Episode Details

Mike St. Pierre, president of Morris Catholic High School in Denville, New Jersey, explains how to involve stakeholders in strategic planning so that a school improvement plan has real buy-in. His three-year plan took nine months and included students, teachers, parents and an outside facilitator.

St. Pierre describes starting with a good, bad and ugly review of the school, then whittling a huge group down to working teams. He asked every teacher to sign off on the plan, students appeared in the promotional video, and he says slow produces a better product.

What you'll learn

• Start strategic planning with an honest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats review, including what the school is not good at.
• Bring in an outside facilitator to lead the planning, as St. Pierre's school did, and ask for smaller groups where you need them.
• Invite the people you most want by phone or in person, say what the commitment is, and tell them they can say no.
• Choose planning team members for variety, loyalty and team spirit, so you avoid groupthink.
• Ask every teacher to sign off on the plan and voice concerns before it goes to the board.

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Mike St. Pierre and Morris Catholic
• 1:53 How the president-principal model works
• 5:59 Defining what makes your school unique
• 7:37 Running a nine-month planning process
• 10:33 Choosing who stays on the planning team
• 12:42 Why a personal invitation works
• 15:21 Getting a representative group involved
• 17:54 Faith formation and staying true to mission

Times are for the episode without ads. Your player may be off by the length of any ads.

Questions this episode answers

What is the president-principal model?
St. Pierre says about 55 to 60 percent of private and Catholic high schools in the US use it. The president handles finance, facilities, strategy and the board so the principal can focus on helping teachers, communicating with parents and improving instruction. He jokes that the principal is in the house and he is in the outhouse.

How do you get buy-in for a school strategic plan?
St. Pierre's school involved students, teachers, parents and an outside facilitator over nine months, then asked every teacher to sign off and raise concerns. The plan went to the board and bishops. He says slow produces a better product, even though everyone wanted to go fast.

How do you get the right people on a planning team?
St. Pierre says to make personal phone calls or visits, name the particular gifts you need, explain the commitment and allow a no. He looks for team players loyal to the school, variety of perspective and people with time. Most say yes, he says, and become evangelists.

About Mike St. Pierre

President of Morris Catholic High School, a co-ed Catholic school of about 400 students in Denville, New Jersey.

Links and resources

• Show notes for this episode
• Transformative Principal website

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