Planning with vision | SPRING 2012
The Country Day School ONE OF THE LEADING INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS IN CANADA
When the plan flows from the vision, every decision will be purposeful, and every dollar will be well spent. With vision, there is focus and direction.
PLANNING WITH Vision In EARLY 2012, led by the Board of Directors, CDS launched a new strategic plan and articulated it through the Planning With Vision document (www.cds.on.ca/future). The overarching theme that emerged from the plan was an emphasis on further enhancing the student experience. Among other initiatives, it seeks to maintain a solid financial footing, to strengthen programmes, to bolster admissions and marketing and to identify key facility initiatives going forward in a manner that reflects our mission, vision and guiding principles. A few highlights of our major strategic initiatives carried out this year, which will be fully manifested in 2012-13, include enhancing our academic programme by reducing class size and adding back an Academic Director to our staff, expanding our outdoor education programme, re-designing our website and examining the most pressing needs of core facilities. What you are about to read is an update on the next transformational steps that we, together as a community, are about to take vis à vis the strategic plan. With the full support of the Board, Head of School, John Liggett shared this vision during his address at the 39th Annual CDS Auction on May 25, 2012. Excerpts of his speech follow.
DISCOVERING
DEVELOPING THE FINEST
THE PASSION
CAMPUS RESOURCES
Community is a word you hear a lot at CDS. Since my arrival 10 months ago, I have been struck by the overwhelming strength of it – but it’s more than just a word at CDS – it’s a defining characteristic. At CDS, I believe community is best defined by one word – passion. For kids who have a passion, we help them explore it. For those who are still in search of one, we help them discover it.
With our guiding principle Develop the Finest Campus Resources in mind, for the past 10-15 years, our facility expansions have focused on the arts and athletics.
As I am approaching the end of my first year, the passions I have for this place are becoming clear, definable, and undeniable: The students, the faculty and staff, our families, our community, our 100 acres and our big, blue, seemingly endless sky have all entered my psyche, my spirit and my heart. There was a new sense of optimism in the hallways of CDS this past September that has carried on throughout the year. I was honoured and privileged to enter the successful CDS narrative 40 years into its story. Almost immediately, together with the Board and my faculty and staff, we began making plans to deepen the community connections that bind our school. We began to make plans about what the next chapters in the CDS story might look like – to aspire higher – to dream bigger – to consider what passions will fuel students for the next 40 years, and to determine what we need to provide to help them find and explore every one.
In 2002, we opened a fantastic theatre and music complex. It is the envy of our peers and has helped us establish a wonderful base in the performing arts that serves the notion of balance masterfully. Our athletic facilities are now remarkable. We have 3 full-size gyms, 7 natural grass fields, a track and field complex, a full-size and lit synthetic field, a new, small yet well-equipped fitness room, 4 tennis courts and the Cyclone Dome. There is no doubt that we have built up our strength in the arts and athletics at CDS. It is now apparent that the School has several clear needs in the short term. Our new strategic plan called for a new Master Campus Plan (MCP) to be initiated this year. The first step was for me to thoroughly acquaint myself with the prior MCP. That analysis uncovered that the 2001 MCP included significant items that have yet to be accomplished. Set out as priorities in 2001, eleven years later, they are now even more pressing needs in terms of ensuring our future success – for laying the groundwork for the next chapters of the CDS story.
Making Connections The Campaign for The Country Day School I am pleased to announce that in January and April of this year, the CDS Board of Directors approved a plan, which has several caveats, that would see us embark on an exciting building campaign that we believe will address our current needs. Athletic Pavilion Our impressive outdoor athletic facilities lack some basic services. CDS is busy athletically almost every day of the week. Our outdoor components need the support of change rooms and washrooms. Currently, our visiting teams and our own students use port-a-potties and they must come in and out of the School to change and refill water bottles. We would like to build a modest athletic pavilion to service our extensive athletic facilities. We believe that such a pavilion will complete and complement our high caliber athletic facilities where we all connect as an athletic community. As important as it is, this project is on a small scale compared to the next two parts of the project. 21st Century Senior School The Senior School houses almost half of our student population. Built in the late 80s, in frugal fashion commensurate with a school that really was just starting out, the Senior School was just adding its first graduating classes (we were a K-8 school until then). The building is now unfortunately very energy inefficient and has not aged well. We intend to build an inspirational new Senior School, one that will facilitate 21st Century learning, foster connections and community, and embrace leading green building initiatives in keeping with our natural, country beginnings.
Dining Hall Now, for the third and last on the list. I have to preface unveiling it with the notion that in the quiet conversations I`ve had throughout the year, the support for this final initiative has not only been unanimous, but best characterized as an accompanying very loud chorus of support! Neuroscience is finally connecting, in a significant way, to the process of learning, and the knowledge is that the brain and the body are fuelled by food. The manner in which we facilitate lunch at CDS – well – it`s interesting. This aspect of the School has a uniqueness amongst our peers that we likely don`t want to perpetuate. We are to finally address this at CDS by providing an inspiring physical space that will form the heart of the School, a place that houses a well-conceived, nutritionally-sound and universally-available lunch programme to properly feed the minds and bodies of our students. A new dining hall will be centrally located, it will anchor the School in the future, and it will seat 300-400 students at a time. Every student in the School will use this proposed dining hall every single day.
Sharing the Vision The projects I've just described may very well be the worst kept secret in CDS history. I've been talking about them all year! One of the places they were discussed was at our Meet the New Head of School dinners. We had 27 dinners this year. Every family in the School was invited. We purposefully connected with approximately 675 parents, listening attentively along the way for what was important to them about CDS in its present and its future.
Building Community Support This is a major project that promises to be transformational for The Country Day School! Now for the project caveats: 1. From start to finish, prudent and responsible management of the project will be required and will be monitored both by the School’s leadership and its Board of Directors. 2. The financial base of this project is built on community support. For the past 40 years, the School has grown as a result of the community believing in the value of our unique approach to education. This major capital project will require significant financial support from the community if it is to go forward.
3. We also need to ensure that, if indeed construction goes forward, the project is carried out in such a way that the continued operation of the School during construction is not impeded. It is crucial that our students continue to receive a superior educational experience in the interim. 4. Finally, we are in the early planning stages of the project. While we have done some significant modeling to date, there is much investigation of the specifics to come. Any or all of these may cause the project to be postponed or significantly modified. While the CDS Board and the School's management team have been modeling this project, we have been busy quietly building support in our community for this vision. We have set a target of $10 million for the campaign. 5. The financial modeling we have conducted so far does not rely on additional tuition fee increases in order to facilitate the project, nor have we modeled an expansion of student capacity – we believe the School is currently at, or near, its right size in terms of student population. We will commence construction of the project when an appropriate level of community consultation has taken place, when construction has been appropriately tendered to market, and when the Board determines that sufficient financial support for the project has been committed.
Shaping the Vision Leaders within our community will shape the vision. Today, we launch a bold and visionary campaign in support of the next chapters of the CDS story. Our project is ultimately about providing both functional and inspirational spaces within which our kids will learn, grow and thrive, and to give them what they need to realize their life’s passion. We are currently in the visioning stage. Over the next few months, there will be opportunities for the community to help shape this vision as we take the project from the idea stage, through the architectural process, and onto the building stage. Leaders among our families will come forward to tell us about the passion that motivates them for CDS. In personal conversations, many in our community have been given the opportunity to apprise us of their early views of the project. Those conversations have yielded wonderful insights and advice, and most significantly, our parent and donor community has been universally supportive of our direction. Some have already confirmed their commitment! I am both ecstatic and tremendously grateful to be able to announce publicly an incredible lead gift of $1 million by CDS parents and generous philanthropists, Sylvia and Robert Mantella towards the Making Connections Campaign. We are incredibly humbled and thankful that the Mantellas have stepped
forward to lead the campaign off in such a significant way. We are encouraged that this exciting project will become a reality because of the tremendous support of our families, and I look forward to being able to announce many more leadership gifts in the coming weeks and months.
Igniting the Vision Ed Eberts, Co-Founder of The Country Day School, visited us a few weeks back and I had the opportunity to share with him some of the recent successes we have been enjoying this past term. I saw in Ed's reaction the spark that he helped ignite some 40 years ago. That same spark has been kept alive by the collective efforts of all who have supported the School since that time. Ed acted on his passion to help make CDS a reality, and we will always be grateful for that. Mr. Eberts wrote the very first words in the CDS narrative. I've been privileged and honoured to enter the CDS story at this exciting point in its history. Now I, and we – parents, students, alumni, friends and staff – have become the stewards of that idea, that spirit, that vision, that important sense of balance, in this place where all are welcome – that Mr. Eberts helped to ignite all those years ago.
Who Will You Be?
Our Vision
CDS is a place where yesterday, today and tomorrow, students can let their passion guide them to discover who they will be. Through your efforts and your generosity, your children and generations of children to follow will be inspired – will find their passion. And each, in their own unique and wonderful way, will answer the question: “Who will you be?”
The Country Day School is committed to offering a superior educational experience that is sensitive to the needs of each student, enables learning and equips students for life.
CDS crafted a wonderful film over three shooting days at our incredible school. The film reflects who we are now, while confirming our commitment to each child: we will enable each CDS student to define who he or she will be by finding and guiding a life’s passion – through an education with balance, without limits! We hope you will dream and take action with us.
Please visit www.cds.on.ca/whowillyoube to view this captivating film. As you are moved by the music and lyrics, note that they were composed and performed by CDS alumnus, JP Saxe ’11, who is currently pursuing and shaping his life’s passion in music and service. Both his talent and his understanding of The Country Day School emerge through his compelling and passionate lyrics.
Our Guiding Principles Nurture academic excellence Build sound and honourable character Raise social and global awareness Advocate fitness for life Employ talented people Promote community involvement Create a place where all are welcome Develop the finest campus resources
www.cds.on.ca/future
Who Will You Be? J.P. Saxe '11
Looking for something to look for Searching for someone to be Wishing on anything To show me there’s places to dream, outside my sleep Looking for someone to lead me When I already know where to go Finding my face in a place I am learning To call my home And I’ve been asking myself what means something to me There’s this voice in my head saying “Who will you be?”
www.cds.on.ca/whowillyoube
The Country Day School
13415 Duffe rin Street, King, Ontario, Canada L7B 1K5 www.cds.on.ca The Countr y Day School ( JK-12) is a co-ed, non-denominational, university-preparator y school.