Approved by the Board of Trustees in June 2024, Concord Academy’s strategic plan provides a blueprint for operationalizing CA’s mission over the next five years and beyond.
The plan envisions how the school will operate in 2030, then outlines five strategic priorities, each specifying key initiatives to support that priority, that are needed to fulfill this vision. Finally, the plan acknowledges the major financial investments it will require for the school to achieve these priorities.
Surveys of parents as well as faculty and staff conducted in spring 2024 revealed exceptional positivity and love for CA. Respondents cited a well-defined and lived mission, with, of course, opportunities for improvement. This valuable feedback was essential to creating the strategic plan presented on this page, and it will continue to be taken into account as the work of implementing the initiatives called for under each priority unfolds.
Having the tactical framework of a strategic plan enables alignment across the school not only about the priorities and initiatives set forth here but also about how to undertake these efforts collaboratively. Having a shared, public reference by which existing commitments and new opportunities can be measured is vital scaffolding for the work of living out CA’s mission.
Five-Year Vision
Priorities & Initiatives
Clearly articulating CA’s identity and value proposition provides a foundation for guiding the school’s implementation of all the following priorities. Defining the essential qualities of a CA graduate is a necessary first step toward a comprehensive branding effort. Convened in summer 2024, this working group is meeting regularly throughout the fall 2024 semester to survey young alums and integrate feedback from parents, faculty/staff, and student leaders to develop this document to present to the Board of Trustees and finalize by February 2025.
Work toward this priority will be addressed in the working groups for priorities 1 and 3 during the 2024–25 school year. In years 1–3, CA will adjust facilities, school schedule, and programming to bring together day and boarding populations. Recommendations from the Employee Community and Trust and Communication committees will also be implemented on an ongoing basis.
Better serving all of CA’s students is work that can’t wait. As a first step in guiding these efforts in 2024–25, this working group has prioritized the development of a Principles of Community document to clearly outline community engagement standards and employment practices, as well as an outline of student support resources, to present to the Board of Trustees by the end of the year. Work to formalize integration of feedback from students and adults will be ongoing.
As part of developing a master plan for facilities, this working group is first creating a Centennial Arts Center (C.A.C.) transition plan, making use of the existing Council on Operations West Campus steering group. In 2024–25, an external partner for the campus master plan will be identified and initial ideas for internal space use presented to faculty and staff.
This working group is making use of an existing council resource analysis subgroup. Priorities include auditing faculty compensation step scale models and resource allocation. Reviewing and implementing systems updates will take place over two to three years.
The following financial investments, contingent on the school’s ability to achieve cost savings and a successful capital campaign, have been prioritized in this order:
Fortify academic support with additional dedicated Academic Support Center (ASC) resources, auxiliary supports beyond the ASC, and professional development for faculty and staff.
A marketing effort to align public awareness of CA with our mission-driven identity.
Address deferred maintenance in faculty/staff housing, boarding houses, classrooms, dining hall/kitchen, and other campus facilities.
Create a campus master plan, including an evaluation of the ability of our facilities to achieve these institutional priorities.
Head of School Henry Fairfax and CA’s executive leadership team are serving as the oversight body for the strategic plan’s implementation. In June 2024, following the plan’s approval, a strategic planning implementation group convened to assign captains for the initiatives outlined in each priority. During 2024–25, working groups comprised of stakeholders from across the school and including consultants from the Board of Trustees, are contributing the expertise required to implement the initiatives called for under each priority.
For this five-year strategic plan, human and financial resources are limited, and the coordinated work called for is being sequenced accordingly. Many efforts toward these goals were previously underway, and working groups are leveraging outcomes from prior and existing committees. Implementation planning began in summer 2024, and the full work of implementation begins during the fall 2024 semester.
In the interests of sustainability and preserving resources for CA’s program and operations, rather than designing a strategic plan brochure for an external audience, Concord Academy is using this webpage to communicate these objectives and priorities and share progress annually.
Dennis Goldstein P’20 ’25
Trustee, Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chair
Podie Lynch ’67
Trustee, Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chair
Jennifer Pline, P’13 ’15
Board of Trustees Co-President
Jen Burleigh ’85
Board of Trustees Co-President
Henry Fairfax
Head of School, Dresden Endowed Chair
Sara Staats
Strategy Consultant with Altshuler Staats LLC
Justin Bull P’25 ’28
Visual Arts Faculty
Amy Miller-Fredericks P’20
Chief Financial and Operating Officer
John Grossman P’17 ’19 ’26
Trustee
Grant Hightower
Assistant Head for Student Life
Karen McAlmon ’75
Trustee
Kevin Parke P’12 ’15
Trustee
Alyse Ruiz-Selsky ’05
Director of Studies
Sabrina Sadique
English Faculty
Carmen Welton
Modern and Classical Languages
Sarah Yeh P’24 ’27
Associate Head for Teaching, Learning, and Faculty