Guilford Central School: Vision, Mission, Values
Proceedings–May 1, 2008
Present: Lynn Tobey, Joann Tyler, Adelaide Minott, Jason Touchette, Jody Hauser, Colleen Hartman, Katie Buckley, Margaret Dale Barrand, Kevin Freitas, Julianne Eagan, Karen Duggan, Judy Chapman, John Gagnon, Brian Remer, Monica Morse, Lisa Ford, Emily Coutant, Verandah Porche. Those present identified themselves as Parents (8), Community Members (3), Teachers (5), Faculty (2).
Goal: to agree upon a Vision Statement, Guiding Values, and Mission Statement for the Guilford Central School community
The meeting began with a recap of the purpose and history of this series of meetings. Each meeting builds upon the work of previous meetings. Last time we talked about the values that inform the Guilford School community and arrived at fifteen different values that are important. We talked about those values and came to some clarity about what they mean to us and why they are important.
We worked in small groups in an attempt to refine the vision statements from a previous meeting. After some discussion and explanation about the difference between a vision and a mission (a vision is the paradigm, the lens through which you view what you are doing while the mission tells what your main activities will be), the group came up with three mission statements that had a lot of similarity:
Guilford Central School is a safe, supportive community whose members provide each child with the emotional, academic, and social foundational cornerstone to support the full realization of each child’s potential
To provide a place for children to feel safe, accepted, and supported giving them the opportunity to grow academically, socially, and emotionally:
Opportunities for each child:
to grow academically, socially, emotionally
to be safe, supported, confident
to be a local and global community member
and to pursue dreams
We also found that one “mission statement” would probably work better as our vision:
Establish connection, belonging, and confidence. Foster inspiration, courage, and desire as the basis for educational success and global citizenship
We decided that Verandah Porche, John Gagnon, Julianne Eagan, and Brian Remer will meet within the next two weeks to refine the three mission statements into one and to adjust the wording of the vision statement so that it flows better.
Working with the list of values from the previous meeting, people talked in three small groups about the core values for the organization. Brian suggested that we try to decide upon about five values in order to make them more memorable. After comparing the groups’ list and considerable discussion, five values were decided upon:
Resourcefulness, Honesty, Responsibility, Kindness, Equal Opportunity
There were other concepts people liked:
“Guilford School ROCKS,” an acronym for Resourceful, Opportunity, Community, Kindness, Success
“Local, Global, Frontal Lobel” to express our interest in developing concern for community near and far with an academic emphasis
