St. George Episcopal School

Strategic Plan 2017 - 2020

The St. George Vision

St. George Episcopal School will positively impact society by empowering learners with wisdom, courage, and faith.

The St. George Mission

St. George Episcopal School provides exceptional academic preparation
in an inclusive Christian community that fosters love and respect for God, self, and others.

St. George Cornerstones

Wisdom
Courage
Faith
Leadership

At St. George Episcopal School, we value exceptional academic preparation in an educational environment that

  • Offers a traditional, integrated, and aligned curriculum.
  • Incorporates innovative learning activities within a structured setting.
  • Challenges and motivates students to think, learn, and act.
  • Prepares students for success in premier high school programs and beyond.

At St. George Episcopal School, we value an inclusive community of students, faculty, and families that

  • Welcomes all races and creeds.
  • Provides for a diverse student body.
  • Admits and challenges students with abilities ranging from typical to exceptional.
  • Fosters open communication among all.

At St. George Episcopal School, we value a student-centered program, including academics and co-curricular activities, that

  • Serves a variety of learning styles.
  • Encourages the development of leadership skills.
  • Supports and nurtures each person in the pursuit of individual goals.
  • Includes appropriate supplementary educational resources.

At St. George Episcopal School, we value a living spirituality among the school community that

  • Accepts each person as a unique child of God.
  • Includes regular worship in an age-appropriate context.
  • Develops faith and character through self-discipline, responsibility, and integrity.
  • Encourages service to others.

Our Winning Aspiration

St. George Episcopal School prepares students for the future by providing a multi-dimensional, academically rigorous program built on a foundation of faith, character development, and community leadership.  The St. George experience is dynamic, exposes students to diversity, and engages each individual’s creativity, while providing challenge across the curriculum.  St. George students are creative collaborators and problem solvers who excel in academics, athletics, and the arts.  Graduates of SGES are sought after by high schools across the city, and later by universities across the country.

Background – The Strategic Planning Process

In the summer of 2016, St. George Episcopal School (SGES or School) in conjunction with its Board of Directors (BOD) initiated the of the SGES strategic planning process by evaluating several strategic planning resources, including consultants, to assist in the development of a strategic plan.  Ultimately, SGES decided to conduct an analysis of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges using a strategic planning stakeholder survey (involving parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators of SGES; members of the BOD; and St. George Episcopal Church (Church) vestry members (Vestry) and parishioners) and retain The Rev. David A. Madison, D.Min. , Executive Director of the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools, as a consultant to facilitate the strategic planning process.  In early September 2016, Rev. Madison hosted a series of phone consultations and facilitated an onsite retreat leading the BOD and key members of the administrative team through a series of conversations and interactive learning sessions, including  “Current Trends in Episcopal Education,” “Start With Why,” “Playing to Win,” “Defining the Why,” “Winning Aspirations,” and “Articulating Potential Focus Areas for Strategic Thinking at SGES.”  As a result of these conversations and sessions with Rev. Madison, and utilizing the analysis from the strategic planning stakeholder survey, retreat participants were able to identify, define, and articulate the strategic areas of focus for SGES outlined in this document.

Building on this foundation, the BOD and key members of the administrative team met throughout the academic year to develop and further refine elements of the strategic plan by identifying and articulating the specific strategic objectives and initiatives and tactics with corresponding measures associated with each area of focus, as briefly outlined below and more fully set forth in the following chart and tables.

SGES Areas of Strategic Focus

  • Making Christ real to others
  • Maintaining a strong Church/School ministry partnership
  • Marketing the St. George story
  • Providing a world class education of body, mind, and spirit

SGES Strategic Objectives

(What we hope to accomplish.)

SGES Initiatives and Tactics with Considerations and Measurements

 (How we intend to accomplish the strategic objectives and evaluate achievement of the objectives)

Area of Strategic Focus: Make Christ real to others

Demonstrate love and service within the SGES community (internally)

  • Establish innovative and intentional welcome protocols for prospective and new families.
  • Implement intentional pastoral care protocols to respond to the needs of students, families, faculty, and staff.
  • Market financial aid to both church and school families.
  • Develop and implement innovative employee recognition strategies.
    • Measure:  Improve conversion rate of applications to enrollments by 5% by 2020.
    • Measure: Maintain faculty/staff retention of 90% of voluntary retention annually.
    • Measure: Family and faculty satisfaction rating of 90% satisfied or extremely satisfied

Demonstrate love and service beyond the SGES community (externally)

  • Establish and support programs to love and serve the local community.
    • Measure: Maintain and strengthen partnerships locally by providing resources and support for local opportunities such as Larkspur Elementary and Adopt-a-Needy-Family.
  • Establish and support programs to love and serve the global community.
    • Measure: Maintain and strengthen partnerships with Haiti and broaden support by adding 1 new family on the annual mission trip.

Expand service learning opportunities into all grade levels

  • Invite each classroom and/or grade level to design and execute their own service learning opportunity, and establish cross-divisional and cross grade level learning and serving opportunities.
    • Measure: Participation in service learning by grade level to reach 100% of grade levels participating by 2020.

Provide outstanding educational opportunities to a diverse student and family population

  • Recruit and retain many types of students, families, faculty, and staff to contribute positively to the SGES community.
    • Measure: Strategic use of financial aid to provide and promote various kinds of diversity.
    • Measure: Maintain 10% budget allocation for financial aid.

Financial Considerations

  • Maintain and improve competitive faculty salary and benefits to reduce recruiting and new employee costs.
  • Provide budget allowance for startup investment for initiating new service projects.

Area of Strategic Focus: Maintain a strong Church/School ministry partnership

Intentionally nurture and encourage strong Church and School relationship

  • Intentional and scheduled meetings and fellowship between Rector and Head of School.
    • Measure: Weekly scheduled Rector/Head of School gatherings.
  • Intentional and scheduled meetings and fellowship between BOD and Vestry.
    • Measure: BOD/Vestry gatherings at least 2-3x per year.

Intentionally seek ways to preserve and strengthen Church/School relationships into the next generation of leadership

  • Identify, empower, and utilize new leaders from within the St. George community and expand participation of the SGES administrative leadership team.
    • Measure:  Provide regular opportunities for members of the SGES administrative team to interact with the BOD to promote the development of the next generation of SGES leaders.
  • Encourage and facilitate continued cooperation between the Church and SGES, seeking ways to promote the community of across various constituencies.
    • Measure: Annual review by Rector and Head of School of shared employees and shared expenses, with reports to BOD and Vestry.

Recruit and retain effective and strategic leadership at the BOD level

  • Identify, empower, and utilize leadership from within the entire St. George community.
    • Measure:  As appropriate, recruit at least one new community member annually for every working group in the community.
  • Develop a pool of well-qualified potential members of the BOD.
    • Measure: Identify 3-5 well-qualified and briefed candidates each year.

Additional Considerations:

  • Intentionally include information pertaining to BOD roles/responsibilities in the recruiting process.
  • Provide effective training and onboarding for new members of the BOD.

Financial Considerations

  • Budget for shared expenses, budget for shared employees, cost savings for shared employees.

Area of Strategic Focus: Marketing the St. George story

Verbalize and communicate our winning aspiration in a variety of ways

  • Produce and promote student and school success stories.
    • Measure: Produce and launch 1-2 social media campaigns each year.
    • Measure:  Produce and publish 1-2 success stories each quarter.
    • Measure:  Highlight great news and fun snapshots via social media and web weekly.
  • Visual campus images to match message and mission.
    • Measure: Professional images installed on screens and walls.

Enhance enrollment

  • Establish and implement a comprehensive enrollment management strategy to enhance enrollment demand.
  • Create marketing strategies to meet the enrollment strategy.
    • Measure:  Increase qualified applications by 5% annually.
    • Measure:  Improve conversion rate of applications to enrollments by 5% by 2020.

Establish and maintain excellent reputation locally, regionally, and nationally

  • Active participation in local, regional, and national events and groups.
    • Measure:  Target participation in at least 2 events annually (such as Beta Club, National Association of Episcopal Schools, Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools, National Association of Independent Schools, Episcopal Schools Commission, etc.)

Cultivate community loyalty and engagement

  • Improve community engagement and participation.
    • Measure:  75% of current families participating in SGES annual giving initiatives.
    • Measure:  75% parent participation in a SGES event such as Howdy Dance, Golf Tournament, DragonFest, and/or Spring Fling.
  • Cultivate alumni engagement.
    • Measure:  Attendance at alumni events and community events, alumni activity on social media, alumni participation in giving, and alumni children enrollment.

Financial Considerations

  • Strong enrollment demand improves revenue, and strong customer loyalty improves giving revenue.  Budget for marketing expenses.

Area of Strategic Focus: Provide a world class education of body, mind, and spirit

Build and renovate facilities to support programs and inspire learning

  • Work with Vestry, Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, and key stakeholders to develop a long-term campus master plan to include routine capital upgrades to existing facilities and construction of new facilities.
    • Measure:  Updated campus master plan by 2019.

Maintain long-term financial stability

  • Maintain a positive financial position by exceeding financial markers from the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools.
    • Measure: Meet or exceed Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools’ financial health markers annually, and track progress monthly at the BOD level.
  • Aggressively pay off the building loan through annual balloon payments.
    • Measure:  Maintain aggressive debt reduction by making additional annual payments to reduce principle.
  • Allocate resources for future capital projects.
    • Measure:  Build strategic reserves for next capital campaign.

Encourage blending of traditional and progressive pedagogies

  • Further integrate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and problem-based learning activities across the curriculum.
    • Measure:  Implement 1-2 technology and design opportunities per grade level per year.
    • Measure: Transform and rebrand library and computer programs.
  • Utilize additional student inquiry based models of instruction.
    • Measure: Implement new technology, design, collaboration, problem solving programs.
  • Explore and implement opportunities for cross-divisional learning activities.
    • Measure: Implement 1-2 cross-divisional activities each year.
  • Support and encourage professional development opportunities for faculty and staff annually.
    • Measure:  Support 10-12 professional development opportunities for faculty and staff each year.

Expand and enhance enrichment opportunities

  • Enhance and expand the middle school elective program.
    • Measure:  Add and/or revise middle school elective opportunities annually.
  • Expand learning enrichment opportunities.
    • Measure:  Add and/or revise enrichment opportunities annually to keep offerings fresh and relevant.

Financial Considerations

  • Budget for Master Planning consultations and feasibility analysis.  Budget support for professional development and enrichment.  Plan for funding for down payments on major capital projects.