Developing The Executive Team: A Leadership Training Program

Posted on June 26, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

It’s lonely at the top. Every School Head bears the heavy weight of responsibility, but an effective, unified, executive leadership team not only lessens that burden, enhances the effectiveness of the top leader and extends his/her tenure, but also paves the path for sustained growth and mission accomplishment.

In most independent Christian schools, our leadership benches lack both depth and breadth, with too much falling on too few talented and experienced people. What happens when those key people disappear?

As School Board members, Heads, and Principals, it is our responsibility to steward the valuable human resources entrusted to us—especially those full of promise—instead of leaving them underdeveloped and then scrambling to poach from other Christian ministries when a key hire is needed. But how can an already too busy Head effectively train the leaders beneath him/her?

This session will introduce components of a one- to two-year, biblically-based leadership development program for key and emerging leaders that encompasses instruction in leadership and school operations and employs a mentoring program to develop more confident, secure, and experienced leaders. Most, or all, of this program can be delivered on site to (and with) your leadership team or cohort, increasing their exposure within the organization and building a shared commitment to the mission and trust among those responsible for executing it.

Starrla Fowler

"Starrla Fowler has served at Veritas Academy since its inception in 2004. She and her husband, Jef, co-founded this school of over 600 students now residing on its 97-acre campus in southwest Austin, Texas. For the past 17 years, Starrla has served in various capacities as the Academic Dean, Academic Team Chair, Grammar School Head, and School of Logic Head, in addition to her continued service on the school board and its Governance and Nominations committee. Starrla graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin with a BS degree in Elementary Education. Just out of college, she taught in Houston’s Spring Branch ISD where she was a teacher-of-the-year and served on several task forces in this large school district, including multi-year studies for inclusion of learning disabled students, math curriculum development, and campus development. While at Veritas, Starrla has developed curriculum and academic programs, trained hundreds of teachers, served on accreditation teams for similar schools, and helped many classical, collaborative schools launch and grow. She is passionate about kingdom building through the expansion of classical, Christian schools. After receiving her Masters in Leadership through Gordon College, she shifted her focus to developing programs for training future Christian school leaders. Starrla and her husband, Jef, live in the Texas hill and are the parents of three adult children."

Institutional Apprenticeship: Understanding Organizational Growth

Posted on June 26, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

Based on a multiple sample case study of six cce schools, this seminar offers a holistic framework for thinking about a school’s journey from apprentice to journeyman to master. Two schools were examined under each maturity level, and the conclusion of this case study is a clear improvement pathway focused on (1) diagnosing stage of maturity, (2) develop future targets with stage-based wisdom, and (3) discerning the best means to measure progress on those targets. The schools were studied by examining public records about the school as well as interviewing the leadership of the school.

The benefit of this study is that it helps smaller schools not try to be Geneva, Veritas or Ambrose but instead offers them a framework that can guide them to chart a faithful path for their schools’ future. Moreover, this leadership study for schools is explicitly guided and governed by both the philosophy and theology of the classical Christian movement rather than the philosophical pragmatism and materialistic empiricism of many leadership and management works.

It Takes a Team: Why the Head Must Not Go It Alone

Posted on June 26, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

Leslie Moeller

Leslie Moeller is the current Chairman of the Board of the Society for Classical Learning, former Chairman of the Board of the Geneva School of Boerne, current Board member of New Covenant Schools, former Head of Upper School at The Covenant School, and former Head of School at Geneva School of Boerne. Leslie has used her broad experience in teaching, administrative, and governance of classical, Christian schools as the basis for her consulting work with boards across the nation over the past 12 years.

How to Respond to Mental Health Issues

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

Employees, students of all ages, parents, staff, today HOS’s find themselves facing signifcant challenges in how to respond to others struggling with mental health issues…. and that wasn’t in your job description or in any training!

Keith McCurdy will provide simple, effective principles that will allow you to direct others to proper resources while helping you to understand and compassionate provide appropriate boundaries.

Keith McCurdy

Keith has worked with families, children, parents, and individuals for over 30 years in the field of mental health, working with more than 15,000 individuals and families. He received his Master of Arts and Education Specialist degrees from James Madison University. He is currently the President and CEO of Total Life Counseling, Inc., and is licensed in the state of Virginia as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Keith provides counseling and consulting services as well as a variety of workshops on improving parenting skills, building strong marriages, and maintaining healthy relationships. He has developed and regularly offers parenting retreats entitled “Raising Sturdy Kids” to help parents operate from the correct paradigm with their children and has extended and customized this powerful program for schools and students. For many years Keith has been a consultant and speaker nationally to schools both within and outside of the world of Classical Education. He previously served as Chairman of the Board at Faith Christian School, a Christian classical school in Roanoke, VA. Keith has been a regular contributor to The Roanoke Star with articles on children, parenting, and marriage. Keith has been featured on the Circe Institute’s podcast “The Commons”, ""BaseCamp Live"", and ""Crosspolitic"" podcasts respectively, discussing topics related to raising sturdy kids. A significant part of his work has been helping parents understand the needed benefit of allowing their children to struggle to learn to do hard things. Keith is an avid outdoorsman and is actively involved with Boy Scouts of America and coaching high school basketball. He and his wife Lynnie have been married for 26 years and have two children.

Understanding Trends in Higher Education

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

The majority of classically educated high schoolers have their sights set on a standard four-year college or university. But recent trends have raised the question of what universities are offering and whether it is worth the cost. To understand the emerging landscape of higher education, I will distinguish among the varied goals of different sorts of colleges. There are three broad categories of goals: vocational certification (e.g., nursing, welding), career credentialing (e.g, typical four-year university), and wisdom (e.g., classical colleges). In this talk, I will explore the goals of the latter two types and investigate what students can expect to receive from them, both pro and con. In the process, I will make a case for why classically trained high school graduates might want to pursue a classical undergraduate education.

Eliot Grasso

Eliot Grasso, vice president and tutor at Gutenberg College, joined the faculty in 2012 where he teaches courses on art, music, and aesthetics. Eliot is committed to fostering the intellectual development of his students through discussions centered on primary source readings. Eliot has performed, recorded, taught, and lectured on Irish traditional music internationally. Scholars, critics, and performers have described him as “one of the finest uilleann pipers in the history of Irish music in America.” Eliot has performed for the National Endowment for the Arts Awards, the National Heritage Awards, Glasgow’s International Piping Festival, Piping Live!, Armagh’s William Kennedy International Piping Festival, and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Eliot holds a B.A. in music from Goucher College, a M.A. in ethnomusicology from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. Eliot’s scholarship and teaching have been recognized with awards from the Society for Ethnomusicology and the University of Oregon.

Principles to Apply to Difficult Conversations to Ensure the Best Outcome

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

On any given day, a HOS faces countless difficult conversations. Whether with students, parents, faculty, staff, administration, board, etc., at any moment yet another challenge for how to negotiate conversations that can spiral out of control or feel as though no positive resolution has occurred. Keith McCurdy will provide sound, time tested principles that can be applied to any difficult conversation given it the best chance for a positive outcome!

Keith McCurdy

Three Common Dilemmas for Heads of Schools

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

Hear Keith Nix’s insights from over 20 years as Head of School and leader of Head of School cohorts with 50 plus heads as he identifies and provides insights on the three most common issues with which Heads find themselves having to manage. They are: 1. Fundraising, 2. Building out your Administrative Team, 3. Managing your relationship with the board. Keith will provide a helpful outline to assist you in directing your energies in each category.

25 Years of God’s Blessings Through Challenges.

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

Rim Hinckley

Prior to starting The Geneva School of Manhattan, Rim Hinckley taught mathematics in public schools in Lancaster, PA, Weston, MA, and at the United Nations International School. Along with other Christian believers, she began planning for a classical Christian school in Manhattan in 1995. After a year of planning, praying, pursuing real estate leads, and completing city requirements, Geneva School opened in September 1996 with twenty-two students in three grades. After several years serving as the founder and Head of School, Ms. Hinckley stepped down as full-time headmaster to spend time with her young family. On occasion, she served on the Board of Trustees for the School until 2011, when she again resumed Head of School responsibilities. Under her leadership, the School has grown to 285 students. Ms. Hinckley also serves on the boards of PAVE Academy, Messiah University (previously Messiah College,) and Hope for New York. She was Teaching Leader for Bible Study Fellowship International from 1996 to 2000. She and her husband Carter Hinckley have two sons, C.J. and Charlie (‘14 and ‘16).

Cohort Value

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

SCL provides numerous opportunities to be involved in a cohort involving others in similar positions the opportunity to learn and grow together. Our Heads of School cohort is one of our most popular. Learn from Keith Nix, the HOS cohort leader and Jessica Gomber the Grammar School Head cohort leader and David Seibel the participant and hear just how valuable they can be for not only HOS’s but for others on your administrative team.

Jessica Gombert

Jessica Gombert is the Grammar School Headmaster at The Geneva School of Boerne. She has been the Head of Grammar School for 16 years. She holds a master's degree in education and has been involved in many aspects of education for over 30 years. Her teaching experiences include special education, Kindergarten, alternative certification programs and student teacher supervision at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She has a passion for encouraging students and teachers to become lifelong learners and for classical Christian education. She enjoys teaching reading and training teachers in Lusaka, Zambia, in the summers and is currently writing children's readers to supplement Geneva's phonics curriculum.

The Art of Dialogue and Productive Disagreement: The Aspen Method

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Society for Classical Learning

The “Aspen Method” derives from the The Aspen Institute’s famed Executive Leadership Seminar. Founded in 1949 by Mortimer Adler and Robert Maynard Hutchins of the University of Chicago, Aspen’s Executive Leadership Seminar seeks to teach individuals and organizations the habits of civil discourse and productive disagreement.

This presentation offers an overview of what I have learned about how to have better dialogue through my experience at the Executive Leadership Seminar and as a participant in Aspen’s other programs. The lessons offered can be used generally–from the classroom, to the faculty meeting, to the boardroom, and beyond.

The Aspen Method provides the tools to tackle the most difficult topics with people with opposing points of view. It encourages us to think about a potentially heated conversation “not so much as a duel but a duet.” As Todd Breyfogle, the Managing Director of Aspen’s Executive Leadership Seminars, has put, it seeks “what we can agree on after we have really learned from each other.” The Aspen method shows us how to ask better questions and listen deeply in order to find mutual understanding and common ground. Thus, attendees will leave better equipped to have better conversations.

Andrew D. Graham

Andrew D. Graham is a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute, a Washington, DC-based think tank whose mission is to promote religious freedom for everyone, everywhere. He is a regular presenter at universities, academic gatherings, and think tanks on law and religion. Previously, Andrew was a partner at Jackson Walker LLP, a more than 130-year-old law firm with more than 400 lawyers across Texas. In private practice, he achieved an extensive record of success in high-stakes litigation in both trial and appellate courts and was named a “Super Lawyers—Rising Star” multiple times. He is an elected member of the Mont Pelerin Society and the Philadelphia Society, and a member of the Federalist Society and the Society for Classical Learning. He also serves on the Advisory Council for the American Public Philosophy Institute (APPI). Andrew earned his bachelor’s degree at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and the Hyer Society. He then earned master’s degrees at Oxford University, where he was a member of Oriel College, and the University of Chicago before returning home to Texas to earn his law degree at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Andrew is a first-generation American and holds dual American–Australian citizenship. His wife Molly teaches fourth grade at The Covenant School in Dallas, Texas, where all three of their children have been educated.