Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/1541803
Every few years, Latin goes through a strategic planning process—one that encourages reflection on the past while setting our sights resolutely on the future. This is a critical step for our school. Through our planning, we deepen our commitment to our mission, vision and values and we make certain that we have the right resources and structures in place to continue serving our students for decades to come. Last fall, when we embarked on our journey, we did so with intention. "We've all been through so much in the last five years, individually and collectively," noted Ash Hansberry, Latin's Director of Academic Affairs and lead on the 2025–2029 strategic plan. "We saw this planning process as a good opportunity to reset around our goals and build community as we moved forward. The way we did that was by keeping students at the center." Mx. Hansberry wanted this planning process to feel like a completely new experience. "It was important for us to get feedback from a lot of different people and to share all of the ways we were not only gathering insights but also how we were incorporating that feedback. We made sure people felt heard and had a place at the table, and we received a lot of positive comments in doing so," they said. The 'Refresh and Revise' approach to strategic planning taken by the team meant that the school wasn't starting from scratch. Through surveys and focus groups with students, parents/guardians, alumni, faculty, staff and board members, we 'refreshed' the 2019 Strategic Design, reaffirming our existing values and identifying which past initiatives needed continued focus. Concurrently, we 'revised' our plan by asking stakeholders, 'what are the innovations you'd be excited about?' "Once those innovative ideas surfaced, we asked ourselves 'what does this collective future look like, and how do we build up to that?'" Hansberry and team then backed out of these future states to pinpoint the priorities for each phase of the coming years. "We saw some remarkable optimism in our stakeholder sessions," they noted. "Everyone came to the conversation, not from a place of 'what's missing,' 14 L AT I N S C H O O L O F C H I C AG O