The Board Service Series gives your school one flexible way to build real governance knowledge. Sign up once, and any trustee or staff member can join any or all three fall sessions, live or on-demand, in tight one-hour blocks that respect everyone’s calendar. The three sessions will cover the fundamentals of board orientation; how to think about institutional risk and where a board should (and shouldn’t) lean into it; and the trends reshaping independent school governance right now. A board is only as strong as the trustees on it, and an hour spent here is an hour spent making sure your governance keeps pace with the decisions you’re actually being asked to make.
Schedule
All sessions take place on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 – 8:00 PM and are available on-demand one-week after each session.
October 13, 2026
ORIENTATION TO BOARD SERVICE
Pull back the curtain and get a real understanding of what board service actually involves. This session covers the three areas of trustee responsibility: fiduciary, strategic, and generative; the three duties every trustee is held to; and how oversight is shared between the Head of School and the board. We’ll also get into what active, engaged board service looks like day-to-day, and the basic structures — committees, agendas, handbooks — that hold a board together.
October 27, 2026
INDEPENDENT SCHOOL RISKS & RESPONSIBILITIES
Trustees who understand the risks an independent school faces are better equipped to help the head manage it well. This session walks through the risks most specific to independent schools: enrollment, AI, student mental health, and more, and where the board’s oversight role begins and ends. We’ll also dig into assessing your own board’s risk tolerance, so you’re equipped to know when to hold the line and when to lean into risk strategically.
November 17, 2026
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS NOW: CONTEXT & TRENDS
Pulling from current news, research, and survey data, this presentation covers what’s actually happening across the independent school landscape right now: enrollment and attrition patterns; demographic pressures; the widening gap between tuition and the true cost of running a school; student mental health concerns; and survey data from NAIS on where and when boards tend to misunderstand their role as nonprofit trustees.
Registration
3 sessions: $300 per school OR single session: $100 per school
Individuals may also register for the series or a single session.
