To the St. Francis School Community: As you know, on January 26, 2022, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to change the name of our school. Since then, our team has been hard at work on the next steps in this historic process.  To help guide us in this endeavor, we are working with Bullhorn, a creative agency that specializes in naming and branding. Over the last several months, we welcomed them into our community so they could gain insight into our community, Mission, philosophy, and core values, as well as experience first-hand all the benefits and unique attributes of our school and feel the Wyvern spirit for themselves on both campuses. They have also digested all the data from the survey and Listening Sessions and specialty interviews (college admissions, employee search, other organizations that have undergone a name change) that we conducted last fall.  We are confident that they really “get us” and in their ability to guide us in choosing a name and image that better reflects who we are.  Regarding the process going forward, as you know, we collected a list of possible names from our constituents in the survey last fall and in the many conversations we’ve had since last summer.  Bullhorn took that list and also executed their brainstorming process and will bring to us a list of 10-12 possible names in early April, some of which will be ones that came from our internal audiences. We have a small committee of school and Board leadership that will then cull those down into our [...]

We have committed to being transparent with the St. Francis School community about our process for exploring a potential name change for the School. Therefore, we are pleased to share the results of our recent survey and a summary of feedback gathered during our listening sessions.  While survey results indicate support for a name change, no decision has been made about whether or not to change the name of the School – a decision for the Board of Trustees. The survey and listening sessions are only part of the process.  The Name Exploration Task Force is taking all of this feedback into account while gathering additional data from other relevant sources, which include: interviewing college admissions officers to determine the possible impact of a name change;  interviewing employee search firms to determine the impact on potential hiring;  interviewing schools that have considered and/or undergone a name change to learn more about possible benefits and pitfalls; and  exploring the potential cost of a name change.   All of this information will be analyzed and reviewed collectively by the Task Force in order to make a thoroughly researched recommendation to the Board in January on whether to change the School’s name.   Bulleted data from the Survey Click here to see all pie charts: The survey was sent to 3,300 people and was posted on social media 1,417 people engaged by at least listing their constituent group; 948 answered all the name change questions; 893 answered all the tagline questions; 870 completed the full survey % (number) of survey responses by constituent group*: [...]

To our School community: You have spoken and the survey results are in. Thank you to the 1,417 of you who took the time to interact with the survey and share your opinion, and especially to the over 900 of you who completed it! We are so honored that you took the time to share your thoughts with us. We will spend the next few weeks analyzing the data and examining responses by constituent group, as well as delving into individual responses, so stay tuned for information on the results. We have also created a page on our website that will keep everyone apprised of the process as we move forward. Our goal is to be as transparent as possible and, again, to hear all voices on this matter. Now that you’ve done that, we want to share with you what is next. As we discussed in our earlier communication, the survey is just one part of our data gathering. The next part of our data gathering is our scheduled Listening Sessions, which with the exception of the student and faculty/staff sessions, will all be virtual to allow as many people as possible to participate. Each will be led by a Task Force member and will be attended by multiple Task Force members to ensure that multiple people hear the feedback that is shared. Please mark your calendars for the dates and times (times listed are Eastern Time Zone) that are relevant to your constituent group. *Please note we have eliminated one session (11/5, 9:30 a.m.)  and added an evening session [...]

As members of the St. Francis School family, you know that our Goshen and Downtown campuses are rare and special places where students learn about much more than math, art, and history. It’s where they learn to be amazing individuals -- nurtured by exceptional teachers, supported by engaged parents, and connected with peers who become life-long friends.   But many people don’t know us -- or unfortunately, think we are something we are not. Surveys, interviews, and conversations over many years tell us that our name -- St. Francis School -- is confusing, shared by many unaffiliated local institutions, and does not communicate our Progressive educational philosophy. As a result, we are likely missing out on amazing prospective students, whose families are looking for a school like St. Francis School, but don’t understand from our name who we are and what we are about.   Spurred by the strong recommendation of an independent consultant that specializes in the management of Independent Schools, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to explore the possibility of a name change. The Board formed a diverse, 30-member Task Force to gather information, listen to all our constituencies, and make a thoughtful, reasoned recommendation based on the input we receive. Our genuine desire is to hear from everyone who wants to weigh in on this decision, and we’ve laid out a process to do so.   The listening begins with the survey below. We hope you will take a few minutes to share your thoughts about what, beyond our name, makes our School so special to [...]