Pictured above: The Collaborative Visioning Session held on Saturday, March 18 in the Meeting Room at FSP.
On Saturday, March 18, we held a Collaborative Visioning Session with sixty people in attendance. That morning was a time for interaction, catching everyone up, and engagement with the content generated so far – as well as imagining possibilities toward a five-year vision. Nine faculty members and five administrators were there, as well as our school’s founding teacher Mary Tracy and the two previous heads of school, James Grumbach and Jenny Rowe. One parent heard a lot of alignment in what was reflected and how the room responded; she also wondered who wasn’t in the room and how we can continue being purposeful in seeking further input and direction.
Saturday’s agenda started with an overview of the strategic planning process so far, and then moved into an overview of the content generated by that point: the Strategic Planning Design Committee Retreat, the Strategic State of the School, Community-wide surveys, individual conversations, the board retreat and meetings, admin team meetings, and faculty meetings – as well as feedback and recommendations from our accreditation visits from New England Association of Schools and Colleges (last year) and Friends Council on Education (in 2019). At that time, we had distilled all of this input into these categories: Campus and Financial Stewardship and Sustainability; Cultivating DEI and Belonging; Social-Emotional Support/Growth; Faculty/Staff Well-being, Professional Growth, and Retention; Programmatic Identity and Alignment; and External Connection and Partnership. For the last hour of the Saturday event, small groups envisioned five years from now at Friends School.
Since then, our administrative team, professional facilitator Courtney Bourns, and Strategic Plan Design Committee spent a few weeks synthesizing the themes and questions that arose and shaping vision statements. Small strategy groups have now been formed to research, collect data, and gain a better understanding of the ways in which we might achieve our goals. In the coming months, there will be times for faculty, administration, and the board to triage, pace, and operationalize these strategies.
We are coming to the close of this phase when we’ve been taking in lots of ideas. I’ve enjoyed getting to know people in many ways and hearing so many ideas during the beginning parts of this process. As we move into the next stage, please know that I am interested to hear what’s coming up for you.
Please continue to stay up to date on our process here on our website.