Why Chose Arête Advisory Group for Your Christian School

This is a time of unprecedented challenges to Christian schools all a crossed America. In my many years as a Christian school educator, I have not seen the complexities of issues our schools are facing in the areas of falling enrollment, governance and legal problems, and the financial challenges they bring.??Those issues in enrollments, debt and falling revenues have resulted in many of our schools closing their doors.??For those schools who have remained open, they face the reality of meeting rising costs, with an increased need for financial aid, and greatly reduced staff.?

But, while this is a time of great challenge for our Christian schools, this can also a time of great opportunity. Not easy opportunity, but a courageous, confrontational, and demanding opportunity that requires leaders to thoughtfully, intentionally, and tenaciously committed toward excellence.??We must never forget that excellence keeps the classroom seats filled!??Not big and expensive buildings, athletic programs or catchy re-branding or marketing schemes.??

So, knowing all of this, what does a Christian school do when facing these tremendous pressures???In my experience, most schools have handled these increasing demands in one of three ways:?

The Ostrich Approach:??Ignoring the Issues at hand

In hindsight, we have seen that many struggling Christian schools degrade slowly over a period of time and often at an almost imperceptible rate.??Subtle changes in their values, priorities and vision end up undermining the sustainability of the school until they are on shaky ground.??Thousands of Christian schools have closed a crossed America, not because they were out of options, but because they lacked the awareness for action, the commitment to effort, and the determination to make the necessary changes to make them sustainable.??Like an Ostrich, they stick their head in the sand and ignore those issues.??Perhaps it's a little wishful thinking, perhaps it's complacency, or maybe it's believing that the status quo has always and will always work for them, but for whatever reason, such a lack of action will jeopardize the school's ability to remain operational.???

Hiring a Top Gun or Adding New Staff

Another way that Christian schools react to the challenge of sustainability is to think that a big change at the top is necessary.??So, they will search for and hire a "Top Gun" administrator with lots of education and impressive credentials.??These folks usually come with plenty of new theories and philosophies, and they believe that adding new staff will solve all its old problems.

However, for most Christian schools, the issues are more operational than philosophical, and struggling schools need real practical solutions not new theories.??Still, hundreds of schools make this mistake every year, and the net result is that those new highly paid staff members end up being tasked with doing lower-level jobs that they are not skilled to do.??Now new problems are layered upon the old problems, and when the salary bill starts to rise faster than increases in school enrollment, this staff structure becomes unaffordable for the school.??In the end, valuable time is lost and precious resources are spent with little or no results.

Using an Experienced and Knowledgeable Consultant

Perhaps the best option for a struggling Christian school is to first get outside of the problem with a fresh set of eyes on the problems.??Bringing in someone who is skills at surveying the whole situation and reading the critical demographics is essential because most Christian schools are governed by volunteer board members who have limited time and sometimes limited experience in working through school issues.??In addition, schools are also very busy places, with a staff fully engaged in day-to-day operations.??This is why many schools have a limited time and ability to get critical things done.

The real value of a consultant is that they bring a broader perspective with clear objectives and significant experience that they will focus on a specific task for a set time frame.???A consultant can add capacity and depth while developing new relationships, recruiting essential volunteers and improving school resources during periods of enrollment growth and financial development.?

Why You Should Consider Arête Advisory Group?

Arete?(Greek:??ρετ?), We chose the name because by definition it means "integrity, excellence and strength".?In its earliest appearance in?Greek, this notion was the way of achieving excellence and the commitment to living up to one's full potential.??The person of Arête is of the highest effectiveness; using all their faculties—integrity, courage, and wisdom—to achieve meaningful results.?

Arete Advisory Group was formed as a unique partnership of many knowledgeable and experienced professionals from a wide variety of expertise, committed to working together to?add value to the school and assist them in making critical decisions.??

The team at Arete Advisory Group can bring their collective experiences in a specific field, often with far more detailed knowledge of an issue.??In addition, a client school will often learn from the issues and experiences of other schools and organizations to help in making wise choices and in avoiding the mistakes of others. This invaluable knowledge can help a school avoid bad decisions and can save it literally millions of dollars.

Arête Advisory Group Will Make A Difference

There are a wide variety of services in which we can assist a school, including growing strategic financial planning, and curriculum development and mapping. Some of the areas we can make the most significant positive impact in schools are the following:?

• Enrollment growth strategies to fill empty seats and build a solid foundation for the future.???We develop an overall school community reflection and an affordable marketing plan focused on understanding of your school's past heritage, current conditions and future potential.?
• Designed and articulation of the school's vision and mission to the community to foster volunteer programs, community service, and development strategies.
• Staff member and School board professional development, including effective governance organization and team building initiatives.
• Knowledgeable and experience financial direction for budget management, fundraising and advancement, financial aid awarding, and debt reduction.??
• Negotiation of mergers, property purchases or sales, and negotiation of loan terms with a bank.?
• Professional development and performance evaluations of staff, volunteers and school leaders with executive coaching or mentoring for senior staff.
• Creation of special development projects over and above day-to-day operational needs and expansion of site plans and of building master plans.
• Information technology planning, development, and maintenance for the 21st Century Classroom.??Technology is key to your school's future, but only if properly developed.

What's in an Arête Advisory Group Proposal?

At Arete Advisory Group we do not use a "cookie cutter" approach like so many other organizations do.??We understand that your school situation is unique and that is why we do a lot of research before we provide you with a clear proposal and consulting agreement.??Our consulting proposal will include the following:

• The scope is a brief outline of the project or projects to be undertaken so that the school and the consultant understand and agree on what is to be covered and what the key issues are.??Once we define the outcome objectives, the consulting team begins to build a detailed plan of operation and deliverables.??Information requirements are the materials, information, or both that the consultant needs for the project. If a school meets those requirements up front, it can help make the consulting assignment run more smoothly and less expensively.
• The plan of operation and deliverables are the details and timelines of what the school will receive from the consultant, such as written materials, meetings, a report, advice, or a presentation.??The time frame gives the date when the consultant is going to undertake the assignment, as well as a completion date and key milestones.
• Finally, the fees agreement establishes in detail how much the consulting assignment is going to cost, what the basis for the fees are, and whether there will be any additional out-of-pocket expenses.??

How do I bring Arête Advisory Group to my school?

Arête Advisory group only accepts 3-4 client schools each year, so that we can bring our clients the individual and undivided attention they deserve.??That means that spots fill up fast and that priority is given to the schools with the greatest needs.?

Give us a call today and let's begin our conversation!??Every day is precious in the life and sustainability of a Christian school and we can start that growth process as soon as possible.?

John "TC" Megahan

President and Senior Consultant

call us at: (302) 373-2168

?email us at:[email protected]