Strategic Planning for The Blake School
Blake 2010: Investing in Excellence, Committing to Community and Ensuring Effectiveness
Preamble
In the fall of 2004, the Blake Board of Trustees launched a strategic planning effort that will shape the School's agenda for the years to come. In 1999, as the Centennial Campaign was just getting underway, the Board approved "Goals 2000-2005." This document has guided the School through a successful period of expansion. After five years, however, it was time to revisit priorities and reassess challenges and opportunities as Blake made plans for the next period of its work with children and young adults.
It has been 106 years since the School's founding and over 30 years since the merger of Northrop, Blake and Highcroft formed the School of today. A slow and steady growth in enrollment of approximately 18percent over the last 12 years has brought the School from 1,150 students to 1,355 and, with the addition of a pre-kindergarten program at Highcroft in the fall of 2006, Blake will have arrived at what many feel is an optimum size given the School's mission, facilities, demographics and demand for admission. This increase in enrollment and a very successful Centennial Campaign fueled a building program on all three campuses with an expansion and renovation of the Middle School, the Upper School's Northrop building, and Highcroft (now under construction). In addition, the School built the Gordy Aamoth Jr. Memorial Stadium, renovated the pool and acquired almost five acres of property to the south of the Hopkins campus. Finally, through careful management of its resources, the School has successfully addressed and eliminated a deferred maintenance liability. These projects total an investment of over $40 million in the School's facilities in the past dozen years.
In the fall of 2004, Becky Roloff, Board Chair, formed a steering committee chaired by V.V. Chari and including fellow Board members Dave Floren, John Gulla, Jim Hartfiel, Jeanne Kagin, Bill McLaughlin, Marjorie Nelson, Robin Nelson and Adrienne Tietz to organize and carry out the work of drafting a new strategic plan. The committee enlisted the help of McKinsey & Company representatives Kari Alldredge, Ellie Pidot and Tim Welsh and was guided by the Board-approved charge that reads as follows:
The Strategic Planning Committee of the Blake Board of Trustees will lead a community-wide effort in strategic planning that will result in a Board approved plan aimed at focusing Blake's work over the near and longer term. The plan will be dynamic, succinct and, where possible, will provide measurable objectives with an eye toward making it useful to all constituent groups. It will identify goals, provide a rationale, and charge the administration with developing an implementation plan to include methods of implementation, assigned responsibility, a timeline and outline of costs.
The steering committee organized its work by forming six satellite committees: Academics, Faculty, Operations, Diversity/Pluralism, World Community/Service and Finance. Each has been chaired by a member of the steering committee and includes representative members from all of the School's constituencies—faculty, administration, students, parents and alumni. These six satellite committees met over the spring, summer and fall of 2005 and issued reports in November 2005. These reports were presented to the Blake Board and discussed at length at the November retreat. In December, the Board prioritized the various initiatives that had emerged from the committee reports and the extensive Board discussions.
The Strategic Plan reflects these priorities and the spirit of the committee reports.