Strategic Plan 2026: Spartans Advance

Mission Statement

The Burlington School discovers in each child personal integrity, intellectual curiosity, and social responsibility; builds excellence in academics, arts, and athletics, and helps each student become confident and uniquely successful in school and in life.

In support of The Burlington School’s mission, the School’s Board of Trustees has defined and approved the core elements of TBS’ strategic plan – those supporting pillars so vitally important, and which precisely define and guide the School’s future efforts and direction. The Strategic Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees annually reviews the strategic plan for completeness to assess and ensure the effectiveness of its application.

Each year, the School’s leadership meets, assesses, and develops annual objectives – objectives which are always in support of the Strategic Plan. During this planning period, the leadership assigns personal responsibility and commits necessary resources for their accomplishment. These objectives are published for the benefit of all TBS constituents. Throughout the year and by year-end, the leadership will track performance against objectives to help ensure timely completion.

While the core elements are expected to remain constant for the duration of this strategic plan, as a living document, the objectives may change as circumstances dictate. Following are the pillars of the strategic plan coupled with objectives intended to focus our work for the next five years:

I - Foster Excellence

  • Academics

  • Arts

  • Athletics

II - Cultivate the TBS Experience – Life in Community

  • Experiental Learning

  • Student Wellness

  • Citizenship and Service

  • Spartan Family Experience

III - Develop and Execute a Master Campus and Capital Improvement Plan

IV - Strengthen Financial Position and Ensure Institutional Sustainability 

V - Develop and Execute a Strategic Communications Plan 

I - Foster Excellence

  • Maintain a culture of continuous improvement in all aspects of the school’s programming. 

  • Attract and retain diverse and innovative faculty and staff who are effective at meeting the mission of the school. 

Academics

  • Continue to improve our clearly articulated, differentiated, and innovative instructional approaches, curriculum, and technology.

  • Cultivate and maintain strong student/teacher relationships.

  • Appropriately challenge students, while allowing flexibility to meet each student where they are. • Clearly define and evaluate the role of technology in the classroom for each division and make needed investments to maximize its effectiveness.

  • Review and adapt curriculum in each division to ensure diversity, equity and inclusivity.

Arts

  • Continue to develop, expand, support, and celebrate the role of the Arts in developing the successful student.

  • Review and document the role of the Arts in developing a successful student, including specific objectives and participation requirements for each division.

  • Expand Arts opportunities for students inside and outside the classroom by using resources in the region to offer special electives, outings, and field trips.

  • Support The Fine Arts Society in its objective to support and enhance the experience of our students in Arts programs. 

Athletics

  • Continue to develop, expand, support and celebrate the role of Athletics in developing the successful student.

  • Review and document the role of Athletics in developing a successful student, including specific objectives and participation requirements for each division.

  • Expand athletic opportunities by using resources in the region to offer special electives, outings and field trips focusing on the camaraderie of sports and on healthy lifestyle and wellness.

  • Support The Spartans Club in its objective to support and enhance the experience of our students in Athletics programs. 

II - Cultivate the TBS Experience – Life in Community

  • Review the Portrait of a TBS Graduate and update as needed while maintaining the TBS Pledge as the core of TBS.

  • Foster high levels of participation and engagement while maintaining a strong sense of belonging and ownership of the School among TBS constituents. 

Experiential Learning

  • Review and enhance electives, field trips, TBS Signature Class Trips, WOW Week and E-Mersion Term offerings to ensure that each is richly crafted and mission appropriate.

  • Provide resources for faculty to incorporate more experiential learning opportunities into their curriculum.

  • Explore the possibility of partnerships, shadowing opportunities and/or summer internships with local businesses, non-profits and other community organizations. 

Student Well-Being

  • Foster a community where all members can safely learn and grow – shaped by genuine respect for diversity, equity, and inclusivity.

  • Promote clearly defined role of School Counselor and Advisory and promote widely understood processes and resources for students and families to confidentially seek support. 

Citizenship and Service

  • Continue to implement and integrate curriculum around local, national and global citizenship.

  • Identify and expand opportunities for individuals and/or groups in all divisions to help others, in alignment with TBS Pledge themes of service and citizenship. 

Spartan Family Experience

  • Nurture and strengthen TBS community bonds.

  • Encourage the Parents’ Association to provide opportunities to increase parent engagement and to optimize communication between the PA and parent community.

  • Expand the resources to continually improve the Extended Day and Summer Programming.

  • Promote awareness with families about how to prepare for each new division and for the college search/application process. 

III - Develop and Execute a Master Campus and Capital Improvement Plan

  • Develop a campus master plan with input from all constituents, which supports TBS's academic, arts, athletic and co-curricular programming needs – considering current needs and projecting decades into the future.

  • Secure additional, adjacent property for future development.

  • Design facilities to promote collaborative teaching and learning and to promote social-emotional development.

  • Demonstrate our commitment to an environmentally sustainable world while ensuring that the campus, its structures and operational practices are maintainable.

  • Implement a multi-year financing plan to include debt capacity analysis and all possible funding options to facilitate the 5-year technology plan and the buildout of the campus at the earliest possible opportunity.

  • Maintain a capital reserve to ensure on-going maintenance needs are easily met and to assist with debt repayment. 

IV - Strengthen Financial Position and Ensure Institutional Sustainability

Financial Stability

  • Establish parameters for handling budget surpluses, defining short-term cushion, investment and debt pay-down objectives.

  • Build Endowment to $750,000 by end of 2026.

  • Launch a community-wide capital campaign to support the financing plan for the next phase of campus/facilities building.

  • Fund and strengthen the Advancement & Development function. 

Institutional Sustainability

  • Create and document succession plans for key leadership positions in Administration and Board of Trustees.

  • Cultivate strong Administrative and Board leadership through annual, formal training opportunities.

  • Define ultimate “ideal” size for TBS.

  • Establish plan to build relationships within the broader community by defining our relationship, demonstrating value and engaging regularly and deliberately.

  • Explore establishing a Board of Visitors to maintain and nurture long-standing relationships with donors, former BOT members and long-time supporters. 

V - Develop and Execute a Strategic Communications Plan

  • Develop precise language, utilizing those most knowledgeable in each area, to articulate the value of each aspect of TBS programming clearly and completely (the WHY and the HOW we do what we do).

  • Identify the various target audiences and tailor the messaging for each.

  • Develop a communication plan that has thoughtfully scheduled communication throughout the year to each constituent group which achieve clearly defined objectives.

  • Facilitate a communication platform that promotes community between and among TBS constituents and allows members to express WHY they love their TBS community.