News function
Originally published in
Castine PatriotOctober 13, 2022 and The weekly packageOctober 13, 2022
GSA publishes a new vision statement
by Jack Beaudoin
At the same time local school boards were criticizing George Stevens Academy leaders for their lack of vision, the school was in the process of refining and approving a new vision statement, the school principal said, Timothy Seeley.
According to Seeley, the vision statement has been in the works for about a year and came together in pieces before it was approved at a GSA Retreat of the board of directors on September 1st.
“We do strategic thinking all the time,” he said. “The next step is to make it a strategic plan and put in place specific action plans.”
Those action plans will not come from administrators, he added, but from faculty and school staff. GSAThe current strategic plan dates back to 2013.
Highlights of the vision statement include:
Set a goal of enrolling 90% of rising ninth graders from the school’s seven “teaching” towns and an average of 85% of the total high school students across the peninsula to GSA Year after year.
Maintain the school’s boarding program so that it is self-sufficient, “paying all of its own expenses and generating additional income that will benefit all GSA students.”
Improve and expand academic support for all students and add new opportunities for fine arts, music technology, video recording, technology, and trades.
Strengthen the school’s counseling program to “include adolescent development, general health and well-being, character education, and life skills programming.”
Meet the most urgent facility needs over the next two to three years.
Aspiring to be “a model of city academy-community relations, communicating about our programs and finances, and collaborating with our cities.”
Generate “substantial philanthropic income through fundraising…enhancing our ability to provide top-notch experiences and opportunities for our students.”
The full vision document is publicly available on the school’s website (georgestevensacademy.org/cms/lib/ME02000358/Centricity/Domain/1/GSA_Vision_2022.pdf).
