Overview
One of the initiatives underway at SVdP this year is to create a new Strategic Plan for our school. At a high level, the goal of the Strategic Plan is to identify and prioritize needed improvements to our school to allocate resources for the next 3-5 years. With the help of our entire community, we will identify both long-term improvements projects, as well as several smaller, short-term projects, to focus on for the next 3-5 years. SVdP has implemented strategic plans in the past and we are hoping to make this an updated and inclusive plan with the help of the entire community.
Purpose
The Strategic Plan is a living document, housed within the work of our parent-led School Advisory Committee (SAC), representing the needs of the school community. The plan will serve as a reference when making decisions on resource allocation and help guide future fundraising initiatives. The plan will support the collaborative vision under Sister Dominic’s leadership for her duration, and will assist in the transition of leadership at the end of her term. Under the leadership of SAC, we anticipate bi-annual reviews of the plan to assess not only progress, but also to ensure that our goals as a community are still represented. The plan will be modified as needed, according to these reviews.
The Strategic Plan is NOT:
- A budget for the next 3-5 years
- A hard commitment to every initiative
The Strategic Plan IS:
- A vision for our school for the next 3-5 years
- A mechanism to articulate and evaluate progress with prioritized improvements
- A representation of our community’s goals
- A working document that will change with changing needs
Process
The process for the development of the Strategic Plan involves several steps:
Gather and Analyze Information
Key Areas of Opportunity
Beginning with SAC, we have identified the following initial key areas of focus (please note that these could shift as we continue to develop the plan):
- Facilities and Grounds
- Student Services
- Safety
- Identity/Community
- Marketing/Enrollment
- Academics/Enrichment
- Financial
Focus Groups
Next, we are assembling focus groups across the school community to brainstorm areas of improvement within our key areas. We have identified the following groups within our community for focus groups:
- SAC
- Home and School
- Teachers and staff
- Kindergarten and preschool parents
- Gala acquisitions group
- Parish council
- Families with SVdP graduates in high school
- Student Council
- 8th grade students
- 7th grade students
We feel these groups represent a large cross-section of our community. If you are not represented here and would like to provide feedback, please reach out to any parent on SAC, H&S, or Sister Dominic.
Community Survey
Once these focus groups are completed, we will consolidate the feedback for each category and generate a list of possible improvements for each key area. We will then reach out to the entire community to rank the improvements and identify the top priorities for our plan. We hope to identify both longer term improvement initiatives, as well as smaller, short-term items.
Approval of Improvement Priorities
SAC will review our final prioritized items for approval and incorporation into the Strategic Plan.
Development of Plan
For each area of improvement, we envision community involvement to help lead a working team. Plan development will include identifying team members with relative expertise and interest. We will also outline the process under SAC for review and evaluation of the Strategic Plan.
Proposed Timeline
We anticipate the plan development process to take most of the school year, mainly to ensure we have captured the wants and needs of the community.
| September- December 2019 | Gather inputs from focus groups and consolidate feedback
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| January – March 2020 | Gather input on priorities from school community to identify prioritized initiatives; gain approval from SAC
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| April- May 2020 | Begin development of the identified long and short-term strategic initiatives
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| August 2020- November 2020 | Continue development of plan; gather community feedback on Strategic Plan; initiate review process |
