Comments for Christian and Private Schools

Comment on Be Unreasonable by DonCurrie

DonCurrie — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:58:31 +0000

Jeffrey, we appreciate your sharing your thoughts with our readers.

I hope you can forgive us for quoting Mr. Shaw. The purpose of our organization is to help struggling nonprofit return to vitality and expand their capacity to serve their community. Their return to vitality ensures that those who need services can continue to receive services and their employees can retain their jobs. If our use of Mr. Shaw’s words helps one nonprofit return to vitality, I hope you will agree that those words help to offset some of the suffering you believe Mr. Shaw may have caused.

Mr. Shaw like all of us was a flawed individual. Hopefully, we all learn and grow from our errors and the errors of those around us. I know that the executives we help to turn around their struggling nonprofits benefit more from learning than they would from being fired or punished for whatever part they may have played or were perceived to have played in the difficulties faced by their organization.

Mr. Shaw like all of us did many good things in his life. If we threw out the good someone does because of their flaws, human progress would be severally limited. Limiting progress would mean prolonged suffering for millions. It seems inappropriate to punish the innocent by withholding the good that comes from a flawed individual.

It also seems unjust for us to write an article inspired by someone else’s words without giving him or her credit for their contribution.

Thank you again for your thoughtful input.

Comment on Be Unreasonable by Jeffrey Brewster

Jeffrey Brewster — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:32:04 +0000

Good article. However, get rid of the quote from George Bernard Shaw – a socialist marxist that was quoted as saying “create a humane, but lethal gas to eliminate the people who are not producing as much as they consume”.

Do you really want to be associate your article with a man whose world view arguably led to the killing of millions of Jews and Christians during the Nazi regime?

Comment on Next Year’s Tuition by Don Teti

Don Teti — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:16:01 +0000

Our Catholic High Schools are not here to serve only the rich Catholics students and we try to keep tuitions resonable. We want all of our 8th grade parents to choose a Catholic High School but the hinderance is always high tuition. We are working in this state to get a voucher bill passed and expand tax credits that we use for tuition assistance, but my office will work very hard to keep tuitions as low as they can be because our clients are all of the Catholic High students in the Diocese.

Comment on Value Determines Relevance by Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:19:38 +0000

I really appreciate this article. We have been struggling with this concept for years, with no resolution. The biggest problem is that from the beginning (in 1951) Lincoln Christian School was founded to provide a uniquely Christian education to Christian families in the area who wanted their children to be educated with a Christian worldview in a Christian environment. Our school has always been family oriented. The problem is that in any family, some of the kids may be gifted intellectually, and some may have learning disabilitites. Some students may be very interested in Fine Arts, and others only want to play football. Some Christian families in our school have annual incomes in the $250,000+ range, and others who are just as committed to Christian education, are in the less than $50,000 range. So, while our school has suffered throughout its entire history with the syndrome you’ve described in your article, the solution feels like elitism…and not only that, but we would have a very hard choice deciding which segment to expend our resources on. We have a fairly high percentage of outstanding achievers in our school, but we also have some great kids from great Christian families that struggle academically. Last year our composite ACT score was 25.2, yet we had some seniors scoring in the mid-teens. I realize that there isn’t an easy answer, but could you follow up your article on appealing to one segment with something that would answer some of the questions I’ve asked? Thanks!!

Comment on Is Being Effective Having High Achievement Scores? by William Steltenpohl

William Steltenpohl — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:51:53 +0000

Having the word “school” in the name of a school can be a distraction? You’ve lost me there. I understand the basic concept you pointing at here, but this is not written or thought out very well, We need Christ at the center, we need to teach to the affective domain as well as the congnitive, and we need to teach and teach well.

Comment on Parent Engagement = Increased Enrollment by Margo Shifo

Margo Shifo — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:40:21 +0000

Very helpful. I will share this with a couple of principals who are always looking for fresh ideas regarding recruitment. Thanks

Comment on Staying Relevant by Tweets that mention Stay Relevant | Christian and Private Schools -- Topsy.com

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:46:41 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Don Currie, Mission Enablers. Mission Enablers said: Here are some easy ways to make your school relevant. http://bit.ly/e9rmYo Mission Enablers [...]

Comment on Tuition Setting by Tweets that mention Tuition Setting | Christian and Private Schools -- Topsy.com

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:41:38 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by 5O1CONNECT. 5O1CONNECT said: RT @MissionEnablers: Tuition Setting http://goo.gl/fb/BMeI1 [...]

Comment on Training the Board by nate becker

nate becker — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:52:03 +0000

Good stuff Don. As always, I appreciate your knowledge and hope that my organization in using your newsletter.
Just to let you know, we do have a number of things we’re implementing from our board training with you. Dave continues to implement the things you and he discussed. Our committees are forming. We have a new board member. People are slowly stepping up to the plate. It’s slow going but we’re moving. I am developing our programming and operation times to better relate to our mission and client.
Thanks again for the wisdom.
nate

Comment on Tuition Priced Right by DonCurrie

DonCurrie — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:40:46 +0000

Yes, there are schools using this tuition structure. The key element is having the donors and families agree with the structure. Since it is a needs based tuition structure you may have more families receiving tuition assistance. A quick example:

Let us assume the cost to educate a student is $8,000 per year.

If last year the tuition was $3,500 and the Smith family paid the $3,500, donors would need to provide $4,500. The donors are providing a gift rather than a scholarship.

If this year the tuition is $8,000 and the Smith family can only afford $5,000 they will need a $3,000 scholarship.

The challenge is to ensure that the Smith family understands why it is worth an additional $1,500 to attend the school.

The additional $1,500 from the Smith family is money the donors no longer need to provide to support that family.

One of the benefits is to use the extra $1,500 to help a new family enroll their child.