Thursday, January 28, 2010

Be a Match.

My Mom, Sandra Sholkoff, passed away almost two years ago after a lengthy battle with leukemia. She got an extra three years of life--good, happy years--because of the kindness of an anonymous donor who donated his stem cells so she could have a chance to live.

Anyone can be a match. It's easy and painless to get on the National Bone Marrow registry. You just need to do a mouth swab and send the kit back, and you're on the list. They'll only call you if they need you. You can join the registry here.

When my Mom got sick, the rest of the family joined the Registry. We saw first hand how a donor can give the gift of life. And we needed to join the Registry.

A few months ago, I got a call from the Registry. I was a potential match. I went and had some blood tests, and then didn't hear anything for a few months. Then I got another call, saying that I might be needed to donate, but they would let me know.

About a month ago, I got the Call. I was a match. This led to more blood testing, a physical exam, and signing a whole bunch of waiver forms.

This week I started the donation process. I have had several injections of a drug that stimulates my healthy bone marrow to create more stem cells in my blood, which can then be harvested next week. When the marrow works harder, it can cause some bone discomfort, but this will not be too severe. I've some more rare eye symptoms,but we hope they will go away.

Tomorrow, Monday, I go for collection, the likely first of two days. I'll be connected to all sorts of machines as they get the stem cells from me to give to my recipient.

So no Kadima news today. I hope to be back in the saddle by next week. In the meantime, if you are not on the registry, you need to get on it. There are almost 6,000 people a day trying to find donors.

You can find more information about Bone Marrow Registry, here.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Tuition Assistance.

One of the most difficult things about running an independent school is that it costs a hell of a lot to provide a first class education for our students. If we charged what it really cost, the tuition for elementary school would be well over $20,000 per year--perhaps even close to $30,000. So we reduce the tuition in the hope that we can fundraise the difference and still manage to keep the school running.

But we can't reduce the tuition low enough for everyone to afford a Jewish Day School education. Thus, we offer extensive Tuition Assistance to our families. It's one of the most wonderful things that Kadima does. This is especially because it is important to remember that when we offer aid, it is money that is coming directly from our bottom line. We don't have a giant endowment which provides support for financial aid. Our financial aid dollars come directly from our operating and fundraising revenues. Yet, we make a concerted effort to try to make a Kadima education a possibility for everyone.

The TA process is difficult. I also think that because it is, by necessity, shrouded in confidentiality, it is also subject to a variety of misconceptions. Indeed, until I became President, I did not have a full understanding as to how the process worked. I doubt that few people--even those getting TA, understand the TA system. Here's a simple primer:

First. The Board approves a budget for Tuition Assistance that meshes with our overall revenue and expense estimates. The TA Committee is not permitted to exceed that budget amount. Thus, the Committee has to budget its own resources to ensure that it has enough funds to handle the various requests, respond to new students, and meet certain exigent circumstances. It is important to emphasize that the TA Committee, like the school, has limited resources. We simply cannot grant unlimited aid to everyone family that "needs" it. If we did, the school would close because it would run out of money very fast.

Second. The President appoints the TA Committee. The members of the TA are known only to the President, the Vice-President of Finance, the Head of School, the Director of Finance, --the latter two also sit on the Committee--and to the Almighty. The Committee is confidential for all sorts of reasons, the primary one being that we don't want anyone to attempt unduly influence the Committee, or to be concerned about who knows their private business. So the identity of the Committee is strictly confidential.

Third. The Committee then meets and establishes its criteria and sets ground rules that will govern its actions during the process. TA decisions are inherently emotional, so it is best to set the rules before dealing with specific cases. This likely includes setting aside funds for new applications (which come in later) as well as a small pool for truly exigent circumstances (someone loses their job in June, for example). This also, however, reduces the pool available for returning students, and it demonstrates why it is absolutely critical that people get their applications in on time.

Fourth.
Upon receiving applications, the finance office reviews and checks them, conducts due diligence, and then submits them to the Committee for review. When reviewing applications, the Committee uses a variety of considerations, including, but not limited to, the financial need, the evidentiary support for the request, and the timeliness of the request. Awarding TA is not done by computer; it is done holistically and based upon numerous factors. This continues until all decisions have been made.

Fifth. The TA has an appeal process. This year, it is likely that the appeal process will be more formalized; an appeal is not meritorious simply because the applicant did not like the grant. Nor is an appeal a negotiation; it is likely that appeals will only be granted if the Committee abused its discretion (i.e., really got it wrong), misunderstood certain facts, was unaware of certain facts, or there are new facts.

That's how TA works in a nutshell.

The most important thing for returning families is that they meet the relevant deadlines for applying for aid. In any professional organization--a college, for example--if you want aid, you must meet certain deadlines. Kadima is no different. If you are a returning family, and you miss the deadline, your application will be considered after the timely ones, and it is possible that there will be insufficient funds to meet your request. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting your application in by the deadline. Indeed, last night, the Board passed a resolution expressly instructing the TA Committee to consider the timeliness of a person's application when making TA grants.

So if you think that you'll need TA, get your application in on time, and the school will do its best to make it possible for you to attend Kadima next year.

The deadline for applications is February 1, 2010.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Geography Bee!

While I've hesitated to self-promote too much in this blog, I won't hesitate to give kudos, and wish a hearty yasher koach to my 12 year old, son, Avi, who won the Kadima Geography Bee last week.

Avi spends a great deal of his time reading about sports and the entertainment industry; I'm glad that he also knows something about geography, too.

The Geography Bee is sponsored by National Geographic. You can read about it here.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Go, go. . .go, Kadima!

I am a strong believer in the theory that little things can have major ramifications over time. I believe that if we develop a culture of good citizenship--starting by encouraging, reinforcing, and reinforcing again positive behavior that is community oriented (such as not clogging the parking line by making an illegal left turn out of the parking lot at Kadima)--we slowly, over time, develop a culture of community, and a community of people who care deeply about Kadima.

We've been working on this all year--by making the car pool lane more efficient, by calling out people who park in handicap spaces, by reinforcing school deadlines, and by making transparency a key pillar of board activities. The goal is, as stated, to create a place where people feel they are not just sending tuition payments, but believe they are part of truly wonderful and important institution. I work hard to include people in the process and decisionmaking; indeed, one of the reasons I write this blog is so people will have some sense about what were doing at the school. The blog is one the "little things" that helps, I hope, begin to create a sense of community.

Last week, our Head of School, Bill Cohen, led a pep rally for our school. It was the first pep rally in many years; and, it was a total success. As parents picked up their kids, they heard booming cheers "Go, go...go Kadima!" They saw the school's mascot, the Kodiak, encouraging the crowd. Even otherwise cynical middle school kids got into the act, enjoying and participating in the display of school spirit. The cheers continued for the basketball game, which, although not a victory, still energized school pride and spirit.

Little things make a difference. For every cheer for the school, school pride increases. And when school pride increases, everything else seems to work a bit easier and a bit better.

Kudos to Bill, the administration, the faculty and the staff for making putting together an excellent pep rally.

Go, go, GO KADIMA!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Democracy and Independent Schools.

While working on the revisions of our bylaws, we've struggled to develop a workable system for electing our leadership that balances the need for vetting and guided, responsible leadership, on the one hand, and desire for democracy and checks and balances on the other.

Our present bylaws try to thread the needle by providing for a Nominating Committee that selects our Board. The Board then "approves" the slate of officers and trustees, and then submits it for another vote to our "Members" which are defined as our parents and our Trustees. The bylaws then provide another possible check, in that anyone can run to be a Trustee, but there is no election for officers; officers are selected solely by the Nominating Committee and the Board.

The self-appointed arbiters of school management wisdom, ISM, PEJE, and the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, opine that democracy is bad, and that under no circumstances should the members or parents vote for anything. Instead, the Board itself should determine the strategic direction of the school; the Board, and not the parents, should select future Boards. There are a variety of schools that do this, and we are considering this at Kadima. Many Boards fear the outsider who, with no experience gets a mob charged up and takes over the school, only to run it into the ground. Thus, there is a desire to eliminate the possibility entirely by ensuring that the Board--and not the people with the pitchforks--determine the school's leadership.

Yet, this level of control cuts against my democratic instincts; I am a believer in democracy and in elections. I don't shy away from debate (perhaps that's because I am a lawyer) and I love politics (there was a time when I knew the names of all 100 Senators). I also think that Nominating Committees and Board can become insular and isolated and stale. When this happens, there ought to be a mechanism for an outsider to come and get elected through some sort of democratic process. Yet, paradoxically, most parents have no desire to vote on the Board and rarely turn up for annual meetings. Indeed, at least one school president told me that when they eliminated the voting rights of their parents, no one protested at all. Like virtually every school, most parents don't come to the annual meeting, so they really were not missing anything.

Moreover, ISM argues that the Board should be more like a business board, namely, it is a strategic Board, and not a representative Board. In other words, the Board should focus on strategic planning and management, and not upon politics--even if it is interesting.

The bylaws committee is still sorting through this issue. My position is evolving on this; I initially believed that we should have as much democracy as possible; however, as I consider all the realities, I recognize that this may not be the wisest course for operating an independent school. At the end of the day, whoever is on the Board must think strategically and in the school's best interests; otherwise, the school will simply not succeed. In addition, I've learned that school governance can be a strange beast; having experienced people at the helm--even if they are not most political people--is probably best.

It's interesting stuff...at least to me.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Policymaking.

I haven't been writing of late, primarily because I've been spending an inordinate amount of time working on a variety of Kadima policy issues. This is nitty gritty stuff; the kinds of thing that the folks at ISM and PEJE get worked up about. And while these matters don't directly involve what happens in the classroom, they do concern the efficient and professional running of the school. These kinds of things differentiate a school from being a Mom and Pop place, and being a professional organization.

I've been focused on two major documents. The first is a revision of the school's bylaws, which are somewhat out of date. They work, but they need revision. Pam Teitelbaum, our VP of Governance, has been leading a committee to revise these documents, and while we are close, we are simply not there, yet. Unfortunately, the whole process has revealed some disturbing fault lines between aspects of our leadership, but we're overcoming them. It just takes some time. Everyone realizes that our bylaws serve as our constitution, so we can't ram through changes. But coming to consensus is not always possible, and that's difficult.

I've also been working with our Finance Committee, under the able leadership of our VP of Finance, Brett Grauman, to develop policies and procedures regarding school contracting, conflicts of interests and similar issues. Again, this stuff is legalistic (and while I am a lawyer, I am an employment lawyer for management, not a corporate lawyer), and it takes time to develop. But we've got a great team working on it, and it is something that's necessary as we move forward in the school's development.

I am also in the process of assembling two critically important Committees for the school: the Nominating Committee, which finds and vets people to serve on our Board, and the Tuition Assistance Committee, which does the critical work of trying to make our school available to everyone.

At the same time as all of this is going on, our ACOM (Advancement Committee) under Rabbi Jay Strear's leadership, is working to find the means to support the school. We're in the middle of Annual Giving, and we've had great results thus far. But the need for fundraising is acute, and in a difficult economy, charitable giving is what collapses first. Also, Mr. Cohen and the Admissions Team is working very hard to improve our recruitment and get more students.

All of this is difficult, hard, but sorely necessary. But it can interfere with blog posting...

Monday, January 4, 2010

A New Name.

Today it became official:

We are now Kadima Day School.

Kudos to the staff for turning around the signage and making this change one filled with much ruach.