 |
|
|||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Strategic Plan Update - High School Recap and Plans March, 2008 In the spring of 2006, Father John Bauerschmidt, then Rector of Christ Church Covington, asked a small group of Board of Trustees and church members to investigate the potential for high school expansion at Christ Episcopal School. Demographic changes on the northshore coupled with a groundswell of support encouraged Fr. John to establish a Vestry high school committee and prepare a pre-feasibility study in early fall of 2006. This study revealed great support for grade expansion at CES, and so the Church Vestry granted the Board of Trustees permission to proceed with high school expansion and prepare a feasibility study late last winter. Almost all CES parents participated in the interview/survey as part of the study, and after reviewing the results, the Board of Trustees decided last spring to begin the process of expanding our program through twelfth grade. The high school will begin with a single ninth grade class in August 2009 and will add a grade every year thereafter until there is a full complement of high school classes in 2012. This is a significant endeavor and the planning for it has begun with fervor. We are committed that this expansion will not have a negative effect on our current program. Toward that end, the development committee has sought and obtained sufficient contributions to our Endowed Chair Program; gifts of $150,000 to ensure that the start-up years of the program will be sufficiently funded. Mr. Homer will, of course, remain the Headmaster of CES and will continue to outline the future of the school, and therefore the high school, with his usual hand’s on zeal although he plans the hiring of an Upper School head in the near future. A vision for the high school has been drafted and we will post the details on the web site in the near future.
The core of the vision is to create a unique learning environment with a rigorous, college preparatory curriculum, a competent and caring faculty, and an individualized, interest focused, real-world approach to learning. The classes will be small and our students will be expected to be fully engaged in their learning. The program will encourage and provide for students to discover and develop their unique gifts, interests and talents and to reflect on how they can use them to make the world a better place. The curriculum will be college preparatory with a focus on developing “habits of the mind” and skills which will serve them through the rest of their lives: interpretation, problem-solving, critical reasoning, effective communication, collaboration, analytical research, creativity and innovation, and accuracy as well as a deep mastery of core content. We envision that our graduates will be life-long learners who possess a strong Christian ethic and morality, a true sense of gratitude and a firm understanding of our spiritual responsibility to follow Christ. They will be intelligent, articulate, independent, critical thinkers, who believe in themselves and each other, and will be prepared to succeed in their post-secondary studies and in their future lives.
The Board of Trustees is finalizing a revised Strategic Plan, of which the Upper School expansion is only one component. It is the intent of the Board and administration that this expansion is a continuation of all that is right and appreciated about CES. We do not see this as a new undertaking, but as an opportunity to expand the tradition of cultivating the individual student through to the sacrosanct moment of college admission. Nonetheless, there will be necessity for growth on our campus. A committee of members of the three boards comprising the Christ Church Covington family; the Church Vestry, Christwood, and CES has, for some time, been investigating land usages associated with the current Christwood campus. A preliminary site plan for the school, devised by Mr. Homer and Randy Aultman, architect of our latest two expansions and CES parent, is being finalized. A rendering of the plan will be available at a booth manned by board members during the daytime AATP festivities on April 12th. At the heart of our building plans is a Performing Arts Center which will be located adjacent to the pond on the southeast corner of school property abutting our common property line with Christwood. Long envisioned as a potential community asset, such a building would serve school, church and Christwood while doubling in the early years as a true home for our first four high school grades. Some funding for this structure has been obtained and the Development Committee is in the process securing additional major gift donors for the facility. Permanent high school structures, as outlined in the site plan, will be addressed after completion of the performing arts center. As previously mentioned, the board will staff a booth at AATP to answer questions about the high school as well as the revised strategic plan in general. We also anticipate hosting a town hall type meeting in the late spring which will hopefully become an annual opportunity to discuss in depth the state of the school as well as to better incorporate thoughts and suggestions of interested parents into board room deliberation. At that meeting we will recognize the endowed chair donors and the many people who have worked so hard to see this project to fruition. I welcome you all to contact myself, Lisa Geary or Chandra Gordon if you would like to aid in the process of this next step in the history of Christ Episcopal School. Mr. Homer is available for any questions you may have relative to the plans for the Upper School curriculum and program. In the near future, we will publish the mission/ vision document for the Upper School and we will continue to provide updates relative to the many aspects of development through the Good News, at Art-at-the-Park, at CESPA activities, and of course at our planned town hall meeting. Faithfully yours, Colin McComiskey |
|
|
|
 |
About Christ Episcopal School | Admissions1 | At School | Supporting Christ Episcopal School | News & Events | Community | Alumni | Parent Portal | Teachers | Contact | Sitemap | Search | Home |
|