2023 Strategic Plan - Xaverian Brothers High School

Strategic Plan |

Redefining Strong 2023

Xaverian Brothers High School

Introduction & History

The history of Xaverian Brothers High School is one marked by determination, perseverance, success, and the enduring spirit of the Xaverian Brothers. Beginning with the school’s founding in 1963, Xaverian has become one of the strongest, most recognizable Catholic, all-boys schools in the Northeast. Guided by the mission of the Congregation of the Brothers of St. Francis Xavier, we strive to educate each student as he hones his gifts and talents so that he can share those gifts with a world in need. This is our legacy - past, present, and future.

As a Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School, we are guided by The Fundamental Principles of the Brothers of St. Francis Xavier which remind us that we “...are called to a life of constant searching. Let the developments and changes of your times be a source both of confidence and challenge to you.”

This document, Xaverian’s Strategic Plan - Redefining Strong, reflects that constant searching as we respond to the needs of our young men in grades 7 - 12. This plan charts the course forward. By definition, this document is strategic, designed with input from multiple stakeholders as it serves as a beacon for what our future holds. Ultimately, our call is to implement the strategies and initiatives herein as we strive to further strengthen our position as a premier all-boys, Catholic, and Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School.

While we currently enjoy a position of strength, our rapidly changing world requires us to both maintain and enhance this position. Such rapid change also compels us to construct a strategic plan that is not necessarily time-bound but is instead responsive and adaptable. We believe Xaverian is well-positioned to pursue the initiatives contained within this plan, and we will maintain a flexible mindset to refine them as needed. This stance is crucial as the Xaverian Brothers remind us to “... prayerfully reflect on the past, assess the present, and ponder the future…” in service to our students.

We fully embrace the ideas and strategies presented here as they will help us to ensure that our graduates will always be equipped with the skills, values, and understanding necessary to serve themselves, their families, and most importantly the communities in which they reside.

We are incredibly grateful to the many people who aided in the construction of this strategic plan, and we thank those who graciously offered their thoughts, opinions, and perspectives. We are equally excited about the possibilities and opportunities that exist for Xaverian. If you are reading this document, chances are that you are equally excited! We invite you to partner with us as we bring the future of Xaverian to our students and their families.

Xaverian Brothers High School

Xaverian’s Mission

Xaverian has always been firmly dedicated to its mission. Our faculty, staff, students, administrators, and board of trustees are called to personify our mission through their efforts, actions, and behaviors. We are all called to build upon the legacy of this mission as entrusted to us by the Xaverian Brothers. As such, our strategic plan requires that we keep our mission at the forefront of our efforts. After all, it is our mission that defines who we are and reminds us of where we ought to go. For reference, our current mission statement reads as follows:

Xaverian Brothers High School, a Catholic college-preparatory school for boys, cherishes its identity as a Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School. Drawing on the traditions of the past, living in the strength of the present, and preparing for the needs of the future, Xaverian Brothers High School is a community of faith and learning that is committed to developing the integration of spiritual, moral, intellectual, physical, emotional, cultural, and social dimensions within each young man. Through participation in academic, extracurricular, athletic, and campus ministry programs, a Xaverian graduate will be prepared to meet the demands of higher education, to contribute to society, and to answer the call of Christian service.

Xaverian Brothers High School

The Strategic Planning Process

Our strategic planning work began in early 2022 as members of the administration researched the meaning and purpose of strategic planning, the various methods through which such plans are constructed, and the inherent value that strategic planning can provide schools and organizations. Additionally, in an attempt to gain insight and perspective, we held conversations with schools that recently developed strategic plans. Xaverian’s leadership also interviewed a strategic planning consultant whose efforts are specifically tailored to Catholic schools in an attempt to understand further the complexities associated with successful strategic planning.

Ultimately, Xaverian decided to develop its plan independently while consulting with the Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School Office Executive Director, Dr. Patrick Slattery. While pursuing this course, the school’s leadership was adamant that all major constituents have an opportunity to propose their thoughts on the future of Xaverian. Students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, and members of our board of trustees all offered their perspective on the strategic plan. These thoughts and recommendations contributed to the foundation of this strategic plan.

To conduct this effort, Xaverian formed a six-person strategic planning committee led by Head of School, Dr. Jacob Conca ’94 and Principal, Dr. Michael Nicholson, P ’29.

The strategic planning committee’s primary goal was to lead the school community through the development of our plan. We surveyed our current students, parents, faculty, staff, administration, board of trustees, and our recent alumni. Focus groups were held with our faculty, staff, administration, board, and alumni, all with an eye toward understanding the opportunities before us. An analysis of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) was developed at the suggestion of our board of trustees to further aid in our thinking and planning.

Our work was developed as we analyzed Xaverian through the following six themes and their corresponding aspirational statements.

Mission and Identity

Aspirational Statement: We aspire to ensure that all of our programs, initiatives, and activities are fully animated by, and aligned with, our Catholic and Xaverian mission and identity.

Community and People

Aspirational Statement: We aspire to ensure that the people within our community are properly supported and nurtured as they engage in all aspects of Xaverian. Paramount in this effort is the growth, care, and development of our students - the primary reason our school exists.

Program (academics, athletics, campus ministry, community/culture/equity, counseling, extra/co-curricular activities, fine arts)

Aspirational Statement: We aspire to ensure that all aspects of our new and existing program are of the highest caliber, aligned with our pursuit of excellence, and grounded in our mission as a Catholic and Xaverian school.

Facility and Infrastructure

Aspirational Statement: We aspire to ensure that our facilities, infrastructure, and grounds are developed, maintained, and utilized in a manner that allows us to fully maximize all aspects of the Xaverian program.

Finance and Advancement

Aspirational Statement: We aspire to ensure that all of our financial and advancement activities remain fiscally responsible and in full alignment with our stated mission. As fiduciaries of Xaverian, ensuring that Xaverian remains fiscally strong in both the short- and long-term is vital to our efforts.

Admissions and Enrollment Management

Aspirational Statement: We aspire to ensure that Xaverian remains accessible and affordable to as many young men as possible. Maintaining healthy enrollment at all grade levels is essential to sustaining the breadth and depth of our programmatic offerings.

During the 2021-2022 school year, every member of our faculty, staff, and administration was invited to participate on a thematic committee dedicated to examining Xaverian through one of our six themes noted above. In addition, these committees worked to generate independent reports dedicated to reviewing Xaverian through their particular lens. The primary function of each report was to propose both short- and long-term goals for potential inclusion within the final version of our strategic plan.

Finally, the strategic planning committee, informed by synthesized data gathered from surveys, focus groups, and thematic committee reports, developed the strategic plan. The result is a plan with a collaborative vision and strategy developed by community members representing all of our major constituent groups. This is an important element of our process, as the successful implementation of this plan will require sustained collaboration with the same dedicated constituents.

In the section that follows, you will see the results of our collective efforts. Most importantly, you will see seven strategic priorities. We intend to begin work on these priorities now. Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to chart the future of Xaverian. We hope you enjoy reading Xaverian’s Strategic Plan - Redefining Strong.

Xaverian Brothers High School Strategic Priorities

In light of the recently completed work associated with our strategic planning efforts and our enduring desire to pursue excellence in all that we do, Xaverian Brothers High School is committed to the following seven priorities.

PRIORITY 1. Rearticulate and Refresh our Mission Statement

This priority calls us to:

• Update the school’s mission statement to enhance its clarity, understanding, and meaning;

• Appropriately incorporate our growing DEI knowledge and understandings into the updated mission statement;

• Ensure that our mission statement is easily understood by all constituents, including current and future students and families.

While the mission of Xaverian has always been understood—to provide an exceptional education in the Catholic and Xaverian Brothers tradition to every qualified young man— much has been written about what it means to be a Xaverian and Catholic school since the last revision of our mission statement, over 20 years ago.

Though Xaverian’s mission remains solidly in place, priority one calls us to collaboratively update our mission statement in order to make it more concise, better defined, and more easily understood. Using language from the Xaverian Brothers’ Partners in Mission document, The Fundamental Principles of the Brothers of St. Francis Xavier, and other Xaverian-specific resources, our goal is to create a mission statement that more strongly represents the goodness of our work and the richness of our community, for both today and in the years to come.

Accountability: This priority will be led by the communications team, in collaboration with the board of trustees, Xaverian’s Leadership Council, and the administration.

PRIORITY 2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Priority two calls us to:

• Engage in professional development to better understand how we can best serve our increasingly diverse student body;

• Further develop supports to ensure that every Xaverian student has equitable access to all aspects of a Xaverian education;

• Strengthen our workforce by recruiting diverse faculty, staff, administrators, and board members.

Beginning in February 2020, Xaverian assembled a committee of faculty, staff, and administrators to further explore the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our school. The enormity of this work is readily apparent as it touches all aspects of our school community.

Efforts related to priority two will result in a better understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion among all school-wide constituents, as well as the creation of enhanced programs, policies, and behaviors that help to ensure every student is appreciated and valued as a unique expression of God’s love.

It is important to note that this work is designed to build and strengthen the Xaverian community; it will not be divisive in nature as that would defeat the underlying premise of this priority, namely to ensure that every student is properly supported, nurtured, valued, cared for, and understood.

Accountability: These efforts will be led by our principal in close collaboration with the Office for Community, Culture, and Equity, the administrative team, and department chairpersons.

PRIORITY 3: Enhance the Academic Program

Priority three calls us to conduct a comprehensive curriculum audit informed by our stated mission, the latest educational/neuroscience research (CTTL and MBE), and our DEI efforts. We will then act on the audit’s most pertinent findings to:

• Identify areas of our curriculum that need strengthening;

• Develop new academic courses/programs with special consideration paid to financial literacy, bio/tech and life sciences, STEM, cultural competency, health and wellness, and campus ministry.

While Xaverian maintains a robust student experience rooted in exceptional academic, campus ministry, athletic, and fine arts programming, our strategic planning highlights a desire to further expand our offerings. When one considers the fast paced and ever changing landscape of our globally connected world, the impetus for priority three becomes clear; to remain relevant we must ensure that our program of study continues to meet the needs of today’s students.

As such, we will need to first conduct the appropriate research to discern which offerings will best support the continued growth of our students. This process could result in the addition of courses, programs, or even a new department, and it may require specific resources and funding to come to fruition.

Accountability: Accountability for priority three will be led by the Xaverian Leadership Council, in close collaboration with the administrative and advancement teams.

PRIORITY 4: Leverage our Geographic Location to Supplement Academic Growth

Priority four calls us to:

• Establish strategic partnerships with local universities, companies, hospitals, and non-profit organizations to provide real-world learning experiences for our students.

Xaverian is located approximately 15 miles outside of the world-class city of Boston, Massachusetts. We are surrounded by the region’s exceptional universities, hospitals, technology companies, and cultural resources. This priority challenges us to look beyond the walls of our school in an attempt to fully leverage the resources afforded to us by our geographic location. The results of this effort will be strategic partnerships with select local institutions that further enhance student knowledge, understanding, and real-world applicability of curricular concepts.

Accountability: Efforts associated with priority four will be led by the advancement and counseling teams, in collaboration with the administrative team and the Xaverian Leadership Council.

PRIORITY 5: Maximize Affordability through Endowment and Scholarships

Priority five requires that we:

• Continue to keep Xaverian affordable for as many qualified young men as possible;

• Explore the creation of new funding opportunities and sources including endowed positions, endowed departments, scholarship opportunities, and more.

Dating back to its founding in 1963, Xaverian has always strived to remain affordable for as many qualified young men as possible. While tuition covers the majority of our operating expenses, the need to continue providing financial aid and scholarship dollars is vital. Therefore, priority five calls us to build our endowment and increase scholarship opportunities in order to keep our school affordable for our young men and their families.

Accountability: The advancement team will be responsible for this priority, with support from the head of school, the business office, and the advancement committee of the board of trustees.

PRIORITY 6: Conduct a Capital Campaign Feasibility Study

Priority six requires that we:

• Conduct a capital campaign feasibility study to determine how much capital can be raised (through gifts and donations) to fund the initiatives contained in our strategic plan.

Several identified priorities (in particular priorities three, four, five, and seven) will require capital and focused fundraising efforts. Typically, the resources needed to bring the “big ticket” items to fruition emerge through a combination of increased debt and fundraising. Conducting a capital campaign feasibility study will help illuminate our fundraising possibilities. Simply stated, a successful capital campaign will be essential to satisfy several noted priorities.

The capital campaign feasibility study should be completed in the next 8-12 months.

Accountability: The advancement team will be responsible for this priority, with support from the head of school, the advancement committee of the board of trustees, and the entire board.

PRIORITY 7: Enhance our Facilities, Buildings, and Grounds

Priority seven requires that we complete the following, in order:

• Create additional parking space, especially given that access to overflow parking at Moderna is now severely limited;

• Renovate our cafeteria, kitchen, and servery to create a modern, student-centered common space for dining, gathering, socializing, and events;

• Construct additional fine arts space and renovate existing space, including practice spaces, a modernized band room, performance spaces, and storage;

• Once the above items are realized, Xaverian will then re-assess the needs of our physical plant. At that point, options to consider include but are not limited to, the expansion of our X-Ploration Center, additional classroom/lab space, a multi-purpose athletic center, a dedicated wrestling room, a 25-yard competition pool with diving well, and an ice rink.

Enhancing our facilities, buildings, and grounds will be a labor-intensive process that includes architectural designs, permitting, construction, and securing the necessary gifts to fund construction/renovations. However, the results of this work will be a modernized physical plant designed to meet the growing needs of our students and families. It is also imperative that any facilities work be completed in an environmentally conscious and sustainable manner, as we are called to be good stewards of our environment.

Accountability: Priority seven will be led by our head of school in close collaboration with the facilities and finance committees of the board of trustees, the administrative team, and Xaverian’s Leadership Council.

Xaverian Brothers High School

Collaboration Between School Leadership & Board

Each of the seven established priorities is accompanied by a specific layer of accountability that details which people will be responsible for the successful completion of each priority. However, accountability for successfully completing the entire strategic plan will reside with school leadership, in close partnership with our board of trustees.

Therefore, school leadership and the board of trustees will remain in regular communication regarding the progress associated with each of the seven priorities. Such communication will be essential to our collaborative approach and it will most likely occur in the form of written updates provided within the Head of School Report and/or the Principal Report, as well as conversations that will emerge in board of trustee meetings and associated committee meetings.

Lastly, this strategic plan has been purposely built with a fair degree of inherent flexibility, should we need it. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were reminded of the need to be flexible in the face of unforeseen events, changing conditions, and shifting resources. Therefore, open lines of communication and collaboration between school leadership and the board of trustees will allow us to modify our strategic plan should our future circumstances warrant such action.

Xaverian Brothers High School Conclusion

As Xaverian continues to march forward, it is important to note that our students and families expect more of our school than ever before. The growing expectations are broad, but most often include:

• A steadfast commitment to our mission as a Catholic and Xaverian school;

• A stellar academic program delivered by caring, compassionate, and dedicated faculty, staff, and administrators who partner with students and their families;

• A safe and nurturing school environment, characterized by a consistent dedication to the growth and development of every young man in our care;

• Character formation aligned with our mission as a Xaverian and Catholic school;

• Increasing efforts to be a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community;

• A call to continue to be environmentally conscious in all endeavors;

• State-of-the-art facilities that serve all aspects of our program;

• Superb college placement and post-secondary guidance/counseling;

• Loyal, supportive, and dedicated alumni;

• An unwavering desire to pursue excellence in all we do, both now and in the future.

Each year, we intend to review our strategic plan, make adjustments in light of current events, and continue to act upon the initiatives that will best serve our students, their families, and our school. In this way, Xaverian’s Strategic Plan - Redefining Strong, will truly be a living document that continually guides and informs our school’s progress and initiatives.

We welcome this opportunity to serve our students and their families. To receive a Xaverian education truly is a blessing and, as evidenced by the items contained within our strategic plan, we intend to deliver this gift to as many deserving young men as possible. We hope you join us in this remarkable endeavor.

Respectfully,

Jacob A. Conca ’94, Ph.D.

Michael G. Nicholson, P ’29, Ed.D. Head of School Principal