CSM offers best-in-class professional development at a price that our schools can afford. We recognize that our schools have needs that are unique. We offer serious, thoughtful conversations in great locations. A CSM Retreat is an excellent opportunity for Christian school leaders to enjoy quality Scripturally infused, research-based, experientially tested advice and counsel. You are leaders who understand the power of community. Come and join us.
Grace Christian School, VT and CSM October 5-6, 2023
We are delighted and thankful to co-sponsor this Retreat with Grace and its Principal, Shawn Smith. We appreciate and are grateful for the community’s welcome. Grace Christian School, Bennington, VT is a CSM Member school. We have been partnering since 2017 in which time GCS has grown to 200+ students.
Join GCS and CSM on October 5-6, 2023 for exceptional professional growth opportunities, fellowship, and opportunities to network with schools like you. Do you only have one music teacher? Or one 4th grade teacher? You know what it is to be ‘alone’! Come and meet with new friends and become a Christian professional learning community across our geographic area.
This is a Retreat: it is intended to give you space to reflect on your purpose and role in important Christian school leadership areas; it provides opportunity to learn from CSM and with each other; in this space, you have time to reflect apart from the busyness of your typical day; during the sessions, you will utilize your own information / data in order to plan so that you bring back from the Retreat approaches, knowledge, and actions you will take.
October 5th and 6th is for administrators, Board and Board Committee members, and the leadership team. We will follow your lead as to what is most important to you right now. To get the conversation started, there will be theme sequences for the Principal, for governance, for family relations including enrollment, and for Christian school finances.
Note: attendees will earn 2 credits towards the CSM Principal Certificate.
October 6th is a day for teachers. This will be an amazing day for thinking about the children in your classrooms and hallways. Put it in your school calendar as a day off for the children.
This Retreat is financially supported by the CSM Foundation.
Note: school leaders will earn one credit for each day attended towards the CSM Principal Certification.
Please click here to see the Retreat Agenda.
The following is an outline and subject to change based on your needs as they emerge – and based on the professional judgment of the Retreat leaders. We welcome teacher workshop leaders to contribute to their peers through sharing of their own practice. See the link to the Teacher Workshop Application Form.
8.00 Devotions
8.20 Welcome and announcements (grab coffee and doughnuts)
8.45-10.00
Workshop One A: Governance: School Board Purpose and Function
Workshop One B: Financial Management: The Ox Principle – Matters of Principle
10.00-10.30 Reflection Break
10.30-11.45 Workshop Time
Workshop Two A: Governance: School Board Meetings
Workshop Two B: Financial Management: Budget Categories
11.45-12.45 Lunch $15.00 payable to Grace Christian School
12.45-1.45 Affinity Groups (meet in self-selected interest groups)
1.45-2.00 Reflection Break
2.00-3.15 Workshop Time
Workshop Three A: Governance: School Board Committees
Workshop Three B: Financial Management: Setting Tuition
3.15-3.45 Reflection Break
3.45-5.00 Taking away a plan of action for your own school
Workshop: Governance: What Will You Do?
Workshop: Financial Management: What Will You Do?
5.00 Depart
Note: you also have the option to join your teachers in their sessions.
8.00 Devotions
8.20 Welcome and announcements (grab coffee and doughnuts)
8.45-10.00
Workshop One A: Family Relations and Enrollment: The School’s and the Parent’s Viewpoint
Workshop One B: Family Relations and Enrollment: Rewriting your Website #1
10.00-10.30 Reflection Break
10.30-11.45 Workshop Time
Workshop Two A: Family Relations and Enrollment: Moving from Contract and Community
Workshop Two B: Family Relations and Enrollment: Rewriting your Website #2
11.45-12.45 Lunch $15.00 payable to Grace Christian School
12.45-1.45 Affinity Groups (meet in self-selected interest groups)
1.45-2.00 Reflection Break
2.00-3.15 Workshop Time
Workshop Three A: Family Relations and Enrollment: Everyone’s Job
Workshop Three B: Family Relations and Enrollment: Rewriting your Website #3
3.15-3.45 Reflection Break
3.45-5.00 Taking away a plan of action for your own school
Workshop: Family Relations and Enrollment: What Will You Do?
5.00 Depart
8.00 Devotions
8.20 Welcome and announcements (grab coffee and doughnuts)
8.45-10.00
Workshop One A: CPR: Vital Fuel for High Impact Schools
10.00-10.30 Reflection Break
10.30-11.45 Workshop Time
Workshop Set Two TBD
11.45-12.45 Lunch $15.00 payable to Grace Christian School
12.45-1.45 Affinity Groups (meet with colleagues like you and network)
1.45-2.00 Reflection Break
2.00-3.15 Workshop Time
Workshops Set Three TBD
3.15-3.45 Reflection Break
3.45-5.00 Workshop Time
Workshops Set Three TBD
5.00 Depart
The cost is $47 per person per day, or $90 for two days. For schools, we offer a special rate of $300 per day for up to 10 attendees.
CSM Members get your coupon for $10.00 off the One Day Ticket or $20 off the Two Day Ticket. Contact Janice, your Member Partner, for the code.
Please note that lunch is not included in the registration fee. We kindly ask that you bring $15.00 to cover the cost of lunch each day. The lunch cost is payable to Grace Christian School.
Lodging:
In Bennington, there is a Hampton Inn; Knotty Pine; Best Western as well as local inns, B&Bs etc.
Please contact Natalie Waters, GCS Business Manager, if you wish to use a local dormitory for a low fee. [email protected]
To register for the event scroll to the bottom of this CSM website page for purchasing tickets. We look forward to seeing you there!
This is my 18th year teaching, and I have taught many subjects, including music, kindergarten, first grade, combined fifth and sixth grade, six grade math, and I also served as a reading coach to kindergarten through grade 5. I love reading and math the most and helping students learn how to be in school. I am married to my wonderful husband, Dave Bentley (for 35 years) and we have two grown children as well as six grand children that we love spending time with.
I will provide an environment for learners to find their voice, discover their passions, and explore tools to navigate obstacles.” This statement drives my focus and continuous personal and professional development. For 23 years, I served as a teacher, personalized learning coach, and educational thought leader alongside a variety of influential colleagues around the world who share a similar mission. Living life through the eyes of a curious wonderer, I have come to realize that there is no hierarchy of learners. Teachers and learners bring their own expertise to the table to share, support and create. A Master’s Degree in Gifted Education helped crystalize the idea that strength and interest based learning is for everyone, not just those labeled as academically gifted. We are all born with gifts to be discovered, nurtured, celebrated, and utilized in the way God designed. I find no greater joy than in witnessing the development, grit and fine-tuning of artistic gifts, athletic prowess, musical creation, problem-solving sleuths, to name just a few of the infinite paths a child may choose. My own curiosity and love of learning drives me to nurture and challenge learners of all ages to uncover the path to their greatest potential. As a Personalized Learning Coach, I worked with teachers, children, leadership, parents and community organizations to cultivate student-directed learning, entrepreneurial exploration, and global citizenship. This is my passion: Help children find their passion. While working directly with children and families brings me immense joy, coaching teachers and school leaders to think first, foremost, and deeply about the child allows me to support children on a larger scale. I squeal with joy when a teacher gets excited about empowering children. Some of the greatest words I have heard from a child is, “I don’t want to go to recess-I’m working on something very important!” Ultimately, I am a fierce advocate for learner and teacher autonomy with the goal of enabling each person to realize their God-given gifts and to live a life of purpose and fulfillment.
I split my time between Miami, Florida and Boone, North Carolina with my husband and two golden doodles, Red and Blue. We enjoy visits to our four children who live in three different time zones. Reading, pickleball, scuba diving, the cool mountain air and the salty ocean breeze are all things that make me smile.
Dr. Deb DeBisschop is an educator and educational leader with decades of experience teaching and leading in preschool through graduate school. Currently, she serves as head of school at an independent Christian college prep school, serving students from three years old through postgraduate. Deb is committed to outrageously excellent Christian education now. As a result, she finds it difficult to remain still while students are locked into reading instruction cultures that make learning to read confusing and difficult. Prompted by this tension, her doctoral studies focused on recognizing, honoring, and protecting components of effective reading instruction, identifying missing elements of effective reading instruction, and disrupting and transforming ineffective reading instruction practices across various contexts.
I am co-founder and Executive Director of Christian School Management. I am passionate about ensuring that every seat in every Christian school is full and that every child in those seats is having a joyful, transformative experience. Excellent governance is an essential tool that supports our Christian schools in providing that experience. Excellent finances is not joy. Money is a mechanism for respecting and honoring and extending the ambition, work, plans of our teachers and children that, fulfilled in obedience to Our Father, brings joy.
Everything we do is deeply connected to the school’s mission. I am excited when enrollment grows and the school is able to enrich the lives of children. I am thrilled when a teacher feels satisfaction because they have contributed to something bigger than themselves. I am humbled when a parent makes a gift that demonstrates their thankfulness for what has happened in the lives of their children and of all children at the school. I am no longer amazed at the depth of wealth and generosity in our communities. In my 26 years in Christian schools, 14 years at Independent School Management, and now into my 6th year at CSM, I have never forgotten that the point is the child. That’s all the inspiration we need.
I live in Ontario, Canada with my wife of 26 years and last of four children. I worship and occasionally preach at The Gathering Place, Ridgetown. I am a happy hiker, recorder player, and bread maker.
I am a learner, a teacher, a consultant, and an administrator. For 20 years, I taught extensively in private and public schools in Australia and the United States of America. In my early career as a teacher, I went “walkabout” around the world as a global learner. As a student and a teacher, I value questions that are generative, insights that are creative and strategic and language that leads to “YES”! I taught in five schools in both Australia and the U.S.A. (from kindergarten through eighth grade). I have also engaged in adult education for pre-service teachers and teachers.
I believe in hiring the right people for the position, providing the resources each teacher needs, deep conversation about each person’s strengths and encouraging each teacher to “fly”. Great experiences for children come from educators who thrive in an environment where they are valued, challenged and converse with inspiring colleagues.
I have consulted with Independent School Management (ISM), Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, Chicago Art Institute and Oak Park Public Schools. Serving on the World Peace Game Foundation Board and earning The Golden Apple Award have been great honors for me. I have a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma in Education from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia as well as a Master of Science from Rosary College, Illinois, USA.
Let’s imagine you have to make a pitch to your Board to make these funds available. What might you say? Of course, you know your own needs. The following might be helpful.
If you are a Principal of a smaller school and have no other professional staff, this is a great way to get enormous knowledge and insight very quickly. Bring a Board volunteer, learn and plan together, return to the school loaded for bear.
If you are a team leader with no ‘team’, come with your Principal or Head of School and a Board / Board Committee member volunteer. Together, you can imagine the next steps and take your school to another level.
If you are a teacher and just hunger for ways to grow, come and be inspired by the Retreat leaders and by your peers. Return not just with a single idea but with meaningful ways to deepen your practice and move your vocation / career onward.
If you have a teacher or administrative team, come and learn a common language. Remember our mission is Christian education and that makes a generational difference. Plan together. Determine objectives and steps to success. Be coached as you do that. Return to school with greater clarity and new energy.
Even if you are only a short distance into your vocation / career as a Christian school leader, you can still mark your progress by attending CSM Retreats and gathering credits towards CSM Principal Certification. If you are a teacher and have some thought about leading in a Christian school, this is a great way to think about and learn crucial skills and gain a knowledge base.
If you are a current school leader, or a potential school leader, CSM Retreats are a practical, sophisticated journey towards CSM Principal Certification. They are typically two days.
No cost.
No bureaucracy – keep track of your Retreats.
CSM will run up to three each year – on different aspects of school leadership and teaching. It’s a powerful process because it is designed to first significantly support you in what you are actually doing in your school, and then articulate itself into a ‘journey’ of professional growth.
Each day of Retreat is one credit. To qualify for the CSM Principal Certificate, you need 10 credits from at least three different areas of Christian school leadership.
For current school leaders, with each Retreat, we offer a personal 90-minute session with one of the instructors, either at the Retreat or remotely afterwards if there was not enough time at the Retreat.
10 days of CSM Retreats and five 90-minute sessions one on one is an in-depth engagement process!
For everyone, there are three more requirements:
This case study must be good enough and presented professionally so that it can be published to inspire others on their journey – this is what is possible! The ability to publish is a part of the task.
When you think you’re done, tell us and we will evaluate your journey. If you want us to pray with you on the journey, tell us as you start and we will stay in touch and provide you with encouragement on the way.
“Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go” (1 Corinthians 16:6).
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This is a 75 minute workshop. There should be content, interaction, reflection, takeaways. You are welcome to bring handouts for this workshop.
School ticket (October 5)
School ticket (October 6)
Philanthropy Retreat: Raising Difference-Maker Dollars
Denver, CO at the Home2Suites by Hilton
March 25-26, 2024
Retreats are financially supported by the CSM Foundation to make it affordable for all of our Christian schools.
This is a Retreat: it is intended to give you space to reflect on your purpose and role in philanthropy; it provides opportunity to learn from and CSM and with each other; in this space, you have time to utilize your own information / data in order to plan so that you bring back from the Retreat approaches, knowledge, and actions you will take.
Note: attendees will earn 2 credits towards the CSM Principal Certificate.
March 24, 2024
Arrival and settle into accommodations.
March 25, 2024
8.00 Devotions, welcome and reflection
Each session will typically have content, working with our own information, and talking together.
8.30-9.30 The CSM Mary Principle, Relational Philanthropy, Code of Ethics, Donor Bill of Rights.
9.30a.m.-10.00a.m. Reflection Break
10.00-12.00 What is a Difference-Maker Dollar: the Pareto Principle; the top 20% donor; the top 1% donor; the legacy donor
12.45-2.45 Stewarding the Leadership Donor: The Golden Rule Cycle; Stewarding the Difference-Maker Donor
2.45-3.15 Reflection Break
3.15-5.00 Thinking about My Own Leadership Donors: What Will I Do When I Go Back To My School. Mentoring and Coaching.
March 26
8.00 Devotions, welcome and reflection
Each session will typically have content, working with our own information, and talking together.
11.00-12.30 The Board’s Philanthropy Committee and the Leadership Donor: Structuring and Charging the Philanthropy Committee; the connection to the school’s Annual Fund; the Board’s Responsibility
12.30-1.15 Lunch
1.15-2.45 What Will I Do When I Go Back To My School. Mentoring and Coaching.
2.45-3.00 Reflection Time and Farewell
Optional (no additional fee)
Simon will be present from 3.30 – 5.30 for school advising as well as March 27th, 2024 from 8.00-11.00. Please identify that you will be staying to access this additional value add. Look for this on the application form.
We ask you to put in the number of K-12 children at your school as part of the application form.
The cost includes lunch and beverages each day.
We are delighted to have a room block at the Home2Suites for $109 plus tax. This includes breakfast. Contact them directly and say you are with the CSM Philanthropy Retreat. 801 15th St. Denver CO 80202 ph. 303 759 1301. Our Retreat is being held at this hotel. The group rate will be honored for three shoulder days on either side of the Retreat subject to availability. Time for some skiing?
Each room includes an in-suite kitchenette with full size everything: a full size refrigerator, dishwasher, sink, microwave, toaster, utensils, and real china place settings for four. The room price also includes breakfast for two. There is also a laundry and fitness center in the hotel. It is in downtown Denver, and the Denver Performing Arts Complex, 16th Street Mall. Denver Art Museum, Sculpture Park, and the Big Blue Bear are within half a mile.
Note that parking is expensive at the hotel ($45 a day) There is a light-rail Line A that gets you from the airport for $10.50. Then take the free 16th Ave Mallride bus to Stout St. / Convention Center. Of course, there is also uber/lyft/taxi (est. $60.00). Downtown Metroride buses are free. Layout 1 (simpleviewinc.com)
Dinner is on your own. There are lots of options since you are downtown – and, of course, you can use your hotel room to cook something delicious up as well.
Martin Riggs
"Our most robust, joy-filled relationships, especially with Jesus, inspire profound gratefulness and ultimately compel you and me to commit regular acts of kindness and generosity. We freely give away our prayer, time, and money to others, and in so doing, we generate the most extraordinary kingdom impact. I learned this lesson around my family's dinner table as a child, and it has guided my marriage, parenting, career, and civic and community leadership. I want to understand my clients' hearts to help them fulfill their God-given charitable objectives."
Martin has served as the Chief Generosity Officer at Landmark Christian School, GA, since 2009. During that time, the annual fund has stayed consistently above $1 million, and five special and comprehensive capital campaigns have been completed, with another in the quiet phase. As one of the school's executive team members, he participates in ongoing strategic planning and leads alumni relations. His previous professional experiences include serving as the Director of Development for Woodward Academy, GA, Special Assistant to the President / Director of Leadership Gifts and Campaigns for the University of Memphis, TN, and Associate Vice President for Advancement at Hanover College, IN.
On a personal note, Martin is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, a graduate of Saint Xavier High School and Florida State University, and a former co-captain of the Seminole football team. His wife, Heather, is a native of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. They married in 1990 and are parents of four children - Ashley, Shelby, Sophie, and Mitchell. The couple are members of Southside Church in Newnan, Georgia, where they lead a married couple's small group and have served in the elementary ministry since 2016.
Simon Jeynes
I am co-founder and Executive Director of Christian School Management. I am passionate about ensuring that every seat in every Christian school is full and that every child in those seats is having a joyful, transformative experience. Philanthropic dollars are a tool that support our Christian schools in providing that experience. Money is not joy. Money is a mechanism for respecting and honoring and extending the ambition, work, plans of our teachers and children. Excellence in mission delivery – Kingdom extension is what, fulfilled in obedience to Our Father, brings joy.
Philanthropy is deeply connected to the school’s mission. I am excited when the annual fund grows and helps enrich the lives of children. I am thrilled when a donor feels satisfaction because they have contributed to something bigger than themselves. I am humbled when a parent makes a gift that demonstrates their commitment to their children and to all children at the school. I am no longer amazed at the depth of wealth and generosity in our communities. In my 26 years in Christian schools, 14 years at Independent School Management, and now into my 7th year at CSM, I have never forgotten that the point is the child. That’s all the inspiration we need.
I live in Ontario, Canada with my wife of 27 years and our last child is now at university. We are figuring out what being an empty nester means! I worship and occasionally preach at The Gathering Place, Ridgetown. I am a happy hiker, recorder player, and bread maker.
Let’s imagine you have to make a pitch to your Board to make these funds available. What might you say? Of course, you know your own needs. The following might be helpful.
If you are a Principal of a smaller school and have no philanthropy staff, this is a great way to get enormous knowledge and insight very quickly. Bring a Board volunteer, learn and plan together, return to the school loaded for bear.
If you are a philanthropy professional with no ‘team’, come with your Principal or Head of School and a Board volunteer. Together, you can imagine the next steps and take your school to another level.
If you have a team, come and learn a common language. Remember this is Christian philanthropy and that makes a difference. Plan together. Determine objectives and steps to success. Be coached as you do that. Return to school with greater clarity and new energy.
For no additional fee, Simon is offering to stay with you through the next morning to provide feedback, advice, and counsel on your planning. What might that look like? Here are just some situations that he has worked with:
Simon will be there for the late afternoon and in the morning till lunch-time. Bring your own snacks and water!
Even if you are only a short distance into your vocation / career as a Christian school leader, you can still mark your progress by attending CSM Retreats and gathering credits towards CSM Principal Certification.
If you are a current school leader, or a potential school leader, CSM Retreats are a practical, sophisticated journey towards CSM Principal Certification. They are typically two days.
No cost.
No bureaucracy – keep track of your Retreats.
CSM will run up to three each year – on different aspects of school leadership. It’s a powerful process because it is designed to first significantly support you in what you are actually doing in your school, and then articulate itself into a ‘journey’ of professional growth.
Each day of Retreat is one credit. To qualify for the CSM Principal Certificate, you need 10 credits from at least three different areas of Christian school leadership.
For current school leaders, with each Retreat, we offer a personal 90-minute session with one of the instructors, either at the Retreat or remotely afterwards if there was not enough time at the Retreat.
10 days of CSM Retreats and five 90-minute sessions one on one is an in-depth engagement process!
For everyone, there are three more requirements:
This case study must be good enough and presented professionally so that it can be published to inspire others on their journey – this is what is possible! The ability to publish is a part of the task.
When you think you’re done, tell us and we will evaluate your journey. If you want us to pray with you on the journey, tell us as you start and we will stay in touch and provide you with encouragement on the way.
“Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go” (1 Corinthians 16:6).
