Destination GESHER! Five-Year Strategic Plan
In June 2008 Gesher Jewish Day School launched a strategic planning initiative and named it Destination GESHER!. Much of the effort in this process involved actively and intentionally listening to Gesher’s stakeholders and incorporating their input. Stakeholders included the parent body, faculty and staff, Board of Directors, local preschool parents and directors, congregational rabbis and other clergy, representatives from local and national Jewish agencies, and other members of the community. Many ideas for new initiatives were generated, but what emerged from the stakeholders ultimately made clear the overriding Vision for Gesher.
Drawing upon a visioning technique described in Moment Magazine, focus group facilitators asked participants to close their eyes and imagine Gesher as a house. Each participant then spoke about what they saw happening there – the images, feelings, sights, and sounds that were invoked.
Parents spoke of a place brimming with learners of all ages gathering to pray, learn, play and solve problems. They described the smell and warmth of challah baking in the kitchen, the sound of music coming from the living room, and the sight of children laughing and playing in the yard. Some saw it as a messy place, with toys and books mixed together and available for all to share. Others felt it as a place of security, warmth, and a sense of belonging. Nearly all saw it as a magnet, drawing in people from all directions to be a part of the Gesher community.
These impressions of Gesher as a home of learning, not only for its students, but for the entire Jewish community, helped guide the strategic planning committee in developing a two-part Vision for the school as both a Destination school for K-8 education excellence and a Destination home for Jewish learning and community.
From this two-part Vision, the strategic planning process identified a set of objectives for Gesher to pursue, with specific initiatives carefully defined to meet each of those objectives. Over the next five years, Gesher faculty, staff, administration, board of directors, parents, and Gesher friends and supporters will work together to facilitate and enable each of the initiatives, and to achieve the objectives within appropriate time frames. As any strategic plan is a fluid work in progress, each year the plan will be evaluated for relevance and adjusted as changes in the environment and circumstances occur.
Throughout the next five years, the Gesher Vision will remain a guiding light toward which we will all work together as a community, to achieve our Mission today and for many years to come.
To read further about the Strategic Plan, Click Here. If you have any questions about the Strategic Plan, please contact Rebekah Dickinson, Director of Development at rdickinson@gesher-jds.org.
