In the five years since the last strategic plan was established, ACDS has continued on a path of remarkable growth and enjoyed a number of significant accomplishments. The school successfully navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, restructured its administrative leadership team, solidified its curriculum, completed the South Campus, overhauled its compensation system, instituted new health insurance and retirement plans, built a new professional growth and evaluation system, successfully completed its 10-year accreditation process, and saw enrollment grow to its highest level in 14 years.
In completing its most recent accreditation process in the fall of 2024, ACDS produced a strategic self-study that identified four areas of focus: Teaching Excellence; Effective Communication and Critical Thinking; Diversity and Inclusivity; and Sustainability, Staffing, and Succession. The reflection on these four areas of focus revealed both strengths and challenges, but largely affirmed the direction that ACDS has followed: to focus on teaching and learning, to provide the resources necessary to promote innovation and growth, to deepen, rather than change our work, and to continue lifting our sights to a more long-term vision.
As this successful 2020-2025 Strategic Plan cycle was drawing to a close, a Strategic Planning Committee led by Kelly Beeland (P’25 and President of the Board of Trustees), and comprising trustees, faculty, administrators, and parents, convened in January 2025 to establish a new set of priorities for the 2025-2030 cycle that would guide and encourage our next, equally fruitful chapter.
The committee reviewed data and impressions collected through the accreditation process and our progress since the last strategic plan was established, and engaged in lengthy and thoughtful discussions of where our School should place its emphasis in the coming years. An unexpected outgrowth of this process, the committee recognized that the initiatives of our last strategic plan were actually evergreen and in fact formed a set of institutional priorities that will always be essential. To memorialize these ideas, the committee transformed the five elements of the last plan into a permanent Vision Statement.
Importantly, this statement reinforces ACDS’s commitment to keeping teaching, learning, and community at the center of all it does. Thus, the first goal of the new strategic plan speaks directly to these core elements.
After extensive discussion, gathering feedback from faculty, staff, and trustees along the way, the committee proposed three key goals for the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan that were then approved by the full Board of Trustees on November 14, 2025.
The world our students inhabit is dynamic, challenging, fast-paced, distracting, fractious, at once interactive and isolating, full of wondrous technology, and replete with pitfalls and opportunity. While our academic program is excellent it must also be responsive to these dynamics to ensure that it addresses the changing needs of students. Consistent with the professional culture of our school, our efforts will be attuned to research, focus on continual improvement, and ensure a joyful, child-centered experience that challenges, inspires, and prepares our students. Actions associated with this initiative will include:
- Ensure alignment of the program with the demands of changing technology and social dynamics
- Deepen and expand the school’s effective communication program
- Grow and enhance the school’s social and emotional learning program and resources to respond to current and future needs
- Ensure that programs result in a strong sense of community and belonging for all members of the community
- Explore how program structures (schedules, methods, groupings, etc.) best support success for today’s students
- Provide the resources, training, and support teachers need to achieve student success
While our classrooms will accommodate full enrollment of approximately 228 students, we have used every inch of our building. There is an ongoing need to enlarge some classrooms and add spaces for studio work, tutoring, small group workrooms, offices, and storage. Given the historic nature of our facility and its limited envelope, we will need to be judicious in identifying our needs and creative in finding solutions. Actions associated with this initiative will include:
- Identify priority needs for additional space
- Identify opportunities for expansion
- Assess the best solution for the school and develop an implementation plan
Our community is committed to ACDS and generous in its support, and our small fundraising staff performs above its size. Consequently, we have established a successful Annual Fund and Auction and have been able to sustain our school and make important improvements. As our ambitions grow, however, so too must our ability to raise non-tuition funds. Major capital projects, endowment growth to support faculty compensation and financial aid, and reserves to sustain the school through inevitable economic downturns, will require increases in charitable giving if we are to keep tuition increases moderate. Actions associated with this initiative will include:
- Assess the community’s capacity for additional giving to meet strategic goals
- Deepen relationships with alumni and build an effective alumni program
- Create a Development Plan to achieve feasible increases in giving
Strategic Planning Committee
Kelly Beeland, Chair, Trustee, Parent ‘25
Scott Baytosh, Head of School, Parent ‘21
Emily Bryan, Trustee, Parent ‘24, ‘26
Matt Carr, Faculty
Karen Christian, Trustee, Parent ‘19, ‘21, ‘24
Cahlan Mazur, Faculty
Matt McGrew, Trustee, Parent ‘24
Molly Mitchell, Faculty
Shane Mulhern, Trustee, Parent ‘28, ‘31
Jenn Street, Assistant Head of School, Parent ‘25, ‘30
Chip West, Director of Student Life
Kristin Whitman, Trustee, Parent ‘22, ‘24
