Landon 2018
Strategic Plan
Dear Landon Community, WE ARE PLEASED TO SHARE WITH YOU THE 2018 STRATEGIC PLAN, which serves as our roadmap to continued excellence and growth over the coming years. As you will see, we have worked to create a plan that is marked by a forward-looking mindset and that is responsive to the rapidly evolving needs of our students, and at the same time is grounded in a firm commitment to our timeless values of perseverance, honor, teamwork, and fair play. The plan represents a distillation of the ways in which we will strive to live out our best institutional self over the next decade as we work to provide our boys an experience that calls on them, in turn, to live into their best individual selves. At Landon, we strive to help young men develop in mind, body, and character into persons who are ready, able, and willing to make a positive difference in the world around them. We strive to help our boys grow into leaders and gentlemen who understand their place in the larger civic whole. And we strive to equip them
with the skills of mind and heart, as well as the personal fortitude and ethical framework, to understand and work through complex situations, to commit themselves to the greater good, and to do the right thing. The Strategic Plan calls on us to review our curriculum so that it remains relevant, dynamic, engaging, and focused on promoting our boys’ ability to think critically and creatively, to communicate and engage effectively, and to approach life fully and in balanced and healthy ways. It calls on us to redouble our commitment to the values of respect, integrity, civility, and honor so that our boys develop ethical, strong, and caring character and a ready desire to better their communities. It calls on us to rededicate ourselves to the teacher-coach-mentor model and to the growth of the men and women who live out its challenging but rewarding calling so that our faculty members are second-to-none as they endeavor to deliver our mission. It calls on us to invest more in our buildings and grounds so our facilities can fully support the robust experience we want for our boys. It calls on us to steward current financial resources and generate new ones so our school is as vital as possible in the near and long term. And it calls on us to attend in intentional ways to the composition and connections of our community so that Landon remains a place defined by real, diverse, and life-enriching relationships. The plan challenges us to grow as a school and live our mission to the fullest. In our ever-changing and complex world, there can be no doubt about the importance of that mission and its goal of developing accomplished, responsible, and caring men who will be ready and able to lead that world with high-minded purpose. Through this plan, we commit ourselves anew to that purpose. We commit ourselves anew to offering the very best school experience we can envision. We commit ourselves anew to the young men of Landon and the people they will become.
Sincerely,
Jim Neill Headmaster
Identity Landon is an all-boys, nonsectarian school. Honor, ethics, and character are our core values. Landon promotes excellence in academics, athletics, and arts with a focus on college readiness. We embrace the teacher-coach-mentor model.
Mission We prepare talented boys for productive lives as accomplished, responsible, and caring men whose actions are guided by the principles of perseverance, teamwork, honor, and fair play.
Strategy Landon’s 2018 Strategic Plan is focused on six key areas. Academics Advance a challenging and engaging academic program that balances traditional and innovative practices and experiences, that exemplifies the best in boys’ education, and that produces graduates ready to thrive in college and beyond.
Character Instill in our boys the skills, perspective, commitment, and personal fortitude needed to lead lives defined by our Code of Character.
Faculty Recruit, hire, support, and retain exceptional teacher-coach-mentors who live and deliver Landon’s mission.
Campus Renovate, revitalize, and preserve our exceptional buildings and grounds to support current and future program needs.
Resources Endow and secure Landon’s future while prudently managing current resources to sustain institutional excellence.
Community Strengthen and enrich the tapestry of relationships that defines the Landon community.
NUMBERS Community members make up the strategic planning committee
Strategic Plan Overview We spent a year developing the six goals and the associated action steps that make up this Strategic Plan. This process included commentary from hundreds of community
Focus groups were held on campus
Surveys were conducted
members and engagement by a 35-person committee whose voices represented a wide array of Landon constituencies and viewpoints. Through this group’s deliberations, input from our consultant Pat Bassett, and thoughtful review of community insights,
Responses were received and read
we refined the plan to its final form, which our Board of Trustees approved in May 2017. Since then, we have not only begun to map out
The plan began with:
specifically how and when we will carry out the plan’s important ambitions but also taken initial steps toward achieving the goals themselves.
Strategic goals
Landon’s last strategic plan was in
Action steps
Goal
Academics Advance a challenging and engaging academic program that balances traditional and innovative practices and experiences, that exemplifies the best in boys’ education, and that produces graduates ready to thrive in college and beyond. A RIGOROUS PROGRAM OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE HAS BEEN CENTRAL TO THE LANDON EXPERIENCE SINCE THE SCHOOL’S FOUNDING IN 1929, and we will continue to emphasize and hone what we do well, including building strong relationships between faculty and students and preparing boys for college and for life. We seek always to augment our time-honored academic practices and traditions with new, researched-based approaches and ideas and the evergrowing integration of educational technology in the classroom. We are driven to provide the educational programs that work best for boys, a curriculum that builds their abilities to think and communicate creatively and critically, and a day-to-day experience that best serves their current and future well-being.
Action Plan Review and update school-wide curriculum in areas to include writing and speaking, STEM, senior projects, Advanced Placement, and programming with sister school Holton-Arms. Update curriculum “infrastructure” to reflect a comprehensive backwarddesigned scope and sequence in terms of skills, content, and outcomes that affirm our program’s goal of preparing boys for college and for life. Ensure pedagogy and curriculum are consistent with the very best in boys’ education and current research about boys and their overall cognitive, social, and emotional well-being. Revise the school schedule to ensure it fosters community across divisions and meets the objectives of this plan. Develop a sustainable, school-wide, and integrated approach to academic technology and technology infrastructure. Evaluate the college counseling process so that it remains proactive, thoughtful, and supportive.
Goal
Character Instill in our boys the skills, perspective, commitment, and personal fortitude needed to lead lives defined by our Code of Character. AT LANDON, CHARACTER EDUCATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TEACHING WE DO. At a time when social norms are evolving rapidly, our staunch commitment to the values of honesty and respect will remain central to the Landon experience. These values are the backbone of our Honor and Civility Codes, social pledges signed by all students, faculty and staff. Celebrating these ideals creates an environment that is at once challenging and positive — an environment that encourages, inspires, and demands our boys to do well and to do and be good. Research shows pressures are increasing among adolescent boys, and our charge remains to help our students navigate a landscape that sometimes sends confusing and conflicting messages about the importance of honor and integrity — and to instill these enduring values in our boys so that they might be steady citizens in the face of and despite the complex world they face.
Action Plan Strongly advance a culture and experience that promotes ethical and honorable decision-making, strong character, and the ability to respond constructively to the pressures of modern life. Build intentional, new school-wide programming related to ethics, leadership, citizenship, life skills, and service. Regularly evaluate and update our Code of Character, our Civility Code, and our Honor Code to ensure they remain current and dynamic. Develop ongoing parent education programming to promote a vibrant partnership between school and home.
Goal
Faculty Recruit, hire, support, and retain exceptional teacher-coach-mentors who live and deliver Landon’s mission. OUR TEACHER-COACH-MENTOR MODEL IS A HALLMARK OF THE SCHOOL AND REPRESENTS AN APPROACH THAT BUILDS LIFE-LONG, MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS. Because they connect with the students in multiple ways, our faculty members know where our boys shine and where they can improve, ultimately helping students navigate the challenges of their young lives so they can succeed in life after Landon. This approach is dependent on a faculty comprised of talented, caring, and supportive adults who are committed to our boys’ developmental, personal, and intellectual needs and to teaching as a calling and a craft. Ongoing attention to how we find and develop our educators enables us to deliver on our mission promise of overall excellence through a balanced program of top-flight academics, authentic character education, and robust co-curricular athletics and arts.
Action Plan Expand investment in professional development that meaningfully supports faculty growth. Adopt updated school-wide evaluation system that promotes growth, supports our teachercoach-mentor model, and advances consistent and highest levels of teaching practices. Provide greater definition of the teacher-coachmentor model so that we live out this approach thoughtfully and fully. Ensure the school is deliberate in how it attracts and retains top-tier talent that rewards performance, dedication, and commitment to the Landon mission.
Goal
Campus Renovate, revitalize, and preserve our exceptional buildings and grounds to support current and future program needs. OUR CAMPUS IS A SECOND HOME TO MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY. It is a place where they have made memories performing on the stage of Coates Auditorium and playing on the field at Bordley Stadium, persevered through a challenging exam in the Banfield Academic Center, hung a prized painting on the wall of the Landow Gallery, or volunteered in the gardens at our Azalea Festival. As the current stewards and beneficiaries of such a beautiful campus, we must preserve, renew, and enhance this space in ways that honor its legacy as a place that is both inspiring and restorative. And we must ensure that it serves the needs of current and future Landon programs so that it remains a place that transforms talented boys into accomplished, responsible, and caring men.
Action Plan Develop and carry out a multiyear comprehensive campus master plan. Address key facilities priorities including but not limited to Lower School and Upper School renovations, targeted updates to athletics facilities, and new gathering and collaboration areas. Undertake facilities condition and capacities analyses to support proper, planned, and purposeful maintenance and use of all spaces on campus.
Goal
Resources Endow and secure Landon’s future while prudently managing current resources to sustain institutional excellence. TO ENSURE THE LONG-TERM VIABILITY OF THE SCHOOL, WE MUST MAINTAIN A THOUGHTFUL, MISSION-ORIENTED APPROACH to the use and management of our current resources. We must also embark on new development efforts to generate funds in support of the initiatives in this plan — to open up new programmatic opportunities for our students, to retain and elevate our superb teacher-coach-mentors, to maintain and renew our facilities and grounds, and to drive our endowment to multiples of its current value. A strong endowment will help reduce our dependence on tuition and increase financial aid, making Landon more accessible to a wider array of talented boys for generations to come. To do this well and to generate continued interest in the Landon experience, we must engage as many internal and external communities as possible about the great work that happens here each day.
Action Plan Invest appropriately in development and stewardship functions to recharge philanthropic energy. Launch ambitious and transformational capital campaign focused on endowment growth, facilities renewal, and moderated reliance on tuition income. Execute on a long-term financial plan that emphasizes institutional sustainability and broad accessibility to the Landon experience. Drive demand through admissions and retention practices that are inspired, proactive, and widely appealing. Vigorously and broadly promote the quality, reality, and value of the Landon experience.
Goal
Community Strengthen and enrich the tapestry of relationships that defines the Landon community. THE LANDON COMMUNITY IS MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND RICHLY COMPLEX. It is one of the special strengths of the place and an aspect of the school’s identity that must be tended to in deliberate ways. Such efforts help us individually and institutionally to live out our commitment to our core value of respect. Students from many backgrounds learn together in our classrooms, perform together on our stage, compete together on our athletics fields — and form lifelong bonds in the process. Decades removed from graduation, alumni still stay connected and consider one another close friends. And the bonds that tie together the diverse members of our extended community are often just as strong as those forged between the boys who attend Landon. Faculty members keep in touch with students they taught or coached. And it is not uncommon at Landon for parents and grandparents to become lifelong friends with one another and even with their boys’ teachers. These relationships are as varied and unique as the Landon community. They define the place and deserve to be cultivated, preserved, and celebrated.
Action Plan Imbue an authentic respect and appreciation for differences of all kinds through programming and practices that expand students’ understanding of others and that lead to lifelong brotherly bonds. Promote a robust culture of trust through respectbased communications practices. Enrich the school population through broadened efforts to recruit and support students and faculty from diverse backgrounds. Advance ongoing, thoughtful, and engaging outreach and programming for all current parents, alumni, grandparents, and extended families.
THANK YOU Strategic Planning Committee Members
Board of Trustees 2016–17
Board of Trustees 2017–18
Chairman: Anderson Arnold ’78
Chairman: Joseph Kenary Jr. ’82, P ’18 ’20 ’23 Vice Chairman: H. Keith Powell P ’13 ’17 President: Jim Neill Secretary: Michelle Freeman P ’09 ’20 Treasurer: Steven Mayer P ’16
Chairman: Scott Harris ’84 Vice Chair: Katheryn Wellington P ’11 ’13 ’15 ’18 President: Jim Neill Secretary: Martin Weinstein P ’20 Treasurer: Steven Mayer P ’16
Anderson Arnold ’78 Michael Banks ’92 Michael Connolly ’75 Matthew Coursen ’99 William Eacho III ’72, P ’09 Robert Edwards Jr. P ’17 Scott Harris ’84 Kenneth Jenkins ’78 Aranthan “Steve” Jones II P ’19 ’24 Douglas Kiker ’93 Rev. Steve Klingelhofer ’60 Douglas Lagarde Amy Mehlman P ’17 ’18 John Oswald P ’12 Tushar Patel ’81 N. David Povich ’54 Katheryn Wellington P ’11 ’13 ’15 ’18 Martin Weinstein P ’20 Dale Wolf P ’10 ’15
Anderson Arnold ’78 Alexander Baldwin P ’18 Michael Banks ’92 Michael Connolly ’75 Donald Dell ’56 Matthew Coursen ’99 William Eacho III ’72, P ’09 Robert Edwards Jr. P ’17 Jeffrey Freed P ’11 ’13 ’18 Kenneth Jenkins ’78 Aranthan “Steve” Jones II P ’19 ’24 Olivier Kamanda ’99 Douglas Kiker ’93 Kenwyn Kindfuller P ’12 ’14 ’15 Rev. Steve Klingelhofer ’60 Douglas Lagarde John Oswald P ’12 N. David Povich ’54 Harmar Thompson ’90
Leonard Armstrong P ’18 Alexander Baldwin P ’18 Michael Banks ’92 Randall Bednar P ’11 ’17 Ralph Blasey III ’78, P ’11 ’16 Stephen Bou ’78, P ’19 Robert Buchanan ’60 Michael Connolly ’75 Ardis Danon Oluwatomi Fadeyi-Jones P ’19 ’24 Ehren Federowicz Barbara Goodwyn P ’05 Ian Healy ’00 Brigitte Herbert P ’18 ’22 David Holm Kenneth Jenkins ’78 Andrew Johnson Meredith Josef Joseph Kenary Jr. ’82, P ’18 ’20 ’23 Dana Krein Jeremy Kugel Ronald Machen P ’19 ’22 Steven Micciche Charles “Preston” Miller ’96 Jim Neill George Pappas ’82 H. Keith Powell P ’13 ’17 Archie Russ P ’19 Celia Spiritos P ’13 ’17 Shannon Stichman P ’20 ’26 Colleen Tully Martin Weinstein P ’20 Katheryn Wellington P ’11 ’13 ’15 ’18 Audrey Yen P ’16 ’18 ’22
www.landon.net/strategicplan