The Christian School Trustee Handbook

For a People Yet Unborn Guiding Thought: The Board’s primary client is the child yet unborn. Note: throughout this handbook, the school leader is referred to as the Principal. This includes terms such as Head of School, Superintendent. When we ask Boards who their primary client is, we typically get these answers. • The Principal • Parents • The owner, such as the church • The children None of these are bad answers. All have some merit to them. The Principal is the Board’s only employee and the relationship between Board and Principal is key to the school’s health. Many Christian school mission or vision statements include “partnering with families” as part of the school’s ethos. Parents pay tuition. It makes sense to pay attention to parents, the primary educators of the child. The owner of the school is clearly a political priority. And the children of the school are the object of the mission. The Board provides resources through the budget, tuition setting, facility building / renovation to ensure that the child’s education is excellent. When we ask the Principal who their primary client is, we also typically get a variety of answers: 1. The parents 2. The teachers 3. The Leadership Team 4. The Board Again, these answers make sense. The parents are the child’s primary caretakers and scripturally are held responsible for the child’s upbringing. The parents pay tuition. The Principal often sees parents in the office looking for answers or satisfaction. Parents are also the majority of donors and some of them are leadership donors. It’s wise to keep parents in the know and involved and engaged in the school. The teachers and Leadership Team are the Principal’s own employees. They carry out the mission through the school’s programs. They need significant care and nurture. The Board is the employer. Surely the employee’s simple job description is to keep the employer happy. All of this makes sense. It is true. But it does not make any of these groups a primary client. They are all wrong answers to the question. Not only that, but any of these answers also lead the school in a dangerous direction that will not be sustainable long-term. It is a key weakness. • The Board’s primary client is the next generation of children, the children not yet born. • The Principal’s primary client is the current generation of children, the children currently in the classroom. Why is that important and how does it change the equation? For the Board, a focus on the next generation ensures the Board maintains a strategic focus. Discussions and decisions made at the Board level always point forward and anticipate a positive impact 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. Psalm 22:29-31 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him — those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! As a Christian Board, we recognize this as an eschatological focus. We are called to see forward, for our witness to be one that echoes through the generations, for our work to sustain the school’s witness to alumni and the children of alumni, to a generation yet unborn. With this stance, the relationship with the Principal is an essential one. However, it is premised on a differentiation of roles, what CSM calls the Cord Principle, where the Principal looks after the daily / annual operations of the school and the Board concerns itself with the school’s strategic future. When the Board thinks of the parents as the primary client, and many or all of the Board are parents themselves, the self-interest of today trumps the decision-making required for tomorrow. The Board becomes highly influenced by what parents are “thinking,” rather than being motivated by ensuring that the next generation will receive an exemplary mission-appropriate Christian education. Boards focused on the current group of children interfere in the job of the Principal by, for example: • Setting up committees to hire employees and oversee curriculum development • Recruiting good people who want to influence what is happening at the school now In the Principal / Board relationship, the Principal must influence and educate the Board to make strategic decisions that are positive for every child now but particularly into the future. The Principal advocates for the current child but with a future focus. When Boards and Principals understand who their primary client is, they can put everyone else in the right context. For the Board, the Principal is the secondary client. For the Principal, the parent is the secondary client. Both are in the context of the child, current and future. While the Board must support and evaluate the Principal, it is within the context of how the Principal’s performance meets and delivers on the strategic needs of the school. While the Principal must listen to and engage with parents, it must be framed in the context than any decision will be made for the benefit of every child. The concept of “primary client” is important for the Board Stewardship Committee to teach each year and to use as a measure of each potential Board member’s suitability. It is important for the Board Stewardship Committee to continually ask the question: is what you are suggesting of primary benefit to all the children? This informs both healthy direction and healthy evaluation of what both the Board and the Principal do. It also ensures that Board committees, the school’s Leadership Team, and teachers are similarly following a child-centered approach leading to excellence in mission delivery.