A few weeks back, the Board of Trustees along with members of
Joe’s Administration met for an off-site planning retreat. It was the second such gathering in two years
when we came together for a full day to discuss the development of the school’s
Strategic Plan. In 2011, we were armed
with a Parent Survey, a Strategic Plan that was concluding, and a myriad of
ideas about where the school should place priorities. That meeting was the first step in creating
our current plan.
Two years later, and one year after the current plan was
launched, the group met again to discuss key parts of the plans
objectives. In particular, discussion
focused on the Facilities and Finance sections of the Five year plan. As Board Chair, I believe it is important for
the community to know that the Board and Administration are working to make
sure that The Woods will continue to fulfill its mission, without interruption,
where we have been since 1977. Our
Strategic Plan is about “growing” The Woods well into the future.
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Additionally, the Board and
Administration are aware of the financial demands placed on families in these
often uncertain, if not difficult, economic times. We are also aware that our families want The
Woods to be positioned to periodically evaluate, change or add programs in order to fine
tune and advance its educational offerings. Often there are costs involved with those programs in the form of
materials, staff, training, etc. Finding
the appropriate balance between these two sets of issues is a key focus of the
Board.
With that in mind the Finance Committee developed a Five
Year Financial model to aid in the budgeting for new and recurring
initiatives. The objective is to provide
predictable financial planning for the education portion of our families' budgets. This is a highly iterative
process between Administration, Board Committees, Director of Finance, and the
Finance Committee. It means setting
priorities and creating stretch goals for success. It is Strategic Planning at the financial
level and hopefully the result is a consistent, high quality education product
at predictable, market pricing. We will
use this model as the Administration forms its budget for future years and continually
revise it as long range objectives come more clearly in focus.
-Doug Cooper, Chair of the Board of Trustees
