Give A Cup of Cold Water

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Give A Cup of Cold Water

Have you ever been extremely hot, sweaty, and thirsty? Of course you have, and you would give almost anything for a cup of cold water. 

May of our students are hot, sweaty and thirsty. They labor under the burden of doing well academically, which for many is hard. They labor under the assault of the flesh, the world, and the devil. They labor under the guilt of sin. They labor under the lie that their value is tied to performance, looks, or both. They labor under the bully. They labor under divorce and/or abusive or neglectful parents. They labor under physical illness. They labor under racism. They are pursued and harassed by their own sinful natures, a world set on bending them to its agenda, and the devil seeking to devour them. They are hot, sweaty, and thirsty.

They need ...

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What I Have on My Home Screens and Mac to Increase Productivity

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What I Have on My Home Screens and Mac to Increase Productivity

I’m not OCD but I am constantly tweaking the tools I use to increase my productivity. Over the last several years I have settled on the applications listed below. I have listed them by device: iPhone, iPad, and Macbook Pro. NOTE: If you use a PC, Windows, or Android, these or similar applications are available for your devices.

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Practical Ways to Manage Your Bank

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Practical Ways to Manage Your Bank

It is necessary for every Christian school to understand that your banking relationship is to be managed by you. While the subject isn’t terribly broad or complex, this aspect of financial management can be very important to your school’s ability to thrive. My input on this subject is derived from almost thirty years of experience on the banker’s side of the desk along with my financial consulting experience with Christian schools.

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How to Deal with the "Mean One Percent" of Parents

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How to Deal with the "Mean One Percent" of Parents

Ninety-nine percent (99%) of our parents are wonderful. They are supportive. If they have a concern they know how to “speak the truth in love.” They assume the best and seek understanding, reconciliation, and unity for all concerned. They don’t sugar coat problems, nor should they, but neither are they sour. They can deal with unpleasant issues without leaving a bitter aftertaste.

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How Christian Schools Can Defeat Bulling-Effective Solutions

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How Christian Schools Can Defeat Bulling-Effective Solutions

In earlier posts I published parts one and two of what originally was planned to be a five part series. Because the next three sections outline effective solutions, I believe it will be beneficial to my readers to combine them into one article.

You can read part one here. You can read part two here.

If you would like the entire series as one PDF, you can download it here.

I am grateful to Mr. Paul Coughlin of The Protectors for sharing his expertise on the Christian School Journal Blog.

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The Real World of Bullying-Part 2/5

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The Real World of Bullying-Part 2/5

When Jesus said that the poor will be with you always, he may as well have added bullies, too. We will never “get rid” of bullying because in order to do so we would have to rid the world of the sins that sustain it, which are formidable. They include arrogance, pride, hubris, contempt and related sins such as “cupiditas,” for which Dante reserved the lowest levels of hell. Also called the “sins of the wolf,” cupiditas describes the kind of behavior and person who consumes others.

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How Christian Schools Can Defeat Bullying-Part 1

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How Christian Schools Can Defeat Bullying-Part 1

Their letters are separated by zip code, but united through bewilderment and feelings of betrayal from the organizations they believed would protect their child from bullying—the leading form of child abuse in the nation, and the only form of abuse we tell the most vulnerable among us to “just ignore.”

Their pleadings are almost always composed by emotionally flailing mothers who witness a common but mystifying tailspin of their beloved child, a spiral born from intentional abuse that weds power to fear, making it formable, and due to its predatory nature impossible for Christian school teachers and faculty to effectively combat alone. One bewildered mother writes: 

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Why and How to Break Your Addiction to Meetings

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Why and How to Break Your Addiction to Meetings

You are probably having too many meetings, for too long, and with too many people.

Let’s say you hold a weekly meeting with five people that lasts for one hour. And let’s say you hold this meeting every week for the school year. Here is the math:

5 people x 1 hour = 5 cumulative personnel hours of work time per week.

5 hours x 36 weeks (average school year) = 180 hours.

180 hours = ~4.5 weeks of time devoted to this one recurring meeting.

What could you and or your staff do with an extra 4.5 weeks each year? 

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A $20,000 Opportunity

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A $20,000 Opportunity

I believe that adding online courses to your school can be a financially positive move. In fact, I will show how it is at least a $20,000 opportunity.

Online courses can help your school:

  • Grow new revenue streams 
  • Retain current students 
  • Recruit new students 
  • Expand course selection with fewer resources 
  • Meet the demand for personalized education 

However, before we go further, your school’s mission should drive decisions including this one about online courses. As a former Principal, I know that many good ideas were presented to me. If I did not evaluate them in light of the mission, my school would have quickly gotten off the course God intended for us. As the video below notes, online courses can help with the mission of most Protestant or Catholic schools. Bringing rigor with additional foreign languages, AP courses, dual credit choices from faith based colleges….. helps accomplish a common phrase in mission statements—“Excellence in Education.”

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