A visual rendering of strategic goals by Cynthia Robinson
Introduction
History of The Community School: The Community School was founded in 1989 by Martha and Rudy Carlson, beginning in their Sandwich home. The school became an official 501{c}3 organization and was approved by the New Hampshire Department of Education for enrollment.
In 1992, The Community School purchased the Perkins Farm, 310 acres on the Bearcamp River, now protected by a conservation easement. The old farmhouse was reconstructed as a modern classroom building.
Developments between 1994 and 1998 included certifying the school’s forests as an American tree farm, creating an exchange program with schools in Costa Rica and the Czech Republic and establishing the Bearcamp Woodwrights program. In 1999, the school was accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Developments continued, including the organic certification for the school’s gardens and the creation of school’s drama program, Advice to the Players. Scholarship support became an important part of the school, with aid doubling in 2000 to assist 60 percent of students. A major step was taken in 2002 with the completion of a new wing for a science lab and library.
In 2006, the school began its 17th year with Jenny Rowe as director. The Board of Trustees has created effective committees and initiated systematic efforts to fundraise for the school’s annual fund.
Developments continued, including the organic certification for the school’s gardens and the creation of school’s drama program, Advice to the Players. Scholarship support became an important part of the school, with aid doubling in 2000 to assist 60 percent of students. A major step was taken in 2002 with the completion of a new wing for a science lab and library.
In 2006, the school began its 17th year with Jenny Rowe as director. The Board of Trustees has created effective committees and initiated systematic efforts to fundraise for the school’s annual fund.
In the fall of 2007, the school piloted its Rural Sustainable Schools Project, an initiative to integrate rural schools into local communities, with a $35,000 grant.
In February 2008, working to meet the requirements of the NEASC re-accreditation process, the trustees chose to undertake the process of creating a long range plan for the school.
The Community School’s Multi-Year Planning Process: With the generous offer of time and expertise by long-time supporter of the school, educator, and organizational consultant, Dave Chase, the Board created a planning team. The plan uses a five-year planning horizon, and is designated as the Community School’s Quarter Century Plan (QCP), as the completion of the plan will coincide with the school’s 25th anniversary. The QCP planning team divided into 5 task forces, each led by a two-person board/staff leadership team, to research, study, and brainstorm specific areas: Curriculum/Program, Facilities/Infrastructure, Finances, Development/Communications/Marketing/PR, Community (includes students, staff, board, parents, alums, town, etc.)
The Planning process took approximately 9 months to complete and included:
- February 2008 – Key board and staff members reviewed process and chose responsibilities. Task force leadership teams formed their respective working groups for each component of the QCP.
- March – May 2008 –Task forces brainstormed big ideas and broad themes, and began to gather input from key CS stakeholders relative to their respective components.
- June – October 2008 –task forces sketched ideas for five-year goals for each of their components.
- November 2008 – Task forces met together to share their ideas amongst themselves and with incoming new board members, beginning the process of developing a culminating document that could be used as a base for an initial draft QCP.
- November – December 2008 – New Board members draft culminating document and initial draft QCP.
- December 2008 – The initial draft QCP was presented to the full board for approval.
Quarter Century Plan Team members:
Dave Chase, QCP consultant, facilitator
Jenny Rowe, Director
David White, Board Member
Donna Polhamus, School Librarian
Suzanne Weil, Board Member
Tom Curtin, Board Member
Geof Hancock, Staff, Farm Manager
Jack Waldron, Community Member
Claes Thelemarck, Staff member
Grace Pease, student
Molly Nelson, parent
Lieb Mathieson, student
Emily Erskine, Board member
Peter Wobber, Board Member
Lianne Prentice, Staff Member
Cynthia Robinson, Board Member
Louise Taylor, Board Member
Community members who contributed time for focus group discussions: Michelle Cleveland
The Community School
Quarter Century Plan 2009-2013
The Community School Mission
We believe learning is a rigorous and joyful pursuit, which calls on each individual’s talents and interests, and promotes appreciation of the interconnectedness of people and places. At The Community School, our mission is to support students on their individual learning paths within a caring and respectful community.
Students and teachers collaborate in small multi-disciplinary classes, at School Meeting, and in the school’s gardens and forests to build a healthy local community that contributes to a sustainable world. In preparation for college and meaningful work, students learn by doing, connect with nature, develop an ethic of stewardship, solve real problems, and provide service to others.
Our Core Values:
- Honor the individual
- Act responsibly with all people and places
- Face challenge with courage
- Connect with nature
- Experience education!
Defining our Community
Our vision for the future directly and indirectly involves the communities we serve and the communities of which we are a part. We define our immediate communities to include: parents, students, alumni, faculty, trustees, volunteers, CSA members, donors, program participants, local organizations (theater, schools, civic, foundations), adjacent communities, and regional business owners. Furthermore, our plans and philosophies are based on the concept that we are connected to an expanded community to include the people and living beings existing in the wider region, the state of New Hampshire, the area of New England, the United States, North America, and planet Earth.
As we create the map for our Strategic Plan, we aim to keep these communities in mind, with a larger vision that includes a series of concepts:
- Our learning institution is based on a model for a new world community with the understanding that all living things are interconnected, interdependent, and equally valuable.
- Being a member of a community in this time and place means taking responsibility for our carbon footprint, sharing the effort to reduce its size through exploring, educating, and utilizing cutting-edge energy production and consumption.
- Nurturing a healthy community means living within our means and embracing sustainability in all we do.
- Being a student of the world means tackling the challenges of the future, developing a strong sense of stewardship for our local and global communities, and collaborating with other learners to experience and problem solve
- Being part of a community means showing respect for and appreciating each individual’s worth and quest for growth and meaning, as well as being aware that our actions affect others. We envision a community that respects both the local community and the world outside our vision, knowing that we are part of a web that includes all beings.
- Being a part of the larger world community means developing and supporting communication skills, making use of technology, and acquiring the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to succeed in an increasingly complex, global, information-based society.
Strategic Goal 1: Develop a Stronger Program Base for Student and Community Learners
Long Term Outcomes:
· Graduates leave with excellent skills in math, reading and writing and communicating in a foreign language, the arts, conservation and organic gardening and food storage practices.
· Graduates have a strong sense of identity, aspiration towards a positive future, have experienced authentic engagement with adults, and have engaged in learning from real problems and real experiences.
· Graduates leave with enthusiasm for tackling the challenges of the future, a strong sense, and much practical experience, of stewardship for their local communities. Each student knows him or herself as a competent artist or craftsperson.
· Community members are actively engaged in the school, as participants, learners, and contributors to educational processes.
Five-Year Strategies:
- Enhance core academic offerings to build stronger student skill sets in math, language arts, science, history, and foreign language.
- Increase importance of Rural Sustainable Schools Project, organizing larger portions of curriculum around experiential and service learning.
- Develop a comprehensive land management curriculum including open space, agricultural, forest, wet-lands education for students and community members.
- Develop a comprehensive visual arts program, and work towards expanding the arts program to include traditional crafts, music, and movement.
- Integrate organized sports as part of school culture, with at least one after school sports team and increased opportunities for other non-team based physical activities.
- Present short and long term programs to draw people of all ages to TCS and the Perkins farm throughout the year.
- Implement Doris L. Benz Library Plan working to apply American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards and goals.
- Continue to implement 2008-2011 Technology Use Plan.
Strategic Goal 2: Develop a more sustainable relationship between The Community School’s immediate environment and its activities, services, and usages.
Long Term Outcomes:
· TCS will operate within more sustainable parameters, and will be a showcase for green retrofitting.
· Construction projects highlight local/regional construction techniques.
· The farm will be revenue neutral and sustainable.
· The local community will receive the benefits of our organic farm and all its resources, including educational opportunities around local food issues.
Five-Year Strategies:
- Assess existing buildings for immediate and long-term renovations, taking into consideration school/community use, more efficient/environmentally sound heating/powering options, potential housing needs for faculty/staff/farm crew, and need for kitchen modernization to accommodate TCS local food processing/ storage.
- Make full use of the school’s setting and seasons, connecting the farm as a resource for student learning.
- Explore opportunities to increase agricultural production.
- Continue current CSA program and, as food production permits, increase its membership.
- Develop concepts for improved efficiency for transportation where/when possible, including partnership with local organizations to share transportation for select events.
Strategic Goal 3: Develop a clearer and stronger visibility, image, enrollment, and support base for The Community School.
Long Term Outcomes:
· The school is supported from a stronger and wider base, with clear and effective processes. Community members will understand and value their roles as part of The Community School’s mission and future.
· The school works in partnership with community members and local organizations to combine ideas for projects, marketing, and community development.
· TCS is known statewide for effective teaching strategies and practices in natural and cultural resource stewardship.
· TCS is visible to a wider group of people, and is attended by a larger student enrollment group.
· The perception of The Community School will be clear, with community members understanding and valuing TCS at a deeper level.
Five-Year Strategies:
- Implement the Development Plan’s framework and protocols on a regular basis.
- Train Board members to be actively involved and connected to donors on a personal level, and to achieve annual development tasks.
- Support parents of TCS students as they run increasingly successful fundraising events.
- Facilitate current students’ engagement in promoting their school.
- Create vehicles for past parents and alumni to actively engage in supporting the school.
- Communicate the school’s mission, vision, values, and program clearly and consistently to the local community and wider region.
- Build Admissions processes, tools, and personnel system.
- Increase enrollment.
