Coaching Call with Leslie Moeller

Posted on by Paul Drake

February 11, 2022
1:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm CT

Leading a classical, Christian school is an increasingly complex endeavor requiring inspirational vision casting, sophisticated management skills, and careful risk management. If the unique business model of independent schools, the increasing cultural hostility to the basic tenants of Christianity and the Western Canon, and the challenge of identifying and attracting and retaining like-minded families were not challenge enough, the 21st Century classical, Christian school must also navigate the increasingly mercurial legal terrain involving contracts, torts, employment discrimination regulations, and gender issues.

In this Coaching Call, we will highlight the major sources of institutional risk which require regular review by your school’s leadership. You can also join us at the February Winter Symposium to explore in more depth these potential threats and your school’s best defenses.
Bio

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Leslie Moeller

Leslie Moeller has been a member of the Board of the Society for Classical Learning for 14 of the last 16 years and Chair for 10. She also serves on the Board of New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia, teaches a class on law and Governance for the Gordon College Masters in Educational Leadership program, and consults with Heads and Boards of classical, Christian schools around the country. She is a former Board Chair, Head of School, and Rhetoric teacher of the Geneva School of Boerne, Texas; a former Head of Upper School for The Covenant School in Charlottesville, Virginia; and a former board member of Prince of Peace Christian school in Carrollton, Texas. She received her J.D. from Boston College and her B.A. in Economics and English Literature from the University of Virginia. She and her husband Eric have three children, all of whom have attended classical, Christian schools.

Playing Offense in a Chaotic Culture: Risk Management Fundamentals

Posted on by Paul Drake

Playing Offense in a Chaotic Culture: Risk Management Fundamentals

Leading an independent school is an increasingly complex endeavor.  If the unique business model, parent education, student alignment, and perceived value challenges were not enough, the 21st Century classical, Christian school must also navigate the increasingly mercurial legal terrain involving contracts, torts, employment discrimination regulations, and gender issues.  Our schools do all of this in the midst of a culture that misunderstands liberal arts and the Western Canon.  How does a strategic Board lead well in these stormy seas?  

In this session, we will explore the basics of risk management from a Board perspective, concentrating on: the primary areas of legal liability, the [likely] future of your school’s First Amendment protections, and the offensive steps you should consider to maximize your families’ and your communities’ understanding of and buy- in to your classical, Christian mission. 

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

Posted on by Paul Drake

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.

Making the Board a Good Boss: a High Functioning HSEC

Posted on by Paul Drake

The Head Support and Evaluation Committee is the place where the strategic Board, as boss of its one employee, interacts with the operational Head. A poorly functioning HSEC inevitably builds frustration on both sides of this interaction. In this session Heads and Board Members will be challenged to think beyond a formulaic and too often perfunctory Head Support and Evaluation Committee. We will explore why a Head should want a meaningful HSEC, how the Head should use it proactively to give the Board comfort about the operations of the school, and why this will reduce the Board’s temptation to step out of their strategic role. Board members will asked to think beyond the fact that they have “only have one employee” to discover what it takes to be a good boss to the most crucial person on campus: the Head. Target audience: Heads and Board members

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.

Making the Board a Good Boss: a High Functioning HSEC

Posted on by Paul Drake

The Head Support and Evaluation Committee is the place where the strategic Board, as boss of its one employee, interacts with the operational Head. A poorly functioning HSEC inevitably builds frustration on both sides of this interaction. In this session Heads and Board Members will be challenged to think beyond a formulaic and too often perfunctory Head Support and Evaluation Committee. We will explore why a Head should want a meaningful HSEC, how the Head should use it proactively to give the Board comfort about the operations of the school, and why this will reduce the Board’s temptation to step out of their strategic role. Board members will asked to think beyond the fact that they have “only have one employee” to discover what it takes to be a good boss to the most crucial person on campus: the Head. Target audience: Heads and Board members

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.

Follow the Numbers: Using Admission Data to Build Strong Budgets

Posted on by Paul Drake

Forecasting enrollment – and therefore available tuition dollars – is tricky business. The predictive data points range from number of tours and applications, to the number of seats available in each classroom, and the percentage of those seats that are discounted through financial assistance or faculty discounts. There are even more nuanced “data” points such as community trends and “local buzz.” The Admission Director has an up-close and personal view of all these data points, and can therefore provide Boards with valuable insight as they create a budget for the following school year. In this session we will discuss how Admission and Boards can work together to forecast enrollment to build financially sound schools.

Amy Burgess

Amy Burgess is the Cohort leader for SCL's Admission and Marketing cohort, and the former Director of Admission and Marketing at Covenant Classical School in Fort Worth, TX. Amy started the Smart School Growth agency to help K-12 Classical schools reach their enrollment goals by using proven Admission and Marketing strategies. Schools are complicated “businesses.” The stakes are high, budgets are slim, and staffing is lean. Amy helps equip Admission and Marketing teams to clarify their schools' messages, tighten their marketing efforts, work with their Boards and School Heads to forecast enrollment (and therefore budgets), and enroll their faculty and staff in the mission to reach (and keep) more families.

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.

Your School is as Strong as Its Board: Safeguard the Mission

Posted on by Paul Drake

The perpetuation and equipping of the Board is the Board’s primary responsibility and a key means by which the Board protects the long term mission. This means your Board’s Committee on Trustees is critical for your school’s success. In this session, we will discuss ways to build a Board pipeline, best practices every Board member must know, processes for on boarding and effective Board education, and the critical role of the ConT. Participants will be provided with Board basics but the primary focus will be on increasing the ongoing impact of this crucial Board committee.

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.

Why Your School Needs a Forensics Team

Posted on by Paul Drake

Most classical and Christian high schools have discovered that competitive outlets are critical to the health and vibrancy of their high schools and yet they struggle to develop extracurricular competitive teams that fully reflect the unique focus and philosophy of their schools. Come learn about the most mission central high school team that your school can develop: forensics. Competitive speech and debate spur students to take what you already teach: analytical thinking, great literature and excellent speaking skills to an entirely new level. Forensics allows students to compete against all comers: public and private, big and small not just in your region but in the nation and even the world. Learn the compelling reasons for a competitive high school forensics team and the staffing, budgeting and planning nuts and bolts of how to start one from two successful forensic coaches.

Leslie Moeller

Leslie Moeller started the debate program for Geneva School of Boerne and is completing her fourth year as Head Debate Coach. She has coached students at the local, state and national levels. This past year, she has had two Public Forum debate teams ranked as high as 5th in the Nation. Both teams plus one Student Congress debater quali ed for the 2013 Tournament of Champions. Mrs. Moeller has a BA from the University of Virginia in English Literature and Economics and a JD from Boston College. In addition to coaching debate, she has taught Middle School Language Arts, Dialectic and currently teaches Senior Thesis. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of Geneva and the SCL Board.

Debate: Coaching a Classical Christian Team that Wins the War of Words

Posted on by Paul Drake

Geneva School of Boerne stated a competitive high school debate team three  years ago with six students meeting once a week at lunch. Today, competitive debate is a full year class and they compete at the state, national and international levels in two  debate events. They have represented Geneva and classical education at the Texas State Tournament, Harvard, Yale , Princeton, the University of California, Berkeley and the International Public Policy Forum. Team members have received bids to the Tournament of Champions and will be competing at the National Tournament this June. Classical education is a unique foundation for competitive debate which is the only forum allowing our students to compete against every other high school in the US. This seminar will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of competitive debate and the step-by-step process of building and coaching a team that will let your student take rhetoric as far as they can go. Two members of the Geneva Debate Team will be present.

Leslie Moeller

Leslie Moeller started the debate program for Geneva School of Boerne and is completing her fourth year as Head Debate Coach. She has coached students at the local, state and national levels. This past year, she has had two Public Forum debate teams ranked as high as 5th in the Nation. Both teams plus one Student Congress debater quali ed for the 2013 Tournament of Champions. Mrs. Moeller has a BA from the University of Virginia in English Literature and Economics and a JD from Boston College. In addition to coaching debate, she has taught Middle School Language Arts, Dialectic and currently teaches Senior Thesis. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of Geneva and the SCL Board.

Developing a Faculty Equipped to Inspire both Men and Women to Excellence

Posted on by Paul Drake

Most classical and Christian schools have mission statements involving the equipping of leaders for the cause of Christ. At the same time, most Christians acknowledge that God created women and men with critical differences. Have you considered the implications for your school? Three educators share their experience and invite you to share yours in this seminar exploring the different pressures on and aspirations for young men and women of Christ.

Leslie Moeller

Leslie Moeller is the Chairman of the Board of the Society for Classical Learning and has served on the SCL Board for 12 of the last 14 years. She currently consults with Classical, Christian schools across the nation in the areas of leadership, administrative function, and governance. She is a member of the Board of New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the Board of Academic Advisors for the Classic Learning Test. Most recently, she helped lead a three year restructuring of the Upper School at the Covenant School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Prior to her family’s move to Virginia in 2015, she spent 13 years at Geneva School of Boerne where she served in multiple roles including Chairman of the Board, Head of School, Capital Campaign Co-Chairman, founder and coach of Geneva’s nationally-ranked debate program and Senior Thesis instructor. She received her Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School and her Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Economics from the University of Virginia. Leslie and her husband, Eric, have three children.

Rob Shelton

Rob Shelton is the Headmaster of Logic and Rhetoric at Geneva School of Boerne, and has been in his current position for four years. Before coming to Geneva, he served as a youth pastor for 22 years, 19 of which were in the same church; during which time he also taught as an adjunct in rhetoric at UT San Antonio. Rob has a BA and an MA in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Though he works in Boerne, Rob and his wife Kathleen, and their twin daughters resides in San Antonio. Rob sees his current role as a combination of all his experience that allows him to prepare the next generation of Christian leaders through the unique conduit of classical Christian education.

Aaron Southwick

Aaron Southwick is a graduate of Liberty University, and teaches Rhetoric School humanities at Geneva School of Boerne. By reading and studying the classics, Aaron seeks to instill in his students a love for language - the medium through which God's truth, goodness and beauty are revealed in literature.