NORTH CROSS SCHOOL
2024 MISSION, VISION, AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
WHO WE ARE
North Cross School is an independent, nonsectarian school serving students in early childhood through 12th grade from across the Roanoke Valley, the region, and the world.
MISSION
Our mission is to inspire a community of intellectually curious learners to think critically, act with integrity, and lead with courage.
MESSAGE FROM THE NORTH CROSS HEAD OF SCHOOL AND BOARD CHAIR
Dear North Cross Community,
Our students at North Cross stand out for their joy in learning, academic potential, leadership attributes, and vibrant engagement in all aspects of school life. They are curious about each other and the world around them. They lead with honor and embody the values learned from a character-focused education. They eagerly seek out academic challenges and aspire to improve our community and our world. They thrive on a campus where they matter – to each other, to the faculty and staff — and where they learn not only to cherish this community but also to contribute meaningfully to any community they join.
Our students — both present and future — are at the heart of our new strategic vision. We are pleased to share this framework with
you, which has been approved by the North Cross Board of Trustees following a year-long process led by our Strategic Planning Committee.
As you review the framework, please pay close attention to our Strategic Vision. From the outset, we identified two core tenets to which we are firmly committed. The five strategic priorities that follow support this bold vision and outline the anticipated steps we will take to achieve it. The vision and priorities were developed and refined by our Strategic Planning Committee based on the feedback gathered through parent, faculty/staff, and student listening sessions; faculty/staff strategic planning focus groups; and through the insights and hopes shared through our Parent Survey.
Starting this fall, our school’s mission and strategic framework will guide our decisionmaking and align everyone in the North Cross community. Our vision ensures that we create the best possible college preparatory learning environment, one that places students at the center of decision-making and design. Our focus on strengthening and securing the school’s financial future reflects North Cross’s undeniable momentum and its unwavering commitment to its students today and in the future. North Cross’s promise as an independent school steeped in educational excellence makes it vitally important to our region. Our school’s strength and endurance depend on financial resources beyond tuition and on thoughtful long-term planning to be excellent stewards of those resources.
Focusing on our strategic vision and priorities allows us to envision a vibrant future for North Cross. We will move forward with clarity, evolve our curriculum purposefully, support our outstanding faculty and staff, and prepare for the future with intentionality — always keeping our students’ experience at the forefront. At North Cross, we remain committed to developing, as one parent described, “the 360 degree human”— an individual who understands their place in the larger world and who is developing the skills and values to contribute meaningfully to it.
Thank you to our Strategic Planning Committee for their inspiring work in creating a framework that meets this extraordinary moment for North Cross.
Thank you, North Cross community, for contributing your ideas and insights over the last year to ensure our school’s bright future.
Sincerely,
Armistead Lemon ‘95
Head of School
Sarah Boxley Beck ‘98
Chair, Board of Trustees
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE
Shelly Basile P ‘25, 28 Faculty
Sarah Boxley Beck ‘98, P ‘29, ‘34 - Trustee
Kim Blair Trustee
Kevin Connelly P ‘29, ‘31, ‘35 - Trustee
Cathy Greenberg P ‘01, ‘04, ‘08 - Trustee
William Greer P ‘22, ‘25, ‘27 - Staff
Armistead Lemon ‘95, P ‘32, ‘34 - Staff
John Lugar P ‘25, ‘28 - Trustee
Kate Parker P ‘24 - Parent
James Ramey P ‘31 - Trustee
STRATEGIC VISION
Our vision and five strategic priorities will drive the work of our school’s Leadership Team and Board of Trustees for many years to come. Our vision is comprised of two non-negotiable tenets we identified from the outset of our planning process and to which we are firmly committed. The strategic priorities and anticipated action steps on the pages that follow support the vision. We believe this framework creates the permission needed for North Cross to take bold steps forward while being nimble enough to navigate the inevitable shifts and currents that arise in our world today.
North Cross School will transform learning through a student-centered experience and student-led culture.
North Cross School will secure the financial future of the school, ensuring it has the personnel, facilities, and capital necessary to flourish.
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Our five strategic priorities are designed to help us achieve our strategic vision.
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North Cross School will create transformative and joyful academic experiences which prioritize student engagement, spark intellectual curiosity, and rely on high-quality learning design and assessment.
North Cross School will ensure a vibrant student experience with a focus on the whole student, emphasizing a culture built on student voice, leadership, and resilience.
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North Cross School commits to the development and enhancement of physical spaces and schedules to advance the ambitions of our program.
North Cross School will adopt a strategic financial approach, balancing the immediate needs of the school with its long-term plans.
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North Cross School will be a vital partner in our regional and global communities.
The faculty and staff make the school feel like home. For me, this sparks my curiosity to learn because I feel included and like I have the chance to connect with my teachers.
-Higgins, 8th grade
STRATEGIC PRIORITY N O 1 :: NCS ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
North Cross School will create transformative and joyful academic experiences which prioritize student engagement, spark intellectual curiosity, and rely on high-quality learning design and assessment.
ANTICIPATED ACTION STEPS
• Review, enhance, and evolve our academic program.
• Allocate resources for deepening and sustaining our commitment to ongoing faculty professional learning.
• Explore divisional signature programs at top JK3-12 independent schools across the country and identify and develop signature learning experiences for North Cross students.
• Connect academic program evolution and enhancement to data on student engagement, brain research, and evidence-based teaching and learning practices.
• In order to support strategic academic initiatives, develop a sustainable and iterative professional learning model for faculty that allows for faculty-led professional learning communities and transformative learning in and out of the classroom.
• Embrace and implement a four-strand learning model of student engagement – curricular learning, flow learning, interdependent learning, and learning in community – to enhance the student learning experience.
“North Cross gives every student so many opportunities in a variety of ways, whether it is running for a spot in the SCA or being a team captain on your sports team. Student-led leadership is such an important thing as it gives kids a chance to step outside of their comfort zone and try things that they wouldn’t normally plan on doing.”
-Lizzie, 8th grade
“I think North Cross provides many student-led activities such as intramurals or chess with the 3rd graders. A good student-led culture is open and respectful with many fun activities.”
-Ethan, 7th grade
STRATEGIC PRIORITY N O 2 :: NCS STUDENT EXPERIENCE
North Cross School will ensure a vibrant student experience with a focus on the whole student, emphasizing a culture built on student voice, leadership, and resilience.
ANTICIPATED ACTION STEPS
• Commit resources to the health and well-being of the student body with the understanding that students learn best when they are physically and mentally healthy.
• Develop thoughtful onboarding programming for students and parents – both new to North Cross and new to divisions – to ensure a sense of belonging and to create continuity and commitment to the school culture.
• Create authentic student leadership and ambassador opportunities in all areas of campus life.
• Expand and deepen our commitment to experiential learning.
• With student input, strengthen and when necessary restructure our co-curricular programs to ensure all students feel they matter, that their voice is valuable, and that we are meeting the programmatic needs of both girls and boys.
• Clarify and imbed a leadership framework for all JK3 through twelfth grade students that defines the many ways that our students lead with courage.
• Bolster the residential life experience for our boarding students and more deeply integrate that programming into the community for the benefit of all NCS students.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY N O 3 :: NCS ENVIRONMENT
North Cross School commits to the development and enhancement of physical spaces and schedules to advance the ambitions of our program.
ANTICIPATED ACTION STEPS
• Re-envision and redesign our academic schedules to ensure opportunities for robust and creative student learning experiences.
• Allocate resources for an evaluation of current facilities and the development of a new campus master plan.
• Identify areas of greatest need in our current facilities and determine best use and enhancement to strengthen the student experience.
• Prioritize capital projects that align with the goals of the strategic plan.
• Identify experienced school design partners to support and inform the work of schedules and spaces.
• Gather data on trends in education and optimal learning environments to inform future planning.
• Develop a sustainable plan for maintenance and physical plant reserves.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY N O 4 :: NCS RESOURCES
North Cross School will adopt a strategic financial approach, balancing the immediate needs of the school with its long-term plans.
ANTICIPATED ACTION STEPS
• Evaluate compensation, benefits, and transparent salary banding to recruit and retain the best faculty and staff.
• Develop a sustainable approach and timeline for endowment growth.
• Direct and acquire resources necessary to support our strategic goals and initiatives.
• Build a robust culture of giving at North Cross by prioritizing our Annual Fund.
• Build a multi-year financial model that establishes and prioritizes our short and long term financial goals.
• Develop a long-term enrollment management strategy to address market demand and prioritize mission-aligned students and families.
Ryan Hunt ‘14
“My favorite place in NCS is the CAC, because there’s always fun things to do there, like PE and pep rallies.”
“North Cross provides student-led opportunities such as painting the mural, SCA, a Lower Schooler becoming the principal for the day, 5th grade buddies, ECP buddies, and many more. A student-led culture is so important and means so much to me because it allows students to experience leadership and independence.”
-Carmella, 5th grade
-Sidney, 7th grade
“A North Cross student embodies a variety of traits— such as honesty and dedication to academics and athletics—along with many others that define our unique identity.”
-Elizabeth, 8th grade
STRATEGIC PRIORITY N O 5 :: NCS COMMUNITY PARTNER
North Cross School will be a vital partner in our regional and global communities.
ANTICIPATED ACTION STEPS
• Create a strong presence in the Roanoke Valley through meaningful strategic partnerships.
• Support and encourage faculty and staff to join the state and national conversations about independent school education through publications, presentations, and attendance at conferences.
• Develop sustainable opportunities for meaningful exchange between students and faculty across our domestic and international campuses.
• Commit resources to telling the story of the North Cross student experience.
• Design a Portrait of a North Cross Graduate that captures the values we strive to impart through a North Cross education.
STRATEGIC PLANNING PARTNERS
We extend our sincere appreciation to the North Cross Leadership Team and Board of Trustees for their dedication and commitment to the development of this strategic plan and the advancement of our school as a whole. Your efforts are instrumental in driving our mission forward.
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Armistead Lemon, Head of School
Dominic Basile, Chief Financial Officer
Stephen Belderes, Director of Student Life
Kate Branciforte, Director of Residential Life
Emily Brown, Director of the Early Childhood Program, Opening Doors, and Summer Programs
Zachary S. DeMoss, Director of Information Technology and Security
Jeremy Eubank, Director of Athletics
Matthew Gilliland, Director of Admission and Financial Aid
William T. Greer, Assistant Head of School for Advancement
Allie Kier, Director of the Middle School and Interim Director of the Upper School
Victor Lamas, Assistant Head of School and Director of the Lower School
M. Eric Lawrence, Assistant Head of School for Operations
Kit Prillaman, CrossWalk Program Director
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Sarah Boxley Beck, ’98, Chair
George I. Vogel III, ’93, Vice Chair and Treasurer
Joseph M. Hoff, Secretary
Priya Acharya
Kimberly P. Blair
Tyler D. Caveness, ‘10
Michaux Tayloe Chopski
W. Patton Coles IV
Kevin Connelly
R. Ethan Cook, ‘89
Blair Godsey, ‘97
Cathy Greenberg
John C. Harlow
Dr. Read Montague
John H. Parrott, Jr., ‘76
Kevin R. Quinn
James Ramey
Alexis Ratliff
Linda Leigh Rhoads
William Terry
Allen Whittle
Armistead Lemon, ‘95, Ex officio
NEXT
STEPS WITH OUR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
The work to achieve our strategic vision is ongoing and continually evolving. We greatly value the insights and contributions of our trustees, alumni, current and former parents, students, faculty, and staff members. As we strive to achieve our future goals, there remains much work to be done.
We encourage you to complete our surveys and invite you to reach out if you are interested in supporting specific strategic initiatives. Your involvement is crucial to our success.
