Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/192144
Dear Latin Community, I believe that every generation of Latin community members embarks on a quest to be the best. This enduring commitment to excellence – to providing the best environment for teaching and learning – has resulted in an exceptional institution, and it is clear to me that we are ready to take it to the next level. So it is with great excitement and a profound sense of gratitude that I present Latin's 2013-18 Strategic Plan. Because of Latin's remarkable progress under the previous strategic plan, we had the luxury of taking a more focused approach this time. As many of you know, in 2007, Latin adopted a comprehensive and thoughtfully designed strategic plan that acted as "a blueprint for Latin to build on its strengths, benchmark against the finest schools in the nation, and continue to innovate and inspire." Thanks to the hard work and accomplishments before us, we began this planning process with a solid foundation, confident in the knowledge that Latin is already a very good school. Taking only one year to create this plan, we aimed to develop and pursue three or four important priorities over the next five to seven years. But before we identified our priorities, we engaged our entire community in the articulation and examination of our core values – values that we had, until this point, felt and experienced, but not yet committed to words on paper. Our newly drafted values are a result of deep examination and collaboration and, in some ways, the most important outcome of our planning process. They affirm what makes our community and culture "Latin." Going forward, our values will remind us of what we must honor and renew as we tackle the challenges and opportunities before us. This strategic vision focuses squarely on the needs of our students and their experience. Our plan can only be successful if we embrace our fundamental belief in the importance of an intellectually challenging liberal arts program. Building on our robust curriculum, this plan envisions our school as a local and national model for excellence in teaching and learning. Fundamental to the learning process and our children's future are global, relevant learning opportunities that inform our teaching and enhance our challenging curriculum. We aim to join our school, city, and world more seamlessly, generating experiences that deepen learning and inspire our students. The culture of learning that we create facilitates leadership, reflection, collaboration, and personalization. It broadens student and adult perspectives and prepares our students to thrive in their life's work and the best learning environments. Lastly, the learning we envision relies on the health, energy, and self-confidence of each member of our community. Our enhanced attention to health and wellness reflects both the care we feel for one another and our understanding of what enables our peak academic performance. We believe the best learning happens when it takes us beyond ourselves, when it goes beyond preparation to action, beyond knowledge to skills, and beyond service to meaningful engagement. We believe this is the path to expanding our impact as a great school for young people; for teaching and learning and for life. What follows, then, are a statement of values and a strategic vision for our future focused on people and culture. Sincerely, Randall Dunn