STRATEGIC PLAN Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School
LREI Strategic Plan
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DEAR LREI COMMUNITY, In the fall of 2012, the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School Board of Trustees embarked on a strategic planning process to guide the school towards its centennial in 2021. Building upon the successes of our last plan—doubling the size of the Charlton Street campus, enlarging the student body, and completing significant building renovations—the trustees decided that LREI was well positioned to bring the thoughts and voices of the community together again to imagine the future. We are proud of our planning process, led by a steering committee comprised of trustees, administrators, alumni, faculty, and students. All of the LREI community was engaged through surveys, focus groups, a board retreat, and a two-day planning workshop. This document is the result of that vital process. Thank you for your honest and thoughtful contributions. As always, we take our inspiration from LREI’s students. We will aspire, work hard, collaborate, and be energized by the challenge.
PHILIP KASSEN
AMY ZIMMERMAN
ROBERT ROSENTHAL ’80
Director
Chair, LREI Board of Trustees
Chair, Strategic Planning Committee
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Only through a process of continual growth, change, and renewal do we remain truly progressive.
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The school will not always be what it is now, but we hope it will always be a place where ideas can grow, where heresy will be looked upon as possible truth, and where prejudice will dwindle from lack of room to grow.
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Progressive education is always coming of age.
Quotations by LREI Founder, Elisabeth Irwin
INTRODUCTION Our plan addresses LREI’s current priorities and will help us to take advantage of future opportunities for the school. Some of our goals are well defined and readily measurable. Others are less so, and will require more time and exploration to achieve. In the months and years to come, the board, administration, and faculty will meet the goals set out in the four sections of this plan, listed below. We will report our progress towards these goals on a regular basis.
STUDENTS & LEARNING
SCHOOL & COMMUNITY
FACULTY & INNOVATION
FINANCIAL FOUNDATION
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STUDENTS & LEARNING
LREI students are prepared with the skills and content knowledge needed to succeed in school and beyond. Our progressive curriculum integrates habits of mind that equip students to participate meaningfully in an increasingly diverse and complex society. As part of the ongoing examination and improvement of our program, we will: Guide our students as they master the principles that are the basis of our academic program—critical thinking, creativity, courage, and citizenship.
Enrich our physical education and athletics programs to ensure that they are exemplars of the school’s progressive mission.
Ensure the excellence of our science and math programs by rooting them more firmly in our progressive mission.
Enhance the Senior Project to ensure that each student’s culminating experience is mission driven, an outgrowth of our 14-year academic program, and a bridge to success in life beyond LREI.
Provide opportunities for our students to employ their skills and knowledge outside the classroom, including additional domestic and international travel opportunities for our high school students and partnerships with educational, cultural, and business institutions.
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FACULTY & INNOVATION
The LREI faculty is at the core of our success. At every level of our 14-year program, teachers are invested in their students’ development, committed to our progressive vision, insightful about current practice, and innovative when looking to the future. We will challenge our faculty and administrators to pursue the spirit of innovation that was the basis of our founding as we: Strengthen connections between the divisions, ensuring that the core LREI experience is consistent and supportive as students move through our 14-year program.
Establish our leadership in the community of progressive educators by sharing effective practices and curricula with other public and private educational institutions.
Create a series of progressive innovation grants, supporting faculty as they generate new experiential and interdisciplinary programs that enhance learning.
Triple the level of financial resources that we allocate to professional development of our faculty and administrative staff.
Embrace the thoughtful use of technology to innovate and collaborate.
Inform parents about institutional and grade-level expectations and assessments in clear and accessible ways.
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SCHOOL & COMMUNITY
An essential characteristic of LREI’s strength as an educational community comes from respect for our similarities and our differences in thought, expression, temperament, talent, interests, and abilities, as well as our personal and innate characteristics. As we guard and enhance this asset, we will: Foster within the community a deep understanding of LREI’s progressive mission and the manner in which it informs our educational program, diversity efforts, and community.
Strengthen the school’s presence as a community center providing a forum for meeting, discussion, and learning, in which all ideas are treated with respect and to which all LREI families have equal access.
Increase the diversity of the constituencies of the LREI community—students, families, faculty, and staff—in order to reflect that of our city.
Rejuvenate our historic commitment to a public purpose by increasing service opportunities for LREI’s families and alumni and enriching our service learning program across all three divisions.
Engage in the National Association of Independent Schools’ Assessment of Inclusion and Multiculturalism to benchmark our diversity and social justice efforts.
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FINANCIAL FOUNDATION
To support and implement our strategic goals, we must ensure the financial stability of our school. Our mission demands that we address the competing needs of affordable tuition, competitive salaries, and maintaining a level of financial aid that will support our diverse community. We will: Build a permanently restricted endowment of at least 20 million dollars. Increase our Annual Fund by at least 50 percent. Cultivate major gifts to fund aspects of the Strategic Plan and significantly improve LREI’s stewardship of our many supporters. Ensure that faculty and staff compensation levels attain or exceed the median for our peer schools in the New York City area.
Maintain financial aid as a percentage of gross tuition that places LREI securely in the top 10 percent of our peer schools in the New York City area. Investigate tuition models that balance affordability and access. Establish a more even distribution of financial aid across all three divisions. Plan for a long-term solution to the school’s need for a permanent athletic facility.
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Board of Trustees 2012-2013 Denise Adler Shannon Barden Carrie Borows Jeffrey Brooks Irene Cabrera Willard Cook Stephen Cornick ’85
Celine Kagan Sarah Lutz Dave Olsen Tim Merjos ’80 Sean Paroff Kasey Picayo Matthew Rosen Robert Rosenthal ’80
Strategic Plan Steering Committee Will Balsam ’14, Student Willard Cook, Trustee Carina Cruz ’13, Student Michel de Konkoly Thege, Associate Director Julia Heaton, Director of Admissions Deborah Hodge, Faculty
Susie Scher
Phil Kassen, Director
Kent G. Smith ’59
Sarah Lutz, Trustee
Diana Son
Manjula Nair, Faculty
Eve Stuart
Dave Olsen, Trustee
Elizabeth Gonzalez
Cary Tamarkin
Robert Rosenthal ’80, Trustee
Francis Greenburger
Regina Trumbull
Mark Silberberg, Middle School Principal
James Harris
Karen Wagner
Regina Trumbull, Trustee
Rhonda Hartley
Alexis Wright
Alexis Wright, Trustee
Kaiko Hayes
Amy Zimmerman, Chair
Amy Zimmerman, Chair, Board of Trustees
Roger Ehrenberg Emma Fine James Gadsden ’66 Pippa Gerard
MISSION STATEMENT A leader in progressive education since 1921, LREI teaches children to be independent thinkers who work together to solve complex problems. Students graduate from our diverse community as active participants in our democratic society, with the creativity, integrity, and courage to bring meaningful change to the world. Approved by LREI’s Board of Trustees, October 6, 2014
Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School 272 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10014
lrei.org