STORY by Lucia Maschler

GRAPHICS by Natalie Fitts

This past June, the administration sent out a survey to STA parents and students. A similar survey is sent every couple of years to help the school create a new strategic plan. The strategic plan is a list of goals that the administration tries to accomplish within a three year time period.

“A board of teachers, parents, alumnae and others who just love STA sit down and create a vision,” STA president Nan Bone said. “It’s like, what is it we should be doing to keep us moving forward and how can we keep the best traditions.”

Bone and the rest of the board recently met and went through the 2008 strategic plan that was created when Bone first came to STA.

“We have met all the goals on the past strategic plan and even some we didn’t have written down,” Bone said. “And now it’s time for us to start making a new strategic plan for the future. It’s not something you can do overnight. It has to be something you put a lot of time and effort into. We’ve done a lot of research.”

According to Bone, the survey was a major part of that research.

“We were just ready to go back to our constituents and community and ask them how we did,” Bone said. “And sometimes things come up that we haven’t done so well on. That’s where our goals for the next strategic plan come in.  And the survey helps us determine what those goals need to be.”

Many in the STA community did not complete the survey.  For example, 49 of the 404 returning students completed it over the summer.  However, Bone was not concerned with the results.

“Typically when you send out surveys, if you get 20-25 percent of the people to return some results it’s considered a success,” Bone said.   “Because if they’re happy with STA they won’t feel the need to fill out out.”

According the the survey results, most people were happy with the way STA has been run for the last three years.

“You can’t make everyone happy, but it’s nice to know what people do and don’t like about STA,” Bone said.  “It’s the only way we can improve.”

The strategic planning is why Bone decided to call off school for students last Tuesday. She wanted to have a board meeting with the faculty and staff so she could get their input on the new plan.

“The administration, faculty, and staff are my biggest resource because they know what’s going on [at STA],” Bone said. “And now is crunch time we have to make these next three years the best STA has ever seen.”

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