Role of the School Committee

Role of the School Committee

The PFS School Committee:

• Ensures that the PFS ethos and mission are reflected in the school’s operations.
• Takes fiduciary responsibility to ensure PFS’s financial sustainability.
• Selects, supports, and evaluates the head of school.
• Represents the school and networks on its behalf.

Because the board’s role is strategic, the school’s daily administration is the purview of the head of school, who supervises and evaluates all programs and personnel and is the final arbiter of any disputes that may arise in day-to-day operations. The board respects and supports the head and does not sit in review of such decisions.

Authority is vested in the board as a whole and not in individual trustees. The board speaks with one voice. Communications to the school community regarding board decisions or actions are delivered through the board clerk(s). Otherwise, individual trustees do not speak or act on behalf of the board, do not represent particular constituencies or individuals, and refrain from responding to specific situations.

The board endeavors to align with the principles of good practice for boards and individual trustees as outlined by the National Association of Independent Schools, and references the Governance Handbook for Friends Schools and Principles of Good Practice for Friends School Boards & Every Friends School Trustee provided by Friends Council on Education.