The Road Ahead

Strategic Framework

2022–2027

One evening in January, hundreds of parents, faculty, and staff gathered in the upper school’s Writing and Research Center and over Zoom for Head of School Lee Fertig’s “State of Nueva” address. Having touched on highlights of the current school year, he turned to the school’s recently adopted five-year strategic framework, Renew | Belong | Innovate—a roadmap for Nueva in the years ahead.

He began by pointing out that Nueva is now 55 years old.

“In the human lifespan, many would suggest this sits squarely in the category of ‘middle age,’” he said, drawing chuckles from the audience.

At this inflection point, he noted, many people engage in activities that honor their past, to stay rooted in their life’s priorities. They also celebrate the present by striving to live the fullest experience they can, with as broad a circle of family and friends as possible. And as the psychologist Erik Erikson indicated in his developmental theory of psychosocial development, in middle age one ideally strives to envision the future in generative ways, rather than succumb to stagnation.

“As we celebrate Nueva’s 55th year, it is time for us to embed ourselves in who we are, embrace the full potential of today’s societal dynamics, and ensure Nueva continues to lead as a maverick as it always has done,” Lee said. “It is time for us to renew, belong, and innovate.”

The development of the framework was a full-year process involving the Nueva community: parents, students, alumni, faculty and staff. Taryn Grogan, director of enrollment and strategic engagement, and Janet Cheston, trustee and parent, served as the steering committee co-chairs. The framework was formally adopted by the Board of Trustees on May 25, 2022.

In the pages ahead, explore the roadmap for Nueva that this framework lays out, and see how Nueva’s journey along it has already begun.

Strengthen Our Foundations

After a period of significant change and pandemic disruption, this pillar ensures that Nueva stays true to its roots as a school that provides an excellent, differentiated education to gifted learners and enables them to make choices that benefit the world. By lifting up our humanities, arts, and athletics programs, we will ensure that every discipline at Nueva offers excellence in breadth and depth. To attract and retain the talented and thoughtful educators that our students need, we seek to improve the experiences of our professional community in every way.

What We’re Working On Spotlight on the Humanities

This issue’s feature on the current iteration of Nueva’s long standing eighth grade Silk Road study (page 28) is an example of how we are expanding awareness of hallmark humanities programs at the school. (Graphics throughout this issue indicate stories that point to the progress being made on the framework’s three pillars.) [1.2]

Nueva’s new Athletic Director is a former professional athlete with a track record of expanding and strengthening athletic programs. Read more on page 42. [1.3]

Professional Growth

Under the leadership of Allen Frost, upper school teacher and former director of the Innovative Teacher Program, a task force is developing a professional-growth framework for all faculty and staff. The goal is a flexible protocol that meets Nueva employees’ desire for self-accountability as they refine their professional skills, while ensuring consistency and evenness across classrooms and departments. An initial design of this framework will be proposed before the end of the school year. [1.4]

Renew

1.1 Reiterate, proactively communicate, and demonstrate Nueva’s enduring commitment to its core foundations to reinforce the school’s mission, vision, values, and culture given pandemic disruption and school growth.

1.2 Enhance humanities and arts by increasing breadth and depth of offerings and expanding awareness of hallmark programs PreK-12.

1.3 Increase support for athletics to ensure required resources within each division and create a longterm vision for the program consistent with Nueva’s vision, mission, and values.

1.4 Continue to increase commitments to expert faculty and staff through bold and creative strategies to recruit, support, develop, and retain the very best, with specific focus on health, wellness, and systems for efficiency.

Last August, Nueva held its first-ever MavFest, a schoolwide community celebration at our San Mateo campus. See page 12. [2.2]

Beloved Community

Foster Inclusion And Wellness

Creating and sustaining a learning community in which every individual Nueva student and adult can flourish intellectually and emotionally requires deliberate action. This pillar is dedicated to increasing the support we provide to ensure that everyone in our community feels a deeper sense of wellness and belonging—prerequisites to doing one’s best work.

What We’re Working On Making Space

In response to upper school students’ request for a space dedicated to quiet reflection and relaxation, the comfortable, student-designed Swellness Room was opened last fall. It is slated to be expanded by next fall. We also seek to expand our student support teams and programs on both campuses. [2.1]

Belong

2.1 Create a robust system of student support to meet the individual needs of Nueva’s broad range of gifted learners and sustain their health and wellness.

2.2 Prioritize in-person community connections in response to disruption from global pandemic.

2.3 Increase awareness of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives, including community engagement around, and accountability for, the importance of justice,

Nueva’s continued commitment to fostering a beloved community took a significant step forward this winter with the creation of a new standing committee of the board. Composed of trustees, parents, and employees, the Beloved Community Committee (BCC) was created, in part, to support the school’s efforts to ensure that all Nueva community members feel supported, heard, and empowered to thrive. To build greater awareness and support for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) at the board level, where key strategy and resourcing decisions are made, the BCC will develop critical “JEDI lenses” for board committees to consider when making decisions and developing recommendations. Ann Wilson Green, who serves as a BCC co-chair along with Leila Johansson, explains: “These lenses will ask: does our Governance Committee reflect the diverse community we strive to achieve at the school? How will the Finance Committee’s budget decisions around financial assistance impact the school’s JEDI initiatives?” Finally, to ensure greater accountability and develop metrics for our progress, the BCC is also supporting a comprehensive audit of our JEDI efforts, and it will help the school prioritize the recommendations that emerge during that process. [2.3]

Leadership Development

A second initiative introduced this winter is Nueva’s first in-house People of Color Leadership Institute, a professional development opportunity designed for Nueva employees of color to expand their leadership practice and build community with one another. Sixteen Nueva faculty and staff of color comprise the first cohort. The institute offers a structured curriculum with sessions such as “Autobiography of a Leader,” “Designing from the Grassroots,” and “Leading as a POC: Communication & Strategic Thinking.” [2.4]

Nueva sent an unprecedented six upper school students and 17 adults to the annual NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) and NAIS People of Color Conference (PoCC) in San Antonio, TX. Read about the conferences, and the new leader of our newly expanded JEDI team, on pages 43–45. [2.4] equity, diversity, and inclusion for all members of the Nueva community.

2.4 Increase support for JEDI initiatives, including programs and systems for recruitment, retention, access, and inclusion for individuals from traditionally underrepresented groups.

Build For Our Future

The final pillar of our 2022–2027 Strategic Framework outlines the next chapter in the school’s long history of innovation. New course offerings will reflect the world our students are entering, and new facilities to better support student exploration and achievement— particularly in the humanities, arts, and athletics—will keep the school moving forward. Our school’s long history of close ties to the wider world of education and industry will be reignited through a new center for educational innovation and a recommitment to Nueva’s Mission II.

What We’re Working On Campus Master Plans

The last several years have seen the addition of significant new facilities on both campuses (see page 14). As we envision future expansions, we are guided by comprehensive, multi-phase campus master plans. Terry Lee, associate head of school, is leading the charge. ¶ Enhanced security on both campuses, phase one of this multiyear effort, has been completed. ¶ Phase two will see the Hillsborough library remodeled and expanded into a humanities center at the heart of that campus, akin to the Writing and Research Center (WRC) at San Mateo. At the upper school, a range of space improvements will be made, including reconfigured arts and athletics spaces. Several new classrooms will be created by enclosing the WRC’s mezzanine with glass (for sound-proofing purposes), and relocating some administrative offices to an underutilized open-air space near the gym, which will also be enclosed. ¶ Next, the focus will turn back to Hillsborough, where a new facility dedicated to fine arts and performing arts, including a versatile black box theater, will be built on the site of the old middle school quad. It will also provide permanent homes

Innovate

3.1 Continue to innovate and enhance curricular offerings, including: for Admissions and Development. ¶ In the final phase, the Hillsborough gym will be redesigned for the exclusive use of PE and athletics. At the same time, the playing field will be expanded and laid with weatherproof turf. ¶ Reflecting on these ambitious campus plans, Terry said, “We often talk about the connections between people, place, and program, and we’re doing this fine-tuning and this expansion planning for the program and the people—not just to ‘have more space.’ The place helps enable our people and our program to fulfill their potential.” [3.3]

• Add new topics in emerging fields of study reflective of significant changes in the world; create a new signature program for Upper School social-emotional learning; pioneer preK–12 curriculum to teach and practice civil discourse.

• Coordinate and formalize continuity of community service learning (preK–12).

• Expand environmental citizenship studies (preK–12) and increase sustainability on campuses and throughout operations.

3.2 Invest in new and enhanced facilities for humanities, arts, and athletics.

3.3 Explore the creation of a collaborative center for educational innovation and teacher development in partnership with educators, universities, researchers, and industry leaders.

3.4 Clarify and refine objectives for Mission II outreach given current school size and availability of resources.

This story provides updates on the sections of the strategic framework that are highlighted above.

Sustainability Director of Environmental

Citizenship Sarah Koning and her team have embarked on a three-year, cross-divisional composting study to develop a plan for composting all of Nueva’s food waste on site. This fall, the team placed worm and bokashi composting bins next to the Hillsborough café; students learned how to sort their food waste into the correct bins. Composting has also become part of the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten science curriculum. In her upper school Soil Health class, Sarah’s students are studying insect composting; designing, iterating, and then building a biome on the Hillsborough campus; and exploring models for teaching younger students about how composting systems work.

[3.1]

As of this writing, we were welcoming finalists for Nueva’s director of teaching and learning. Among many other responsibilities connected to our mission to educate gifted learners, the new director will be spearheading one of the most exciting initiatives of the strategic framework’s “Innovate” pillar: developing a center for educational innovation and teacher development at Nueva.

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