The Board of Trustees form part of the vital governing body of the Leipzig International School. The members of the Board, Elio Curti, Patrik Fahrenkamp and Axel Möring, devote a sizeable portion of their free time, without financial compensation, to guide the fortunes of the school because they believe in what the school stands for and in the education it provides for your children. In addition, they oversee the LIS Trust and use it to further the vision and aims of the school.
What relationship do you have to the school and how did you come to be members of the Board?
Our children have been or are presently students of LIS. Two of us have previously represented our companies in the extended LIS e.V. board.
What are your individual responsibilities?
We don’t have specific individual responsibilities. According to the statute of the foundation, our role is to support the management in developing the school further and adapting its mission to changing realities in Leipzig and Saxony. We all have strengths in different areas that are of use to LIS.
How often are you at the school?
Considering the fact that Mr Möring is based in the UK since 2018, we have regular informal meetings with the management of the School and hold periodical Board meetings to provide support and guidance. Plus we drop-off and pick up our children at LIS, albeit not every day.
Would you explain in your own words what the role of the board is?
Effectively we serve as a supervisory board, with the duty to select and fill the Head of School and Commercial Director positions of LIS. We owe it to the school, its pupils and parents as well as the Leipzig wider community to keep improving our educational service, and this is the main goal of the Board.
What are you working on as a Board at the moment?
We are supporting the management of the school in the closure of some open issues inherited from the e.V. and will be able to focus on the development of a revised strategy for the School in 2020.
What vision do you have for LIS for the future?
A new development plan will be addressed in the months to come, aiming to offer the children of Leipzig and its surrounding areas an alternative, internationally recognised, high level education. An education that will enable them to become confident and actively contributing members of a multi-cultural, interconnected society. We would also like LIS to be more appreciated as a member of the wider Leipzig community.
What experience and skills are necessary to help guide an educational organisation as opposed to a commercial one?
We do obviously leverage our skills developed throughout our careers in private companies to support the LIS management. Ultimately, what a Board member needs to be able to do is connect with the school’s management team as well as reach outside the school itself for any technical support we do not have in-house. None of us is an expert in school management or education, but we rely on the LIS management team for that. Empathy, analysis and extrapolation of solutions from complex scenarios are the three skills we would consider fundamental to being a board member of an international school nowadays, but those are traits required by any modern business and commercial senior executive anyway. In this regard there is no conflict between an educational organisation and a commercial one. For example, high level education requires a healthy commercial basis.
What do you think are some of the main challenges facing the school at the moment? How do you feel the Board can contribute to finding solutions for these challenges?
We need to ensure the school is properly financed for future developments and we need to be able to articulate a new strategy that will bring our school to the next level. Together, involving all and every part of the school, we need to design and implement a strategy that helps the school adapt to the changing demography in Leipzig and worldwide. The Board’s role is to define this direction and support management in implementing it practically.
How involved are you on a day to day basis in the running of the school?
The board is not directly involved in the day to day business of LIS. This is handled by the school’s management team. We want to keep ourselves focused on the long-term strategic goals. Of course, we are always available to support the school management when required, utilising our own skills and experiences.
How would you describe you leadership style as a body?
As stated above, the management of the school has the skills and abilities to do their job autonomously. We are mainly here to ask questions when needed to ensure the means and methods remain aligned to the vision and mission of LIS. Obviously, our individual skills can be tapped into by the Head of School and Commercial Director regarding specific issues but this is at their discretion.
If there were no obstacles what would your ideal school look like?
The OBSERVER perhaps would need to be an encyclopaedia to answer that in detail. But in essence:
Enabling every pupil to deploy her/his full potential and preparing them to understand that we can all change the society around us, if we are ready to dedicate our intellect, time and passion to it as well as listen to other people.
What is your impression of the community involvement in the life of LIS?
There is development potential for the upcoming years. We believe LIS can leverage more on the parent community and we should strive to do so in the future, as the potential in the LIS family is massive. The community at LIS is embedded in the wider community of Leipzig and needs to be connected further. LIS offers a lot of potential and opportunity for the wider area of Leipzig.
How can the school community culture be improved?
We need to strengthen open and appreciative communication. Mediums like this interview help to understand the board members view a little bit better. Our cultural values should be guided by taking responsibility, giving appreciation based on trust, transparency and openness.
What are you most proud of at LIS?
LIS develops international and actively intercultural pupils in times where these characteristics need dedicated attention. The ability to accept and support the education of such a diverse range of pupils in an inclusive style is what makes us especially proud of LIS.