With about 85 percent of its 2013-18 five-year plan completed, Helias Catholic High School is developing its next strategic plan.
The Jefferson City school partnered with the Institute of Parish and School Development consulting firm to create a faith-based plan that follows benchmark standards from the National Catholic Educational Association.
The 2020-25 plan will address what the school should be doing in the next five years "to grow, to better and more fully live into (its) mission and (its) vision," Helias' president, the Rev. Stephen Jones, said.
The plan is expected to be completed by spring 2020, Jones said.
Helias began consulting with IPSD in April 2018, Jones said. The consulting firm, based in Louisiana, works with Catholic schools, parishes and dioceses around the United States.
"Really, at the end of the day, it's meant to provide us with part of a framework of moving forward," he said.
The plan's six areas of focus include communications marketing; alumni relations; financial resources and development; programming and curriculum; missionary discipleship; and integration and communication.
The school issued a four-question survey online in early October asking community members about their relationship with Helias and how likely they were to recommend the school to family, friends or colleagues. The survey also asked respondents to explain their scores, including why they would or would not recommend the school.
The results of the two-week survey were not available upon request last week, Jones said.
A 20-member steering committee meets privately about once a month with IPSD, he said. The group will later help lead smaller planning action committees to have discussions and get feedback from the community.
The planning action committee will do the bulk of the work in creating the plan and examining the benchmarks of the plan, which include academic excellence, mission, Catholic identity, operation, vitality, governance and leadership.
"Once the planning action committees complete their work, we'll have what's called a convocation," Jones said. "We're going to invite all members of the community and our school to hear what we've come up with so far and to provide further feedback for the final draft."
Although the plan is in its beginning stages, the goal is for the school to improve in serving the community, students and staff, Jones said.
"My goal is for this plan to assist us in continuing that trajectory," he said. "It will set the tone and direction for the next five years of our school. If I get hit by a bus next summer, my successor can come in and have a document that outlines where our community and leadership believe our school should be going."
The 2013-18 plan was geared toward facility changes and organizations including the more than $10 million Crusaders Athletic Complex, which opened in August 2017.
The structure includes the Ray Hentges Football Stadium, an LED scoreboard, a new track, and building with locker rooms, offices, storage and concessions, and more than 2,800 seats and hundreds of parking spots. Also part of the athletic complex, the De La Salle Soccer Field and Gerhardinger Tennis Pavilion includes eight courts, seating 360 combined.
Last January, the school added a $300,000 storage space at the complex south of the football stadium.
Other accomplishments included getting a school nurse, a tuition plan, a chapel and a three-floor building addition with science, fine arts, faith and administration areas.
"The accomplishments from the last plan have really solidified our vision and how we live it out," Jones said. "It has helped us to gain a deeper understanding that a Catholic education is something that should be accessible to everyone. We are not just here to serve the smart and those who can afford a private school education. We are here to serve learners of various levels and abilities."
The remaining 15 percent of the 2013-18 initiatives will not be included in the next five-year plan unless school officials think they should be revisited, he said.
The capital campaign that raised funds for the athletic complex also raised seed money for a baseball/softball field and fine arts building, which will be built at a later date.
Other items from the 2013-18 plan that were not completed did not seem relevant by the end of the project, like purchasing iPads for classrooms, Jones said.
"There were some things that we looked back on that weren't really things that we even could do or wanted to do by the time we got to the end of the plan," he said.