As we soon approach the 125th year of exceptional education at Asheville School, we are invigorated by the opportunities and plans ahead of us to sharpen our focus, harness our resources, and embark on the School’s next five years and beyond. Those opportunities and plans are first and foremost aimed at further elevating the student experience and deepening Asheville School’s excellence in realizing our mission.
Over the last two years, the Board of Trustees, the School’s leadership and faculty, and countless Blues alumni, parents, and supporters have engaged in deeply meaningful work to examine and renew the School’s vision, mission and values, and then create a strategic plan to bring those important statements to fruition. In June of 2022, the Board of Trustees approved the new vision, mission and values. In September of 2023, they approved the new strategic plan which will serve as our primary guide for the next five years.
We are profoundly grateful to the two Ad Hoc Committees and the Faculty and Staff Committees that engaged in hours of discussion and dialogue around critical components of our School, as well as a deep dive in better understanding the complexities of the ever-evolving world of education. The strategic planning process included a environmental assessment and data analysis phase which allowed for data-driven discussion and questioning and enabled the committees and school leadership to challenge previous assumptions and recalibrate our focus.
While we continue to hold tight to core values and foundational traditions that help bind this community together across generations, it is equally critical for us to evolve, adapt, and continually improve to both remain competitive in the marketplace and to truly achieve our mission. In the end, these committees, school leadership, and the Board of Trustees sought to grapple with and answer the central question of how to blend key historical and contextual factors to design a desirable educational experience of supreme value that families and students are both drawn to and invested in while remaining true to key tenets of who we are. We feel that this plan does just that.
We are excited to share this plan with our community of Blues and to partner with each of you moving forward to realize these important aspirations to fulfill our mission and provide a unique, impactful, and formative educational experience for all students in our care.
Anthony H. Sgro, Ed.D. ’84
Head of School
Tommy Shores, Jr. ’85, P ’20, ’23
Chair, Board of Trustees
View the Strategic Plan below.