A New Strategic Plan
In January 2023, Head of School Beth Davis Johnson ’77, along with several Administrative team and faculty members, unveiled Friends’ Central’s new Strategic Plan to current community members. The Strategic Plan is the culmination of a year’s worth of surveys and small-group work and comes at an exciting moment in the School’s history. The plan comprises three pillars: Faculty & Staff, Curriculum & Facilities, and Community. Quaker values and diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusivity are woven throughout the pillars.
The Three Pillars
PILLAR 1: FACULTY & STAFF
Attract, retain, and invest in a talented, diverse, and expert faculty of true distinction
The initiatives around this goal as outlined in the Strategic Plan include expanded professional development opportunities, increased compensation, an emphasis on collaboration and community-building, and a recognition of the importance of expanding diversity efforts.
“While we have made important progress, we have more work to do!” said Head of School Beth D. Johnson '77.
PILLAR 2: CURRICULUM & FACILITIES
Design and adopt innovative, intellectual, and interdisciplinary curricular and co-curricular experiences that are supported by world-class facilities on both campuses
On the curricular and co-curricular front, a range of initiatives are underway and on the horizon. Plans are in place to reevaluate each division’s daily schedules to ensure that schedules support our pedagogical and community priorities across each division. Other initiatives include implementing more learning experiences beyond the boundaries of the campuses; more courses that are cross-listed or co-taught; and augmenting our teaching of Humanities in the way that recent initiatives and spaces have done for the Sciences, Math, and Technology curricula. In addition, The Lower School is about to embark on a comprehensive facilities plan.
Under this second pillar, Friends' Central's unique and distinctive curricular programs focused on conservation, biodiversity, ecology, and robotics are already taking place. Phase I of the Center for Innovation & Design (CID) is now in full operation, and planning and fundraising is underway for Phase II.
PILLAR 3: COMMUNITY
Strengthen our values-driven community and empower our students to address immediate local and global challenges, and lead lives of purpose
Under the Community pillar, the plan aims to create new and additional opportunities and structures that nurture Friends' Central's commitments to diversity and inclusivity, to stewardship of people and the environment, and to values-driven learning.
Initiatives already underway include the first-ever student conference on consent and healthy relationships that took place at Friends' Central in May 2023 and the School's Department of Institutional Diversity, Equity, & Justice which has recently undergone an important expansion.
Under the Community pillar, the School aims to strengthen our relationships and partnerships by applying our own FCS resources towards educational equity in our nearby communities. Also within the Community goals are a number of sustainability initiatives driven by the School’s Sustainability Committee, including identifying and executing manageable short-term projects and formalizing the roadmap for our long-term sustainability journey.
“This plan is a beginning; it represents what we want to accomplish in the next two to three years.”
- Head of School Beth D. Johnson ’77
- Head of School Beth D. Johnson ’77