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An Update

by Kay Sweet, Board President

Since last year SRV's Board of Directors has been working to create the school's Long Range Plan ("LRP" also called a Strategic Plan). As the process is now coming to a conclusion, it gives us an opportunity to share with you how we worked together to develop the plan. This is not SRV's first LRP; over the past few decades, SRV's Board has developed several strategic plans that have served to guide the Board, administration and staff as they furthered the school's mission.

The process for the LRP began last year when a subcommittee of Board members was formed to lead the strategic planning process. The subcommittee looked at past plans and consulted with national and local independent schools and organizations. After conducting this research, the subcommittee, with the approval of the entire Board, hired an outside consultant, Andy Mozenter of the Concentrics Group, to assist us with this strategic process. In the spring, a retreat was held. Participants included over sixty board members, students, young alumni, parents, past parents, faculty, administrative staff and friends. To prepare for the retreat, interviews were conducted and forums of various groups were held so that a wide range of views on SRV's strengths and weaknesses as well as ideas for the future would be explored. At the retreat, the participants spent Friday through Sunday discussing the future of SRV in light of the lessons learned from the past, the present trends in education, and the dreams about the future. The group came up with a shared vision and areas of future work.

Following the retreat, the subcommittee worked with this information to develop a list of areas of focus for the plan. These areas are Campus Development, Community Outreach, Diversity, Finance, Program Articulation and Technology. Additional subcommitees were created to work on each area of focus to develop goals and action items. The entire Board had a weekend retreat to review all of the materials and to prioritize the goals and action plans based on the overall "big picture." The LRP subcommittee worked to draw up a final document which was presented to the Board and adopted at the February meeting.

What happens next? In March, the Board will establish the timeline for meeting the LRP's goals. The final LRP, along with the timeline and specific implementation details, will be available.