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Anonymous
| The Board at our school is made up almost entirely of parents who are "tapped" for admission. There are only 2 non-parents on the Board as far as I can tell. This bothers me a lot as I think an insular Board can't have a true and clear picture of the school. |
Anonymous
| Most independent schools look for some combination of "Wealth, Wisdom, and Work" in terms of their board candidates. The awesome parent volunteer without a lot of cash may make it on as a "work" type; and the head of school at another independent school may be the "wisdom" slot -- but yes, they rely on the board for big donations so a lot of the slots will be taken up by those for whom W = WEALTH. |
Anonymous
| Does one's being a member of the Board give one's child a better recommendation from the college counselor when it comes to applying to colleges? |
Anonymous
Yikes! No, the college counselors are professionals (and their recs are confidential). If the Board parent is that rich and powerful they can probably bring their own undue influence to bear on the colleges! 
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Anonymous
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I think it's more of a big fish in a small pond scenario. The most high-powered parents usually don't have the time or interest to be on their DCs' school's Board. And the amount of money it takes to make a splash at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton is a lot more than it takes to be a major donor at a local day school, no matter how selective.
Which could mean that Board members may indeed be hoping for especially glowing college recs! |
Anonymous
Yes, I agree that the Board members are not the especially high-powered people. The ones at my school are doctors, lawyers, local business owners, of which some are alums and some are not. When I think, what is in it for them, I think that (in addition to a sense of civic duty, of course) they might see some advantage with the school admin, including with the councelors in college admissions. |
Anonymous
| Wow, I know most of the Trustees of my kids school. I do not think any of them are doing it other than their love and vested interest in the institution. Maybe I am naive. |
Anonymous
| Okay - I'm a current DCPS parent about to transfer to MS private. WHY IS IT A BIG DEAL TO NAME SCHOOLS with regard to how they determine their boards, even on this anonymous forum? This just seems crazy -- are parents afraid their board of trustees will hack the posters? Please name some schools. |
Anonymous
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Why aren't people naming schools?
Because stuff gets totally blown out of proportion here and endlessly recirculated. I think most schools answer this question somewhere on their website, so it's easy to find out how specific schools you are interested in are governed. It's just a PITA to figure out what's the norm/range of practice locally without sifting through dozens of websites. That's why I asked the question here. |
Anonymous
This seems to be how it is at our kids' school--a couple of members who aren't super-wealthy but fit the "work" profile, and the rest super-wealthy/big donor types. I say "seems to be" because the process is so secretive that most people don't even really know how the board is selected. Every year the parents get a letter simply announcing the new members. There certainly is no election or any process leading up to the yearly announcement, and parents don't have input--clearly certain people are tapped to join by the existing board members. I have to say that this rankles me and many other parents. |
Anonymous
I have not found this information on the websites I have looked at. |
Anonymous
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It's generally under some tab like "about us" or "history." If you can't find it, search "trustees" or "board" or "governance" within the site.
Here are some examples: http://www.potomacschool.org/our-community/trustees/index.aspx http://www.sidwell.edu/about_sfs/board-of-trustees/index.aspx (one of the least informative) https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=124218&rc=1 http://www.ncs.cathedral.org/podium/default.aspx?t=112465 |
Anonymous
| The board at my DC's child does not hold elections and it's mostly parents. Does seem to be wealthy parents some of whom genuinely care about doing what's right for the school and a few who seen how shall I say it...drunk with power or into the social status (making sure you know they are on the BOARD as often as possible). Does seem rather insular and sometimes out of touch with the needs and desires of the rest of the school community. Would be nice to see more community professionals on the board and would be better IMO to have parents elect their own board, though sounds uncommon. Our school faculty, etc seem pretty professional and I don't suspect any board members are getting special treatment. |
Anonymous
Although I see where you are coming from, to have the parents elect the board ignores the fact that the constituency of an independent school goes beyond current parents, and includes faculty and admin; alumni (that's a big one); and even past parents. Maybe there could be a couple of parent "slots" on the board elected by the parents, but I bet people would fight and get their noses out of joint about it even more than about having some parents just 'tapped' for the board. |
Anonymous
Okay, using one of the links above, I see that a girl was denied admission at a school at which her grandfather (also a rich owner of a local business) is a member of the board of trustees. Wow. I guess being a member of the board does not necessarily confer the key advantages one would suspect. Knowing this, I feel good about the integrity of this school's admissions process. |