YU Works With Local Yeshivot and Day Schools To Strengthen School Boards
Source: Five Towns Jewish News
On December 22, 2009, Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership convened a program on “Building Boards for Economic and Strategic Success for Yeshivot and Day Schools” in the Five Towns and Rockaways. The program is the sixth in a series this past year that helps schools to engage in research-based data-driven practices to improve their fiscal solvency.
To enable focused problem solving, the event was limited to five schools and will be followed up with additional programs. Each participating school brought a team of at least four board members and a senior administrator from its financial and education domains. Eli Shapiro, LCSW, Yeshiva University’s regional coordinator for school affordability, opened the event by framing the program as part of greater ongoing professional development opportunities for educators and community leaders through conferences, consultancies, and the extremely popular webinars that are available live and archived.
The keynote speaker was the CEO of Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, David Mandel. Mr. Mandel focused on the practical strategies of cultivating and identifying new and appropriate board members; their financial and fiduciary responsibilities, their role in annual campaigns and development, and the critical responsibility of a board in strategic planning.
Following Mr. Mandel’s address, the teams from participating schools worked individually with Yeshiva University facilitators to identify one or two specific goals and the steps to achieve these desired outcomes.