Envisioning Sustainability

 

SCHOOL ASKS THE BIG QUESTIONS

In the world of independent schools, Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida, founded in 1961, is a relative newcomer. The lower school was born only eight years ago. Yet its core values, centered on academic excellence, community, honor and integrity, are timeless fundamentals that support the school’s visionary growth.

Saint Andrew’s is expanding. Enrollment has doubled in the last decade, climbing to nearly 1300 students in 2008-09 since opening its Lower School in 2000. Improvements to the physical plant have matched this pace: the new science building was completed in 2003; the new athletic and aquatics center opened in 2004; the new center for the performing arts followed in 2005; and the new Lower School addition—the first LEEDS certified building on a K-12 school campus in Florida—will be finished for fall 2008.

Kilian Forgus is Associate Headmaster for Enrollment and Planning. He guides a strategic planning team of eight, convened by the school’s new Headmaster Dr. Ann Marie Krejcarek. Forgus is asking the Big Questions.

“How do we educate students to understand and engage with an ever-changing world? How can we meet our goals to raise faculty salaries to the NAIS 90% level and ensure financial accessibility for our families? Do we have the right systems in place as we grow? We’re studying our educational and organizational alignment to visualize the school’s sustainability, on many levels.

“In Admissions, we are advocating the value of the Saint Andrew’s experience in a climate where there is an enormous increase in public school choices: charter schools are proliferating. One school nearby focuses on biotech, for example. At the moment, Florida ranks #3 in the number of public school choices, and wants to be the national leader. With public schools offering new choices, how do we communicate the value of the Saint Andrew’s experience?”

The answers lie, of course, as much in the academic and interpersonal experiences of the students as in the state-of-the-art facilities. Class sizes are small; the Lower School teams two teachers in every classroom. The student body comprises mostly day students, with 100 boarding students to strengthen diversity and global awareness. The school program emphasizes academic challenge, healthy choices, and moral courage. Innovation is a constant.

In 2008, the school’s chaplain inaugurated “Spiritual Journey Week,” when students explored a different world religion each day. A Buddhist lama painstakingly created a colorful sand mandala on campus; a few days later, he invited the school community to consider the concept of impermanence as they helped him discard the grains of sand in a lake on campus. Another visitor the same week was a cantor trained in energy healing. On a third day, a grandson of Billy Graham offered an account of his own spiritual journey.

“This is a warm and welcoming school. Our commitment to mind/body/spirit is very entrenched,” Forgus emphasized. He explained the influence of the Episcopal Church: “The school is in the Episcopal tradition, which is very inclusive. The Episcopal identity is important to us, but Saint Andrew’s is not a parish school. We have a diverse student body. It’s an interesting challenge for the school, to be attractive and appropriate for students of all backgrounds, and remain true to the Episcopal tradition.”

How is the Episcopal influence perceived by parents? Forgus shared one of his favorite Admissions stories:

“When I first arrived at Saint Andrew’s, I conducted a simple, five-question attrition survey among families that had decided not to re-enroll. I included a business reply envelope to make it easy for them to reply. The very first day that responses to the survey came in, two envelopes appeared. I was excited to learn what feedback families would give to the all-important final question: ‘What was the ultimate factor in your decision not to return to Saint Andrew’s?’ I opened the first envelope. The reply was, ‘The school is not Christian enough.’ The response in envelope #2 was, ‘The school is too Christian.’”

What impact has PORTAL made at Saint Andrew’s?

Forgus was experienced with Blackbaud from his previous school. “Blackbaud did not assist me in understanding my data. I found it difficult to identify longitudinal trends, to pinpoint challenges.

“Moving to inRESONANCE has been fantastic. PORTAL is very user-friendly, especially in creating useful reports. I have the ability to create comparisons, to explain to the Board of Trustees how Admissions is doing this year versus last year. In January 2008, I was ahead of last year’s applications; in February, the numbers had slowed. I was able to look at the history and correlate the change to current economic events. I could explain where we were, and I could forecast what we should expect.”

Forgus isn’t the only fan of PORTAL at Saint Andrew’s. He shared, “Every so often I overhear someone in my office, at her desk, exclaim out of nowhere, ‘I just love using PORTAL.’”

“We’ve been using BROADCASTER for only 18 months. I don’t think we’re on the more sophisticated end as some of your clients are, but we’re still very happy with our solution and the ways we’re using it. We’re looking forward to going deeper at iRU.”

Learn more about Saint Andrew's School.