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Dear Cary Academy Parents and Employees: 

Last Spring Cary Academy embarked on a strategic planning process to determine the specific paths for school improvement that we will follow in the coming years.  We are writing to provide our school community with a progress report on our strategic planning process. 

As you may also recall from Don Berger’s April, 2004 update, in order to have an experienced consultant guide us through the initial phase of strategic planning, we retained the services of an internationally recognized consultant, Mr. John Littleford. Between April 12-14, 2004, Mr. Littleford met with about 80 different community members in focus groups of parents, students, employees, administrators and members of the Board. He also met with the Strategic Planning Committee. Based on these meetings, he identified 45 strategic goal options for school growth. The Planning Committee reduced this number to eight, and finally to four areas deemed most important. At its May meeting, the Board accepted the four goals.  

The Strategic Planning Committee was then divided into four subcommittees, one for each goal, with each subcommittee tasked with developing an action plan to accomplish its given goal: 

Community Building (Lynne Fountain and Martina Greene, co-chairs)

Mission: Student Profile: Redefine, clarify and better communicate whom we are serving, student selection criteria (Katy Allen and Anne Goodnight, co-chairs)

Work Life Balance: Establish a better balance between work and life for students and employees (Marti Jenkins and Ginger Sall, co-chairs)

Faculty Retention (Josh Hartman and Kenneth Brach, co-chairs) 

The subcommittees have been diligently working on their action plans, which they will present to the Strategic Planning Committee for approval on February 8. Following Strategic Planning Committee approval, the action plans will be approved by the Board of Directors and work will begin on carrying out the plans to achieve our four strategic goals. 

Meeting our four strategic goals is also an important part of our accreditation renewal process. At present, Cary Academy is accredited by SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools). Since we last went through the accrediting process, SACS and SAIS (Southern Association of Independent Schools) have collaborated to develop one accrediting process that will result in dual accreditation. The accreditation falls under the auspices of SAIS, but will result in Cary Academy being accredited by both SACS and SAIS. As part of the accreditation process, schools may choose from among four common methods of self-study, and we have chosen our Strategic Plan: 2004-2008.  

Over the past few months, we have been working steadily toward completing all the documents necessary for the Accreditation Visiting Team, which will be on campus March 29 and 30. The visiting team is chaired by Ms. Sandra Adams, head of school at Summit School in Winston Salem, NC.  On February 18, Ms. Adams will be on campus for her preliminary visit. 

Our internal Steering Committee is co-chaired by Eric Bondy, assistant Head of Upper School, and Chuck Burdick, Dean of Faculty.  This small group of parents, employees, and students acts as hosts for the Visiting Team and offers advice and assistance to Chuck and Eric by reviewing the several documents required for accreditation. 

The major requirements for accreditation include the following: 

Completing the Standards & Compliance Checklist. For day schools, there are 12 Standards, with each standard having from 1 to 13 Indicators. For instance, under  Standard 2 (Beliefs and Mission) one indicator says, "A strategic plan, aligned with the vision, mission and beliefs of the school, is developed and implemented to guide improvement efforts." In a brief statement, we indicate that this is true, and through web links or hard copy offer the Visiting Committee supporting evidence. Members of the Leadership Team have been assigned responsibility for the 12 Standards and are hard at work answering the Four Critical Questions for accreditation:

Profile. Where is the school today?

Vision. Where does the school want to do?

Plan. What is the plan to get there?

Results. How will the school know when it has accomplished its plan? 

We are very pleased by the excellent progress we are making and by the number of faculty, staff, parents and students who represent our school.  Their work will lay excellent ground work to ensure that we receive renewed accreditation and can begin turning our strategic plans into a reality. 

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to let either of us know. 

Sincerely, 

Donald S. Berger                                              Chuck Burdick                                    
Head of School                                                 Dean of Faculty