FROM THE CHAIR

KIT FROM THE CHAIR

As we finish up the second year of our Strategic Plan, its important to look back to how we started and forward to where we are heading.

The development of our Strategic Plan was a thoughtful, inclusive, and intentionally deliberate process spanning a full year. The idea was to capture the voice of the community and set the direction for the school for the next five to seven years.

We began at the Board level, learning from national consultants about trends facing independent schools. Those consultants then conducted focus groups with all the different constituency groups of our community — students, parents, faculty, staff, and alumni. We followed up with a community-wide survey to gather information about issues facing the community. We held a retreat to reflect on the data we gathered and brainstorm areas of focus for the strategic plan. Then, a committee consisting of all parts of our community drafted a plan. That plan was shared with the community for feedback, redrafted, shared again, and fine-tuned. Over the summer, the committee reflected on additional feedback and made final revisions. The Board ultimately approved the plan almost exactly one year after beginning its quest to identify the topics most important to the whole community.

What came from that process was a Strategic Plan with big goals. It is aspirational and designed to force us to think broadly about our community. The plan includes three strategic initiatives:

1. Be the model for best practices in evidence- based teaching and learning for gifted students in a progressive school committed to equity and justice. 2. Strengthen individual and community health and wellness for diverse and inclusive school. 3. Steward the care of future generations of Roeperians through mindful financial planning with a lens toward sustainability, philanthropic action, and accessibility.

This school year, we have made significant strides toward fulfilling those initiatives.

We formed a Technology Strategic Planning Committee to help us develop a strategic educational technology plan tied to our Educational Statement of Purpose, which strives to provide a “highly individualized” education that prepares “students with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the unknowns on our collective horizon.” The committee includes school administrators, faculty, students, and parents. The Technology Plan has been vetted by the Education Committee and student groups, and recently was shared with the entire Board. The plan maps out goals for a curriculum in digital citizenship, technology integration, computational thinking, and supports such as equity, continuing education, and security and infrastructure. It should be finalized by the end of this school year.

We have also focused a significant amount of energy on strengthening community health and wellness, an issue that concerns us all. Middle and Upper School students completed the Independent School Health Check last fall. The results of that survey are currently being shared with students, faculty, and parents and will inform our curriculum in health class and beyond. We learned that Roeper students need more sleep and tools to help combat stress and practice self-care. Already, plans for strengthening resources through homerooms are being implemented.

A Scheduling Committee was formed last fall to work on another element of community health and wellness — the daily schedule. Our Strategic Plan specifically prescribes that we “align the schedule and pace of the school year to support the health and wellness of the community.” The Lower School has adopted a modernized schedule that will be implemented beginning next fall. The Middle and Upper Schools are working hard to find the right balance of necessary change and measured implementation. The Scheduling Committee will continue to work through the end of the school year to finalize the daily schedule, identify professional development needs for the faculty in order to implement that schedule, and plan for changes to the pace of the school year that will address the concerns previously raised in the community.

It is inspiring to me to see the incredible amount of effort dedicated to meeting the goals established by this community in our Strategic Plan. I look forward to being a part of this work as we move forward in this work together. F

The Strategic Plan has big goals. It is aspirational and designed to force us to think broadly about our community. This school year, we have made significant strides toward fulfilling initiatives included in the plan.