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Strategic Plan

Rooted and Rising: A Values-Driven Vision for the Future of San Domenico

Campus as seen from the trails
Strategic plan launched 2025
SD Shield on a wall on campus

 

OUR CONTINUED PURSUIT OF VERITAS

The world today is evolving at an unprecedented pace, shaped by profound shifts in society, technology, and the environment. This new era, defined by accelerating complexity, is also full of possibility. To thrive today, students need more than knowledge; they need initiative, resilience, creativity, and adaptability.

Download the pdf of the Strategic Plan

This Strategic Plan sets a bold course for San Domenico School. Shaped by hundreds of voices across our community, it reflects a shared vision: to empower students for lives of leadership, service, and principled action. Our students must be prepared not only to meet the future, but to shape it—equipped with entrepreneurial thinking and grounded in character, collaboration, and courage for unforeseeable challenges.

As San Domenico celebrates its 175th year with the theme “Rooted 
for the Future,” this plan affirms our identity as a school grounded in enduring values that support purposeful growth and steady navigation through change. From our Dominican tradition, we inherit the values of Study, Reflection, Community, and Service. These principles remain as relevant today as ever—timeless tools for navigating change and helping students think critically, act ethically, pursue truth, and engage the world with conviction and care.

At the heart of this plan is a deep belief in the power of human connection. To thrive in a changing world, students require both  the technical skills and mindsets to navigate complexity, and the relationships that spark purpose, belonging, and growth. In an age when artificial intelligence can generate answers and complete tasks, schools remain essential when they recognize that students need more than information. They flourish through relationships that inspire and stretch them, mentors who guide them, and habits of study that cultivate character, discernment, and purpose. These connections form the foundation of learning, strengthening curiosity and confidence, and preparing young people to lead and serve with conviction.

This plan deepens academic rigor, invests in student leadership, expands interdisciplinary learning, and champions whole-student growth. It affirms our commitment to innovation, the arts, athletics, environmental responsibility, and service—all within an integrated K–12 experience where learning is shaped by global awareness and supported by an inspiring campus environment. At the same time, the plan prioritizes the financial strength to provide a transformative education for generations to come. Organized around five defining pillars, each with specific priorities, the plan offers a forward-looking roadmap for San Domenico’s continued growth.

We know who we are. We know what the future requires. And we are ready to meet it together.

View of hallway with school shield

 

OUR CONTINUED PURSUIT OF VERITAS

The world today is evolving at an unprecedented pace, shaped by profound shifts in society, technology, and the environment. This new era, defined by accelerating complexity, is also full of possibility. To thrive today, students need more than knowledge; they need initiative, resilience, creativity, and adaptability.

This Strategic Plan sets a bold course for San Domenico School. Shaped by hundreds of voices across our community, it reflects a shared vision: to empower students for lives of leadership, service, and principled action. Our students must be prepared not only to meet the future, but to shape it—equipped with entrepreneurial thinking and grounded in character, collaboration, and courage for unforeseeable challenges.

As San Domenico celebrates its 175th year with the theme “Rooted 
for the Future,” this plan affirms our identity as a school grounded in enduring values that support purposeful growth and steady navigation through change. From our Dominican tradition, we inherit the values of Study, Reflection, Community, and Service. These principles remain as relevant today as ever—timeless tools for navigating change and helping students think critically, act ethically, pursue truth, and engage the world with conviction and care.

At the heart of this plan is a deep belief in the power of human connection. To thrive in a changing world, students require both  the technical skills and mindsets to navigate complexity, and the relationships that spark purpose, belonging, and growth. In an age when artificial intelligence can generate answers and complete tasks, schools remain essential when they recognize that students need more than information. They flourish through relationships that inspire and stretch them, mentors who guide them, and habits of study that cultivate character, discernment, and purpose. These connections form the foundation of learning, strengthening curiosity and confidence, and preparing young people to lead and serve with conviction.

This plan deepens academic rigor, invests in student leadership, expands interdisciplinary learning, and champions whole-student growth. It affirms our commitment to innovation, the arts, athletics, environmental responsibility, and service—all within an integrated K–12 experience where learning is shaped by global awareness and supported by an inspiring campus environment. At the same time, the plan prioritizes the financial strength to provide a transformative education for generations to come. Organized around five defining pillars, each with specific priorities, the plan offers a forward-looking roadmap for San Domenico’s continued growth.

We know who we are. We know what the future requires. And we are ready to meet it together.

Timeline on the wall of a building on campus

 

Together, We Build the Future

The development of this Strategic Plan was a true community effort, guided by the belief that the best ideas emerge when many voices are heard. 

From January through June 2025, San Domenico engaged in a deeply collaborative process—one that drew insight, energy, and vision from across our community. We began with a faculty and staff kickoff session, followed by a series of thoughtful engagements: a Board-Leadership retreat, multiple community-wide surveys, a SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results) analysis with broad stakeholder input, and targeted focus groups with students, faculty and staff, and parents/guardians. Along the way, faculty and staff participated in a dedicated feedback session on draft goals, and trustees, administrators, and faculty contributed to a Strategic Pillars survey. 

In total, hundreds of community members weighed in—through nine Strategic Planning Task Force meetings (complete with homework!) and five small-group writing sessions that helped translate broad vision into clear direction.

We are deeply grateful to the Board of Trustees, the Strategic Planning Task Force, and every student, parent, guardian, alum, and faculty and staff member who shared their insights, hopes, and perspectives. This plan is the result of your collective wisdom, and it reflects who we are: a school rooted in shared values, animated by purpose, and united in preparing students to lead and serve with courage, creativity, and heart.

As we look to the future, this Strategic Plan serves as both a compass and a call to action—uniting us around a shared purpose and a bold vision for what’s possible. With the strength of our community, the clarity of our values, and the momentum of 175 years behind us, San Domenico is poised to meet the challenges ahead with confidence, creativity, and conviction. Together, we move forward—rooted in veritas, and ready for all that’s to come.

Strategic Planning Task Force
  • Dodie Baker, Third Grade Teacher
  • Julianne Bretan, Sixth Grade English Teacher
  • Matt Bristley, Upper School History Teacher
  • Deanna Bruton, Assistant Director of Advancement
  • Jason Clarke, Director of Information Technology
  • Caitlin Clark, Upper School Academic Dean
  • Cliff Mishalko, P ’24, Trustee
  • Kimberly Pinkson, Director of Strategic Initiatives
  • Liz Revenko ’87, Board Chair
  • Paul Sanders, P ’34, Head of School 
  • Ed Schaffer, P ’26, Trustee
  • Nick Vidinsky, P ’29, ’32, Director of Marketing and Communications