View the PDF version of Harvey’sStrategic Plan.

A Message from the Headmaster

“I am pleased to offer Harvey’s strategic plan covering the next five years. Since 2000, our trustees, faculty, parents, students, and alumni have been engaged in planning the next phase of Harvey’s development. Our planning process has involved sessions of open discussion, fact gathering, and evaluation reports from many members of the Harvey family, and consultants who have helped us with feasibility studies, campus engineering, architecture, technology and fundraising.

What follows is a collective vision for Harvey’s future. I welcome your comments, suggestions, recommendations, and support as we continue to see our school grow. Together we will fulfill our mission to be a special place where students of varying abilities and diverse talents not only succeed academically but also become productive citizens in our rapidly changing and challenging world.”

Sincerely,
Barry W. Fenstermacher, Headmaster

The Mission Statement & Academic Program

The mission of The Harvey School is to help students of varying abilities maximize their potential as they prepare for successful college and university careers and adulthood. Through a program of academic challenge, faculty support, and out-of-class activities, Harvey encourages students to find the best of what is within them and to develop the confidence and ability to try new things and master them.

Harvey’s mission has served the school and its students very well over time and remains the cornerstone for all we do. Harvey continues to be a unique school in our area particularly in its decision to seek and enroll children of varying abilities and diverse talents. This mission extends into all aspects of school life.

The school’s academic program will continue to offer a rigorous college preparatory curriculum for the Upper School while the Middle School will focus on strengthening its reading and writing programs. The use of technology in all areas and programs will be improved and updated to include on-line tutoring, on-line classes (both during the school year and over the summer) and by the ongoing installation of technology upgrades. Ancient languages will continue to be offered while modern language offerings will be expanded.

The school is at and has been at full enrollment for the past five years. We continue to maintain an average class size of 12 students. Enrollment is governed by available space along with the recognition that our student body of diverse abilities and talents benefits greatly from small class sizes.

Strategic Plan Summary

• Continue Harvey’s mission by maintaining small class sizes
• Double current endowment
• New Athletic Center with a minimum of four tennis courts
• New Library and Media Center
• New Science Center
• Expand faculty professional development opportunities
• Develop faculty sabbatical program
• Expand our educational offerings through technology
• Bolster environmental awareness within our curriculum
• Employ energy-saving devices and environmentally-sensitive building materials and techniques
• Expand student volunteer and community service programs

Faculty & Staff

Harvey is dedicated to finding and employing the finest faculty and staff who embrace its mission. Support for faculty and staff takes the form of comprehensive packages which include competitive salaries and benefits, housing where possible, tuition benefits for faculty and staff children, and numerous professional development opportunities.

The current endowment dedicated to faculty support (at $2,000,000 now) needs to double in the next five years to allow us to maintain the current level of support for the faculty and staff.

Harvey will continue to orient and mentor new faculty and staff through a program of first-year activities. All faculty and staff will be required to participate in at least one professional development opportunity per year and outside speakers and experts on children will be invited to work with teachers and students on a regular basis. Harvey will continue to support faculty and staff graduate education designed to benefit the employee and the school. A sabbatical program will be also developed to help retain teachers and provide an opportunity for either school year or summer renewal activities.

Finance & Fundraising

Harvey’s finances are very strong. Annual balanced budgets reflect Harvey’s care in managing its income and expenses. Plans call for a more comprehensive approach to the school’s invested endowment funds using prudent market tools to maximize our return and ensure the long term financial stability of our endowment.

To enhance the school’s financial strength, current programs such as Harvey’s Summer Camp, The Arts Center Program, Long Distance Learning and Tutoring need to grow where possible. These mission-appropriate activities can provide necessary additional revenue to offset increasing benefit costs for faculty and staff and help keep tuition increases manageable.

Harvey’s fundraising requirements during the next five years are ambitious. Donations will continue to play the largest role in funding new construction projects and in increasing the endowment. The total funds needed for the next phase of building construction, renovation and increasing our current endowment may approach $18 to $20 million.  A variety of borrowing strategies, including  standard mortgages and tax-exempt bonds, may be considered should the school choose to incur additional debt. A majority of this will be dedicated to building a new Athletic Center, other enhancements such as upgraded athletic fields and tennis courts, a new Library and Media Center, and a new Science Center.

The first priority is the construction of a gym and athletic center since our current gymnasium can no longer adequately house our growing number of teams and spectators. It is imperative that we add this space to eliminate the current situation of driving our athletes to rented practice facilities on a daily basis. A renovation of our Upper School in Carter Hall will include creating a new library in the current Study Hall. At the completion of these urgent projects, we will build a new Science Center on the footprint of our present library. This will free up other space, particularly in the Middle School, and provide those students with their own dining facility.

Increasing the current endowment is also essential to the school’s future fiscal health and for providing additional revenue to the school’s operating budget.  Academic budgets are largely devoted to faculty salaries and benefits. The role of an endowment is to provide significant income to the operating budget so that the school is not solely reliant on tuition and charitable giving to adequately support its teachers and programs. Continued alumni outreach and communication will also be critical to building the endowment. Our trustees have mandated that all fundraising efforts have an endowment component to reinforce the school’s recognition of the importance of growing Harvey’s endowment.

Physical Plant & Facilities

Harvey has created a preventative maintenance schedule that ensures on-going maintenance needs will be met on its 104 acre campus. Significant modernization of the school’s water supply, energy efficiency, security systems, and roads will be central in the next five years. New facilities and renovations will be thoughtfully planned, including their ongoing maintenance requirements. Whenever possible, we intend to employ energy saving devices and environmentally sensitive building materials and techniques.

Harvey in the Community

Harvey recognizes its obligations as a friend and neighbor within the local community. The campus and its facilities will continue to be made available to appropriate neighborhood groups, organizations, and individuals. Harvey employees will be encouraged to serve as volunteers in local community programs. Enlarging Harvey’s student service program and helping students become aware of the importance of giving back is a key piece of this plan. Keeping local, national, and global needs in front of our students will remain a key part of the school’s program. Volunteering for service by our faculty and staff in the New York State Association of Independent School’s (NYSAIS) evaluation program and other association needs will continue to be a priority.

Conclusion

The Harvey School is a unique college preparatory school. We are one of the few and longest standing institutions whose mission of educating students of varying abilities and diverse talents has remained intact. Our vision is clear…to be recognized as a school of choice for these students; a school that can motivate all students to find their greater potential. That said, we understand the process of educating the whole child continues to evolve, and, so must Harvey. Therefore, the next five years will require heightened focus in the areas of facilities, technology, and curriculum development. This will necessitate a renewed effort to increase parental involvement, fundraising and building our endowment.