand session at the 2021 NAIS Annual Conference. We found out how school leaders are addressing inequities, what pandemic-induced changes will stick, and how leaders are making space for innovation. As aspiring school leaders, we’ll take these learnings with us on our own individual journeys.

Making decisions. Recalling the early days of the pandemic, the school leaders we interviewed talked about how they were unprepared for the many decisions they’d have to make related to distance learning. Many explained that working parents couldn’t always help their children manage school at home, and whether children could engage in this format was unknown. Each area of the school—from admission and advancement to instruction and summer programs—had to figure out how to continue. School leaders had to quickly decide if the support needed was a matter of programs, personnel, communication, finances, or some combination of all these things. Deploying those resources went beyond many of the standard decision-making processes of our schools.

Finding resources. School leaders recognized a simultaneous demand on resources related to enrollment, financial aid, revenue streams, technology, people, and time. They balanced their needs in the moment with what resources they’d need in the mid- to long-term. Many school leaders told us that donors began to help in new ways, offering contributions to offset the typical revenue streams including athletics and clubs that had to be canceled.

Heads and leadership teams also began to look to boards in new ways. Trustees had to balance their fiduciary and strategic responsibilities with the operational demands of the schools they serve. Board members who are also business leaders in the community had to share what corporate liability restrictions meant for schools, and medical advisory committees helped shape policies about the day-to-day logistics of reopening safely. Leaders had to consider how to leverage the expertise of their board members while also maintaining a good governance structure, realizing that the traditional roles were fluid for the short-term.

Collaboration between schools, even those considered competitors, increased as everyone realized the value in sharing experiences. School leaders talked with each other about how to pull off virtual graduation events, assess end-of-year exams and assignments, and where to access technology resources for families. Schools shared resources to source furniture, personal protective equipment, health tracking apps, and other necessary items for safely returning to campus.

Addressing inequities. Some students and adults faced significant technology barriers in their ability to participate in remote learning. Schools tapped into operational resources to provide devices and training where needed so that students could learn, and teachers could teach.

There were also financial barriers schools and families faced, leading to questions of how to manage resources and aid. Schools had to consider how to increase financial aid for families affected by the pandemic and how to make sure all families had access to computers and internet.

When widespread protests for racial justice began happening around the world last summer, the ways in which schools navigated their communities through this challenging time elevated DEIJ issues to the governance level. Boards were able to financially support DEIJ efforts, ensuring they will continue as part of the mission of independent schools. Rebuilding school communities while holding space for the emotional toll of the past year will present some real challenges, according to school leaders we spoke with, and it was in this area where schools seemed to have the fewest solutions.

Moving forward. Schools prioritized continuing the education of students. They had to think about empathy, trust, and clear communication before academics. Moving forward both teaching and learning had to prioritize students’ social-emotional well-being.

Schools will continue to embrace technology in advancement, admission, and enrollment management and discover new options for each of these areas. Schools have been able to creatively engage parents through technology, increasing the connection between families and the classroom. They’ve seen increases in the number of families attending virtual admission tours, student conferences, and virtual philanthropic celebrations.

Creating space. A common theme among school leaders is the intentionality around collaboration, innovation, and reflection. They are working across the independent school community to strategically think about next steps. Instead of canceling meetings because groups can’t meet in-person in our shared spaces, school leaders have moved meetings outside or made them virtual.

Additionally, school leaders are attending to the social emotional well-being of their teams by checking in more often, deliberately adding time to meetings to discuss how individuals are feeling and taking special care to offer flexibility in schedules where possible. When space for connection is created, group members can offer their reflections on decisions. It’s been an opportunity to be vulnerable and walk with people through their experiences.

The past year has shown each of us a picture of the complexity of a school headship, and our project gave us the opportunity to further explore how school leaders leverage the lessons they have learned from the issues they faced. We are more determined than ever to use our skills to assert our full humanity, promote connection, nurture empathy and justice, foster collaboration and innovation, and affirm the leaders in our spheres.

Learn more about the NAIS Fellowship for Aspiring Heads.