Independent and international schools have been making the news lately but not about what you might think. The local headlines have been about the dismissals or resignations of school heads. This trend has skyrocketed in the past year.

Some of this is due to post-pandemic intrusive parent engagement. Much more is due to the loss of institutional memory on boards. Recently, it seems to be prompted by the panicked reaction of boards  to a real or perceived crisis that is personnel, curriculum, or culture related; or related to politically charged issues such as gender identity, the war in the Middle East, DEI initiatives and more.

In a time of a real or perceived crisis, boards can become very reactive and not think carefully, analytically and with wisdom. The important message here is:  STOP!

Heads are “fired” all the time, but the increasing numbers worldwide are having a negative impact on the reputation of schools and heads and the financial health of schools. Channel crossing and boundary jumping by passionate stakeholders who breach the normally solid walls of good governance often prompts sudden leadership changes. All the training and understanding of best practice fly out the window when a parent, administrator, faculty member or graduate contact board members who breach the safety and confidentiality of the board room.

Elementary day schools fire their heads most often followed by K to 12 schools. Boarding schools fire their heads less often. You can guess why. The presence of parents is constant in day schools and rare in boarding schools. Boards made up mostly of current parents fire their heads more often than boards made up mainly of past parents and alumni. Boards composed of professionals but with a good sprinkling of active CEO types fire their heads far less often than boards made up entirely of professionals. Professionals do not work for boards. CEO’s often do and so do heads. Professionals do not tend to hire and fire employees as often as a CEO does and as heads of school do. So, CEOs and heads have some things in common including trying to “see the forest for the trees”

When the crisis strikes, and it surely will inevitably, this Consultant suggests that everyone remember these three rules:

“Circle the wagons” meaning do not break ranks.

 “Shut up” or more politely, “Be quiet” meaning do not break the confidences of the board room.

“Support your head” meaning do not throw your head under the bus!

These three simple rules might well save a board and a head when the next crisis occurs.

Here are two real case studies. Both Boards panicked over different issues.  In the first instance, the Head left, and in the second the Head stayed.

In the first scenario Jean, the Head, had a strong background in advancement but had never led a school. Because the Board wanted to build a new high school, it sought a successful fundraising Head. Four years later, she accomplished their goals. However, she did not have adequate time to develop sufficient political good will with the K to 8 faculty who were the backbone of the School. Some of these Teachers started to complain about a lack of attention they were receiving due to the focus on this new high school building and program. They began to contact Board Members with children in the Lower School and threatened to leave if this Head stayed on.

Without the Chair or Head’s knowledge, some Board Members met with some of these disgruntled teachers. These Board Members asked the Head for a meeting with no stated purpose. Key teachers were also invited to the meeting where the Head was asked to “apologize” to them.

The Chair and the Head were taken aback by this. The School had a history of three short-lived Heads following the departure of the Founder, but this time the Chair was strong and very supportive of the Head. The Chair was furious with the “rump” group of board members and demanded that they leave the board. The Head, feeling unappreciated after having done what the Board had asked her to do, accepted an offer to lead another School near her home town. The donors were so upset by this that they threatened not to pay their pledges. In the end, the Chair remained firm; initiated a governance workshop with the Board; and removed the errant Board Members. The School is fine now, and both the new Head and the departed Head are doing well.

In the other case, during the early Black Lives Matter movement, a Head came under fire from parents and alumni for being either too sympathetic or not sympathetic enough to diversity and DEI issues. Some Board Members threatened to resign on both sides of the issue. The Head was attacked publicly in the press and privately received many hurtful messages as did her family members. Following two governance workshops, the core of the Board encouraged a few Board Members to leave in an effort to create a smaller, more manageable and appropriately engaged Board. It bolstered the power of the Committee on Trustees and the Head Support Committee. A new Chair and a stronger Board renewed their confidence in the Head publicly to the School community and extended her contract. She is still there leading brilliantly, and in fact, the School is building a new campus.

Successful searches take 18 months, and the transition of new heads takes 3 to 5 years. Every head turnover is a potential major loss of momentum and a risk that the next head may not be a good fit.

Don’t panic and overreact.