--Adopted by the Board of Directors, May 2009

Over the past three years, Community School has welcomed a new Head of School, a new Upper School Director and a new Elementary School Director.  A new Middle School Director will arrive in the fall of 2009. In 2007, the school conducted a detailed survey to determine what the parent constituency's thoughts on the school's strengths and where there was room for improvement. During the 2007-2008 academic year, the faculty, staff and administration conducted a comprehensive self-study as part of the school’s re-accreditation efforts. This process culminated in a three-day visit, in the spring of 2008, by a visiting team of the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) who granted re-accreditation and offered constructive suggestions and recommendations about all aspects of the school.

In the fall of 2008, armed with the wealth of information from the parent survey and re-accreditation process, the Board of Directors and Administration embarked on a review of the 2004 Strategic Plan and the development of a new Strategic Plan to guide the school for the next five years.

Our overarching vision for the future is to continue to build a world class school upon the foundation laid during the past several decades, taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by our location in a renowned and internationally recognized resort and mountain town. We are committed to honoring and retaining the culture and values that have made The Community School the unique and special place we love. Highlights of this culture include outstanding academics, highly qualified teachers, close caring relationships between faculty and students, and our outstanding Outdoor Program.

Underlying this vision is the very real and practical consideration of sustainability, particularly in light of the current economic downturn. How can we ensure that The Community School will survive and thrive over the coming decades given the financial realities of our small valley, changing demographics and competition in the educational realm? We know that to provide a solid footing for our continued success, we must develop our strengths and refine a compelling value proposition for the long term.

Our new Strategic Plan identifies six priority areas on which we will focus during the coming years. We have set our sights high and understand that we must be realistic, resourceful and creative along the way. The goals are intentionally flexible and open-ended, as that will allow us to remain nimble in the context of shifting external impacts on the school.  If recent events in the nation and the world have taught us anything, it is that all 21st Century institutions must maintain their ability to react to circumstances in the context of a long-term vision. The priorities outlined below will guide decision-making and resource allocation, in concert with our mission and economic realities from 2009-2014. The Board of Directors and Head of School will review the Strategic Plan annually each Fall.

David Holmes                      Jack Bunce
Head of School                    Chairman, Board of Directors

Strategic Priorities

1. CONTINUE TO IMPROVE ALL ASPECTS OF OUR PROGRAM OFFERINGS

Through our program offerings, we strive to give our students the skills necessary to excel in and contribute to the 21st Century interconnected world. TCS offers a strong college preparatory curriculum, fostering a lifelong love of learning, a special connection to the natural environment, and opportunities to participate in Athletics, The Arts and Community Service. We want our students to become well-rounded, effective and responsible members and leaders of our local and global community.

In the classroom we are committed to actively engaging our students while honoring their diverse talents and challenging them intellectually. Our overarching goal for the next five years is to continually improve our academic curriculum focusing on more thorough integration across divisions and broadening and deepening course offerings, as we are able.

Our mountain location affords a unique opportunity for our students to connect to the environment through our Outdoor Program.  From experiences in Kindergarten through the Senior Quest, our children learn the skills to survive and thrive in the backcountry while developing an appreciation of the world in which we live and the importance of environmental stewardship. The Outdoor Program also provides invaluable opportunities to develop character, accountability, leadership and team building skills. A focus for the next five years is to create what will be recognized as the most notable school Outdoor Program in the country. This unique feature of our school is a key component of our identity and we must capitalize on it as part of our marketing efforts.

We believe participation in The Outdoor Program, Athletics, The Arts and Community Service is essential to a complete educational experience. To formalize this commitment, we will develop distributional requirements for each of these areas for the Middle and Upper Schools to be overseen by dedicated Program Directors. During the winter early release schedule, students will be able to participate in competitive winter sports or other organized Athletics and/or take advantage of an expanding set of options in The Arts (fine, music, drama) and Community Service. Additional resource allocation for administration and implementation of these programs will be essential to their success. In addition to adding enrichment classes taught by our faculty, we will utilize the rich diversity of offerings and experts in the local community to expand our programs.

2. ADD NEW COMMUNITIES OF STUDENTS TO THE SCHOOL

We are a small town school in the mountain west and have relied on our local community for attracting students. As a result, the Community School has historically comprised a small student body with limited diversity. This has, in turn, created limitations on the breadth of course offerings that could be supported by our budget, and has limited the socio-economic, racial, ethnic and religious scope of our students’ interactions.

We believe that our students would benefit from interacting with students from abroad and with students from our own country with different backgrounds.  We need to give our children the opportunity to learn from the different perspectives inherent in an increasingly global and competitive world. We also believe that by growing our student body we can expand our course offerings, creating more academic opportunities and greater depth in communications, interactivity, cross disciplinary and cross-cultural learning and other 21st century skill sets.

To realize this aspiration, the Community School will expand the Upper School student body size to roughly 150 students. Initial growth will be limited, as we test the feasibility of expansion, supported by a home stay program and bilateral exchanges with sister schools. Eventually we envision an onsite-boarding component at the school. The focus in recruiting students would be on adding international students and domestic students of diversity who meet our academic standards and demonstrate potential. Student-athletes who would benefit from our unique mountain setting and our close partnership with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation will also be recruited, initially beginning with the Nordic ski program. We will collaborate with other institutions, as appropriate, to create opportunities for qualified international students to attend TCS for their junior and senior years.

In addition to expanding enrollment in the Upper School, we will expand the Elementary School with the introduction of a new pre-school on the Trail Creek Campus.  The Elementary School staff will conduct research into best practices in the area of pre-school education and look to open the pre-school in phases beginning in 2010.

We must also remain flexible about enrollment policy as fluctuating demand for particular grade levels or divisions creates opportunities for expansion and/or contraction to meet financial sustainability goals.


3. ATTRACT AND RETAIN THE FINEST FACULTY AND STAFF

The Community School relies on a talented, engaged, and committed faculty to design, implement, and refine the academic program. The faculty at TCS consists of individuals who are skilled in their disciplines as well as in a variety of other areas critical to teaching, coaching and outdoor leadership. They inspire and mentor students in our supportive and challenging school culture.

The school must enhance recruitment and retention strategies to ensure a high-quality faculty appropriate for fulfilling the school’s mission. It must remain cognizant of the high cost of living in the Wood River Valley and should consider housing options for faculty both on existing school properties as well as available housing options in surrounding areas. 

 In addition, the school must continue to expect and support faculty members’ participation in professional development opportunities to provide skills and enhance competence in multiple areas of 21st century educational practices. 

Finally, the school must continue to develop a thoughtful and constructive performance evaluation process that is clearly articulated and fairly and consistently executed.

As a means of infusing the school with fresh ideas and meeting budgetary challenges and given sufficient enrollment, the school will establish a Teaching Academy. This Academy will provide young teachers new to the profession with the opportunity to learn the craft under the guidance of an experienced group of educators and, in return, these young educators will provide energy and support to our expanding programs both in and out of the classroom.


4.  INCREASE POSITIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH THE LARGER COMMUNITY   

The Community School occupies a unique and important position in the city of Sun Valley as well as the larger Wood River Valley as its only independent K-12 School. For many years, the school has been perceived as somewhat insular. That perception has been changing over the last several years, but there is much more the school can do to engage with the larger community for the benefit of both.

A focus of the coming five years will be on bringing the community to our campus. We will offer our facilities (gym, theater, classroom space) to other community organizations during after school hours and in the summer. We will continue to create programs to which the public is invited including lectures, films and seminars. We will launch the Trail Creek Institute, a series of evening classes ranging from Spanish conversation to ballroom dancing taught and attended by members of the larger community.

We will show our commitment to the community through community service projects by students and faculty. The Head of School will engage with organizations such as city governments, the Sawtooth Board of Realtors, Sun Valley Company, The Chamber of Commerce and others on a regularly scheduled basis.

The school will also meet with arts and cultural organizations throughout the valley to see what programmatic synergies can be developed. Outreach will be directed toward The Sun Valley Center for the Arts, The Sun Valley Summer Symphony, various theater groups in the Valley, The Community Library, film festivals, and The SV Writers Conference, to name a few. Our school can take advantage of the programs these well established and well-funded organizations offer and work together to achieve our respective missions.

Finally we will work with institutions of higher learning to leverage academic and financial opportunities for students and the respective schools.

5. EFFECTIVELY DEVELOP OUR RESOURCES

To complete the many aspirations of what will be an ambitious Strategic Plan, the school will require substantial resources. Our community understands that even the cost of our basic offerings will typically increase at a rate slightly faster than general inflation.  If we are to continue to improve the school without increasing tuition rates that make it untenable for our local population, we will need to carefully develop our resources, making the most of existing assets and expanding our access to capital through new sources.

Our two most ambitious goals will be:
1.    to build an endowment of approximately $20 million
2.    to appropriately and effectively develop the Sagewillow property in conjunction with our existing Trail Creek campus to realize the goals of our long range plans. Development issues include potential land acquisitions adjacent to campus, parking and traffic safety, additional classroom space, possible boarding facilities, athletic facilities and how best to monetize real estate holdings.

Innovative thinking on how to generate revenue from our facilities (classrooms, theater, gym, and outdoor spaces such as the parking lot) during non-school periods, particularly in the summer, will also be a priority.

We will continue to employ established areas of fundraising such as our Annual Fund, expanded planned giving, and Parents Association fund-raising programs to help meet our financial goals.


6. DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING PLAN

As the school seeks to grow and attract new students, faculty, and support from all of its constituencies, a comprehensive Marketing Plan should guide outreach efforts and resource allocation. The school needs to communicate a finely honed, professional, and consistent message that effectively reflects our value proposition.

The school will engage a professional marketing consultant to lead it in the “branding” effort and develop a Marketing Plan. As part of the process, the school will review its mission statement and core values as well as its logo, existing marketing materials and programs, staffing, and marketing budget.

A key marketing tool in the 21st century is the Internet. A well designed website will be the most important tool for attracting new families to the school and showcasing our programs, sporting events and student life to the local community. Maintenance and ongoing upgrades to the website must be a priority budget item.