This fall we experienced the power of community coming together to invent a new future for Shining Mountain, first with the Future Search in Estes Park and then again with the Fall All School Community Meeting. All the work we accomplished on the five-year strategic plan is based upon these high impact meetings. In fact I would say that there is no way we could have accomplished this task without the foundation that the Future Search provided.

It is with this great success in mind that we are proud to announce the High School Future Search in which the SMHS community will come together to develop a powerful vision of the future of our high school.

The event will be kicked off with Future Search with the high school students. Michael Shaun Conaway, BOT Member and Andy Horning will lead students through a four hour Future Search process in an off campus retreat.

The student’s work will join the larger two-day Future Search with representatives of the Board of Trustees, Faculty, Staff and Parent Body.   Together we will create a strategy and vision for the future.   Our intension is to have Shining Mountain High School be known as the leading Waldorf School in program, facilities and faculty in the country.

 

 

 

On December 8th the board voted to approve the Five Year Strategic Plan for Shining Mountain.  The goal of the Strategic Planning Task Force was to develop a plan and have it passed by the end of 2015.  I am very happy that that we have achieved this goal.  Special thanks goes out to Mark Evans who chaired the Strategic Planning Task Force and to all of the committed members who met early mornings every week this fall.  The plan itself is really the work of the entire school community, starting with the Future Search in August and continued in the All School Community Meeting.  We also owe a great deal of thanks to the Governance Council who met a number of times with the Strategic Planning Task Force to help us keep the good of the students and the pedagogy at the heart of the plan.

We will be presenting the Strategic Plan at the next All School Community Meeting, January 14th at 7:00 pm in the Festival Hall.  You won’t want to miss the opportunity to be there when we share the plan.  Once again we will be hosting an interactive experience, where the community will have a chance to ask questions about the various aspects of the plan.   See you all then.

Over the past months since the Future Search and the All School Community Meeting we have been working with the results and feedback we gained to develop the future direction of the school.  In the spring of 2015 the Board of Trustees formed a Strategic Planning Task Force.  This group’s assignment was to develop a five-year strategic plan for the school.  This group has been meeting weekly to develop recommendations to the Board of Trustees.

It has been quite a journey to wrap our minds around the future of SMWS.  When we first started meeting after the Future Search and the All School Community Meeting the task was clear, but the path was anything but.  Over the past two months we have made progress across all five of the Future Search goals:  Financial Sustainability/Physical Improvements, Retention, Parent Education, Vibrant Community and Tell Our Story.  Today we have a much better understanding of the current state of the school and the future we would like to create.  This all came out of our work together as a community.

The Strategic Planning Task Force will be presenting its initial strategic plan recommendations to the Board of Trustees and Governance Council this week.  The full board and GC will offer feedback and suggestions on the plan.  The task force will have an additional month to complete the plan and bring it back to the board for a vote in the December meeting.  The board will then bring the plan to the community in the January All School Community Meeting.

Thanks to all the work done in the Future Search and the fall All School Community Meeting, we are on the precipice of a new vision for the school; one that will fundamentally shift our course towards the future we all have designed for the school.  I for one am very excited by what we are doing together.

Stand by for more updates and for the future of Shining Mountain Waldorf School.

In August 2015, a diverse group of SMWS constituents met together to engage in a Future Search process to lay the groundwork for our 5-year strategic plan.  Through that process we identified 5 major goal areas for the school: Financial Plan for Stability/Physical Improvements; Increased Retention; Improved Parent Education; Telling Our Story; and Vibrant and Engaged Community.   At the first All-School Community Meeting in September, more community members entered the conversation, and many ideas for ways to progress towards realizing our goals were brought forward.  

As the Board of Trustees works towards finalizing our strategic plan, we are asking for as much community feedback as possible. Please use the form below to familiarize yourself with the 5 goals and provocative statements, and to submit your comments and ideas. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to Contact the Board here.

Thank you for your interest and support.

~ The SMWS Board of Trustees

 

The Curious Experience of Speaking to the Board

By Mark Feigal, Board of Trustees Member & Michael Shaun Conaway, Board of Trustees Member

Michael Shaun –  When I started my board service this past spring, I was introduced to two new ideas.  The first was consensus decision making.  

Mark – Let me explain, consensus decision-making is a process used by groups seeking to generate widespread levels of participation and agreement. The process of group deliberation includes some common elements.  It is inclusive, participatory, collaborative, agreement seeking and cooperative.

Michael Shaun – In other words, when we face a decision, stay in a conversation until a consensus arises.  Most every vote I have seen on the board is unanimous because there is no hurry to vote until we find an agreement that works for everyone.  It can take longer than a majority vote but the end result is much better thought out and has real support from all of the members. 

Mark – That’s right, the board is committed to reaching unanimity.  It takes the collaborative effort of everyone to reach this goal. 

Michael Shaun – The second new idea that grows out of consensus decision-making is the idea that that the board speaks with one voice. 

Mark – Once we make a decision, we speak with one voice about that decision.  I put my opinion aside and you put your opinion aside so that when we speak about an issue, we say what the consensus decision is.  We speak with one voice no matter which member of the board you speak to.

Michael Shaun – This leads me to the title of this article:  The Curious Experience of Talking to the Board.  If you ever have reason to bring something to the board, you will come into direct contact with these two ideas. 

When you come to the board  we will quietly listen to what you have to say.  Then we will ask any questions that help us to understand what you are there to talk about.   Then one of us will reflect back to you what we heard you say and give you a moment to add anything that might be missing.  And then we thank you and wish you a good night.   We don’t say anything about what you presented, and that is a curious experience. 

Mark – We don’t say anything because there is no consensus at that moment.  After you go, then we talk about it.  When we come to some consensus, then we have one of the board members write back to you with the consensus reply.  

Michael Shaun – So it’s a slow motion conversation with discussion and consensus building going on after you have left.  It takes some time but the end result is that you get a board reply rather than a collection of opinions.