Acadia NorthStar has been assisting public charter schools with accounting, budget management and compliance since 2001. For over a decade, Acadia's experienced staff has been exceeding their clients' expectations.

Most of you have heard of Acadia.

Many of you have a contract with Acadia. 

But what you might not know is that 365 days a year, the team at Acadia works with their clients to ensure long term, fiscal vitality. 

Here is how I know: Five years ago I was the Executive Director to a charter school board overseeing two charter schools. One of the schools was in financial hardship. It's expenditures far exceeded it's revenue (over one million a year). The school could not pay rent. The school was losing enrollment.

One day I just happened to find a folder that was labeled "unpaid invoices"on the desk of the former principal. In the folder was over $500,000 in unpaid invoices tracking back to the previous fiscal year. 

This was not a problem I, or any...

Unfortunately, this week when I sent out a message highlighting two of our teacher leaders who were special guests on our Empowered Educators webinar; I incorrectly typed the name of one of our teacher leaders, Sarah Douglas. 

Sarah is one of the most valued teacher leaders at East Wake Academy.

My deepest apologies Sarah.

When Sarah let me know about my mistake I remembered what Dale Carnegie most famously wrote in his best selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. 

“Remember that a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language”. 

When I first heard this phrase, I felt it was one of the most valuable pieces of advice I was given. Being an educator for over 20 years and currently a consultant, I have been fortunate enough to meet tens of thousands of people. It is critical that I work to make people feel safe and appreciated. 

With my personality type, according to DISC...

Hello my friend, 

My grandmother recently turned 90 years old.

She was and still is such an integral part of my life. She practically raised me when my single Mom would work long hours when I was a child. 

In fact, I was telling my son Matthew that every summer, from five to eleven years old, I would fly down to Florida on my own and spend a month with my grandparents. I told them a story about this giant banana tree that every year I would get my picture taken in front of. I shared stories about swimming and fishing in the lake outback. And how my Grandfather loved to sit on the swing every night and watch the sunset. 

We would finish our summers by driving across the country with their pop-up camper. I got to see the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore and the Baseball Hall of Fame all before I was ten years old. 

Maybe this is why "Living like a tourist" is one of my five goals in life. 

I had not seen her for over a year due to...

I had just left the hospital after my second EKG in two years as a middle school director. It wasn't a heart attack according to the doctor, just a bad combination of high stress, no sleep and dehydration. 

I reached out to my mentor, who too was a former principal, to let him know I was ok and just needed to take a few days off.

 I’ll never forget his response. 

“Tom, what is it do you do all day?”  

I had great answers, “Well I answer emails to teachers and parents, I do walk throughs, I handle discipline, I put out fires. You know, my job!”

Please Note: The worse excuse is a good excuse. 

He replied, “And which of those activities actually improving your school?” 

“Well none,” I said. “But you don’t understand, I have to do them! Otherwise…”

He answered, “The only thing you have to do as the leader of this organization is master three things.”

Do It! ...

Does the school you lead, teach at or govern have goals?

I mean written down goals that are measured and evaluated each quarter, six months or a year to demonstrate the school’s progress towards its ultimate vision?

No one at the end of the school year says, wow, we crushed that financial audit or performance framework. 

Don’t get me wrong, they are important aspects of your school - but they don’t inspire and do not result in significance. 

If you don’t have written down, inspiring and celebrated goals, it is alright. You are not alone. 

However, I think baseball great Yogi Berra was trying to tell us something when he said, "You've got to be careful when you don't know where you are going, you might not get there."

Now, one of the main problems in setting goals for schools is the principal or team writes a goal that does not lead to inspiration for all involved.

They set a goal that they know is attainable and it does not take any new...

“Push off the ground, not off of each other.”

I heard this thousands of times from football refs during my playing days. Those who played football would know the feeling of holding up the pile with tons of body weight crushing down on you. Knees on their chest or other delicate places. Guys pinching your thighs and sides. Linebackers jumping in the top of the pile as the whistle blew.

The refs try and get us to just push each other deeper into the pile by finding some solid ground to push from.

I haven’t thought of that quote since I last played 25 years ago.

Today I am asking the same thing of parents and non educators.

I know principals and teachers are working diligently to open schools for the betterment and safety of our children and the community. You all have enough pressure on their chest and knees in their most delicate of places in a normal school environment.

Opening a school under the most unprecedented times...where there is no model...no right...

Since the only way to improve your charter school is to either recruit new teachers or improve the teachers in your staff, high quality teacher engagement and retention can the lifeblood of charter schools.

It is vital that the most effective teachers are supported and nurtured so that they stay in the profession. A recent survey from the National Center for Educational Statistics indicates that about 25% of teachers who left the profession did so indicating that administration was extremely unsupportive.

These data align to recent a 2018 Gallup Poll of the US workplace noted that almost two-thirds of United States managers said they “don’t like talking with employees” mirrors the 67% of US workers who say they’re not engaged at work.

The reasons given were; 37% of managers found it difficult to give negative feedback to workers about their performance; 20% said they struggle to share their own vulnerability and another 20% disliked being the messenger for...

My family and I recently had the opportunity to embark on a Gulf Stream fishing trip. We caught over 300 lbs of Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, Barracuda, Bonito and a few other species.

It is certainly a day I will never forget that was filled with many leadership lessons. 

Our fishing spot was three hours one way, sixty miles offshore. We left the dock at 5:00 am, fished for seven hours in 90 degree heat and returned home with over 300 lbs of fish.

On the way back to shore, I climbed to the bridge of the 50 foot boat and I happened to notice both the captain and the first mate were sleeping.

After I had a small tantrum regarding our safety I realized great leaders understand when they need to be at their best - expending the most energy in order to meet their mission. 

Our captain put the boat on autopilot, allowing the captain to conserve his energy and be at his best for the key tasks of the day: 

1. Analyzing the weather conditions 
2. Plotting the correct coordinates
3. ...

In my home state of North Carolina, the home school population is over 150,000 students! This figure is 50,000 more than public charter schools and over twice the number of private school students.

Why does this home school enrollment matter?

The last ninety days of the 2019-2020 school year every family across the nation experience home and virtual schooling.

And as you might expect, this past week so many families worked to enroll their child(ren) into a home school situation the web site crashed!

As charter school principal in North Carolina, the first 20 days of school are critical to your funding for the year.

As a leader, not only do you need to ensure your teachers are fully prepared and equipped to teach, your teachers also need to understand that they are the main communicators and the sales force of your school. 

As a charter principal, I spent a full day every year going through our enrollment systems with our team and all staff to ensure no student chair would...