Strategic Plan

Lakehill 2022 Strategic Plan

History and Philosophy

Established in 1971, Lakehill Preparatory School continues to build on its original goal of establishing an independent, college preparatory school of outstanding quality and credentials in the Lakewood/East Dallas community.

Lakehill is a highly regarded, fully-accredited, co-educational school for students in Kindergarten through Grade 12. As an academic community dedicated to the whole student, Lakehill combines a robust, college preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community engagement. Small class sizes ensure a supportive learning environment and personal attention. From kindergarten through high school, every Lakehill student is encouraged to strive, challenged to succeed, and inspired to excel.

Lakehill’s Main Campus is located in the heart of Lakewood and is within easy reach to all areas of Dallas. In 2017, Lakehill Preparatory School added 16,000 square feet to the Main Campus and renovated an additional 8,000 square feet of space. This vital effort produced new lab spaces for science, writing, and computer science, as well as an art studio. It also provided new classrooms, administrative offices, and meeting and event rooms. A dramatic 5,000 square foot inner courtyard offers outdoor classroom and performance space.

The Roger L. Perry Campus, located just four miles from the Main Campus, is home to the Warrior Athletic Complex and the LEED-certified Alice and Erle Nye Family Environmental Science Center. This facility houses athletic fields, a field house, laboratories, classrooms, and meeting space. With over 40 acres of land to explore, Lakehill students have the opportunity to experience nature in a pristine environment.

Lakehill is thriving. The Lakehill community loves our school and is passionate about its unique warmth, culture and challenging academic environment. Strategically, the most important work of the future will be to continue to excel and improve. We recognize that our current success provides a solid foundation upon which to grow and to evolve in order to remain relevant in a constantly changing landscape of distinguished pre-collegiate education in the 21st century. Accordingly, our community has identified the following opportunities and areas of focus to guide our work. These strategic priorities are of equal importance and, while practicality and resources may dictate the sequencing of work needed to accomplish these priorities, are necessary for the future success of our school.

This

plan identifies what we aspire to accomplish.

Mission, Vision,

Lakehill Preparatory School guides motivated students serve with compassion. Our challenging and nurturing collaborative problem-solvers

In order to ensure that Lakehill continues to provide a unique, of greater-Dallas-area education and

• Review, affirm and/or modify our Mission and Vision

• Create an “Identity Profile” separate from our Mission

• Develop and implement marketing plans and communications

• Assure that our Mission Statement, Vision Statement Lakehill moves forward with excellence.

• Establish optimal student enrollment targets by grade planning of program and facilities.

Vision, and Identity

students to learn with curiosity, lead with confidence, and nurturing educational community inspires students to become problem-solvers who live with integrity.

unique, relevant and compelling option in the landscape and tells its excellent story, we will:

Statements.

Mission and Vision.

communications strategies that align with our identity profile.

and Identity Profile firmly guide decision making as and communicate that as essential information for future

Academic Excellence

In order to ensure Lakehill continues to provide the academic rigor and challenge envisioned by our Mission and Identity work, we will:

• Continue our commitment to right-sized classes.

• Affirm and refine the college-preparatory focus of our academic program.

• Review/update student assessment methodology to ensure teaching practices and curricula are driven by student achievement data.

• Review curricula and continue to ensure the use of research based best practices and pedagogy for student centered learning and cognitive engagement.

• Invest in enhancements to educational technology in personnel, hardware/ software, and expanded curricula, to assure that our students are competent in our technological world.

• Increase focus on target enrollment in the upper school through robust retention efforts in our middle school as well as external recruiting of high school students.

• Provide input to the master-planning process that emphasizes the importance of a primary single campus to sustain sense of community across all grades.

• Optimize the use of the Environmental Science Center at the Roger L. Perry campus and grow it as necessary.

Organizational Excellence

In order to ensure that we operate effectively, efficiently and model best practices in both operations and in personnel policies, we will:

Review and enhance our safety and security policies and procedures to keep our Mobilize a Technology Steering Committee to ensure that our technology is appropriate to fully support our academic programs and our administrative and Increase the impact of our marketing and recruiting efforts to assure that we have both staff and students to achieve our growth and quality strategies.

Ensure that we have both the financial and human resources to achieve the organizational excellence we demand.

Student Experience

In order to ensure that our challenging and nurturing educational community and programs inspire our students to become capable, collaborative problem solvers who live with integrity, we will:

• Improve upon our current STEM program to encourage student curiosity while promoting careers in STEM.

• Enhance our Arts program.

• Promote and support student health, wellness and leadership by implementing a health education program.

• Upgrade our Athletics program.

• Develop a robust menu of student enrichment programs, camps and partnership programs to support student excellence beyond the classroom.

Facilities Excellence

In order to ensure that our physical facilities optimally serve the educational and co-curricular needs of our students and are informed by our Mission and Identity work, we will:

• Create a school master plan (to include both Hillside and Ferguson campuses) to encompass all needs for our target enrollment and fully support our programs.

• Create a phase-by-phase plan to migrate from the current facilities to those envisioned in the master plan.

• Create financial models and put in place strategies and plans for achieving the master plan.

Diversity, Equity Belonging

In order to ensure that Lakehill students have the knowledge, attitudes and experience to be prepared for success in a diverse and multicultural world, and to establish a systemic approach to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (“DEIB”) in both academics and school culture that will serve as an enduring commitment to students, faculty, families and community, we will pursue a eight-step process as follows:

• Establish a committee objective statement.

• Engage in a quick-scan benchmarking effort.

• Engage an industry practitioner to conduct a community survey and provide input on other areas of focus that may arise.

• Gain community support for DEIB efforts.

• Establish execution workstreams (ie, statement of DEIB; cultural recognition; faculty education; affinity groups; etc.).

• Message intent to the Lakehill community.

• Establish execution groups (i.e., board, faculty, students, parents.).

• Execute.

Equity Inclusion and Excellence

Advancement & Alumni

In order to ensure that our fundraising practices fully support our operating budget and enable future facilities and program enhancements, we will:

Alumni Relations Excellence

• Create a culture of philanthropy across the entire school community.

• Set ambitious targets and achieve outstanding results with the Warrior Fund.

• Affirm the role of the Endowment Fund in the long-term financial planning of the school and develop and implement plans to meet Endowment Fund targets.

• Recognize the likelihood of future Capital Campaigns to support facilities and program enhancements and take steps now to prepare the school for capital campaign success.

• Investigate alternative philanthropic revenue sources outside of the school.

• Ensure that Alumni feel supported by the school long after graduation and build a more connected alumni community that continues to engage with the school and current students in meaningful ways.

• Provide the financial and human resources necessary to fully implement these objectives.