OA K FA R M
Montessori School STRATEGIC PLAN
2016-2021
Providing a Montessori environment that inspires children to meet their potential through meaningful work.
Oak Farm Montessori School Strategic Plan 2016-2021
Introduction T
his document summarizes the results of Oak Farm Montessori School’s Strategic Planning Process outlining our
school’s highest priorities over the next five years. The process was facilitated by the Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network and included a team of Oak Farm staff and board members. The team met monthly compiling and reviewing a significant amount of research both, on-site and on their own. The previous 2009 plan and the School Community Survey (ISACS/2015) provided a launch pad for discussion and work for the team. The recommended plan was presented to the Board of Directors for review, and was approved on July 20th, 2016.
Strategic Plan Vision
O
ur vision from the start has been to
achieve an environment where every student at every level is empowered to realize the Portrait of a Graduate and reach their full potential. We worked to build upon the many strengths revealed through the community survey and outline plans that will propel Oak Farm into an ever brighter future.
Portrait of the Oak Farm Montessori School Graduate LIFE-LONG LEARNER • Engaged thinker: is curious and wants to understand what “that” means • Critical thinker: seeks to reason, learn, and analyze using truth and facts • Problem-solver: understands objectives, identifies problems, generates ideas, and implements solutions
GLOBAL CITIZEN • Civic-mindedness: has the knowledge and awareness of the impact of one’s actions on society • Social activism: uses knowledge, awareness, and action on behalf of the world and its people
EMOTIONALLY LITERATE
• • • •
Self-confident Self-understanding Self-respecting Always striving for self-development • Optimistic and joyful • • • • • • •
LEADERSHIP
Responsible Resourceful Self-motivated Self-disciplined Compassion Empathetic Collaborative
"Establishing lasting peace is the work of education." - Maria Montessori
Oak Farm Montessori School Strategic Plan 2016-2021
Background I
n December 2015, Megan O’Sullivan, Head of School contacted the Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network, an outside facilitation organization, to begin work on a strategic plan. The School Community Survey (ISACS/2015) provided a wide breadth of insight with a variety of diverse perspectives. Additionally, the 2008/2009 strategic plan had provided stability and longevity to pursue bolder innovation and explore far-reaching educational dreams. The largest question needing to be answered by the strategic plan was the question of whether Oak Farm could and would start a new high school program in response to overwhelming interest revealed by the survey. This potential objective presented a myriad of possibilities and challenges. We convened multiple community conversations with parent groups and staff. We listened and took stock of concerns and suggestions. Ultimately, it was decided that the addition of a high school would be a top priority objective in fulfilling the vision of Lorene Dekko Salsbery, Oak Farm’s founder, and more effectively carrying out the mission of our school. The document contains this and other strategic decisions for the future of the school.
PROCESS 1) This is a compilation of intesive work among a professional team of educators and community volunteers. 2) The process included the strategic issue areas of: Students, Learning, Community, Faculty, and Finance, Campus and Programs.
3) The plan culminates in: Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics, with measurable timelines and ownership for each strategic issue area.
Key Recommendations Programs Goal: Infant through High School authentic Montessori program housed on the Oak Farm campus. •
Fall 2017: Launch a new high school program with 9th grade and adding one grade thereafter, with a long term plan for 80–120 students. The program will support Oak Farm’s mission through individualized learning plans, a close-knit community, opportunities for student choice and student-directed learning, as well as an entrepreneurship program powered by a S.T.E.A.M. lab, a school business, and a focus on environmental and social stewardship.
O
ur founder, Lorene Dekko Salsbery, began our school with the vision that we would one day become one of the only authentic infant through high school Montessori programs in the country, and world. Maria Montessori outlined a plan for adolescent programming that nurtured the intrinsic needs of young adults to make meaningful contributions to their community and to society. Inspired
by Montessori and by our founder, we have committed to offering a new type of high school programming unprecedented in our area. Oak Farm High School will offer not only outstanding intellectual and academic preparation for future educational settings, but most importantly, will fulfill our broader mission of inspiring students to meet their potential through
meaningful work. Upon graduation from Oak Farm’s high school, our students will be poised to create successful paths for themselves in whatever fields they choose, and will march to the beat of their own drums. We stand ready to be the strongest example available of how a birth through adulthood Montessori education can change lives.
Students Goal: Student body exemplifies our Portrait of a Graduate in their abilities to become emotionally literate, life-long learners, leaders and global citizens •
Attract and retain families inter- • ested in a Montessori education that addresses the full range of their children’s needs.
Ensure alignment of classroom climates with each student’s developmental needs, fostering peace, self-development, confidence, independence, engagement, collaboration, and an inclusive community.
Families come to Oak Farm not just
because they are seeking a school with strong academic preparation. Oak Farm students are encouraged in a myriad of ways to become mature adults who make decisions based on principles, consideration of their impact on others, and careful evaluation of the best way to accomplish their ambitions. Peace education is part of both the explicit and implicit cur-
riculam, and is a critical component in shaping our students to become individuals who will leave the world a better place than they found it. We are committed to ensuring that the whole child’s needs are addressed by our learning environments, so that our students leave us fully equipped to give themselves, as well as others, lives of satisfaction, joy, and accomplishment.
"The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth."
- Maria Montessori
“Education should no longer be mostly imparting knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentials.� - Maria Montessori
Learning Goal: Passionate, curious and confident children, prepared for success in the future •
Engage all children in high interest, • meaningful work across disciplines. Learning opportunities will emphasize real-world application, higher order thinking, and will include opportunities for students to choose the direction they will take their learning to extend it. Focused opportunities for creative problem solving and design thinking will be integrated into the classroom across levels.
All children will experience annual growth in their academic skills, particularly in the areas of reading and math, and will emerge from the Oak Farm program well prepared to tackle the objectives they set for themselves.
Oak Farm Montessori School is known
for providing a myriad of diverse learning opportunities that foster the creative potential of students and encourage deep engagement. Problem-solving, hands-on projects and work with manipulatives, reflection and incorporating the “big picture” are all means to growing our students into dynamic thinkers and action-takers. In a changing world, we are poised to focus on new ways to capture the imagination and interest of all of our students across disciplines. Our students will take advantage of the freedom of choice offered by the Montessori learning environment to fully develop their powers of innovation and discovery, growing their confidence and skills as they move toward a bright future.
Community Goal: Achieve peace through connections, cooperation and collaboration between students, faculty and parents • Engage Oak Farm parents in a va- • Provide elementary and middle riety of ways, both including, but school students regular oppornot limited to, non-school events. tunities for meaningful interaction with the broader community through service learning experi• Strengthen Oak Farm’s position as ences. a valued community asset.
Leadership, service and connectedness are at the heart of what
we do as a school. Oak Farm is a unique organization in northeast Indiana, and we take seriously our responsibility to encourage our students to make a contribution, encourage our parents to engage fully in their children’s education, and position ourselves as an asset to our surrounding community. The more involved we become in supporting one another both within and outside of our school community, the more fruitful become our efforts to inspire our students’ potential and help them build lives of meaning and contribution as adults.
Faculty Goal: Attract and retain effective, mission-aligned educators • The Oak Farm hiring process will • Maintain a professional environconsistently draw a pool of highly ment in which high quality eduqualified educators who would be cators can thrive. a good fit with the school.
The inspiration of each student's po-
tential begins with the commitment of a talented, passionate educator who cares about making a difference in the lives of children. Oak Farm's faculty, teaching and otherwise, are among the finest professionals in the field of education. Our ability to attract and retain individuals with the unique combination of traits and skills required to be outstanding at Oak Farm is critical to our ability
to achieve our mission. To that end, we are focusing on ensuring competitive salaries and benefit packages, a positive professional climate, and a focus on growth that inspires faculty members to be life-long learners.
Finance & Campus Goal: Long-term sustainability of Oak Farm as a school of choice for all Northeast Indiana families •
Complete plans to develop a world • class campus that will fully meet developmental needs of children and the needs of the school community. These plans will include acquisition of the connecting field between north and south campuses, car, bicycle, • and walking path connections across campus, the addition of a building to accommodate the high school program, the addition of a building to house community events, and the addition of outdoor spaces that will support the ecoliteracy program.
Preserve financial affordability so that we can maintain the socioeconomic diversity that has been a long-standing strength of our school community. Increase the school’s financial independence over the long term so that we can be a successful organization for generations to come.
From its founding, Oak Farm has ex-
isted to provide a choice for families in Northeast Indiana looking for a different type of education for their children. Implicit in our mission is a commitment to being financially within reach for any mission-aligned family, and to preserving socioeconomic diversity within our community. Oak Farm, after all, is a school about “who you are, not what you have,” and this value must be sustained. The growth of our financial independence as a maturing organization
will allow us to preserve long into the future the supports that have been in place for families who need them, and to continue to grow and maintain the world-class campus that offers such a rich learning environment for our students. In our final phase of campus development, we stand ready to unite all of our grounds into one master campus, complete with inspiring buildings as well as outdoor learning spaces that reflect our appreciation of the teaching power of nature.
Oak Farm Montessori School Strategic Plan 2016-2021
“We must therefore create a favorable environment that will encourage the flowering of a child's natural gifts.� - Maria Montessori
The world is our classroom. Strategic Plan Committee: Megan O’Sullivan: Head of School Lauren Moyer: Chief Financial Officer Erica Dekko: President, Oak Farm Board of Directors Bridget York: Middle School Director Krissy Mulholland: Director of Admissions, Former Board Member Tom Leedy: Parent, Dekko Foundation President Anna Outten: Parent Oak Farm Board of Directors: Erica Dekko: President Mike Axel: Vice President Mike Yoder: Secretary Casey Weimar Sophia Salsbery Megan O’Sullivan: ex officio, non-voting Lauren Moyer: ex office, non-voting
502 Lemper Road |Avilla, IN 46710 | 260-897-4270