On March 28 and 29, the IST Board, the IST administration, and representatives of the IST Alumni Association met in a Strategic Planning Session. The aim of the session was to formulate strategic goals for IST to pursue for the next three to five years. These goals will give focus to the school improvement process at IST.
On April 24, the IST Board approved an official formulation of the IST Strategic Plan to put before the IST Community for comment. All members of the IST Community (parents, students, faculty, alumni, interested community members, etc.) are invited to reflect on the proposed goals, suggest improvements, call attention to additional goals that should be considered, or otherwise share their thoughts. These comments can be emailed to the following address Plan2008@istafrica.com or sent to the IST Director’s office by May 15. These comments will be collected and analyzed by an IST Board Committee. They will be presented to the full Board before a final and official version of the IST Strategic Plan is approved and publicized in June.
The Proposed Strategic Plan is posted on the IST website, has been sent to school families by email, and provided in hard copy form to families that have requested such communication. Extra copies are also available in the office of the IST Director.
Please note that these goals are general formulations. No attempt will be made here to interpret these goals. Ideally these goals will speak for themselves. Once goals are selected, action plans will be written in September of each year to guide the efforts of IST in pursuing school improvement. Near the end of each year, the Board will assess what progress has been made in the achievement of these goals. Goals may need to be reformulated in subsequent years depending on the circumstances at the time. Efforts at school improvement will continue in areas other than spoken to by these goals. These goals have been selected as priorities for school improvement. The inclusion of too many goals in a strategic plan can blur its focus.
Your participation in this collective effort at school improvement is appreciated. IST has a tradition of school excellence of which we are proud. Our Strategic Plan will allow us to work on school improvement and continue our tradition of excellence.
From: Dr. David Shawver
IST Director
