vision for our future 2017-2027
HRIMS
From HRIMS Board of Trustees
To Our Community
"The child is both a hope and a promise for Mankind." -Dr. Maria montessori
With many successes and a steady growth in program enrollment in recent years, HRIMS had grown beyond the scope of our current plan and a simple update would not do. In 2016, the Board began a conversation with our school and extended communities to define a new vision, ambitious and inspiring, to spur growth and challenge us to be fully accountable to our shared goals and beliefs. To this end, the Board of Trustees created a 5-person committee charged with drafting a set of goals that would form the heart of the plan. The committee sought and listened to the hopes and ideas of our school families and faculty as well as business and nonprofit leaders in the community. They shared with us what HRIMS currently does well, what it could do better and what community needs exist that our Mission and Vision call us to address. The wide variety of voices and viewpoints generated a tremendous flood of ideas and possibilities. The work of the committee was to distill all those possibilities into a set of goals that mesh together to see the school grow and better serve our current and future families without overextending our resources. The strategic plan outlined in the following pages represents the end product of this 18-month process. The plan presented here is rather light on details with regard to timetable and financial requirements. This was a purposeful decision on the part of the Board. We could have spent time creating estimates and schedules based on our own skill set and assumptions but those are meaningless without engagement from the school community. We have decided to adopt a model where we define broad goals and priorities and begin to engage the community in refining the plan through participation in working groups. It is our hope that in this manner the plan can provide guidance but also be a living document that evolves to best meet the needs of the school and community. Each of the goals will have one or more teams created to conduct research, develop a detailed plan and guide implementation. These teams will include Board members but largely be made up of parents, school staff and expert volunteers from the community. It is our belief that the earlier our community begins to engage with the plan the faster progress and better the end products will be. There is a strong desire on the part of the Board of Trustees that this plan be an inspiring vision of what our school can be. The Board is committed to making these goals a reality. As someone who cares about our school and the value of Montessori education in our community, we know that you will see that participation in the team is the best way to have a lasting impact on the future of the school. Please join with us in this effort and be amazed at what we can all accomplish together. Ben Hailer, President
10 YEAR VISION
As we begin the 2027 school year: We are an accredited, independent Montessori school who continues a tradition of staff excellence and development while offering an expanded, comprehensive program that serves children from birth through high school with an enrollment of 200+ students. HRIMS owns a single location campus designed to inspire a nature-integrated school community using both the architecture and the curriculum design to create an optimal, harmonious, eco-friendly learning environment. HRIMS students -- our young children and adolescents -- thrive in this culturally rich, socio-economically diverse environment where they themselves are both leader and citizen. Our adolescent programs have ready access to a full suite of science, technology, arts, and language learning labs both on-site and via off-site community partnerships and internships. The pillars of our adolescent programs are service learning, field studies, and academic excellence.
We are rooted in our core values today, and our 10-year vision expresses where these values have led us by the year 2027. Our core values are: Commitment to always putting the needs of the child first; Personal and professional integrity in all that we do; Treat all members of our school community with respect and dignity; Adherence to the Montessori philosophy, methodology and prepared environment; Maintaining the integrity of the classroom; Maintaining a strong partnership between family, home and school; Active integration of cultural, racial, socio-economic and religious diversity in our community
We are rooted in our core values today, and our 10-year vision expresses where these values have led us by the year 2027. Our core values are: Commitment to always putting the needs of the child first. Personal and professional integrity in all that we do. Treat all members of our school community with respect and dignity. Adherence to the Montessori philosophy, methodology and prepared environment. Maintaining the integrity of the classroom. Maintaining a strong partnership between family, home and school. Active integration of cultural, racial, socio-economic and religious diversity in our community.
PROGRAMS: ADOLESCENT PROGRAM Benefits - Increase school attendance; Meet desires of current parents; Prepares us for future High School program; Enhances in-school mentorship of younger children; Actions - Designate ad-hoc team leader, and recruit members; Feasibility study for attendance and accreditation; Timeline - Begin feasibility study in September 2017
TWO YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN
PROGRAMS: ENHANCED SUMMER AND AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS Benefits - These programs can be designed in such a way that attendance during the traditional school-year or school-day isn’t required, which means we could broaden our reach and introduce ourselves and what we do to new families who might not have committed to a full school year Increased revenue for the school Broader development of students’ minds and bodies Courses could be designed in partnership with other community organizations, strengthening our ties with them as partners and generating word-of-mouth Actions - Designate ad-hoc team leader, and recruit members Design income benchmarks for success Program design for content, age levels, and possible partners Timeline - Begin benchmarks and design in September 2017. If benchmarks and design show ability to hit income goals, prepare for Summer 2018 implementation.
GOVERNANCE: VAIS ACCREDITATION Benefits - Establishes our school with vital credibility, both in the eyes of parents and in support of our eventual move to develop a high school curriculum; Accreditation process itself will force us to hone our program design, administration systems, branding and messaging, and strategic goals; Strengthens Board understanding of school opportunities, concerns, and responsibilities; Actions - Designate ad-hoc team leader, and recruit members; Establish benchmarks for preparation process (approx 18-month process to attain accreditation); Timeline - Necessary By-law revision to be complete by Dec. 2017; Accreditation completed by Sept. 2021.
FACILITIES: 5-YR OR 10-YR LEASE EXTENSION OR BUILDING PURCHASE Benefits - Stabilize our space planning in support of expansion goals; Establish a more rigorous strategic financial plan based on costs; Set up possible income stream, as building owner; Open up possible building alterations as owner, such as living roof; Actions - Designate ad-hoc team leader, and recruit members; Feasibility study for each option (5-yr, 10-yr, or purchase); Timeline - Begin feasibility study in September 2017;
Hampton Roads International Montessori School 11790 Jefferson Avenue, Suite 200 Newport News, VA 23606 Phone: (757) 873-8950
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