About

Strategic Plan

Our Strategic Plan Faith + Leadership


We are excited to introduce Faith + Leadership, Benedictine Schools of Richmond's strategic plan, adopted unanimously and enthusiastically by the Board of Trustees, Foundation Board, and monastic communities.

This strategic plan will help drive the entire BSoR community toward an environment where faith and leadership are not just part and parcel to everyday life at the schools, but they are the primary drivers in everything that the faculty, staff, and students do. Faith + Leadership is broken down into six priorities with individual strategic goals and objectives – all of which can be directly traced back to the schools’ newly defined vision statement. Each part of the plan points to a single-minded purpose of strengthening the faith and leadership profiles of the students we graduate.

Faith + Leadership is focused on serving our students, supporting our faculty and staff, strengthening our community, stewarding our resources, and enhancing the Benedictine charism in all that we do. Keep reading to learn more about the strategic plan, its goals, and objectives, and what it means for the future of the Benedictine Schools of Richmond.

Our Vision

The schools-of-choice for students and teachers who are inspired to excel, develop as leaders, and grow in their faith; a community that provides access for all students to be taught by Virginia’s best educators, builds young leaders of character, and glorifies God in all things.


Faith + Leadership: Goals and Objectives

Hover over the images below and click 'read more' to learn more about BSoR's strategic plan goals and objectives.
  
  • BSoR Leadership Program BSoR Leadership Program

    Strategic Goal: Graduate men and women of character who are leaders


    Objectives and Action Items:

    • Incorporate the Rule of St. Benedict as the foundation for a leadership program and as the source of Catholic identity for the program.
      • Provide professional development for faculty and staff in order to encourage understanding and buy-in for the leadership program.
      • Review the available literature regarding leadership in the Rule in the Benedictine tradition.
      • Delineate the elements of leadership in the Rule that will most directly impact the program.
    • Develop an overarching leadership philosophy and framework applicable to all levels at BSoR across the administration and students.
      • Research and inquire other schools with similar leadership programs regarding program setup, staffing, curriculum, etc.
      • Hire full time leadership faculty to focus on developing and implementing the program at BSoR.
    • Develop separate but coordinate Leadership programs for BCP and SGHS.
      • Develop marketing plan for faculty, students, and parents about the initiative to expand leadership focus using a common curriculum for BSoR, but separate implementation systems at BCP and SGHS.
      • Review similar schools' leadership programs for best practices.
      • Incorporate leadership principles and traits from the Rule of St. Benedict.
      • Develop co-mingled opportunities with multiple grade levels involved for practical application of curriculum.
    • Ensure that “leadership” is baked into every activity of the Benedictine Schools of Richmond.
      • Be intentional about discussing and emphasizing leadership at every opportunity to drive a leadership culture.
      • Request faculty input where students could support daily school functions and in turn create more leadership opportunities.
      • Create opportunities for leadership development in everyday school activities through leadership-based projects and social situations.
      • Highlight students and faculty as examples of good leadership.
  • Our Catholic Identity Our Catholic Identity

    Strategic Goal: Develop Catholics who understand and practice the faith and impart to all students an appreciation of faith in their lives


    Objectives and Action Items:

    • Enhance the Benedictine charism in prayer, worship, and practice.
      • Lectio Divina - increase the traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's word.
      • Collaborate with Benedictine religious communities to elevate their current engagement with students, faculty, and staff.
      • Provide growth opportunities to faculty and staff in development of their personal spiritual lives.
      • Inculcate the Rule of St. Benedict in the culture of the Benedictine Schools of Richmond.
    • Inculcate the Catholic faith and perspective in every aspect of schools.
      • Provide Catholic resources to assist teachers in each discipline.
      • Provide speakers and resources on faith-related instruction.
      • Provide opportunities for enhanced spiritual direction for all interested students.
      • Provide a culture and spirit of virtue in BSoR athletic programs.
    • Develop and provide Catholic role models.
      • Provide spiritual direction to teachers, coaches, and staff who wish to receive it.
      • Train teachers to provide spiritual direction.
      • Involve more local priests so there is a more consistent presence of religious on campus.
      • Fully establish catechetical and pedagogical institute.
  • BSoR Academics BSoR Academics

    Strategic Goal: Implement and showcase a distinguished and appealing academic program complimented by support services rooted in Benedictine values.


    Objectives and Action Items:

    • Provide educational support services and programming that allows all students to fully participate in our programs and demonstrate college readiness and career awareness.
      • Perform an internal needs assessment of our current educational support program and services to determine the appropriate staffing and structural necessities.
      • Implement a college planning and career exploration curriculum that supports student development and parental involvement as a result of the college and career planning process.
    • Provide more opportunities that challenge highly motivated and accelerated students.
      • Expand the BSoR Advanced Placement portfolio to increase the number of students enrolled in AP courses by 10%.
      • Expand the elective portfolio with an intentional emphasis in the arts and sciences.
    • Hire, cultivate, and retain high performing faculty who are content experts aligned with the BSoR mission.
      • Recruit high performing applicants who are content area experts.
      • Implement a professional development program for teachers that financially supports one college course in their content area every 5-10 years.
      • Incentivize teacher licensure and/or advanced degrees.
  • Community and Culture Community and Culture

    Strategic Goal: Create an environment of unity and engagement between students, faculty, staff, and alumni.


    Objectives and Action Items:

    • Develop a common Catholic culture for the schools through shared, faith-based experiences.
      • Implement a transformational spiritual retreats program that promotes our Benedictine values, a personal relationship with Christ, and the development of school class identity (as it pertains to graduating year, i.e. freshman, sophomore, junior, senior).
      • Enhance our service immersion program that demonstrates our faith in action via the corporal works of mercy.
      • Employ faculty members teaching single-gender sections in both schools to promote the development of a common culture while respecting single-sex traditions.
    • Develop and promote diversity and a welcoming culture through extracurricular programs that include alumni and faculty engagement.
      • Implement a program to facilitate student and faculty discussions on initiatives related to diversity.
      • Review and improve student orientation programs to increase student embeddedness and retention. 
      • Develop an alumni/ae speaker series focusing on experiences and lessons learned from different races, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, and cultures.
    • Inculcate the philosophy of complementarity of the sexes.
      • Continue a faculty professional development program that promotes an understanding of complementarity of the sexes.
      • Develop teaching tools for the education of the complementarity of sexes promoted by Saint Edith Stein and Saint Pope John Paul II.
      • Employ faculty members who teach in both schools in an effort to promote a first-hand understanding of complementarity. 
  • The BSoR Brand The BSoR Brand

    Strategic Goal: To enhance BSoR’s competitive position among families’ high school options


    Objectives and Action Items to Strengthen the Brand(s):

    • Conduct research to assess current market position including strengths and weaknesses, and identify each school’s unique value propositions.
      • Conduct surveys to explore brand perceptions by surveying families within the Catholic Diocese of Richmond (prospective parents), current BSoR families (parents and students), faculty and staff, and alumni.
      • Test brand concepts in focus group discussions and/or interviews.
      • Benchmark marketing budget, staffing, and communications campaigns against current and aspirational peers.
      • Create a strategic research plan including a schedule for conducting surveys and benchmarking activities to guide future decision making.
    • Integrate and unify the brand across all units (departments and functions).
      • Build a “brand ambassadors” program to include faculty and staff, current students and parents, and alumni.
      • Offer “brand training” for employees as part of the hiring process.
      • Provide advocates and influencers with “elevator speech” and other resources to accurately promote the Benedictine Schools of Richmond and our two schools' missions.
    • Promote brand promises and brand strengths to both internal and external audiences.
      • Use websites and other marketing tools to demonstrate brand strengths identified through research efforts.
      • Develop a “portrait of a graduate” for each school to clearly display outcomes of a BSoR education.
      • Continue highlighting successes of alumni/ae in publications and in other marketing efforts to further promote a portrait of a Benedictine or Saint Gertrude graduate.
      • Incorporate messaging to reflect the objectives of the other elements of the strategic plan as they relate to brand.
    • Establish practices for ongoing brand assessment and realignment as needed.
      • Conduct a comprehensive communications and brand audit and take actions needed to align messaging.
      • Conduct ongoing assessments of external audiences and their perceptions of the BSoR brand.
      • Develop protocols/discipline for ongoing brand assessments including staffing requirements to support the initial efforts and into the future.
  • Advancement and Fundraising Advancement and Fundraising

    Strategic Goal: Create a self-sustaining financial model that supports the schools’ capital, student access, and faculty development goals while reducing reliance on annual fundraising initiatives


    Objectives and Action Items to Strengthen the Brand(s):

    • Develop an endowment growth strategy to support student scholarships, faculty professional development and capital asset depreciation.
      • Synergize annual giving programs to support over-arching endowment program strategy.
      • Quantify the endowment goals for: 1) student scholarship based on targeted support for qualified students from middle-income and low-income families and 2) faculty recruitment, retention, professional development, and merit achievement.
      • Execute endowment campaign to secure enrollment stability from high-performing students, employment stability from high-performing teachers, and the sustainability of tier-one educational facilities.
    • Codify an operating budget and endowment philosophy that supports capital asset depreciation.
      • Research capital asset depreciation schedule and annual maintenance requirements. Identify reserve fund and endowment goals.
      • Define endowment restrictions and uses policy to support capital asset depreciation endowments. Ratify with endowment trustees.
      • Implement a perpetual endowment campaign to grow facilities endowment supports.
    • Define a master plan for campus facilities development.
      • Constitute a master planning committee to evaluate the potential needs of future capital development projects.
      • Analyze current land development capability and future land needs.
      • Develop a long-term campus master plan.

BSoR's Strategic Plan Committee

Co-Chair: Mrs. Bridget Ryan Berman ’78, Trustee
Co-Chair: Mr. Jesse Grapes, BSoR President; BCP ’22 Parent, SGHS ’26 Parent
Facilitator and Consultant: Dr. Keith Miller
Mrs. Theresa Cunningham Bahen '76, Trustee, BCP '04, '07, '17 Parent
Dr. Jennifer Bigelow, Former BSoR Academic Dean
Mr. Richard Boehling ’80, SGHS ’12, ’16 Parent
Sr. Joanna Burley O.S.B., Trustee
Fr. Brian Capuano
Ms. Jennifer Carr ’16
Mrs. Mary Keegan Cheatham '01
Mrs. Mika Coley, BCP '16, '19 Parent; SGHS '22, '23 Parent
BG. Norvell V. Coots '76, Trustee
Mr. Bill Doran ’92, BCP Teacher and Coach
Mrs. Amanda Esparza, Former BSoR Administrator and Teacher
Mrs. Robyn D’Onofrio, SGHS Teacher and Coach
Mr. Michael Falcone, BCP  '24 Parent
Mr. Patrick Gallagher ’00
Mr. Rodney Ganey '69, Trustee
Mrs. Sheila Arrighi Gervasoni ’73, Former SGHS Teacher; SGHS ’08, ’09, ’13 Parent
Mrs. Paige Guedri Gill '00
Mr. Thomas Glass, BSoR Director of IT
Mrs. Cheryl Garrett Goddard ’80
Mr. Hilton Graham '98
Mr. Cabell Harris '77
Mrs. Anne Jamerson, BSoR Learning Specialist
Mrs. Kristina Kerns, Former BSoR Director of Marketing and Communications
Mr. Chris LaCivita, BCP '18 Parent; SGHS '16 Parent
Mr. Doug Legan, SGHS ’26 Parent
Fr. Jonathan Licari O.S.B., Trustee
Mr. Greg Lilly, BSoR Director of Admissions
Mr. Kevin McNamara '74, Trustee
Sr. Michaela Martinez O.P.
Mr. Drew Mugford ’86, BSoR Principal, BCP ’25 Parent, SGHS ’13, ’16, ’19 Parent
Mrs. Buni Neighbors, Foundation Board, BCP ’21 Parent, SGHS ’22 Parent
Mr. Toriano Philips ’90, Foundation Board
Mrs. Amy Roussy Pickral ’95, SGHS Head of School; SGHS ’23, ’25 Parent
Mrs. Lynn Rasch
Mr. Steve Reardon '80, Trustee, Foundation Board, BCP '09 Parent; SGHS '10, '11, '12, '15 Parent
Mrs. Pam Royall
Mr. Frank Russo, BCP ’24 Parent
Mr. Alex Schattner ’16
Mr. Del Smith ’01, BCP Head of School
Mr. Richard Smith ’88, Foundation Board
Abbot Placid Solari ’70 O.S.B., Foundation Board
Mr. Ken Sullivan, Trustee, BCP '15 Parent; SGHS '13, '19 Parent
Mr. Joseph R. Swedish '69, Trustee
Del. R. Lee Ware, Trustee, Former BCP Teacher
Sr. Andrea Westkamp O.S.B.

About the Strategic Planning Process

For Benedictine and Saint Gertrude, a strategic plan is never a rote exercise. We put our hearts and souls into it because it is, after all, the horizon we set for ourselves. The process of developing this plan has been both rigorous and comprehensive. We began by conducting quantitative surveys and qualitative focus groups with every constituency in the BSoR community. Our Board provided feedback, guidance, and structure at every stage of revision and re-imagining. Faith + Leadership is the culmination of more than three years of listening to the people of the BSoR community - their hopes and dreams, their concerns and critiques, and their ambitions and aspirations.

We spoke with students, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni/ae, parents, grandparents, prospective families, local parochial schools, and friends to ensure everyone in our community was represented. These diverse and dedicated members of our community formed nine different task force groups with the goal of developing a strategic plan to the propel our two schools into the future.
12829 River Road
Richmond, VA 23238
BCP Phone: (804) 708-9500
SGHS Phone: (804) 358-9114
Fax: (804) 784-5410
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