Dr. C. Kenneth Tanner 
Dr. Jeff A. Lackney

Copyright by Pearson Education, INC.

 Summary from Text

The applied process of strategic planning (SP) for a new or renovated school facility, as described in this chapter, allows multiple stakeholders to work collectively to ensure that the resulting facility supports their mission, philosophy, values, goals, and objectives. However, the process is time-consuming, requiring at least 6 months with 2 or more intensive working sessions per month. During this time, a 10-step SP process by Clay, Lake,  & Tremain, (1989) may be followed resulting in the development of educational specifications and a concept design. A trained and experienced facilitator overseeing the work of the leadership team is essential for moving the process along smoothly.

Steps

The first step is to carefully select team members. The leadership team is comprised of approximately 15-25 members including representatives from each activity team, the facilitator, and a professional planner. Activity teams, with no more than 15 members, are typically assigned to work on specific subject areas (e.g., mathematics, language arts) and report to the leadership team. Once appropriate team members have been selected, it is important for ALL team members to come together for an orientation meeting intended to promote team building and increase commitment to the planning process.  Once values and beliefs have been developed, the team will create a scenario-based vision statement for the program and activities. To develop educational specifications, the next step in the process, the team must develop philosophy statements for each program area (e.g., English, mathematics), write strategic goals, determine class sizes, and specify needs for each space, including furniture, storage, equipment and special considerations. The team then translates the information into a concept design using sketches and drawings, setting the stage for schematic drawings. The final step in the SP process is to present the strategic plan and design to the school board. Once approved, the architect may be hired to turn the concept design into a reality.

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This chapter is based on work by:
Clay, K, Lake, S., & Tremain, K. (1989).  How to Build a Strategic Plan.  Ventures for Public Awareness, P. O. Box 7140, San Carlos, CA 94070.

NOTE:  Since the publication of this book, SDPL has refined this traditional SP model.  We refer to the new model as Focused Strategic Planning (FSP).   Currently we are testing this model with Independent Schools through the Johns Hopkins University.