| Saint Andrew's School in
the Year 2005 Strategic Plan
Introduction
Foreword
Since the completion of its
most recent strategic plan in 1995, Saint Andrew’s School
has been driven by a three-fold mission to nurture each
student in mind, body and spirit. This concept is the
rationale for the comprehensive educational policies and
programs of today’s school. It is also challenging the
school’s operational capabilities and resources and, over
the past several years, has not entirely reflected its core
values.
In the Fall of 1999, the
headmaster commissioned the Institutional Marketing
Committee (a committee of the Board of Trustees) to engage
the institution in a strategic planning process for Saint
Andrew’s in the Year 2005.
The major challenge of the
project was to conduct a massive review of a complex
organization at a time of major growth. Saint Andrew’s
operates in a complex environment that includes a world
community of domestic and international students and
families, highly motivated teachers, demanding academics,
and quixotic technological change.
This plan will serve as a
blueprint to help all members of the school community see
how they might contribute to the greatness that is possible
for Saint Andrew’s School.
Background
Saint Andrew’s School’s
current success is a result of an outstanding faculty,
staff, administration, student body, governing body, and the
demonstrated commitment of parent support groups and
dedicated alumni. As an institution, Saint Andrew’s School
has a firm commitment to excellence in all it undertakes to
benefit its students and constantly seeks to improve their
educational experience.
Founded in 1961, Saint
Andrew’s School is a flagship for secondary education in the
state of Florida. The School serves as a 24-hour community
for learning, dedicated to excellence and the fulfillment of
its responsibility for the present and future academic,
social and spiritual well being of each student, which is
its quintessential mission as an Episcopal school.
In addition to its
commitment to meeting the educational needs of each student,
the School is committed to providing faculty with the means
to develop their intellectual capacity and teaching
expertise through collegial collaboration, mentoring,
professional development, interactions with our students and
society at large.
Saint Andrew’s School
recognizes its ever-changing leadership role as a flagship
school and continuously seeks to open pathways to lifelong
learning, which it views as essential to each community
member’s future in a global context.
Current Situation
Never in the history of the
Saint Andrew’s School have enrollment and retention been
stronger. The opening of a new K-5 Lower School to full
enrollment with marketing costs of less than one half of one
percent of projected gross revenues is remarkable testimony
of the trade value of the Saint Andrew’s School name and
reputation for excellence. Equally remarkable are a 4%
attrition rate in the School’s day program and the recent
turnaround of its resident program from decline to 100%
retention and wait list status in 1999-2000. These twin
accomplishments supercede recent School history as well as
national norms. Student achievements, too numerous to
mention, include performing arts groups and athletic teams
that consistently achieve state recognition; and frequent
scholastic distinction in language, writing, science, debate
and technology.
Saint Andrew’s School’s
extraordinary achievements are the results of efficient
marshaling of the School’s resources by trustees,
administration, faculty, students and staff, and the
generous support of loyal families, alumni and friends. The
imminent launch of a capital campaign will assure that Saint
Andrew’s School’s current position of advantage, the
remarkable achievements of its people, and its present
momentum will not diminish. Saint Andrew’s School aspires to
a position of leadership as one of the great K-12
day/boarding institutions in the Southeastern United States.
Executive Summary
Overview
Strategic planning
facilitators logged more than 2,500 manhours of research,
analysis and planning. More than 1,000 of these hours were
spent in dialogue and/or collaborative planning, infusing
the planning process with great depth and breadth and
informing the plan with comprehensive inclusiveness.
- Administrative
Leadership Focus Group (7 participants in 1 group session)
- Board Committee Survey
(15 completed surveys)
- Booster Club Survey (8
completed surveys)
- Faculty Focus Groups
(Exercise in Core Values; Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis; Image Exercise;
In-depth Field Specialty Questions (70 participants in 26
focus group sessions)
- Friends of the Arts
Survey (5 completed surveys)
- Divisional and
Departmental Leadership Strategic Initiative Planning
Meetings (14 collaborative sessions)
- Middle School Student
Survey (230 completed surveys)
- Parent Leadership Focus
Group (18 participants)
- Saint Andrew’s Parents’
Association Survey (12 surveys)
- Administration and Staff
Focus Groups (23 participants in 7 focus group sessions)
- Strategic Planning
Symposium (90 participants)
- Upper School Student
Survey (432 completed surveys)
The resulting Strategic
Plan at its current level of development consists of an
aggressive list of 185 strategic initiatives, whose boldness
is surpassed only by the enthusiasm with which they have
been asserted. These are accomplishments the school
community desires with conviction and are prepared to work
with to accomplish. They reflect a core strategy wherein the
theme is the interdisciplinary team (I-TEAM), and webbed
horizontal and vertical communication is a key tool for
building community. Highlights include:
- Renewed emphasis on
spirit and spirituality
- Emphasis on facilities
excellence
- Vigorous attention to
professional development
- Vigorous emphasis on
academic excellence
- New emphasis on
intentional cross-culturalism
- An emerging focus on
creating strategic alliances in the world beyond School
boundaries
- Renewed emphasis on
preparation of all school community members for
responsible global citizenship.
One of the most exciting
highlights of this Strategic Plan is the natural emergence
of interdisciplinary teams whose work together, carefully
nurtured, can vaporize walls of exclusivity and fill
information vacuums with fact rather than rumor while
opening the institution to unprecedented accomplishments of
goals and objectives.
Successful implementation
of the plan will rely on:
- Emergence of the
mid-level administrator as a leader in goal achievement
- New emphasis on team
building as an implementation strategy
- New emphasis on
formalization of internal communications
- Establishment of an
infrastructure to support K-12 planning
- New infrastructures to
support accomplishment of technology goals
- Continued evaluation of
financial systems
Readers will notice the
threads of traditional Episcopal educational values of
community, inclusion, honor, respect for self and others,
excellence in academics and collaboration connecting all
elements of the plan.
Core
Values
Certain central and
essential elements to the School’s existence as a
day/boarding college preparatory school in the Episcopal
tradition emerged as core values. They included community,
honor, respect for self and others, integrity and academic
excellence.
They are set forth in the
following Statement of Core Values:
- We are all members of a
community.
- Teaching, character
education, individual self-actualization and college
preparation are our primary missions and are interrelated.
- We believe in a triad of
whole child growth and development in mind, body and
spirit.
- We value individual
differences, cultures, customs, and beliefs while
searching for points of unity in our common humanity.
- We value academic
freedom and innovation and believe that the relationship
between teacher and student is at the core of learning.
- We apply the standards
of excellence, quality and relevance to all we do.
- Enhancement of happiness
and fulfillment of each community member are important.
- We must provide a
challenging academic environment.
- We must foster
intellectual and artistic curiosity and creativity.
- We must be good stewards
and present our individual gifts as offerings of community
service.
- Education must be a
lifelong pursuit.
- We must have all members
of the community participate.
Strategic Drivers
Five strategic drivers,
critical issues that emerged from internal and external data
gathering and assessment, formed the basis of visioning and
goal setting at the January 29, 2000 Strategic Planning
Symposium. These critical issues substantiated the need to:
- Improve the quality of
the educational experience
- Facilitate economic
growth
- Expand outreach
activities
- Enhance diversity of our
campus community
- Cultivate a sense of
community
Symposium Results
On January 29, 2000, ninety
symposium participants met for a day of working sessions to
review preliminary assessments and identification of
critical issues, build a shared vision of Saint Andrew’s in
the Year 2005, and develop a draft vision statement
reflecting that vision; and draft goals that would lead to
the accomplishment of the shared vision. The Symposium
culminated with participants casting “votes” for draft
vision statements and goals they would support over the next
five years.
In ranked order, votes were
galvanized around the following categorical areas: building
community, technology, physical plant, academic, faculty,
globalism, partnering, diversity, spirituality, safety and
finance.
The Strategic Planning
Symposium format and reports can be found in the Appendix.
Strategic Plan Highlights
New Vision Statement
Saint Andrew’s School will
embrace the educational challenges and opportunities of the
future within the framework of our traditional Episcopal
school education of developing and nurturing each student in
mind, body and spirit. We will value the individuality of
all community members and instill a global perspective that
all may seek and find the best of the human spirit in
themselves and others.
Updated Mission
Statement
Saint Andrew’s School is an
Episcopal K-12 day and boarding college preparatory school
whose mission is to build a community of learners, to
provide excellence in education, and to nurture the whole
child in three areas:
Mind - By developing a
strong academic foundation, encouraging enlightened
self-expression, building critical thinking skills, and
instilling a lifelong love of learning.
Body - By emphasizing the
importance of physical fitness, teamwork, competition,
sportsmanship and self-discipline in the achievement of
physical and emotional well-being.
Spirit - By building the
spiritual, moral and ethical contexts that will guide
students through a lifetime of choices inspired by a
commitment to honor, integrity and social responsibility.
Strategic Goals
Strategic Goal 1:
Provide a challenging and supportive cross-cultural learning
environment that fosters excellence in education of mind,
body and spirit and a love of learning in a K-12 community
of lifelong learners.
Strategic Goal 2:
Recruit and retain a diverse community of outstanding
students, faculty, and staff.
Strategic Goal 3:
Create a physical environment that reflects our expectation
of excellence and encourages interaction among a diverse
population.
Strategic Goal 4:
Strengthen the overall Saint Andrew's community by creating
an environment of honor and respect valuing personal
interaction.
Strategic Goal 5:
Allocate and develop resources on the basis of mission value
and performance. Hold the community of students, faculty and
staff accountable for the success of the School.
Strategic Goal 6:
Develop strategic alliances in the greater community with
businesses, social service organizations and educational
institutions.
Conclusions
In view of the energy
surrounding discussions on core values, adopting a
“Statement of Core Values” as the third side of a
motivational triad would provide all community members with
a cohesive sense of institutional VISION, VALUES and
MISSION.
Next
Steps
To complete the Strategic
Plan, several steps remain: Strategic initiatives that
support the six Strategic Goals must be taken to objective
and tactical planning levels. At these levels leaders will
identify expected outcomes and benefits, success indicators,
as well as roles and responsibilities and timeframes. In
addition, the plan must be published and communicated.
Complete and Publish the
Strategic Plan:
- Assign roles and
responsibilities
- Establish priorities
- Involve mid-level
administrators as active participants
- Decide how to manage
implementation
- Charge mid-level
administrators with managing tactical plans
- Make careful choices
about the content the plan, what form it will take, where
and how it will be published
Key Roles:
The Senior Leadership Team:
- Reach consensus on the
final strategic plan
- Strategize deployment
and implementation methods
- Approve what gets
published
The Goal Groups:
(Goal Groups are interdisciplinary teams established to work
on the development of the goals and their associated
strategies and objectives. Goal groups are subgroups of the
senior leadership team. As the process moves into
implementation, these groups may link with existing or new
teams.)
- Complete the development
of strategies and objectives including expected benefits
and outcome measurements
- Share draft plan with
mid-level leaders
- Accept and incorporate
appropriate feedback
- Brief senior leadership
team on changes
Mid-level Coordinators
(department chairs, directors, team leaders):
- Share plan with
department
- Provide feedback to
senior leadership team during feedback sessions
Budget Facilitator:
- Plans ways to
incorporate strategic plan resource requirements into the
budgeting process
Strategic Plan
Coordinator:
- Assists the Goal Groups
in their independent work by facilitating their strategy
and objective meetings
- Assists senior
leadership team by being the central point of contact for
the strategic planning effort
- Communicate and
Implement the Strategic Plan according to the following
suggested Implementation Model.
- Communicate the plan
- Assign roles and
responsibilities
- Involve senior
administration
- Define infrastructure
- Link Goal Groups
- Phase integration of
action items with workloads
- Involve everyone in
the community
- Allocate resources for
implementation
- Lead the change
process
- Evaluate results
- Share lessons learned;
acknowledge successes through frequent and open
communication
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