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Strategic Planning Update
by Ginny Troyer, Board President ginny.troyer@gatewaysc.org
Dear Parents,
One of the key roles of Gateway's board of trustees is to identify and pursue strategies that will ensure the school's long-term viability. What do we need to do now to keep Gateway thriving, strong and true to its mission in the future?
The current Strategic Plan grew out of a community wide planning retreat 2 years ago. From our two days of analyzing our needs and brainstorming solutions with the larger group, the board developed five strategic goals for the school to pursue over the next few years. Below is an update on progress on these goals.
Attract, retain and develop faculty and administration that fulfill Gateway's educational philosophy, program and mission.
While it is Percy's job to hire faculty and staff and oversee their development, the board is acutely aware that the health of the school is very tightly linked to the quality, training, and satisfaction of our teachers and staff. This year marks the successful completion of a board goal to get faculty salaries at parity with master-level teachers in the local public schools. We are now reviewing how we might ensure that staff salaries are commensurate with their CAIS or public school counterparts.
Obtain a campus owned by Gateway School.
This is the goal that occupies the most board energy at the moment. We have a New Campus Task Force, headed by fourth grade parent Christina Falco, which has mapped out a timeline and identified the criteria that we are looking for in a site (size, location etc.) We have reviewed multiple properties and initiated discussions on several of these. The nature of this endeavor is that we have to move forward on a number of tracks at once, and one of our next steps will be to hire a consultant for a funding feasibility study to learn how much money we could expect to raise in a capital campaign.
Though it is not an easy task, the people closest to this process are very excited about the possibilities we've identified and what this could mean for Gateway's programs as we plan for the next 40 years. We also continue to talk with our landlords, the Oblates of Saint Joseph (a monastic order of the Catholic Church) to see if they may be more open to the idea of a very long-term lease, which would allow us to do significant improvements on our current facility.
Develop a sustainable tuition-sensitive financial plan capable of meeting Gateway's current and future needs.
The finance committee is actively seeking ways to liberate Gateway's operating budget from its near complete dependence on tuition. They are working closely with Percy to generate new sources of income, and make existing programs like the summer program, more robust.The finance committee is also working closely with the New Campus Task Force, to understand the details of funding a new campus.
Support and promote Gateway's distinctive developmental approach and culture of compassion.
The Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program, Voices, that Percy and a task force of teachers, parents and board members selected for the school is in its second year of implementation. The board is thrilled with this program for the cohesion it provides and for the seamless way it brings to the surface that essential element of the school's philosophy: to educate the whole child and the make the learning environment emotionally safe. We are also very excited about Percy's moving the school in the direction of mindfulness practices in our classrooms, as we see this as aligned with our character education program goals. For more on this see Percy's blog.
Further integrate Gateway with global and local communities, ensuring that this outreach serves as a learning opportunity for students and reflects the mission of the school.
Percy and the faculty explored the feasibility of implementing the International Baccalaureate Program (IBP) for Gateway's Lower & Middle Schools. While the committee felt that many of the aims of the program were consistent with the school's mission and illustrative of what we try to teach our students about their role in the global community, the program and training costs were prohibitive given the school's other priorities. Presently, Percy is working with at committee of parents to examine the ways in which our school-wide community events reflect the diversity of experiences at Gateway School. This committee is also discussing how we might expand its goals to work with faculty, staff, and parents to ensure that we are exposing our students to a global perspective in at each grade level in the classrooms.
It is an exciting time at Gateway! Thank you for your participation and interest in your child's education.
Sincerely,
Ginny Troyer
Parent of Lucy (Class of 2013) and Bruno (Class of 2009)
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