Bishop Lynch Strategic Plan 2023-2028

STRATEGIC PLAN

TRUTH FOR MISSION

2023–2028

Michael.

(2020).

with

INTRODUCTION

In April 2022, Meitler received a request from the administration of Bishop Lynch High School to look strategically at the next level of excellence for the school community by means of a long-term strategic plan.

To form the foundation of the plan, Meitler conducted both quantitative and qualitative research, including demographics, interviews, surveys and focus groups. The primary focus of the plan’s construction, however, involved in-depth conversations with the school’s administration, the consultants and an ad hoc committee created to help guide the process. The plan is designed to be aspirational and true to the Pillars of the Dominican charism as well as the National Standards and Benchmarks of Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools.

The process took place over nine months, commencing in July 2022 and concluding in April 2023. There were six site visits to the school by Meitler and four meetings of the Strategic Planning Committee. This committee included representatives from various constituencies and actively provided leadership, insights, and expertise that ensured the success of the planning process. Its membership included:

STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR BISHOP LYNCH HIGH SCHOOL

NAME

Roman Plugge ‘75

Pat Collins Shotland ‘76

RELATIONSHIP TO BISHOP LYNCH

Past Parent/BOD/Strategic Planning Chair

Past Parent/BOD Member

Laurie Robichaux Current Parent/Friar Friends Mentor

Mark Dufilho Current & Alumni Parent/BLFC Dad’s Club President

Katie Dorsey Faculty/Lima House Dean/Faculty Council

Andrew Balettie Director of Fine Arts

Dianne Brungardt ‘88 Principal St. Philip & St. Augustine Catholic Academy

Pam Steinkirchner Principal St. Mark Catholic School

Fr. Mark Garrett

Chaplain/Parochial Vicar Cathedral Shrine of Guadalupe

Dr. Chad Riley Principal

Chris Rebuck President

MISSION

Faithful to Catholic Tradition

and to our Dominican heritage of scholarship and service, Bishop Lynch

High School promotes the development of the total person by bringing together a diverse community in a rigorous, college preparatory environment where students are taught to strive for excellence, seek truth, and work for justice in the world.

Our Vision

Bishop Lynch will be the first choice in student enrollment, employment, and philanthropic giving. Every enrolled student will have chosen BL as their first choice school. Every employee identifies BL as their first choice for employment. Every donor will identify BL as their first choice for giving.

WE BELIEVE:

We believe in encouraging students to be the best version of self, inspired by Dominican pillars of prayer, study, community, and service.

We believe students’ lives are enriched by engaging in challenges, opportunities, and exploration far beyond the classroom.

We believe our students deserve a rigorous education informed by the Catholic intellectual tradition.

We believe that welcoming each person in his or her uniqueness as a gift to the community inspires us to strengthen our culture of belonging.

We believe in the value of building lifelong, caring relationships.

PREFERRED FUTURE:

Bishop Lynch High School is an exemplary college preparatory school with a rigorous academic program designed for each student.

Bishop Lynch High School ensures all aspects of the academic and extra-curricular programs allow for expanded opportunities for students with a wide variety of learning abilities and interests.

Bishop Lynch High School has a robust Heart of St. Dominic service program, retreat program, and opportunities for celebrating the Sacraments which provide numerous opportunities for students to grow and become intentional disciples of Jesus.

Bishop Lynch High School encourages students to be aware of the larger world around them and to become actively involved in loving and serving their neighbors.

Bishop Lynch High School ensures its academic excellence and future viability through a culture of planning in the areas of leadership, finances, and facilities.

Bishop Lynch High School cultivates a vibrant community of students, teachers, and staff which reflects the diversity of the greater community.

Bishop Lynch High School fosters lifelong relationships with alumni and encourages their professional, spiritual, and financial support.

PILLARS, STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS, INITIATIVES

Academic Excellence

STRATEGIC DIRECTION:

Bishop Lynch’s college preparatory learning - rooted in the development of mind, body, and spirit - blends core knowledge and enduring skills with innovative learning experiences equipping each student to be a Christ-centered change agent in the world.

A College Preparatory Environment

INITIATIVE:

In the spirit of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition that fosters a culture of caring as a shared responsibility of all, design and implement a school model that educates, challenges, and forms a wide variety of learners.

Establish a framework/dashboard to build in and measure growth over time of academic rigor that includes high expectations, scaffolded support, and differentiated methods to demonstrate learning.

Explore BL’s capacity to serve students with greater learning differences including students with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as those with high academic abilities.

Enhance site-based resources that provide needed support to students in the high-performance school culture of Bishop Lynch.

Consider incorporating a summative and integrated assessment of a student’s entire academic experience at Bishop Lynch, rooted in the Dominican Pillars.

INITIATIVE:

Design and implement a plan that embeds a set of virtues, values and character strengths that establish a foundation for human flourishing.

Select the Christian values, and virtues that form character and guide decision making.

Specify the character strengths, dispositions, and behaviors that provide a foundation for executive functioning.

Create a systematic means for instilling permanent principles and fundamental values informed by Christian virtues.

RATIONALE:

At Bishop Lynch, we believe in the total formation of the human person as foundational for each student’s development. This belief is articulated in the Holy See’s document Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith and prepares young people to make free and correct choices, setting each young person up for success in post high school endeavors.

“The integral formation of the human person, which is the purpose of education, includes the development of all the human faculties of the students, together with preparation for professional life, formation of ethical and social awareness, becoming aware of the transcendental, and religious education. Every school, and every educator in the school, ought to be striving ‘to form strong and responsible individuals, who are capable of making free and correct choices,’ thus preparing young people ‘to open themselves more and more to reality, and to form in themselves a clear idea of the meaning of life’” (The Catholic School 21; Lay Catholics in Schools: Witness to Faith 17).

The total formation of the human person also includes the social dimension. Bishop Lynch seeks to be a school that welcomes and embraces students of all abilities in which each student feels a sense of belonging. This conviction aligns with the quote below:

“… the Catholic school has an obligation to those students with disabilities to facilitate access to the faith community. Further, all students in a Catholic school deserve the right to participate in a community that reflects the diversity of God’s kingdom and is not reserved for students or families who fit a specific profile. In short, God calls us to community, and it is inconsistent that some are allowed access to that community and others are not” (Journal of Catholic Education:To Act with Justice and Love Tenderly 9).

Mission & Formation

STRATEGIC DIRECTION:

Bishop Lynch High School embraces its role as a part of the Catholic Church accompanying students in their formation in virtue and as disciples of Jesus.

Advancing the mission

INITIATIVE:

The Catholic theological and moral virtues ground and guide the Bishop Lynch adult community in discerning and embracing the New Evangelization.

Develop a “Faith and Mission Integration Program” that inspires faculty and staff to live as Intentional Disciples.

Build a program to form parents, families, alumni, and other adult stakeholder groups into Intentional Disciples.

INITIATIVE:

The Catholic theological and moral virtues ground and guide the Bishop Lynch student community in discerning and embracing the New Evangelization.

Conduct a review of all essential areas of student life at Bishop Lynch High School to determine what is currently being done, what needs to be enhanced, and what needs to change in light of the call to Intentional Discipleship.

Foster in students the skill of prayerful listening to discern the presence and movement of the Holy Spirit in one’s journey of self-discovery and purpose.

We strive to have each member of our Bishop Lynch family encounter Jesus Christ in the context of a spirit led community that embraces the Catholic vision of the world with the aspiration that our entire community become intentional disciples committed to transforming our world. First and foremost, our faculty recognize the vital role they hold in the formation of the students. This, we believe, cannot happen unless they, too, are formed as Intentional Disciples. This is reflected in the quote from The Catholic School:

“By their witness and their behavior teachers are of the first importance to impart a distinctive character to Catholic schools. It is, therefore, indispensable to ensure their continuing formation through some sort of suitable pastoral provision. This must aim to animate them as witnesses of Christ in the classroom and tackle the problems of their particular apostolate, especially regarding a Christian vision of the world and of education....” (The Catholic School 78).

Accompanying young people in their faith journey does not occur in isolation, rather within the Catholic culture of the learning community here at Bishop Lynch. The goal of the New Evangelization is threefold: to encourage each person to encounter the Gospel message of Jesus, to accompany that person on his/her faith journey in the context of the Christian community, and to have that faith shed light on and help each person to live critically, creatively, and passionately within the broader culture.

“And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them...” (Luke 24:15).

Operational Vitality

STRATEGIC DIRECTION:

Bishop Lynch High School’s governance, leadership, financial position, and facilities ensure long-term advancement of the mission.

Continual Improvement & Growth

Create new opportunities to strengthen the Bishop Lynch High School financial position. Proactively diversify sources of revenue by leveraging school assets and services. Engage constituents for strategic partnerships for potential sources of revenue growth.

Create and implement a plan to expand donor engagement strategies within the Endowment Fund. Design a component of the endowment fund to strengthen the faculty compensation position. Initiate a focused endeavor to formulate and test the case for giving, identify and segment donor base, cultivate relationships and solicit support for the endowment. Establish benchmarks to measure success.

INITIATIVE: INITIATIVE: RATIONALE:

Our school is committed to the strategic, generative, and fiduciary responsibilities entrusted to Bishop Lynch High School’s leadership. This requires ongoing stewardship in the context of a longterm plan for continual improvement and growth.

The strategic document “Our Students Our Future: A Roadmap for Excellence,” published by the Diocese of Dallas, states that “every school in the diocese should have sufficient educational resources, human resources, and financial support to carry out the mission of providing an available, affordable, accessible, and excellent Catholic education” (Recommendation #17). Bishop Lynch is committed to increasing our financial resources in order to fulfill our mission and meet the stated initiatives of the Diocese of Dallas.

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Community

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STRATEGIC DIRECTION:

Building a bright future

Develop a focused approach to enhance mutually beneficial and enduring relationships with all stakeholders.

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Increase engagement using a segmented approach to provide value for stakeholders and receive value from stakeholders. Consider segmenting by graduation year, industry, location, interest groups, etc.

Inspire a culture of giving among current and future alumni and parents.

INITIATIVE: INITIATIVE:

Engage external partnerships to explore opportunities for student learning and growth outside of the classroom experience.

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Research the feasibility of an internship and job shadowing program in the spirit of apprenticeship and mentoring.

Enhance entrepreneurial programming.

RATIONALE:

Human beings thrive in community. Living In relationship with others allows each person to come to know, honor, and develop who he/she is called to be. The individual gifts of each person are intended to enhance the needs of the human community wherever we may find ourselves.

“The Catholic school community...is an irreplaceable source of service, not only to the pupils and its other members, but also to society” (The Catholic School 62).

“In virtue of its mission, then, the school must be concerned with constant and careful attention to cultivating in students the intellectual, creative, and aesthetic faculties of the human person; to develop in them the ability to make correct use of their judgment, will, and affectivity; to promote in them a sense of values; to encourage just attitudes and prudent behavior; to introduce them to the cultural patrimony handed down from previous generations; to prepare them for professional life, and to encourage the friendly interchange among students of diverse cultures and backgrounds that will lead to mutual understanding” (Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith 12).

A Bishop Lynch graduate: (Bishop Lynch Graduate Profile)

Manifests a love for lifelong learning and all things truly human.

Seeks Christ-like service to others in our community and works for justice in the world. Fosters authentic friendships and connectivity within the BL community.

First the bow is bent in study. Then the arrow is released in preaching.

-Hugh of St. Cher, OP (13th century)