Accepting Trust: The Critical Role of Independent School Trustees

This new series of essays is a critical discussion of how schools are and should be organized and operated. It considers the organization and operation of both the school administration and the board of trustees and how they interact. It reviews the business of a school and the increasingly important role of the chief financial officer. School missions are evaluated, and school boards are assessed on how well a school succeeds in meeting its mission. A central focus is how schools plan. Mordecai dismisses strategic planning and suggests a new form of planning he calls strategic envisioning; a process that focuses on capturing the energy of stakeholders to ensure that the operation of the school is aligned with its mission. The book discusses in detail how ineffective boards can become effective. The last essay is devoted to the effect of technology on curricula, its impact on how education is delivered, and how content is impacted.