Successful Change Requires Strong Leadership

Jake Ibbetson serves as Head of School at Veritas Christian Academy in O'Fallon, Missouri. He has been at Veritas since 2012, serving first as a middle school teacher then principal before stepping into his current role. Originally from Australia, Jake has been involved in Christian education for two decades on two continents. He lives in St. Louis with his wife Amy and their young son Oliver.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Eight Principles Voices. Conversations with those who are making a difference. I'm your host, Larry Johnson, founder of the Eight Principles. Now join me as I welcome this week's guest, as they invite us to come along on their journey. Hello, everybody. It's Larry Johnson, your host for Eight Principles Voices. And we have another really great session today for you, and I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to be interviewing Jake Ibotson, who's the head of Veritas Christian Academy. And that's someplace in Missouri, you know, and he's going to tell us exactly where it is. But I met, I met, I met Jake recently at an event in Southern California, and I was taken with two things. He was in this country from Australia, and he was also head of a Christian school. Kind of an unusual combo, I think, for the Midwest. But I'm going to give him a chance to explain that, how he came to do this. So welcome, Jake.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Thank you, Larry. Pleasure to be here. Thanks for uh having me on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

You're well, you nice that that that that Aussie accent, it came through immediately. Um how long have you been in this country, Jake?

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Uh since 2012. So I'm pleased to hear that I still am holding on to my my roots and my accent.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Well, that gives you some distinctiveness, actually. So um, and what brought you to the United States?

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Uh that would be a girl. You know, it's usually it's usually a girl or or a job, and uh for me it was a girl. So who I met my wife who is from this part of part of the world, she was in Australia for a little bit, and we happened to meet, and then as they say, the rest is kind of history. So yeah, we dated across an ocean for a while, and then we got married, and and I moved here in I moved here in June of 2012, got married in July, and then started working here at the school in August.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

So well, that was boom, boom, boom. So, what were you doing in Australia for for work?

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Yeah, so I was teaching uh in Australia and we actually met. My wife was doing some teaching over there, and she ended up in the classroom next door to me. So uh that was just a little serendipity there. So yeah, so uh so yes, I'm I education's, I'd say probably my third career. I started in finance, I worked in uh travel for a while, but then uh settled into education and have been doing that now, probably going on 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Well, that's an interesting progression, but those other steps were pretty brief. You started out in finance. Um, that's where everyone thinks they're gonna make a bundle really quick, and they discover how totally boring it is and how much time is required. Am I describing it right?

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Well, 100%. So two things. One, uh so I worked in yeah, in fund management and happened to be doing that during the dot com boom and subsequent bust. So, you know, the earning of the buck, everyone earned a buck, but then they lost two bucks uh when that all went. When that all went down the drain. And then yeah, to the to the point about it just being boring, I just wanted to I couldn't handle being in the office every day and uh really wanted to be to be out. And so realized that that probably that kind of career wasn't that consistency of a career wasn't something that I was looking for. So I traveled around the world and then thought, hey, well, I like this travel thing, so why don't I do something that gets me cheap travel around the world? So I continued doing that for I did that for three or four years.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

So did you were you were you uh a travel agent, represent an airline? How did that work?

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Yeah, I was a travel agent.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

But then I saw that the internet was probably gonna take my job, so thought it was best to get out of that out of that industry.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Well, that was my next question because I remember the bad old days when one really needed an agent to to go through and and and navigate all that. You know, you didn't Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

I mean, I I used to write handwrite airline tickets for people.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Now there you go. Well you're older than you look, Jake. I tell you.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Well the very end of that that that that that period of time, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Okay, well, I I definitely remember hand written uh with the with the co with the the um uh the the yeah like the carbon paper or whatever it is, yeah. And then if you if you had to make changes, you did these little paste ons over it and all the white to get it done and better have your flight coop.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

The good old days.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Good old days. Well, part of the good old days was there was zero security. You simply walked on. I I'll never forget my very first flight. I was what 13, 14 years old. Um, no security, steps right up, and of course, everyone was dressed to the nines. I had my sport jacket and and loafers on, and and then I'll really date myself, Jake. A four-engine Lockheed Electra.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Okay, okay, all right, that is going back.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yeah, that was just before they all went to jets, and um, but um uh but yeah, there's a difference there. Oh, like it's another world, you know. Um, but anyway, so you got it, so you got out of uh the travel, and what motivated the education piece? That's kind of a a leap, you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Yeah, it was the piece of the puzzle that that the that I haven't shared there is I was really heavily involved in my church in youth ministry. Ah, okay. Spending a lot of time working with kids, uh, you know, we youth group in Australia is typically on a Friday night, so we'd have Friday night youth group, Sunday church, Bible study groups meeting. And so I just I just loved working with kids and and thought if I want to do this, then I should probably formalize it. So I went back and did a very brief teaching degree and and managed to find myself in a classroom. And really, I've been uh in education ever since.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

So did you go into public or parochial private education when you were for uh a little bit of both.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

So my first couple of years I I I bounced around. Um essentially you uh pick up a lot of maternity leave positions in Australia when you were first starting out. It's kind of one of the natural progressions. But then when I landed my first my first permanent position, that was in a Christian school.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

That's the school where I met my wife. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Um you know, filling in for an established teacher coming in mid-year, that's not easy. That is not easy.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

No, it's not, but I mean, when you're young, you you don't know what you don't know, so you just jump in there and do it.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Well, you know, I've had when I was in grade school, and then um, you know, I had a couple of those examples where the the lady was on maternity leave, and you're like, so what's he gonna be like? Well, I don't know. Right. And then of course there was the inevitable period where you were tested, um, you know, to see how much of a control you're gonna exert over the thing. And I always welcome the control because you know, when I was in grade school, I was often the one that was the one that was being um uh hazed of one kind or the other. And uh it's like, okay, let's get I hope this guy has some real strength here. So I'm gonna get this done. And and usually if it was a male, that was the case.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Well, I was gonna say that's the other, you know, that's uh the other thing. I worked in sort of fifth grade, sixth grade, beginning of middle school. And so for a lot of these students, I was the first male teacher that they'd had just because typically elementary teachers are uh are female by and large. So, you know, I I think I just had that in uh advantage, it's probably one way to say it, right? But you just had to you could you could have a connection, particularly with the boys, and we all know that you know, a lot of most of the discipline issues in in school typically typically is with boys, and and so to be able to build those relationships with them, it just it just helped. It helped that helped them.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

And the um and the male teachers I knew in grade school and and junior high usually had the word co uh the name coach attached to them. They were also coaching on one of the athletic teams. Um, and then of course the vice principal was also a coach. And the vice principal in a high school is the muscle, he's the enforcer.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

He's the heavy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

He's the heavy. When you get called into his office, okay. You know, here we go. All right. So you got to this.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

And every school has those people, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:47

So it's oh yeah, you've got to have them. You've got to have them. Um, uh well, I'll tell you a little story. Um uh when I was in high school, I guess yeah, I was in high school, and um there was another um a boy there with the very same name, Larry Johnson, only his middle initial was different than mine. Well, uh my father was friends uh with the um with the vice principal there at the high school. They knew each other and he was a coach. Well, this is pre-everything, okay. So this other guy was a bit of a shall we say, a an a problem. So he didn't show up one day for school. And so, you know, the uh Mr. Coach Martin is just looking at us. He picks up, he calls my mother because he sees the name, you know. I was there, but he calls the wrong name. Well, and she's talking to my mother, and she said, Well, well, uh, yeah, he's in school. I I I I I put him out this morning and blah blah blah. Then it became, oh, oh, oh, this is Max son. Yes. Oh, I I've got the wrong person, Mrs. Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

The wrong Larry.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

The wrong Larry. Thank you very much. Uh I apologize. So she told me that, like, no, no, he's in school. I know he's in school. Uh, because apparently this this young man was a was a chronic truant, you know, and uh yeah, he was always pushing the limits. Um, but yeah, I remember that. Yeah. Well, Coach Martin called me today. You were in school. Yes, yes, yes. He was I was in school. I was in school. So anyway, um, so you got back to Missouri, the stomping ground of your wife, the home stomping ground of your wife. And how did you come to work at Veritas?

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Yeah, that's a good question. I I it's kind of funny. I don't even really know the answer to that question. They didn't even interview me for a job, they just gave me a job. I think just on my wife's recommendation, which you know, I think that says a lot about my wife, or maybe that says a little bit about our HR policies here at the school back in the day. But probably a little both. A little bit probably a little both. Yeah, so she just you know, she told them, Hey, I'm bringing this, I'm bringing this souvenir back, and uh he needs a job. Do we have one going? And so there was a position in the middle school here to teach um boys Bible and to teach pre-algebra. And so I was, you know, for me in the classroom, those are two of the classes that I just would love to have taught. So it was just a huge, a huge win and just a great position to step into. And so yeah, they just let me let me run wild in the classroom for those first few years.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

So you so you started on the faculty, but now you're head.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Yeah, that's correct. So after a few years they asked me to be the principal and then uh the middle school, and then I've been I'm in my fifth year now as the head of school.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

And this is a K through 12 school.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Yeah, actually early ed. So we have three-year-olds uh all the way through 12th grade. Yeah, okay. About 700 students top to bottom. So we're you know, you would classify us as a larger school, but I would say we're on the smaller end of the larger schools.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Okay. All right. Uh a very different job than being on the faculty. Um, tell me about your adjustment becoming an administrator.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Yeah, I mean, look, I I think I mentioned before you don't know what you don't know, right? And I think that's when you step into the obviously the principal role is that that one-step remove, but when you're really getting into this head of school, and so you know, it's much more about the strategic leadership, it's about those key decision making, it's about setting vision. That was just uh it's it's I mean, really, it's just a baptism by fire. And I think for us, we were also in a I wouldn't say crisis, but we're in a situation where we had a little bit of a leadership vacuum, and I and I needed to step into that and uh felt called to step into that position. Um and but you just that there's just so many things. And I think the thing that always uh in those early days particularly is you never realize just how many people want or are reliant on your decision making, your opinion, your approval. And so I think, you know, as someone who never really in the classroom asked for a lot of help or needed the input of other people, it it always felt uh interesting that people would come and be like, well, they need someone to make the decision. And which I don't, you know, I now in saying that I don't love that as a model, right? I want you want to empower people to then be able to have the confidence and the clarity to make that decision for themselves. But we weren't in that position when we when I stepped into this this role.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Okay. Well, I want to explore that for a minute because um I've known a number of um heads of private schools, um preparatory schools, um uh primarily either evangelical or Catholic schools uh that are uh head headed by a lay person. Um so in my view, leadership is establishing a specific direct vision and then proceeding to implement it, using your lead your your governing board as support and guidance. That's how I view it. Now, I kind of think you do too. We've had some conversations. Um I've also met the model uh where the person is an administrator and not a leader. So they end up and they get um what's the word, pistol whipped by their board. Right because they've not exerted leadership, they've got the wrong people on their board. Uh tell me about your your board and how you've interacted with them and what your relationship is with them.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Yeah, I look, I think you're right in terms of those are really the two models. I think there's the one model that everyone wants, but then there's the reality that people are living in. I think for me, the good thing about our board is that uh, you know, prior administrators had worked hard on establishing that governance model, right? So I think they have always wanted to operate outside of the operational, outside of getting their hands dirty. Unfortunately, though, when boards do get in there, usually it's a result of, like I said, there's some kind of vacuum, or it's not happening, or perhaps it's not, you know, if if the board hasn't understood what their role should be, then it gets into that. But in our case, really, we had a board that was too involved because they had to be involved because we were um just in need of some that that stability and that leadership. And so for me to step into that part of that was to help them and to to understand their role is to is to not live in operational matters. And and they were, frankly, that you know, these are people that are incredibly generous with their time and and in most instances have uh their you know a proper career that that they're working, you know, a day job taking their time, right? Yeah, they've got the day job, and so they don't want to be spending hours a week dealing with these things. Uh, they want to be able to have confidence in the person that does and be able to hold them accountable to that. And I think that's been really the blessing of my time with with my board is we've you know just just had that good relationship and just continue to understand how each other works and understand what each other's roles are. And I think we've we we work hard to keep those delineations between the two because that's you know, when when the head of schools get frustrated, like you said, they get frustrated when they get pistol whipped or they get painted into a corner or they get pressured to do something that they know is uh not someone else's decision to make. And so that's constantly the that's constantly the conversation uh with my board chairman and just you know helping helping each other know what what is needed of each party and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

So yeah, I mean go on, sorry. No, I was gonna say there's a healthy give and take here, you know and and apparently your chair and other members respect that in you, they're looking for leadership in you. Uh, as you said, they have something else to occupy their time other than focusing totally on the school, which I don't think is a healthy thing, as you might imagine. They got too much time on their hands, quote unquote. Now, how many board members do you have?

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Currently we have eight.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Uh so four of those have just come on in the last uh in the last three to four months. So we've we're operating with a pretty lean board for a while. Uh policy says we can have anywhere between three and nine. And so we were at the lower end, and now we're we're we're back up towards the higher end, which is uh which is good from a just a sustainability piece because I hope they have term limits, and so I have a couple rolling off next year, so we're gonna continue to request them.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Uh these uh the relate what's the relationship with these people in the school? What I mean by that is are they all parents, they alumni, they're people from the community? What sort of relationship with the school do they have otherwise?

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Yeah, so the majority of them are parents of current students, and and a handful of them are parents of graduates. So they started their board term when their children were still here. Their children have since graduated and they've continued on in their service.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

All right. So And that's typically been our that's typically been who our board has attracted.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Okay. Well, and that's a lot of that's a lot of uh private prep schools. I mean, that's unless you get into the really top tiers, and that's a different you get some alumni and you get others. Here's the question I want you to ask, I want you to answer for me. And it's just it's an honest question. Parents, current parents, parents of current students, by does by their very nature are focused on their children. Well, they should be. If they're not, they're being not being good parents. Okay. How do you get those parents to balance that desire to focus on their children with the longer-term vision of the school? How do you do that?

SPEAKER_02 19:00

I mean, uh the answer is consistently, right? Because I think we all have that battle within us. And you a board, uh, certainly a governance board should be living in the future. They shouldn't be. We we talk often about that the the primary client of the board, and I'm borrowing some of this from uh Simon Jenner's Christian school management, is this idea that the primary client of the board is the generation not yet born? Now that's very hard to say to uh an individual who has a child with of this generation who's already in the seventh grade.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Right, yeah. But again, I think it just comes. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Can you say that again?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

What you said about the the the the client of the school is yeah, so the the the primary client of the board is the generation yet yet born. Um so that they're really living and where did you say that you quoted someone?

SPEAKER_00 19:58

What was this from?

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Uh Simon Jennis, uh Christian School's Management is the organization.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Is that J or G in Janice?

SPEAKER_02 20:07

J-E-Y-N-E-S.

unknown 20:10

All right.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Well, he has an English accent, so you know I I can understand everything he's saying. So well, of course.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

And he probably has quite a female following too. Ladies love the English accent. Um I had well, I I had a PR person say to me that uh oh, actually, I used an English voice once, a professional voice for some work I was doing. And he said, Well, yeah, my American agent tells me that uh I already have I always have 10 points added to my IQ, you know, because of the the way I speak. And he said, Yeah, and the and the ladies really loved me. Because he was very married, small kids, you know, but um, yeah, and well, I'll tell you, I won't tell you the names, but at one point I had this young man working for me who, very good looking, blonde, you know, Choi Donna Hue type, this kind of thing, his picture on the website. And this English voice was doing my my telephone routing and everything for me. Beautiful voice. We would have ladies call the office and ask if this was the person that's on the recording. I'm serious. The looks with the with the with and of course the person in the recording, like, don't get any big ideas, Marcus. Just just forget that. Yeah, just just knock it off. You don't fit the bell. You know, you make it you got the looks, but not you in your mouth, and that's it. You know, sorry. Uh but anyway, but yeah, but there was this sort of confluence of perception. Um so okay, so this is a day school, right? Yeah, okay. Any thought of ever wanting to be a boarding school?

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Like we I think there was conversations about that maybe five, ten years ago, but we don't have the infrastructure for it. We don't really Um would we have the draw? I'm not sure, right? I mean, a suburban school outside of St. Louis. I mean, we have a handful of international students that come here. Um, typically they come from Korea or China because we have had some established relationships. So we have some, you know, families in the community, we have a decent representative uh of those nationalities and communities. So there's we have a little bit of that. I I'm just not sure if that's a direction that we that we will be heading.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Okay. So you say you're suburban St. Louis, Midwest. That's pretty vanilla, Jake. So um uh and and I say that in a good way. I mean, it's just like this is where you are. Um and this is a Protestant evangelical school. Um do you have any Catholic uh students at all?

SPEAKER_02 22:51

Yes, we do. Yeah, okay. So we're we're non-denominational, um, so we have uh partnerships with probably around about 80 churches are represented through our student body. Okay, and yeah, and so we have uh we have Catholic students here as well. And so and and look, we also there's some Catholic high schools in the area, and so you sometimes get you know, part of the requirement is that there's a pastoral reference, and sometimes you get, you know, some of the priests at Catholic churches don't want to sign them because they would rather see their their students or their congregation go to the Catholic school, but other times they're that they're happy with that, that they're getting a Christian education. Um yeah, so no, we we we I'd like to say we cast a wide net, but that doesn't mean we don't we're not um firm in our convictions or what we stand on on particular matters, we we try to be really clear on that.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

So uh fifth year. Where do you want the school to be uh in your tenth year, presuming you're still there?

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yeah. No, it's a great question. And it's something I've been thinking about a lot, and partly because I think even next week, maybe even this week, is going out to our parents uh launching our next five-year strategic plan. So we've we we've just sort of come off the back of one and we were we're launching the next. And and so I think a lot about, hey, where do we want to be? Because I think a lot about, well, where were we five years ago when we started? And it's just by God's grace that we are the school that we are, you know, we're 200 students, 150, 200 students more than where we were five years ago. We're in much more position of stability and strength. We have a clear brand, all of these things that we didn't have five years ago. And so I look to the I look at that and I go, wow, what a launching pad we have for the future. And and really the the two words that are that come back to me as I think about our the future of our school and where I want us to be. The the two words are dynamic and distinct. And I and I mean I'll start with distinct, because when I say distinct, I really mean distinctly Christian, uh, in that we're not just a school that has Christian as our middle name, but that everything we do is a reflection of what it is we believe about what's true about the world. I mean, we just renamed our school to Veritas because we value this idea of truth so much, and we think that that's at the core of what education is, and that that truth is informed ultimately by a person in Christ. And so we want to be so we want to be known as the distinct Christian school, not just not just one in name only. And then dynamic in the sense that I think one of the criticisms of education is that sometimes we're slow moving. Uh, we're not we don't change quickly, and we perhaps don't change well for for what the culture is requiring of us. And and I want us just as a school to be continuing to look to find ways that we can uh change for the better, and and not just change for the sake of change, but change because what is ultimately best for students. We we say here we want to try and do two things really well at Veritas. We want to be Christ-centered, so everything we do revolves around what we believe, and then the second thing is we want to be student focused, and we're not saying we want to be student-centered, but student focused. We're centered on Christ, but we're focused on kids, and I mean that in the sense of like sometimes schools, and I think we're guilty of this, is that we make decisions that are best for adults and we don't really think about what's best for kids. That can be in a whole range of things, even in just how you set the day up, how you set the year up, um, is what we're doing best for kids. And I and those are the sort of the dynamic things where I'm like, hey, I don't want to just keep doing things the way we've always done them because that's the status quo. I want to do things that in that are absolutely what's best to help kids navigate and grow in the culture that we're called to be in and that we're a part of. As vanilla as suburban St. Louis may be, there's still uh you know a tremendous calling there in terms of and a challenge there in terms of the culture that these kids live in and that they're gonna grow up into. So we want to we just want to help prepare them as best we can.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

So distinctive, and then the other one was dynamic. Dynamic. So tell me what that means to you.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Yeah, I mean, to me, that that dynamic is really just the uh the idea of looking at the things we do and being not being afraid to make changes if it's the best thing for us as a school. And again, the lens we look through for us as a school is okay, well, is this the most Christian thing? Is this is this what is, you know, is this consistent with our message? Is this consistent with what we're seeing? And then is this is this the most kind thing we can do for the kids who are who are here every day? Is this the best way to prepare them? I just I want us to be okay with change. Um and and I know that that's a that's a beast, and heck, we've had a lot of change in the last five years. So I think people can get you know, people can get a little weary of the constant change, but but again, if we're if we're making changes for the right reason, then I think we should pursue those.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

So you're looking at um a school that will be larger, the same size, smaller. What where do you think you're headed in terms of enrollment?

SPEAKER_02 28:37

We have capacity for, we're at 700 now. We have capacity for 900 students. Um, but a lot of that capacity right now is in the high school. We just in terms of just where our where things lie, we've got a pretty we've our our elementary is pretty close to full, which is which is great to have that base. Um we just we have we have room for probably that hundred, 150 kids in the high school, which is something that we've we're just really kind of building towards and uh and really trying to to grow our presence here. So yeah, I think that's you know, if I put a number on it, that's the vision for it. But I I also trust that you know that that that enrollment number takes care of itself when you are consistent with your mission of your school and you produce you know consistent results in terms of the people we graduate, um, the impact it's having on families. That that yeah, there's things that we need to do, but we also we we just do what we can do and we trust that that the people will will come.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Well, that's really pretty good, actually, if you're doing the right things. You really don't have to be all that focused on on on the growing. It's like the fundraising, we can talk about that in a minute, but I'm really anxious to know what was the name of the school prior to the current name.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Uh take your pick. There's been there's been a handful. So we're 45 years old. I think we've probably had five or six different names in that time.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

We uh tell me about that. I I because changing a name is a big deal, Jake.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

Right. And so part of part of it is the name that we've had, and part of it's the name we've been given. And so we were originally started as Living Word Christian School. When we opened our high school, the high school was named Christian High School. Just that that one, just that uh about six, five, uh probably six or seven years ago, we we rebranded the whole school as Christian School District. And then within Christian School District.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

That's really exciting, Jake.

SPEAKER_02 31:00

I just get all I look, I I I you know, I don't want to I don't want to disparage the work that was done because it was I think there was a period in time where we needed to com where we needed to consolidate our school, where we needed to bring some unity there. But as as that name play played out, internally, it wasn't being picked up and used. Students couldn't say what if you asked the students, hey, what school do you go to? Some would say Christian, some would say CHS, some would say living word. We had Living Word on the building, we had Christian high school on the building, so we didn't even know what our name was. How would we expect people in the community to know what our name was?

SPEAKER_00 31:48

So and then the news are you telling me you had to consult the incorporation papers just to make sure?

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Say that again.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

You that you had to consult the incorporation papers just to make sure.

unknown 32:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Yeah, just yeah, what exactly did we set up here? So, yeah, so we just had we had this confusion internally, and then we had this confusion in the marketplace because people would call us up and they'd be like, Well, we'd say, you know, kids or families would say, Where do you go to school? Christian school district. Then the next question was, which Christian school district? And it's like, well, no, the Christian school district. There's confusion there, or and we weren't really a district. I mean, we had we had two campuses, but you you weren't bound by any geographical you know element in the same way that you may be a public school district that hardly qualifies as a district.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

No, it doesn't, right?

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Right. And I think there was a look when it came about, I think there was a vision perhaps for us to have multiple campuses, multiple schools, which I could so you could see the direction, but again, we weren't in that place, and that wasn't what was being communicated. And so we, yeah, so it was two years ago where we just said, Hey, we we're gonna do this properly. I know it's a risk, I know we just did it six years ago, but we're gonna do it again and we're gonna do it once and for all. And so we did we worked through a process, we did have some outside people help us with that, and and we we both went through the name and the brand, and we launched Veritas Christian Academy, really at the beginning of last school year. And I mean, and it's amazing, it's amazing for the transformation that's happened. I think you know, I just the clarity it's brought to us, the clarity it's bought in the marketplace, has been huge. And um, yeah, it's it it's hard to think of us as anything else other than that.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Well, I'm I'm it's it does work, by the way. Uh it makes you distinctive. You have a brand now, you're not the XYZ Christian school, um, when there are a lot of those. Um and um it has a certain feel, and and it's something that uh speaks to who you are. And by the way, um you probably know this, of course. You're in Australia and you might not know this, but um the um uh when Harvard and Yale were first founded, I'm a Yaley, by the way. Um, Yale was founded uh in response to the fact they didn't feel that Harvard was doing a good enough job training ministers. Okay, that's and of course that was several hundred years ago. And the seal at Yale is Lux at Veritas, Light and Truth, you know, which and and uh the president that was there when I was there was the first lay president of the university ever. They were all clergymen before that. I thought that was interesting. So you're picking up on the same thing, and there are a lot of people, myself included, that would say my alma mater sort of drifted from their original mission just a wee bit.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Um yeah, and then absolutely, and I think you know, I mean that Harvard's is Harvard's motto is Veritas, right? I mean, so I think that's still on the deal. Um, and so yeah, but that's but that's the beautiful thing about the name, Larry, is what we wanted to do is that is that that word tells a story, right? Like like like we what what led us to the name was that question that Pilate asks Jesus when he's standing before him. He asks him, What is truth? And I'm like, what now that's in response to of Jesus just saying that you know, I have come and I'm gonna testify to to the truth. So so he's recognizing himself, and the chapter before he just said, you know, those pretty revolutionary words that I am the way, the truth, and the life.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

But when we thought about that in an educational point of view, it's like, what is education at its core? But draw, you know, the word again, look at let's if we want to keep up the Latin lesson, you know, that word edu education or edu series is this drawing out of ignorance, right? And what do you do? You draw people out of what they don't know to what they know of from ignorance to you know to understanding, from falsehood to truth. And we just thought, I mean, what you can't tell a better story of what we want to try and do here every day, other than teach kids what is true. And then what do you do with that truth? How do you defend it and embrace it and live it out in your life? So so not only was that name necessary from that clarity point of view, but it was but there's that compelling nature to it as well of like, hey, let's tell you about, let's even just tell the story about what happens here every day through the through our very name. So yeah, it's been it's been great for us. We've we've we've really we've really loved it.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

Learning to live with the truth, learning to live in truth. Um and I like that. I I don't know of any other Christian school uh uh of any kind that has Veritas in its name. Maybe you do, but I don't it's the first one I'd seen.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

I think there's about uh I think whenever we did our market research, it's about 14 or 15 across the country. So uh a lot of them attached to that classical the classical school, yes, which I could see that understandable, but uh yeah, so certainly none around us. That was that was the closest one is somewhere in Kansas to us, so we we're pretty good there.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

All right. Now, uh, do you have uh you have you teach Latin at your school? No, we don't. Oh, let's see there. You're missing out, Jake. You know?

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Um we did, we did. We just uh honestly it's a struggle, it was a struggle to to to get the teacher to teach it. We have a uh one of our lovely long-serving staff here has had had taught Latin, but but stepped out of that role into other responsibilities, and okay, and it hasn't been something that we've we've backfilled, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Okay, well, it is a dead language, but it's still a very important language. Um, it's um well, it's the root language of all the uh romance languages, right? So of which English English is not one. Um so anyway, so okay. So let's talk about what the what the English say is controversy, controversy. What sort of controversies have you managed to extract the school from in the last two years? What's come up that you've had to handle and you've done it pretty well? Because I have a feeling you whatever has come up, you've handled it well.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

I feel like I'm gonna have PTSD if we go down this road too much. I look, I think the name that the rename was a big part of that. Um, because again, you you you can't underestimate the 45 years of history and and oh no, what that what the brand means to people and and what it still means to alumni who graduated from Christian high school as opposed to graduating from Veritas.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

So I think that was a lot. Yeah, so there was a lot in in that world that we that we had to navigate. Um one of the part of the rebranding that we actually have just done this year is to is to implement a uniform as opposed to a more casual dress code that we previously did. And so again, it's change, and some people love those changes and some people don't. And just trying to navigate through those, listen to people, uh, respond to them is you know, I think that's the that's probably just been the single biggest challenge that that that I've worked through, whether I've done it well or not. I'm I'm maybe I'm not the one to uh to assess that, but have have tried to be clear on you know why we make the decisions we make, uh why it was necessary to change the name, why we felt it was appropriate to move to a more of a uniform-based uh approach and and and and be clear with that and and and be as be as kind and as generous as we can and then and then move forward in what we believe is is the right thing to do.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

So well, I can tell you from my own experience. Um my children were in um were in uh Christian schools for a good bit of their career, um, and a couple of stories. I was a vice president at Houghton College for a while, and they have a prep school there, Houghton Academy. It's on the campus. It is a boarding and day school, all right. Right. And um, and we weren't real happy. My daughter was uh getting middle school, and we weren't real happy with the public school option. Uh, we thought that the social climate was not positive, let's just put it that way. And I wanted her to go to Houghton Academy. Uh, I was getting all kinds of pushback. Now, at that time, and I think it's still the case, Houghton Academy did not have a uniform, uh, it was pretty casual, but it was very um, very aggressively competitive and uh academic. Um, and this was like the early, very early 2000s. All the students had a laptop that's tell you what where we are. Right, okay. Okay, and um, so I said to her, Mary, you have a choice, you can go to Houghton Academy, or the only other option I would consider was a school with the name of Immaculata, which is still a bona fide, certified, all girls convent school. Okay, and and the order that runs it is very traditional, and they're they don't brook any nonsense, and uh, you know, no makeup, no anything. So I so this is the way I pitched it to her, Jake. I said, so you know, Mary, you got an you got a choice. You can go to Houghton Academy or Sister Godzilla is waiting. And that was enough to say, okay, maybe Houghton isn't such a bad option after all. It isn't. So and it goes back to they also then they went to another school. And unfortunately, the other school, which was a good school, they wanted to always waffle on this line of of a um uh of a uniform. I say it's either a uniform or it's just street clothes. Don't try to create a uniform from street clothes, because if you do that, you're gonna have a mess. And that's exactly what it was. It was kind of a it was a moving target all the time, and that gets expensive for the parents, Jake. You know, now where we were living, there was a pretty good concentration of Catholics, and so there was a very good market for used uniforms, and each of these schools had their own uniform. It was very easy to go and buy the used uniforms, and it was it was really quite economical, you know. But if you're having to buy new stuff all the time to meet a kind of a moving target, it really got annoying. I hope you've gone to a bona fide uniform that they can actually trade in for something else.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Right. Yes, yeah, but probably for that reason, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:56

So okay, good. Well, and I can see why the uniform, because when you don't, I mean, you're probably appealing pretty much to a middle upper middle class base, would be my guess. And uh we're gonna we're talking about that in a second. But without the uniform, especially for the girls, even to the boys to some extent, there's this one-upsmanship and the fashion clothing and the this and the that and all this kind of thing. So that gets to be really uh you know, kind of really obnoxious after a while. So tell me, uh, you're I'm sure you're tuition driven at this point. Um, any plans to develop an endowment or become more independent of the tuition?

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Uh absolutely. Yeah, no, I I think we're really in this phase. When we think about this, we talk about this last five years of that sort of the strategic planning. I think a lot of that was about stabilizing some things. And I think now we're in that position where we have some stability. We have uh we have a story, and and now it's a now it's about. Really, I I honestly I feel like it's about growing up. My CFO has talked about, you know, there's been a lot of times that we've operated like a startup company, which you just, you know, in terms of you just you make decisions quickly, you don't have a lot of good process and policies in place, and you just you you just continue to try and really survive until you get that until you get that grounding or that market share or whatever it is, right? Whereas I think when you you know when you're talking about an institution that's fairly well established, then you when it comes to things like that, you want to have sustainable policies in place so that you can again, like I said, with the role of the board is that we're going to be here for the generations to come. And so I think that's a big part of what we're looking at, a big part of our strategic plan is like, how do we move how do we do two things? One, how do we make sure that you know tuition that that hard revenue numbers are uh are funding the cost of education? And then how are we using you know development money strategically to invest in the experience that students are having here? And and part of that is is is things like endowments and you know, whether that be for um financial aid or if that's for you know, I think the other the other big piece for us is just knowing that the the realities of the workforce is changing, and particularly in this industry, there's just not as many people looking for jobs or desiring to go into teaching. And so the market's going to determine some certain things there. And so, you know, if there's ways that you can if there's ways that you can support that and you can you can be in a position to you know to offer offer things for teachers to improve their total compensation, I think those are those are probably the two biggest areas where I'd like to build a more robust uh financial outlook for us that we can we can meet both of those needs as you know as it as it's harder for people to access things like Christian schools, even if you are talking about a middle class, middle upper class. I mean, you have you know, we you don't need me to tell you about just increases in the cost of living and things and how that's squeezing and what what people then have to choose is you know where they want to spend their money. So that side of it, but then also just the reality of that there's less people wanting these roles, and we're gonna have to make sure that we care for them and compensate them well.

SPEAKER_00 46:26

No, you know, having an endowment that would give you the basis for uh uh market-based compensation of your staff would I I would think would solve a big problem for you. Um, because then you would never have to worry really about someone about losing a faculty member to the public system because the the they were a market-based salary. Um, you could offer, in fact, you could actually offer things that the uh public district could not or would not offer, and that is more character-based uh frenches things that that you could offer them as well. But that does take an endowment uh to provide those salary lines. Um can I offer you a little free advice here for a second?

SPEAKER_02 47:10

I love it because I think that's one of the biggest things. It's like we I I think we have the best of intentions, but we don't always know well, what does that what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 47:18

How do you if that's if that's your long-term goal, it starts with acquiring a bigger constituent footprint. And the easiest way to do that, well the most effective way to do that, I don't know if I'm about easy, uh, is to begin to look at the composition of your governing board and use that as a springboard for getting people outside your immediate circle involved in your mission. Um, I like to say that and from a from an from a fundraising point of view, a development point of view, you need to have uh at least one board member who is rep who is representative of each of the major constituencies that you're gonna draw financial support from. So obviously, current parents is a piece of that, alumni are a piece of that. Um former parents are a piece of that, but another piece of it that's often overlooked is that you are a um um uh what's the word I'm looking for? Um anyway, a school that has a very particular profile profile. You've def you're not your generic school. Okay. So there are people out there who naturally would gravitate to you if they had the opportunity. And so that's gonna be, I would believe, your number one fundraising uh, I don't know about challenge, but certainly focus is to begin to um engage, identify and engage some of these people that naturally uh would support you. Uh and that's that's where I think I would start. It's not an overall.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

How do you feel like you go about engaging with them or or I even identifying them? What I I'm just I think this is always like okay, I'm happy to I'd love to. I just don't necessarily know well.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

Here's the mechanic. You want you want you want some ABC mechanics? Here's how you do it. All right. You said how many churches are involved with you?

SPEAKER_02 49:25

About 85.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

That is a big number. Well, where I would start, would I begin to go to your current board, and you're gonna be brainstorming names, hundreds of names. All right. Then you're gonna be looking at what the profile of each of those people. It's it's very time consuming to build this in the beginning, but it's all about networking, it's all about who you know. You know, uh, I don't have it in front of me, but yeah, two books I suggest you read with similar things. This one, 10x is easier than 2x. And this one, who, not how.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:26

All right, now this one, the thesis is quite simple. If you want to make a significant leap, you don't do it by nibbling around the edges. You don't keep doing the same things you've been doing, only faster, better, harder. Okay, you take a real serious look at your model and how that could change. Okay, and that gets really, really scary sometimes with some people. All right. This one is it's really about who you know, it's really about how you're you know what you want to do here, but you need to get the right people first. So, and not be too concerned about the how. And that's what I'm suggesting you do first is begin to do a series of networking over time where you are identifying people who potentially could provide a bigger constituency for you, a different constituency for you. And um, and then how you would do that once you've identified names is you essentially network, you triangulate, and then you invite them to be a part of something, you engage them without asking them for money. Oh, please don't do that. That comes much later. By the way, fundraising isn't about money. I'll just let you know that it's not about money. Um, but you give them, you reach out to them and get to know them, and you show them and you you find out what they're about. You know, Jake, if I were uh if I were doing this with you, one thing I would ask you at some point would be so, Jake, what is it you want to accomplish? Now, and we're not talking about in your career, in life, what's important to you, you know, and that would be an open-ended question. And you when you start doing that with people, you might be really surprised, the answers you will get from unexpected people. So then what I would encourage you to do, we know your we know your mission, we know your covenant school, but don't just limit yourself to the usual suspects, if you know what I mean. Okay, you've seen the film uh um uh uh uh what's it uh uh what's the name of the film? Um, the one with uh Ingrid Bergman and uh and uh Humphrey Bogart and there's Lisbon. Uh they're in Lisbon and the name of the film is anyway, they're stuck in this in during World War II. And at one point, the prefect of police says, We'll round up the usual suspects. I mean, we're just gonna bring them in and we'll go through the motion, essentially, is what we're saying. Uh, I can't think of the name. Well, it's a great film, too. Anyway, um, I'll think of it.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

If you said Ingram Bergman, I'm sorry, it's probably not my generation, Larry.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

I'm well, of course it's not, it's not mine either. All right. But it's a great, it's it's a timeless film. I love timeless cinema. All right. Um, but uh, but and and that uh but the the prefect police say, oh, round up the usual suspects. That's become a classic line now. Okay, don't just go to the usual suspects. You have to reach beyond that. Because there are, by the way, there are plenty of people who would share your mission, but for an a reason that might really surprise you. Okay, and that's I'm just gonna think about that. Somebody that would not be in your orbit necessarily, but if approached appropriately, could really be someone that could could want to want to help you. Now, the risk there, when I say the risk is you bring someone like that on the board, they have their own ideas, and so you have to have a good, cohesive, strong leader. Because someone who comes on the board with different ideas can scare the hell out of people. All right, they really can. And so you have to you have to be very, what's the word, mature and willing to engage, as you said. But that's that you're kind of on that precipice right now. But I can tell you there's an almost unlimited supply of money that's available to philanthropy, truly. There's only a limited number of people who will support you. So it's all about this, okay, and and not and and not spoiling those relationships early on by being either uh not listening or being parochial to the point where it shuts people out. Um I let's look at the example of Jesus, perfect example, and he always just took people where he found them. Always. That got him into trouble more times than uh more than not, too, because he didn't prejudge people, he let them well, you know, he was always who he was, but he took people where they were, and he gave them an opportunity. You would like something better? Here, let me show you what it is, you know, and unlike the religious authorities of the day who were always trying to put it put lips tests in everyone, you know. Uh, have you seen the series, any of the series, the the um the chosen?

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

Well, you may remember in the second uh season, uh Jesus is having a Shabbat dinner with Mary Magdalene and with Matthew. I think there was one other disciple there, and someone knocks on the door and he goes to the door, and there are two Pharisees standing there. Well, right away the Pharisees scan the room and they're going, How do we extract ourselves from this? What do we what do we do here? Well, Jesus knew what was going on. He just gets, he steps up and says, Come on in, just come on in and join us, being very hospitable. Well, that sent them over the top, Jake. I mean, you could see them just sort of physically backing up a little bit. If we get any closer, we might catch it. All right, right. And and he knew what he was doing, you know, putting them on notice, you know. You can't put these barriers between people, and that's what I encourage you to do to do. And you can do that without abandoning who you are. Right. Jesus was superb at that. He never abandoned who he was, okay. But he gave there's a in another film, which you've probably not seen, is Chariots of Fire. Okay. Oh, I love it. Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it. Well, there's a scene where they have um where they have uh Eric Little uh before the Olympic committee. All right, and at one point, Eric's just being really strict and unbreakable, and I'm not gonna give, and blah, blah, blah. Well, and so Lord Birkenhead comes up to him and says, Let's just hope your principles give you room to maneuver. Like, just don't pack yourself into a corner because then everybody will lose. All right. Well, they found their way out of it, okay, is what they did. And see, that's what I'm suggesting. You know, sometimes you have to have room to maneuver to engage people. Um, and one more bit of advice, and I'll shut up. Everyone has a pearl of great price. Are you familiar with the parable? Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like the pearl of great price. When you find it, you will sell everything to acquire it. And yet it's not a material thing. So that we all have a pearl of great price, and it differs. You know, it's different. So that's your job, or the board is finding out what this individual's pearl of great price is. Because if you can identify that and it somehow matches what you're looking for, you see, oh bingo. And then, of course, you have to have the fundraising program behind it to kind of move everybody in the right direction. But that's what you're looking for. You that you would start with enlarging the makeup and the influence of your board. That's where it has to, that's where it starts, because that's where the engine is that goes outward. Um, hope that helped.

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Good advice.

SPEAKER_00 58:29

Okay. Well, I've seen it happen.

SPEAKER_02 58:32

Every time I talk to you, Larry, you end up giving me books to read. I mean, I I just got this one in the mail. I haven't had a chance to read there.

SPEAKER_00 58:40

You go. All right. Okay. It's in. Now I have two more for you. Right. These are good, by the way. These are really good. And they're fast reads. They're fast reads. You know, they're not Dostoevsky or or or Tolstoy, okay. Right. It takes Russian fiction. That takes a little longer, Jake.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

To remember everyone's name in crime and punishment.

SPEAKER_00 59:09

You're not kidding. Um, this has been delightful, Jake. Thank you so much for doing this. Um, anything else you just want to add? We can have you on again.

SPEAKER_02 59:22

Well, I appreciate the invitation. I don't think for now. Thank you for your wisdom and just the the chance to share a little bit about our school. It's been um it's been a privilege.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

All right. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have been uh having a wonderful conversation with Jake Ibitson, who's the head of Veritas Christian Academy, and that is in suburban St. Louis, sorta, I guess. And um, and I met him recently, and I was really taken with the fact, as I said, that he's an Aussie, come to the U.S., and now he's in a Christian school. I want to thank him again for doing that. Um uh I hope you've enjoyed it and spent a little bit of your time with us today. And stay tuned for the next edition of Eight Principles Voices. Thank you for listening today. Join us for our next episode when I'll have another thought provoking leader as my guest. Guest comments and opinions are their own. The recording is copyright by the Eight Principles, all rights reserved.