Rooted
Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude.
Colossians 2:6-7
Dear Lancer Family,
Our mission statement, in part, is to demonstrate excellence in all areas of operation. To achieve this, we must first understand what it looks like. We must define it. Vince Lombardi said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” This is helpful because, while we cannot achieve perfection, we know what it looks like: Jesus. Individually and corporately, we are striving to more closely reflect the perfection of Jesus every day. Hopefully, this positions us to “catch” excellence. Still, in education, it is important to define goals and focus on outcomes. Therefore, we have begun the work of more specifically defining excellence in all departments. We have completed our definition in academics:
Academic excellence implements rigor to challenge students’ thinking and encourage them to tackle complex problems. It focuses on developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills through hands-on projects, where students apply what they have learned in real-world situations. Academic excellence inspires curiosity and promotes a deeper understanding of content. It also considers the whole child, supporting both their intellectual growth and personal development. High expectations are set, motivating students to work heartily as unto the Lord (Col. 3:23) and fostering a love for lifelong learning.
Now, we incorporate the components of this definition into our curriculum and teacher expectations. Next, we follow this same format for all areas while simultaneously implementing the action steps of the strategic plan you will see on the following pages. These are exhilarating days to be a Lancer, as God is doing much in and through His people.
The list of folks that contributed to the Rooted strategic plan is too long to include in this letter, but it includes about 70 volunteers and staff and representation from administrators, pastors, teachers, parents, alumni, and students. Thank you! As year 61 approaches, and we anticipate eclipsing 1000 students for the first time ever, may the Lord continue to bless Cambridge with growth so the impact of Kingdom Education can be felt throughout the Tampa region. May He also help us preserve the family feel that we all cherish in conjunction with that growth. As you review our plans on the following pages, do not lose sight of the fact that CCS is God’s school. Pray for us – that we would not race ahead or fall behind His timing and will.
Strategic Plan Goals
Cultivate a Christ-centered school culture where students, families, faculty, and staff are deeply rooted in biblical truth, built up through discipleship and academic excellence, and established in a vibrant, grace-filled community – overflowing with gratitude and purpose.
Priority 1
Spiritual Formation
Specific initiatives for future implementation include, but are not limited to:
- Create additional opportunities beyond the classroom and chapel to focus specifically on the Word of God
- Protect Bible class time from interruption
- Review standards and scope and sequence for Bible classes school-wide to ensure that God’s Word is central to instruction and discipleship
- Ensure that students expected to pour into other students are appropriately trained to do so
- Develop an intentional spiritual formation discipline by establishing grade level spiritual outcomes Expand upon the Love Thy Neighbor program
- Connect opportunities for application of grade level spiritual outcomes
- Ensure that all faculty and staff are actively involved in local church on an ongoing basis
- Review the need for and feasibility of adding specialized teachers for Bible instruction in the Lower School
- Highlight students and alumni serving in the local church Add a school-wide counselor
- Explore ways to increase margin (time) for local church involvement of faculty and families
- Research, adopt, create and administer annual spiritual assessments for students in grades 6-12
- Add a Campus Pastor
- Expand upon the depth and breadth of local church partnerships
Priority 2
Academic Advancement
Specific initiatives for future implementation include, but are not limited to:
- Provide teachers with instructional technology professional development
- Develop virtual literacy support for teachers and students
- Reassess the application and use of technology in the classrooms K-12 to reflect current brain research. Establish a committee to research and assess our philosophy and pertinent policies on an annual basis and the brain science behind how technology impacts learning, as well as high and low-tech school results
- Develop a plan to outline the technology policies and guidelines K-12 as used for instructional purposes for the next 5-7 years
- Consider the development of an intensive reading course/support for bottom quartile of students
- Hire a Reading Specialist to support teachers and students schoolwide
- Create a reading initiative schoolwide. Train all teachers on reading strategies and ways to implement “grappling” and “coldreading” of complex text in all subject areas in order to increase critical thinking skills, analysis, and SAT/ACT scores
- Develop long-term professional development plan reflecting centralized priorities
- Create a more formalized mentor plan for new teachers
- Hire a new Director of Curriculum & Instruction to provide support schoolwide
- Develop and implement a dual enrollment program for high school
- Develop centralized documents that outline the schoolwide implementation of professional development focus areas for new faculty and staff members
- Provide formal training to teachers on revised state standards implementation and provide ongoing monitoring of standards compliance and curricular maps
- Provide a mandatory standards and best practices training for all new teachers
- Expand the data review process for standardized testing results and trends
- Develop a study to determine optimal class sizes for various disciplines
- Launch the OPUS program, allowing students to specialize in the arts
- Review academic scope and sequence schoolwide to ensure Biblical integration within every discipline
- Create and/or adopt and implement an admissions test for the Upper School
- Provide training to department heads and faculty on data interpretation; how to read and interpret summary reports received from standardized testing
- Expand the band program while adding instruments and equipment
- Make provisions for improved sound and performance equipment
- Add an Arts and OPUS Director
- Support ongoing professional development of fine arts teachers
- Add a full-time strength and conditioning coach for student athletes in all athletic programs
- Add a new football/soccer stadium on campus
- Refurbish existing weight room to meet the needs of student athletes in a competitive program
- Formalize an in-house athletic coach’s professional development system
Priority 3
Institutional Stability
Specific initiatives for future implementation include, but are not limited to:
- Successfully fund phase one of the $7.5 million Grow with Us Campaign to build a new high school building with a new main entrance and parking lot
- Develop a 3-year financial forecast that addresses areas of enrollment, hard income, cash reserves, debt, and capital outlays
- Create a debt repayment plan to include the refinance of current debt
- Research and develop a plan for additional revenue and expansion opportunities
- Develop and implement a text survey program for Admissions tours
- Create an automatic email and communication strategy for the entire Admissions process
- Create visuals of current master plan for Admissions to share with prospective families
- Create faculty testimonial videos to train new faculty and staff on CCS culture
- Develop brand identity/elevator speech and distribute to all faculty and staff yearly
- Develop complete operations manuals for all parent volunteer groups Create a years of service recognition program for faculty and staff
- Develop a plan to maintain competitive total compensation packages for faculty amid proposed state legislative changes
- Increase faculty and staff benefit packages to include establishing a company matching program for retirement plans
- Develop complete operations manuals for the Business Office and Advancement
- Install a campus-wide lightning detection system
- Develop a facility design standard manual to establish a cohesive look campus wide
- Conduct due diligence on water and energy efficiency audits to identify opportunities to reduce utility costs
- Evaluate and upgrade campus-wide signage
- Research and develop a strategy for continual alumni data management
- Increase alumni exposure and engagement in marketing efforts through testimonials (Lancer for Life series)
- Task Alumni Association Chair with specific goals to include recruiting class chairs, managing and scheduling Facebook posts, and hosting a minimum of 2 events each year
- Develop a cohesive, thoughtful and robust fundraising strategy that includes annual fund, capital campaign, endowment, major/special gifts, corporate partnerships/giving and planned giving
- Measurably grow annual giving to 5% of budget and increase parent and alumni participation
- Create a plan to grow the school’s endowment annually
Priority 4
Family Investment
Specific initiatives for future implementation include, but are not limited to:
- Consider implementing a stronger focus on service culminating in an in-house mandatory service organization in order to connect students and families with meaningful service opportunities
- Capitalize on church partnerships by connecting students and families with their outreach/service opportunities
- Consider formalizing additional partnerships with local service-focused non-profits
- Form an experienced task force to address broken family structures within the Lancer community
- Offer additional parenting seminars that tackle hot topics
- Offer a parenting library
- Increase awareness of challenges our families face, but direct programs and communications to be helpful by offering direction and assistance
- Create more opportunities to connect families to others within the Lancer community, such as a mom’s Bible study/breakfast and a dad’s club for event planning
- Create networking opportunities for CCS families by considering hosting and/or organizing a job fair or business fair
- Consider opening up parenting seminars to the public and market accordingly
- Promote church partner events that address parenting
- Develop and/or offer training for parents and students within the social/emotional area (suicide, anxiety, etc.)