More Bad Publicity for a Top Prep School
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November 22, 2004

More Bad Publicity for a Top Prep School
It's sad to see a top American school mired in bad publicity. An unfortunate hazing incident and a tragic drowning have already been visited on historic St. Paul's School, Concord, NH. Now there's more bad news. Read the article in Sunday's New York Times for the details. They are not pleasant. Reports of extravagant spending on the headmaster's residence sound incredibly out of step with the times. Obviously the amounts are much smaller than the sort of thing we have seen in corporate America, but the principle is the same.
There's more. It seems that the headmaster, or rector as he is called at St. Paul's, won a handsome compensation package for himself and his assistant. This was awarded to a man who is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Church and presumably already has a superb pension package from that body. Furthermore, faculty were apparently asked to take a wage cut while the head was getting a large increase. Something's wrong here!
If you are a trustee or alumnus/alumna of a private school, make it your business to ask tough questions. You will have a chance to do that at trustee meetings and when you are asked to contribute to the school. Mark my words: I have seen this sort of thing happen more times than I care to remember. Sadly, the clergy seem to have forgotten a very simple tenet of their faith: poverty and denial of selfish needs. Greed has no place in education. It sends the wrong message to the young people we are trying to teach.
Want to see what your head makes? Go to GuideStar.org and look up the school's Form 990 which is a not-for-profit entity's tax return. You will have to delve deep to find what you are looking for, but it's there. Good luck!
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