MISSION

Villa Academy is a Catholic independent school dedicated to excellence in the education of the whole child and guided by the Cabrinian tradition of educating compassionate hearts and confident minds.

VISION

Villa Academy’s vision is to engage compassionate and confident learners for lives of infinite possibility.

CORE VALUES

Cabrinian Tradition
The Cabrinian tradition of teaching is dedicated to educational excellence and the development of the whole child to fullness of person. Our graduates are well on their way to emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, and social maturity as they initiate their high school experience and seek new opportunities to learn, grow, and give to others.

Learning Community
Our graduates possess a mastery of academic and social skills through a deep, inclusive, and rich learning community that features excellence in instruction, curriculum, and facilities and is consistent with a child centered educational approach. At the time of graduation, students have developed the essential academic and social skills to succeed in high school and later life.

Cultural Competence
Our graduates have a cultural competence achieved through knowledge of the needs and attributes of many communities and are beginning to prepare for the day when they will take a place in these communities as competent, concerned, and responsible members.

Compassion and Service
Our graduates are on the threshold of moving beyond self-interest in their relationships to treating others with kindness and compassion as required by our faith.

Pursuit of Excellence and Expectation of Integrity
Our graduates have a desire and ability to pursue excellence in their lives. They are persons of integrity who conduct themselves accordingly in their personal relationships and their work in the community.

CALL TO ACTION

Over the past century our institution has been committed to the Cabrinian mission of education. Whether governed by St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart or by an independent Board of Trustees, the essential question has always been – how do we live out and manifest the Cabrinian goals of educational excellence and compassionate service?

Today, in a time of rapid change, we seek to ensure that Cabrinian education is as relevant and meaningful as it has ever been. Recently, the Board of Trustees initiated a strategic planning process involving the entire school community.

Now, as we implement the new strategic plan, we do so from a position of strength. We own the campus, our programs are robust, our students are achieving at high levels, and our values are timeless – the Cabrinian tradition, lifelong learning, cultural competence, compassionate service to others, and the pursuit of excellence.

Recognizing that the success of our children depends on values and skills that will help them embrace rapid change and the unknown, we introduce the new strategic plan to help preserve the foundations of our educational mission, while we prepare for the future.

Through the five initiatives of our strategic plan, we will continue to:
Help children develop competence, confidence, curiosity, and compassion.
Promote a fierce passion for all kinds of learning.
Encourage flexibility, fearlessness, and ferocity in embracing change and unpredictable situations that are beyond one’s personal control.
Afford ample opportunities to experiment, take risks, and learn how to handle failure and setbacks within our supportive school community.
Invite thoughtful reflection, critical thinking, and the conviction to act.

Preparation for the future will also involve more targeted interaction with the world. The students will need to collaborate with individuals and groups on a personal and collective level. Our local area is rich with prospective community partnerships. Let’s embrace these resources, focus on increasing active engagement with the larger community – local, regional, national, and global – and educate our children to lead lives of infinite possibility!

one.

Enhance Our Excellent Academic Program

Villa Academy will provide a relevant, well-rounded academic program that ensures mastery of the skills, processes, and strategies to succeed in the 21st century. By establishing a collaborative, consistent, and transparent framework of social, emotional, and cognitive competencies in key areas, we will enable Villa graduates to succeed in academic endeavors, work, and life. We will recruit teachers who utilize 21st century best practices and add diversity to our community.

two.

Enhance the Student and Parent Experience

Villa Academy will become intentional in its efforts to enhance the student and parent experience within its internal and external communities, as well as to celebrate the diversity of its families through the school’s culture. We will ensure a program centered around students and parents by establishing key measures of engagement and satisfaction. Additionally, we will expose students to a variety of cultural experiences and partner with the broader community to meet community needs and enhance students’ learning.

three.

Promote and Improve the Co-Curricular Experience

Villa Academy will continue to develop and advance the co-curricular experience for students, extending the educational experience beyond the classroom. We will develop a clear mission and vision for the co-curricular and summer programs, along with a system to continually evaluate, benchmark, and enhance these programs to ensure their relevancy and support of the school’s mission and vision. We will evaluate the financial structure of these programs, consider requiring co-curricular activities during the Middle School day, and use the programs to establish connections with the community outside our walls.

four.

Expand Institutional Advancement

Institutional Advancement supports and promotes Villa Academy’s mission and vision by building relationships with internal and external constituencies and driving financial support. To further enhance our advancement efforts, we will increase collaboration and cohesiveness among our development, admission, public relations, and marketing departments. We will develop strategic and consistent internal and external marketing, communications, and fundraising plans promoting the positive attributes of a Villa education and supporting the school’s short and long-term goals. We will develop strategic bilateral alliances with outside members of the community that are consistent with and support the mission of the school. We will establish a series of metrics to evaluate the success of the institutional advancement function on an ongoing basis.

five.

Develop and Manage Resources that Empower Our Mission

We will establish and maintain a program to identify, develop, and sustain nontuition based resources. We will maintain a structure of tuition and fees consistent with academic programs and goals, facilities maintenance and development, and which successfully provides access for a diverse student population. We will develop and integrate a long-term budget, financial, and fundraising structure consistent with the strategic plan goals that maintains financial stability and supports future site and facility development.

Villa Academy hired Ian Symmonds and Associates (Portland, OR), to aid us in developing a 12-month process enabling the school to obtain strategic input from a wide variety of perspectives: parents, students, alumni, staff, faculty, neighbors, and community leaders.

Phase I was data collection. Parents, faculty, and staff participated in an online survey, phone interviews, and focus groups. Focus

groups of students and alumni were also convened. Market segments were identified and studied, demographic trends were analyzed, and neighbors and community leaders were interviewed.

Phase II, the resulting data was made available to the steering committee for study, consideration, and inclusion in developing a strategic direction and broad initiatives for Villa Academy’s next 5 years.

In Phase III, the subcommittees fleshed out the initiatives, developing goals, tactics, and detailed planning grids for accomplishing each goal in the 5-year time frame.

The entire process was inclusive, touching a broad swath of constituents and stakeholders in the Villa community as you can see represented by the numbers of individuals listed in the graphic to the right.

Strategic Planning Committee

Six Initiative Sub Committees

Focus Groups

Including parents, students, alumni, staff, faculty, and community leaders.

Survey

Including 207 responses. 103 volunteered for phone interview, and 33 were randomly selected and interviewed by phone.

STRATEGIC PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE

Susan Kaluzny CHAIR, TRUSTEE, ALUMNUS PARENT Bob Baur TRUSTEE, PARENT Don Bear STAFF, ALUMNI PARENT Liz Brennan PARENT Katharine Brennecke ALUMNA Sarah Cavanaugh PARENT Robert Downey FACULTY Mark Grey TRUSTEE, PARENT, ALUMNUS Doug Early PARENT Sarah Hunter TRUSTEE, PARENT Christine Ingebritsen TRUSTEE, PARENT Christine Joulain FACULTY, PARENT Kathy Nielsen PARENT David Petre PARENT Brigette Quichocho ADMINISTRATION Polly Skinner HEAD OF SCHOOL Lisa Stewart PARENT, FORMER TRUSTEE Sr. Ann Cornelia Sullivan TRUSTEE John Widzgowski TRUSTEE, PARENT

After 12 months of thoughtful, disciplined work, the steering committee completed the planning process with new mission and vision statements, core values, an institutional positioning concept, and five strategic initiatives that lay the foundation for the next century of education