A Collaborative Process
To date, this work has included:
- Seven Strategic Planning Task Force meetings
- Two community and stakeholder surveys
- Deep analysis and dashboard review of collected data to inform key decisions and priorities
- Integration of insights from Davidson Day’s Board of Trustees’ governance audit
- Four small-group writing sessions
- Multiple feedback opportunities for trustees, faculty, staff, and administrators
The Task Force:
- Andrew Bishop, Co-Chair of the Strategic Planning Task Force; Head of School
- Whitney Feld, Co-Chair of the Strategic Planning Task Force; Board Vice Chair
- Melissa Nelson Tate, Board Chair
- Paul Thompson, Trustee
- Sarah Dodd, Trustee
- Brian Tierney, Trustee
- Liz McAlister, Head of Lower School
- Julie Brown, Science Faculty
- Priscilla Saunders, STEM Faculty
- Megan Gray, Director of Marketing & Communications
- Steve McGill, English Faculty
- Tia Hill, Director of College Counseling
- Typhaine Soulet-Marks, World Language Faculty
The Strategic Planning Task Force was charged with identifying the school’s most significant opportunities and articulating bold ideas – the “what” and the “why”– that will define Davidson Day School’s next chapter. Their responsibility was to clarify direction and establish priorities.
The “how” of the plan, including detailed implementation, annual tactics, and resource allocation, is entrusted to the school’s leadership team, which is responsible for operationalizing the strategy with sustainable, measured outcomes and accountable stewardship.
The strategic direction outlined in Moving Forward, Together, did not emerge quickly, and that is by design. Throughout the 2025-2026 School year, Davidson Day engaged in a disciplined and inclusive planning process grounded in reflection, research, and honest conversation. In partnership with Mission & Data, the Task Force guided the work, ensuring that voices across our community shaped both the questions we asked and the direction we set.
We began with a comprehensive community survey and continued through extended task force working sessions, ongoing dialogue with administrators, faculty, staff, and trustees, and finally, multiple writing and feedback sessions. Ideas were tested, assumptions were challenged, and language was refined. Throughout the year, the process remained iterative, shaped not by a single meeting but by sustained engagement.
This process allowed us to look inward with clarity and outward with awareness, examining not only who we are as a school, but the local, regional, national, and global forces shaping the world our students will inherit and lead.
What has emerged from this process is more than a strategic plan. It is a reflection of our community’s shared purpose and a clear articulation of the future we seek to create, grounded in who we are, responsive to the world around us, and ambitious in what it asks of us.
We are deeply grateful to the Task Force and to the many members of our community who contributed their time, perspectives, and voices to this process. We look forward to the work ahead and continuing this journey with all of you.
Andrew R. Bishop & Whitney Feld
Co-Chairs of the Strategic Planning Task Force