STRATEGIC PLAN -SCHOOL

Strategic Plan -School

Strategic Plan -School

Introduction

As we, on the School Committee, look at Scattergood today relative to the mission statement above, there is a great deal with which we can be proud and satisfied. The school is a vibrant and supportive community. The academic program is strong and innovative and provides a creative and stimulating learning environment. The farm program brings an appreciation of the reality of food production to our students who often come to us separated from the realities of what it takes to feed our society. Our graduates are sent into the world with an understanding of global issues and facing the responsibilities of the individual in a global society.

As the governing body of the school we can, therefore, feel satisfied that adequate attention has been given to the quality of the programs and to their philosophical foundations. As the governing body, however, our responsibilities also include addressing the tangible financial and infrastructure needs of the school. In these areas we find serious deficiencies and needs. Although financial difficulties are not a new problem for Scattergood, these problems must be addressed in order to avoid jeopardizing the quality of the community and academic programs that fulfill the objectives of our mission.

Recent Financial History

Financial controls during the time that Jan Luchini was director were generally good. Although there were financial needs that could not be adequately met, most notably staff salaries, the budgeting and control processes were well implemented and the school finished most years with a modest positive operating margin. However, in the past two years three factors have conspired to put the school in an unusually difficult financial position:

Because of the collapse of the stock market in 2008, the Scattergood Foundation, under its rules for protecting the principle of its investments, was unable to provide any revenue contributions for the past two years.

The transition in the leadership of the school caused a serious breakdown in financial reporting, with the result that financial controls were inadequately administered.

As a result of years of inadequate facilities maintenance, and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, several remedial infrastructure repair projects had to be undertaken without adequate capital funding being available.

As a result of these factors, the school finds itself in a precarious financial position.



Current Needs

The current financial condition needs to be addressed on three fronts: enhanced operating revenue, a more robust financial reporting and control system, capital funding for long postponed infrastructure upgrades.

Increased operating revenue is a pressing short-term need. The most pressing operational need is to increase staff salaries. Staff salaries, which have historically been low, are now so far below a competitive level as to be an embarrassment, and are a serious detriment to recruiting and retaining qualified staff. It is astounding that we have been fortunate enough to assemble the high quality staff that is key to Scattergood's continued success. We should not expect to maintain our high quality faculty unless we address the salary issue.

A problem, which became painfully apparent during the transition to a new head ...