CAIS Accreditation

 

As an independent school that holds itself to a high standard, Harbor Day is a member of both CAIS and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). Both organizations are made up of independent schools – 200 schools in California for CAIS and 1,900 schools globally for NAIS.  The organizations set curricular and other standards for schools, provide professional development to faculty and administration, and serve as a forum for resources and information sharing. The Board of Trustees relies on both CAIS and NAIS when setting Board policies and practices, and looking at demographic data and trends.  In addition, when examining and deliberating topics at the Board level, we often use CAIS to investigate how other schools are handling a particular topic or issue.  We are able to ask questions to our CAIS brethren about their approaches on anything from insurance coverage for the school building to school security practices to structuring the school’s retirement plan.  New Trustees attend the CAIS New Trustee Training each fall and Trustees and Mrs. Evans attend the annual conference each winter (as well as other more targeted meetings and conferences throughout the year). Further, I have been told by faculty members that teachers look for the “seal” from CAIS and/or NAIS when they investigate job opportunities, and that an accreditation from these bodies serves as a sort of “Good Housekeeping Seal” for the school.  

One of the most important – if not the most important – things that CAIS does is to conduct school accreditation for its member schools. This is done through a peer-review process (i.e., a team of Heads of Schools from other schools come to Harbor Day) that fosters excellence across the school mission, curriculum, extra-curricular activities, school policies, Board practices, and more, for a total of sixteen areas of examination.  If there are major areas of concern at a school for the review team, a school might be given a one- or two-year accreditation (and a hefty list of to do’s).  In the most positive of scenarios, a school will be given a seven-year accreditation, which is an extremely positive and supportive signal from CAIS.  

As you may recall from Mrs. Evans’s January note, Harbor Day is delighted to report that we received the seven-year accreditation.  This is absolutely superb news and my hat is off to Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Graham (who spearheaded the CAIS review for Harbor Day, a monumental task), and every member of the faculty, administration, Parent Council and Board of Trustees who met with the accreditation team last January.  As we prepare to move into our new classroom building next January, it is comforting to know that the school program that will bring our fantastic new building to life is running on all cylinders and on a positive trajectory, including the superb instruction from exceptional faculty, the inclusive, warm, and welcoming school culture, and the many, many hard to codify little things that together make Harbor Day what it is and what it means to so many students and families.  

In case you have not had a chance to read the CAIS review of Harbor Day, which Mrs. Evans made available,  you can see it by clicking here.  Mrs. Evans also highlighted in her note a number of the incredibly complementary descriptions about Harbor Day from CAIS.  

One of the most important pieces of feedback we received from the accreditation team is to be very intentional and careful to carry our current Harbor Day culture with us as we move into our new building. Specifically, the CAIS team said that “it will be important to consider how to maintain the sense of community that is currently so valued” in the new building.  This is something that the Board of Trustees has discussed already and will further explore through our strategic planning process.  In addition, each week there are multiple conference calls between the architect for the New Campus Project, our builder, our building consultant, Mrs. Evans, Mr. Coleman and our dedicated and professional Building Committee (made up of current and former Trustees Paul Casey, Eric Olsen, Bob Searles and Steve Thorp).  Under the watchful eye of esteemed residential architect Eric Olsen, the team is paying special attention to the scale of the new building, the size of new furniture, and seemingly small but meaningful building accents.  A common refrain on these calls is the need to be sure we are designing a building that is “cozy,” “scaled to young students,” and has a “residential feel.”

Please stay tuned for more on the cultural transition to the new building and, in the meantime, please join me in thanking this team for all that they are putting into making sure the new home for Harbor Day is as beloved as our current one.

Back to the CAIS conference held yesterday: together Mrs. Evans, Chris, and I attended two keynote speakers and fifteen workshops (five each!) on topics including governance, fundraising, crisis communications, building a positive school culture, and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, among others.  We will save some of the nitty gritty details from the workshops for the HDS administration and Board of Trustees (but call me if you are interested!).  The keynotes held some important takeaways that are likely of interest to you.

The morning keynote was by Dr. Shaun Harper from the USC Race and Equity Center and focused on fostering a school community that stands up against racism and creates an inclusive environment. CAIS has made promoting ethnic and socio-economic diversity an imperative for its schools, and the keynote included a number of critical steps that can be taken to cultivate a positive school environment.  Dr. Harper challenged listeners to think about how alumni will behave when they move on to high school, college, and the world of work.  He suggested we consider whether we are appropriately educating students about the situations that they will face as they grow older and spread their wings.  In addition, he stressed the need for a curricular strategy to prepare students.

The afternoon keynote was by Robbie Kellman Baxter, an expert on membership and subscription models and a consultant to Silicon Valley.  Baxter challenged listeners to consider what attracts families to our school, what engages them, and why families stay.  She emphasized what she called the “forever transaction,” in which families decide for themselves that they are part of THIS school and will stay for the long-haul.  Of great interest to me was the distinction that Baxter made between families thinking of themselves as “clients” of the school versus “members” of the school community.  The “member” mentality is obviously closer, more familiar, and emblematic of what I think we have created at Harbor Day. Baxter also offered many intriguing ideas about how to engage families, particularly in these challenging times when we are forced to be physically apart.

As you can likely tell from my enthusiasm for sharing some of the sessions with you, Mrs. Evans, Chris, and I had a very productive day and are looking to rolling up our sleeves with our teams to continue the work of making Harbor Day the best possible school and environment for all of our children.  As always, thank you for your trust, support, and especially your “member” mentality.  

Sincerely,
Whitney Gomez
President, Board of Trustees