Why is St Francis doing a facilities master plan now?

Priorities for the facilities master plan initiative build upon the work done developing the current Strategic Plan.


In Our Campus & Environment, our community articulated priorities related to SFHS’s physical spaces, and how they can contribute to achieving our vision of further developing and fostering a caring culture of excellence in college-readiness, spiritual formation, and well-being.
 
The facilities master plan will serve to enhance the educational environment for students, judiciously plan for the future and make sure investments in the facilities are done wisely.

What is a facilities master plan?

A facilities master plan (FMP) takes a broad look at facilities, assessing those facilities both from a physical and educational delivery viewpoint.
 
The ultimate master plan recommends areas for improvement to each facility that provides a long-term view, in alignment with phasing and capital planning. 
 
While improvements may or may not ultimately take the same form as recommended in the master plan, the guidelines established are used as a roadmap for how improvements should be made.  This safeguards SFHS from making decisions that will be undone or impede on other, future decisions.

What will be the outcome of the facilities master plan?

  • The master plan will align the SFHS strategic plan and educational program with physical space, while looking toward the future.
  • The master plan will consider options for repairs, renovations, or additions on the existing campus and will possibly include options considering proximate properties.
  • The master plan options will be tied to the realities of construction phasing and order-of-magnitude costs.
  • The master plan is a long-term view of facilities and may be implemented over several years.
  • The master plan provides a foundation for future planning and is intended to be revisited over time as priorities change.
  • The master plan options will be presented to the Board of Directors for consideration of implementation.

Who is involved?

This process will include voices and perspectives from all parts of the SFHS community as well as partners with extensive experience building learning spaces.
  • Perkins & Will
    • Aimee Eckmann
      Managing Principal, Programming/Planning
    • Rick Young
      Senior Project Manager
    • Michael Dolter
      Senior Project Architect
  • Facilities Master Planning Steering Committee
    • Raeann Huhn
    • Ron Darin
    • Jeff Gerdeman '87
    • Charlie Rego
    • Jim Bollweg '70
    • Kerry Galbraith
    • John Zediker
  • Workshop Committee
    • Administrators
    • Teachers
    • Staff
    • Students
    • Parents
    • Alumni
    • Board of Directors/Committee Members
  • SFHS Community
    • Survey participants
    • Interview/Focus Group Participants
    • Workshop Group Participants
  • Board of Directors

What decisions have been made?

No decisions on facility master plan outcomes have been made. We will use an inclusive process to provide options that will allow SFHS leadership and the Board of Directors to make informed decisions based on feedback from the SFHS community.

What is the strategy and timing of this project?

The SFHS facilities master plan is designed to allow time for communication, inquiry, iteration and refinement.

INITIATE

February
  • Kickoff
  • Objectives/schedules
  • Confirmed process
  • Committee development

INQUIRE – CURRENT PHASE

Spring
  • Data Collection (initiatives, studies, plans, curriculum, etc.)
    • Assessments
    • Physical
    • Educational
  • Focus Groups in May, 2021
  • Online survey
  • Visioning/Guiding Principles
    Visioning workshops.
  • Interviews

PROTOTYPE

Summer
  • Analyze data
  • Master plan program of requirements
  • Brainstorm diagrammatic solutions
  • Create initial options
  • Present options and solicit feedback
  • Rework options/present/feedback/rework

ITERATE

Fall
  • Continued reworking of options/feedback
  • Present narrowed range of options/feedback
  • Select option or combination of options for refinement

REFINE

October
  • Develop final master plan documents and recommendations
  • Board presentation

Our visioning workshops objectives are:

  • Include a wide variety of stakeholders in the FMP process.
  • Look to the future, understand post-COVID takeaways, discover future educational facility trends and implications for SFHS.
  • Discuss all-school survey results and distill what resonates.
  • Create master plan guiding principles that align with the strategic plan.
We will share workshop outcomes with the larger SFHS community prior to moving forward. Thank you in advance for your input and participation!