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Background of Long-Range Strategic Plan

The founding of Sandy Spring Friends School began with a powerful vision and a generous gift. Brook Moore brought his dream of a new Quaker school to the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting of Friends in 1959. Esther Scott, a member of the Meeting, contributed her land to see that vision fulfilled, reflecting later that "the land on which Sandy Spring Friends School was built has deep meaning for me. When it came into my hands, I knew it had not come by chance and that something worthwhile should be done with it." That something became the education of children in a unique community of learning.

Since its founding in 1961, Sandy Spring Friends School (SSFS) has sought to develop a student's unique talents, to establish an environment of mutual trust and respect that encourages both personal and academic growth, and to ensure that each student becomes a contributing member of both the school community and the world at large. While SSFS has grown and changed its outward appearance from the day it first opened - with just 77 students in two grades to over 550 students today in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade - SSFS has not wavered in its commitment to its philosophy and mission. The creation of this Long-Range Strategic Plan has been undertaken with these principles in mind.

On May 12, 1998, SSFS adopted a long-range strategic plan for the years 1998 to 2003. In many ways that strategic plan was the road map encompassing the changes taking place throughout the school community today. The plan laid out a vision for a larger school with superior facilities that would support an enhanced curriculum for our students and a better working environment for our faculty and staff.

The 1998-2003 plan was focused, clear, and comprehensive. It was truly an impact-full document which guided the decision-making of the Board of Trustees, staff, and faculty of SSFS. The results are literally taking shape all around us. Since the time that the plan was adopted, SSFS has embarked upon an aggressive campaign to rebuild and expand campus facilities covering a number of needs which were either identified in the 1998-2003 plan or were a logical outgrowth of it. Construction and renovation are currently ongoing, and completion of Phase One of the Facilities Master Plan (FMP) approved by the Board of Trustees on September 28, 2002, is expected by the end of the 2005-2006 academic year.

At the beginning of the 2003-2004 academic year, the SSFS Board of Trustees undertook, by creating an ad hoc committee, to review and reassess current and anticipated future school needs following completion of Phase One of the FMP construction. This long-range strategic plan is the result of those efforts.

Development of a New Plan

The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) of the SSFS Board of Trustees came together in the fall of 2003. The SPC was charged with leading the effort to craft a new long-range strategic plan (LRSP) for SSFS to guide us over the next 5 to 10 years. As the members of the SPC looked at the task ahead of them, they viewed the previous strategic plan as having come at a crossroads for the school and having provided a detailed working plan for achieving the next stage in SSFS's history. In the fall of 2003, however, the SPC sensed both excitement over the new facilities that were on the horizon and uneasiness about unwanted changes that these new facilities might bring to our community. For that reason, the SPC began the process by actively seeking comments from our community members about their concerns and views of the future.

Given the amount of change happening on campus, it seemed to the members of the SPC that this is a time of consolidation for our community. Armed with the information from the community, the SPC made the decision to address those concerns and views of the future in the new LRSP. As a result, the members of the SPC consider our new LRSP to be a different kind of long-range strategic plan from the one that preceded it. It does not attempt to touch all areas of life at SSFS. Instead, the LRSP focuses on those areas that the members of the community identified as needing attention. In addition, the SPC considered SSFS's Mission Statement, Philosophy Statement, and The Ten Signature Elements of Our Vision in preparing this LRSP.

The SPC, in consultation with the SSFS Board of Trustees, decided that the LRSP should cover a 10 year period, with a review after 5 years.

During the 2005-2006 academic year with the Phase One construction nearing completion, the Finance Committee (FC) of the Board of Trustees embarked on the preparation of a long-range financial strategic plan to meet the needs of this new stage in SSFS's history. In order to prepare this new document, the FC engaged the services of a professional financial consultant familiar with the issues facing independent schools. One of the documents that the consultant requested in order to review the financial position of the school was the LRSP, which is a vision statement for the future of SSFS. The long-range financial strategic plan will ensure that the LRSP will be carried out in a way that allows us to accomplish that vision in a financially sound manner.

This document summarizes the efforts of the SPC, outlines the long-range strategic plan, and lays out the remaining steps to bring the plan to life.

Click here for full version of the Long-Range Strategic Plan
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