11/4 DWS Task Force

November 4, 2025 Strategic Planning

strategic planning taskforce

Denver Waldorf School

agenda

1. Welcome & Framing

2. Year 1 Operations Plan

3. Sequencing & Readiness

4. Fiscal Integration & Resources

5. Confirmation & Accountability

6. Gratitude

Objectives

Welcome & Framing

Moving from Vision to Action: Reconnect to the "why" and set tone for the shift to operationalization.

Introduction by Kelly Molinet

Reflections from assembly of colleagues

Assembly themes

Consistent ideas connected in every discussion.

Collective Stewardship: Faculty and staff expressed readiness to participate in the next steps if the pathways forward remain transparent, realistic, and rooted in shared purpose.

Coherence: What we communicate externally should align with the lived experience of students, families, and employees.

Sustainability: The community values careful stewardship of people, space, and finances as equally important to growth.

Integrating Assembly themes

• Reflected in the operations plan on forest level.
• Artifact for specific implementation.
• First step in ensuring faculty & staff engagement in implementation.

Artifacts

Strategic Planning Process

As an Organism: A Living Process, Soul Development, & Rhythmic Balance

3. Priority Development

2. Assessment & Discovery

4. Operations Plan

1. Committee

Tactics & full internal work plan

Broad & visionary goals

Understand internal & external conditions

Develop a task force

6. Community Engagement

8. Measure & evaluate

7. Implement

5. Full Report

Regularly (i.e. quarterly) review progress; pivot as necessary

Progress through the operations plan

Vetting & celebration with community; tweak as necessary

Melissa writes & task force edits full report with 1-4 elements incorporated

Strategic Priorities to Tactics: Granularity Scale

Test, Refine, and Align around an actionable 3-year plan.

Today's Lens

Presentation

Draft First Year Operations Plan: Ground discussion in a tangible framework.

From "DWS in 50 Years"

• Anthroposophy includes a rhythm that aligns with the rhythm of the world and environment
• "Deeper, not more:" finding the depth
• Let's see all in their "esoteric highest capacity" as our warmth and foundation stone
• What is rhythm versus beat?
• Abandon the dogma.
• Cultivate the love for the other

Betsy Doyle White

Operations plan proposed structure

Year 1: Planning and discovery

Year 2: Resource development and program design

Year 3: Implementation and iteration

Core elements across priorities

• Broken by objective under priority
• Key initiatives: focus areas driving progress
• Core activities: Specific actions
• Deliverables/outputs: Tangible products or milestones
• Accountabilities: Roles or groups responsible
• Data/resources needed: Information, tools, SMEs, or materials
• Fiscal note: Expected financial investment ranking
• Revenue driver potential: Opportunity level to strengthen income streams
• Indicators of progress: Evidence or metrics signaling positive movement

Not yet timebound - that's coming

Accountability roles may not be exact titles, and consider capacity realities

Notice where our assessment & discovery will help in Year 1

End of Year 3 may not be the end of the initiative

Draft is for reaction for next steps edits and refinement - not finalized

Key Assumptions

Why 3 years? Purposeful, paced, and sustained growth within current environment

Info

Used elements of the models most resonant from last task force meeting

Year 1: foundational; developing long-term plans, feasibility studies and resource maps.

recruitention summary

Enhance accessibility, affordability, and retention while elevating Denver Waldorf's unique value in the education landscape.

Year 1 focuses on laying the foundation for sustainable growth through disciplined planning, storytelling, and data gathering. Efforts center on clarifying Denver Waldorf's distinct identity, strengthening affordability pathways, establishing systems to understand and improve retention, and deepening parent engagement -- creating the structures and narratives needed to fuel purposeful, paced, and sustainable growth..

Recruitention Year 1 Plan

Narrative format

Google Doc

Matrix format

Google Sheets

Info

Info

Programmatics summary

Expand and enrich Waldorf education offerings to deepen student learning, creativity, and mission connection.

Year 1 centers on discovery, mapping, and design to strengthen the depth and coherence of Denver Waldorf's educational experience. Efforts focus on capturing the school's experiential strengths, assessing feasibility for a nursery program, and identifying opportunities for curriculum enrichment -- all setting the stage for thoughtful growth that honors Waldorf pedagogy and enhances long-term enrollment vitality.

Programmatics Year 1 Plan

Narrative format

Google Doc

Matrix format

Google Sheets

Info

Info

Facilities summary

Create a shared vision for facilities that reflect Waldorf philosophy and community values.

Year 1 focuses on created a shared, community-driven vision that ties Waldorf philosophy to space, beauty, and function. The work emphasizes inclusive engagement, philosophical alingment, and data-grounded readiness -- building the conceptual and financial foundation for future resourcing, growth, and facilities planning rooted in the school's values and identity.

Facilities Year 1 Plan

Narrative format

Google Doc

Matrix format

Google Sheets

Info

Info

Discussion

Validating, Sequencing, and Readiness: Pressure-test the logic, timing, and resourcing of each priority.

Recruitention: Guiding Questions

Where do you see the greatest opportunities to deepen or expand focus in Year 2 to sustain momentum across marketing, affordability, retention, and parent engagement?

In what ways could the proposed deliverables or accountabilities be adjusted to better match current capacity and readiness?

How might we strengthen the balance between foundational discovery and visible early actions that build community confidence in Year 1?

Programmatics: Guiding Questions

How can the curriculum expansion work most effectively gather faculty and family insight to identify the highest-impact pilots for creative and mission-aligned growth in Year 2?

In what ways could the draft nursery feasibility process more fully capture both the pedagogical intent and operational realities needed for a confident Year 2 decision?

How might Year 1 mapping and faculty-led inventory better reveal the "signature experiences" that define DWS experiential identity and guide Year 2 pilot development?

Facilities: Guiding Questions

How can Year 1 findings on utilization, readiness, and financial baselines position the school to move confidently into Year 2's resource development and planning phase?

In what ways could the proposed design critieria and alignment process more clearly translate DWS philosophy into actionable guidance for future facilities improvements?

How might the Year 1 engagement process best cature the community's authentic hopes for safe, beautiful, and accessible spaces while keeping the emerging vision grounded in feasibility?

Discussion Summary

What are the main takeaways/messages to Melissa for the draft of Year 2?

Where is additional information or expertise needed?

Can we confirm feasibility and sequencing of the proposed deliverables/outputs?

Integration

Fiscal Integration & Alignment: Establish clear connection between strategy and finance.

Announcement by Laurie Thompson

honoring a season of transition

• Purpose: Map fiscal implications of objectives across years.

• Define Scope: Cost modeling, funding pathways, and alignment with annual budgeting.

• Getting Started: If we agree as a necessity:
• Who should be at the table?
• When should we meet first?
• Do you want Melissa to facilitate?

Finance & Capital Mapping Sub-Group

Confirming

Year 1 Deliverables & Accountability Rhythm: Translate discussion into tangible next steps.

What have we agreed on today?

Consensus on Year 1 revisions Review Year 2 draft plan

For our next meeting...

gratitude

Lesson from Charlie (and Rudolf): Imagination should be used with the capital "I."

Session Objectives:

• Transition from finalized strategc priorities to an operational framework by reviewing and refining the plan's structure.
• Establish Year 1 focus areas and confirm next steps responsibilities.

Discussion Logistics

• One discussion per priority
• Guiding questions provided, but conversation is organic
• 15-20 minutes per priority
• Outcome: Provide Melissa direction for Year 1 revisions, and priming feedback for Year 2.

Links to Outcomes Report and Raw Data

Observation

Reading the life currents

• Sensing the whole: inner gesture and outer form
• Remembering the seed: recall the founding impulse
• Listening to the pulse: where vitality flows freely
• Reading the surrounding field: among larger ecosystem of energies/seasons
• Diagnosing with reverence: imbalance signals renewal need

Visioning

Shaping the Life Forces

• Aligning the organs: heart (mission), head (clarity), and hands (action)
• Cultivating etheric health: restore flow in hardened systems
• Evolving the form: permission for structure metamorphasis
• Nourishing growth forces: feed learning, creativity, and human warmth
• Strengthening the immune system: reflection and dialogue for wholeness protection

Manifestation

Living the Renewal

• Animating the circulation: ideas and resources move freely
• Maintaining rhythms: balance expansion with rest, striving with reflection
• Transforming light into deed: clarity of vision to luminous action
• Honoring the seasons: welcoming sacred rhythm of new seasons
• Seeding the future: allow return to the soil of what has completed