How Schools and Colleges Should Respond to Coronavirus Pandemic

Cornell Emerging Markets Institute fellow Ari Betof has years of experience in institutional leadership and has advised organizations such as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges. On Jan. 28, 2020, Dr. Ari Betof published an article on Medium offering early insight into how leaders in schools and colleges across the country should prepare for the Coronavirus crisis. His top two steps were don’t panic, and update the school’s pandemic crisis plan (PCP).

According to him, panicking is too extreme a reaction. While schools should be cautious, they should not overreact. Likewise, they should not ignore the pandemic or pay too little attention to it. They should find the right zone and plan accordingly within that framework.

Next, school leaders should update their PCPs. Many schools already have PCPs, which they prepared during the SARS outbreak of 2003 or the H1N1 pandemic of 2009. If a school or college already has one, it should simply incorporate it into a broader response structure, making adjustments to fit it into the current state of events. If an institution does not have such a plan, it shouldn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Rather, its leadership should contact peers, collect examples, and then adapt and refine them. After this is done, administrators can use tabletop exercise tools such as those available at ready.gov and Alert Media to stress test and adjust their PCPs.

Dr. Betof has more recently offered a series of webinars to help organizations as they move through the crisis.

The Business of Managing Education After COVID

Dr. Ari Betof is the president of Organizational Sustainability Consulting, LLC in Brookline, Massachusetts. In this role, Dr. Ari Betof assists academic institutions at the collegiate and K-12 levels in finding financially sustainable solutions.

Recently, he has assisted this same population by finding financial solutions during this current COVID pandemic through his webinars that have focused on a variety of issues, including factors central to financial stewardship and school business management.

When developing a plan, administrators should keep a few factors in mind. The plan has to align with the organizational needs, mission, and values of the community. More importantly, data should support the plan.

The first part of determining whether this plan can work is to create a financial model and then assess it based on stress testing decisions. The steps involved include defining key performance indicators (KPI), creating a financial model, and finding possible collaborations with others.

Afterward, stress test this model making sure to include tentative pathways, including KPIs and consequences of making organizational changes. The final step involves testing and refining the model.

At the core of developing new financial models and pathways for changing the educational landscape, administrators have to remember students are the focus. Additionally, the business of education is the priority, but teachers and administrators form the backbone of instruction. While some measures might be more cost-effective for a school, losing sight of education’s mission should not be sacrificed.