Cary Academy is a not-for-profit, independent, coeducational, college-preparatory school for boys and girls in grades 6-12. Conceived and developed by two families, the school opened its doors to students in August, 1997. The previous year was spent preparing to open the school: a Board of Directors was appointed, staff was secured, land and funding for buildings and equipment were provided by the founders, curriculum was developed. During this period much effort was given by the founders and principal staff (particularly the Head of School and Upper and Middle School Heads) to the mission, goals, and role of the school. This report speaks to that process in narrative provided in Parts I and II.

An integral part of the process of beginning and building the new school was the continuation of discussions about the mission and goals of the school and what guiding motifs or beliefs led to curricular, staffing, program, and physical plant decisions and just whom the school would serve. For this reason, a Long Range Planning program was undertaken in the school’s second year of classes, 1998-99. This was done with two objectives in mind:

· To involve the school’s stakeholders (Board of Directors, administration, faculty, parents, students and staff) in a reexamination of the Mission and Goals of the school

· To develop a five-year Long Range Plan to assure that the school reaches its goals.

The Long Range Planning Committee began its formal work in January, 1999 with the assistance of an outside Long Range Planning Consultant to help the group understand its objectives, develop procedures and structures (primarily committees) to reach those objectives, and to facilitate the process.

In April 1999, draft of the Long Range Plan was vetted to all stakeholders. In April, a series of "Listening Meetings" was begun to allow stakeholders to discuss the plan, understand its contents and to suggest changes, and to suggest methods to implement the Plan. This process provided a way to assess the work of the Long Range Planning Committee as well as provided a method to assure stakeholders’ understanding of the Plan’s contents and commitment to the implementation of the Plan. In June, 1999, the Plan was approved formally by the school’s Board of Directors. The approved Plan was printed and vetted to all stakeholders subsequent to that action.

With this complex process already underway, Cary Academy began the process of seeking Accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In December 1999 the school received designation as a Candidate for Accreditation. Once that occurred, a Consultant/Facilitator was chosen and agreed to serve; a Steering Committee was empanelled; the Steering Committee Coordinator met with the Consultant to preview the process of self-study and Visiting Team activity; the Head of School and the Steering Committee Coordinator attended a training session in the new SIP process held by SACS in March of 1999, identifying and meeting with a Consultant in March of 1999, and beginning the process of developing a work schedule for the process.

In late spring, 1999, it became increasingly evident that the work of the Steering Committee was paralleling and repeating the work of the Long Range Planning Committee. In fall, 1999, the Coordinator of the Steering Committee met with Dr. Marilyn Palmer, School Improvement Officer for the State of North Carolina and Chair of the State Committee of SACS to discuss the problem of duplication of work. The result of that meeting was the decision was made that the goals and objectives of the SIP process would best be met by utilizing the school’s extensive and already existing Long Range Planning process and work product as the SIP. With that, the alternate process proposed by Cary Academy was approved.

Based on that decision, the Committee has worked with the various constituents of the school to develop the report which follows. The report seeks to comply with the SIP process in every way. It does, however, defer to work already completed by the Long Range Planning Committee and utilizes the contents of the school’s Long Range Plan as the source of the school’s SIP. For this reason, it has been possible to complete the process in a shorter period than normally allotted for developing an SIP.

A copy of the Cary Academy Long Range Plan is included in this report as Appendix A. That report lists the membership of the Long Range Planning Committee as well as the Plan itself.