Does the board have too much power?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your thought experiment leading to your question is absolutely bananas. Among all your recent postings, this one is really stands out as an eye roller. It reflects a complete misunderstanding of how nonprofits operate and what effective school governance looks like. Further, it starts with the assumption that boards are made up of inept thinkers and that you have a better idea as to how the world should work.

Consulting parents on large spending decision it’s not bananas. Specially when the money comes from them, not the tooth fairy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your thought experiment leading to your question is absolutely bananas. Among all your recent postings, this one is really stands out as an eye roller. It reflects a complete misunderstanding of how nonprofits operate and what effective school governance looks like. Further, it starts with the assumption that boards are made up of inept thinkers and that you have a better idea as to how the world should work.

Consulting parents on large spending decision it’s not bananas. Specially when the money comes from them, not the tooth fairy.

When you give your tuition dollars so that your child can attend a well regarded private school, it comes with the understanding that there is an administration and a board making decisions as to how to keep the school moving forward. Your thought experiment is absurd. Bananas. More reflective of a tooth fairy than anything.

[Anonymous]

And thus another one of your threads has arrived at the place where you have brought on two pages of pushback and ridicule and now you’re telling everyone else that they are wrong. Seen this show before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And thus another one of your threads has arrived at the place where you have brought on two pages of pushback and ridicule and now you’re telling everyone else that they are wrong. Seen this show before.

Ah, that’s called masochism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your thought experiment leading to your question is absolutely bananas. Among all your recent postings, this one is really stands out as an eye roller. It reflects a complete misunderstanding of how nonprofits operate and what effective school governance looks like. Further, it starts with the assumption that boards are made up of inept thinkers and that you have a better idea as to how the world should work.

Consulting parents on large spending decision it’s not bananas. Specially when the money comes from them, not the tooth fairy.

When you give your tuition dollars so that your child can attend a well regarded private school, it comes with the understanding that there is an administration and a board making decisions as to how to keep the school moving forward. Your thought experiment is absurd. Bananas. More reflective of a tooth fairy than anything.

I think in North Korea you don’t have a right to say anything about how schools are managed. Maybe you will comfortable there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your thought experiment leading to your question is absolutely bananas. Among all your recent postings, this one is really stands out as an eye roller. It reflects a complete misunderstanding of how nonprofits operate and what effective school governance looks like. Further, it starts with the assumption that boards are made up of inept thinkers and that you have a better idea as to how the world should work.

Consulting parents on large spending decision it’s not bananas. Specially when the money comes from them, not the tooth fairy.

When you give your tuition dollars so that your child can attend a well regarded private school, it comes with the understanding that there is an administration and a board making decisions as to how to keep the school moving forward. Your thought experiment is absurd. Bananas. More reflective of a tooth fairy than anything.

I think in North Korea you don’t have a right to say anything about how schools are managed. Maybe you will comfortable there.

🤦‍♂️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your thought experiment leading to your question is absolutely bananas. Among all your recent postings, this one is really stands out as an eye roller. It reflects a complete misunderstanding of how nonprofits operate and what effective school governance looks like. Further, it starts with the assumption that boards are made up of inept thinkers and that you have a better idea as to how the world should work.

Consulting parents on large spending decision it’s not bananas. Specially when the money comes from them, not the tooth fairy.

When you give your tuition dollars so that your child can attend a well regarded private school, it comes with the understanding that there is an administration and a board making decisions as to how to keep the school moving forward. Your thought experiment is absurd. Bananas. More reflective of a tooth fairy than anything.

I think in North Korea you don’t have a right to say anything about how schools are managed. Maybe you will comfortable there.

🤦‍♂️

🇰🇵

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your thought experiment leading to your question is absolutely bananas. Among all your recent postings, this one is really stands out as an eye roller. It reflects a complete misunderstanding of how nonprofits operate and what effective school governance looks like. Further, it starts with the assumption that boards are made up of inept thinkers and that you have a better idea as to how the world should work.

Consulting parents on large spending decision it’s not bananas. Specially when the money comes from them, not the tooth fairy.

When you give your tuition dollars so that your child can attend a well regarded private school, it comes with the understanding that there is an administration and a board making decisions as to how to keep the school moving forward. Your thought experiment is absurd. Bananas. More reflective of a tooth fairy than anything.

I think in North Korea you don’t have a right to say anything about how schools are managed. Maybe you will comfortable there.

🤦‍♂️

🇰🇵

Among your countless misunderstandings of life on Earth One, you have conflated civil rights with your vision of school governance. To say that the board at your school making decisions without your input is like communism or dictatorship, means you’re not able to discern reality. But of course your threads go to this place where you can’t handle being told you’re wrong.

[Anonymous]

Ah, super interesting. So you’re the kind of person who just runs away when you don’t like something. You never comment on what you don’t like. Please, enlighten me—how do you respond when you disagree with your school? Do you just stay silent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, super interesting. So you’re the kind of person who just runs away when you don’t like something. You never comment on what you don’t like. Please, enlighten me—how do you respond when you disagree with your school? Do you just stay silent?

And there you go again with two more of your irritating tactics: Putting words in my mouth and then goading me into a protracted argument. You’re predictable and exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ah, super interesting. So you’re the kind of person who just runs away when you don’t like something. You never comment on what you don’t like. Please, enlighten me—how do you respond when you disagree with your school? Do you just stay silent?

And there you go again with two more of your irritating tactics: Putting words in my mouth and then goading me into a protracted argument. You’re predictable and exhausting.

Well, you don’t like my comments but you could share your trick on how do you express your disagreement with a school. Or you passively accept everything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand how governance works in for-profit and religious schools, where responsibility for running the institution is clearly defined. But in non-profit schools, the structure is more puzzling. Parents contribute a large share of the budget through tuition—often 70 to 80 percent—while board members typically donate more individually but collectively cover only about 1 to 2 percent of the budget. Yet, they seem to wield a disproportionate influence over school decisions, despite not owning any shares or having a financial stake in the institution.

I understand that the board handles administrative matters such as hiring or dismissing the Head of School, but it sometimes also decides on major issues like campus expansions or the use of endowment funds—choices that may benefit some parts of the community but not all. Shouldn’t the board act with more humility and consult the broader community before making such decisions, perhaps even through voting?

In my view, most non-profit schools should operate more like cooperatives, given that parents collectively fund them and board members do not hold any ownership. What do you think? Do you believe the board uses its decision-making power fairly?

Most parents don't have time, skill or inclination for that. If you don't like how the board is running things, change schools.

[Anonymous]

At my kid's independent school, most of the board members are current parents. Others are parents of a alums or alums themselves. There is a governance committee that develops a state of potential new board members each year for the board to vote on and that governance committee is also made up almost entirely of current parents.

So I think the interests of parents are pretty well represented on independent school boards. The boards themselves, beyond hiring and managing the head of school, should be mostly focused on ensuring that the school will thrive in the long run. The head of School thinks mostly about the day-to-day and the board thinks mostly about the future.