Palmetto Scholars Academy (PSA) is a public charter school located in North Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 2009, PSA was established on the principle of providing a differentiated program designed to meet the educational needs of gifted and talented learners, address their distinctive social and emotional needs, promote individual character development, and instill a life-long love of learning. PSA is a member of the South Carolina Public Charter School District and offers attendance opportunities to eligible students in 6^th -12^th grades from any county in South Carolina. PSA students engage with leading innovative organizations in higher education, business and science, to empower them to make original and impactful contributions toward the elevation of South Carolina in the areas of education, commerce, arts and science.

When the COVID-19 Global Pandemic caused disruption to South Carolina in 2020, PSA was able to pivot and provide virtual learning opportunities for students. This change in operational status brought to light areas that needed to improve. As a result, the PSA Administration and Board of Directors collaborated to ensure that a quality strategic plan was in place to carry PSA through the next several years. This plan provides a solid roadmap to a bright and successful post-pandemic future.

This 2022 – 2025 PSA Strategic Plan was created to serve as a roadmap for leading PSA through the current transition while strengthening the school’s capability and capacity for the next several years. With this document, PSA will focus on the following Strategic Focus Areas:

• Enhancing Organizational Structures and Leadership to strengthen the Board of Directors and increase staff leadership capacity to lead an innovative and high performance charter school.

• Fostering A Culture of Excellence to offer exceptional educational experiences for students, teachers and stakeholders through signature academic programs and robust campus activities.

• Sustaining Operational Excellence to provide best practices for operating an efficient and flexible campus environment that promotes the academic, social and emotional development of students.

• Improving Community Engagement and Advocacy to simplify messaging and communications to increase visibility, awareness and impact of the PSA Mission across South Carolina.

By focusing on these critical areas, PSA will be in the position to thrive in the post-pandemic era and set the stage for being continuously recognized as one of the best charter schools in South Carolina.

VISION STATEMENT

We envision a school with a vibrant and robust culture that produces resourceful leaders, innovators, and problem solvers.

MISSION STATEMENT

Palmetto Scholars Academy is a public charter school designed to discover, nurture, and optimize the full potential of

intellectually gifted 6^th – 12^th grade students.

CORE VALUES

We hold high expectations for our students, teachers and staff, and we value the unique gifts and talents that each brings to PSA. The following principles will guide all of our efforts:

Integrity: We are committed to exemplifying the highest levels of honesty, respect and transparency in all of our endeavors.

Collaboration: We are committed to establishing healthy and productive relationships between students, teachers and parents to ensure that every student has the needed tools and opportunities to grow into exceptional young adults.

Accountability: We are committed to holding ourselves responsible for providing an environment where everyone has a role in sustaining a robust and vibrant culture for teachers, staff, and students to be successful.

Equity: We are committed to providing robust educational experiences to ensure that every student has an equal opportunity to achieve their highest potential.

Excellence: We are committed to being a model public charter school recognized for academic and operational excellence, and for graduating students that are inspired to continuously strive to reach their full potential.

STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS

In order to carry out our Mission and realize our Vision Palmetto Scholars Academy (PSA) will focus on the following Strategic Focus Areas:

1. Enhancing Organizational Structures and Leadership

· Board recruitment and governance practices.

· Staff recruitment, retention, and development.

· Organizational policies and accountabilities.

2. Fostering A Culture of Excellence

· Signature academic programs led by highly qualified teachers and professional staff.

· Clearly defined expectations for student, staff and teacher engagement.

· Healthy collaborations and partnerships with local organizations and businesses.

3. Sustaining Operational Excellence

· Identify and use best operational practices for campus stewardship, financials, technology, and culture.

· Improve internal and external communications, transparency, and outcome reporting.

· Drive continuous improvement using student, staff, and stakeholder feedback.

4. Improving Community Engagement and Advocacy

· Develop and implement a PSA branding and awareness campaign to educate stakeholders.

· Improve relationships with parents, businesses, foundations, and educational institutions.

· Increase advocacy efforts to enhance community participation in school activities and events.

Evidence of Success

• A dedicated, diverse, and highly engaged Board of Directors.

• A highly capable teaching and administrative staff with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

• Updated organizational policies, procedures, and accountability standards.

1. Long-Range Goal: Recruit, develop, and leverage a diverse Board of Directors to strengthen governance and engagement.

Objectives

1. Develop and implement an Annual Board Action Plan to identify and recruit future Board Members to better reflect the demographics of the PSA student body.

2. Expand Board recruiting efforts to include leaders from the local education, R&D, non-profit and manufacturing sectors.

3. Conduct annual Board Retreats to review policies, conduct annual planning, and complete Board development training.

2. Long Range Goal: Recruit, develop, and retain a talented teaching and administrative staff with clearly defined roles and accountabilities.

Objectives

1. Recruit, hire and on-board new principal, who will develop and form an effective leadership team.

2. Update Annual Staffing Plans to identify gaps in capacity needs to implement annual goals and objectives.

3. Develop and implement individual staff development plans to enhance teacher and staff capacity.

4. Develop and implement annual survey tools to gather teacher and staff feedback on key cultural components that impact retention and employee satisfaction.

3. Long Range Goal: Update and communicate expectations, policies, procedures and practices for students, teachers, and staff to set the parameters for a healthy PSA culture.

Objectives

1. Develop and communicate a “PSA Cultural Guide” within the student and staff handbooks to set expectations of behavior aligned with the PSA Value Statements.

2. Update and communicate all policy and procedures, and make them transparent and easily assessable to internal and external stakeholders.

Evidence of Success

• Custom designed PSA Signature Academic Programs, including the intentional integration of special programs/teams, cross-curricular planning, and social and emotional growth built into the regular school day.

• A culture where faculty, staff, and students are knowledgeable and comfortable guiding the social and emotional needs of gifted learners in tandem with their academic performance.

• Highly qualified teachers, school counselors, and professional staff who uphold the school’s mission.

• Posted expectations articulating PSA Value Statements.

• Multiple academic projects led by local business sector leaders and community organizations.

• Captured stories of PSA graduates as resourceful leaders, innovators, and problem solvers.

Long-Range Goal: Develop and sustain signature academic programs that distinguish PSA from other local public schools.

Objectives

1. Clarify and communicate the PSA competitive advantage aligned with its’ charter and by-laws.

2. Develop and implement a custom signature academic program that anchors the PSA competitive advantages, which includes the intentional integration of social and emotional programming, cross-curricular, and academic team programming.

3. Establish a student portfolio-tracking system to document student growth, reflection, and matriculation.

4. Review and continuously improve PSA distinct cultural elements that support academic enrichment.

5. Solicit teacher and student feedback to drive continuous improvements of academic programs.

6. Develop a way to capture and spotlight the successful careers of PSA Graduates to share their stories with potential students, parents, and stakeholders.

Long Range Goal: Maintain and support a highly qualified teaching staff to continuously improve pedagogical

methods in delivering a superior educational experience for PSA students.

Objectives

1. Develop and maintain a metric for hiring teachers certified with gifted and talented credentials.

2. Develop a peer-mentoring program to foster teachers working together to improve the PSA experience.

3. Identify and provide teacher training in problem solving instruction.

4. Implement a process to gather teacher feedback to improve learning, teaching, and cultural excellence.

5. Implement Individual Development Plans to support the growth and development of every PSA employee.

Long Range Goal: Provide a variety of innovative life-experiences to accelerate the growth and development of

students and teachers by increasing their exposure to real-world challenges and opportunities.

Objectives

1. Increase emphasis to support student driven community impact/service projects.

2. Grow the number of intern opportunities available to PSA students.

3. Increase relationships with local organizations and businesses to sponsor teacher/student creative projects that enhance teamwork skills.

4. Continuously improve the on-campus programs and non-athletic extracurricular activities using student feedback. (Activities such as Robotics, Capstone, PSA House System, etc.)

Evidence of Success

Improved communication outcomes on internal and external surveys.

Successful implementation of key performance indicators.

Easy to navigate PSA Website with updated materials and information.

Statewide recognition for running an efficient and effective charter school.

Long-Range Goal: Identify and adopt best operational practices for campus maintenance, financial practices, technology applications, and cultural proficiency.

Objectives

• • Review PSA operational practices to identify those needing improvement and upgrading.

  • Collaborate with the SC Public Charter School District to identify best practices for charter schools.

  • Develop and implement a forward-facing policy and procedure repository.

Long Range Goal: Increase transparency by improving communications of Board decision-making processes and the outcomes of key performance indicator metrics.

Objectives

1. Improve and communicate key Board meeting procedures.

2. Develop, implement and communicate PSA key performance indicators and stakeholder survey results.

Long Range Goal: Develop and implement a comprehensive plan to improve internal and external communications.

Objectives

1. Develop and implement simple strategies to improve Board/Administration information to minimize duplication and miscommunications.

2. Develop and publish a simple tools handbook for teacher/student communications.

3. Implement strategies to maximize electronic communications with students, parents and stakeholders.

4. Leverage multi-media platforms to communicate school activities, outcome metrics, and new PSA calendar/scheduling changes.

5. Establish a collaborative relationship with a local media outlet to report and document PSA news and events.

Long Range Goal: Develop and implement annual survey tools to collect and analyze student, parent, staff, and

stakeholder data to drive opportunities for continuous improve of PSA.

Objectives

1. Partner with an on-line survey company to develop and implement PSA surveys and analyze the data.

2. Use survey reports to initiate continuous improvement projects at the Annual Board and Staff Retreat.

Evidence of Success

• Increase in the racial diversity ratios.

• Fully engaged internal and external marketing campaign.

• Increase in brand value as perceived by current and future parents.

• A growing student enrollment waiting list.

Long-Range Goal: Develop and implement a PSA branding and awareness campaign.

Objectives

1. Establish a digital brand by updating the website to include vision, mission, values, current students, and alumni success stories.

2. Develop a budget for marketing materials and clearly identified staff responsibilities for communications.

3. Post marketing messages on the walls of the school to daily instill them into students, teachers, and staff.

4. Display proactive internal PSA messages that incorporate core values into daily curriculum and counseling activities with students.

Long Range Goal: Improve relationships with parents, businesses, foundations, and educational institutions to increase engagement and awareness of PSA opportunities.

Objectives

1. Invite influential South Carolina leaders to participate in PSA events and activities.

2. Establish opportunities for businesses to present their needs and services to PSA students to create win-win interests in collaborating and internship opportunities for students and teachers.

3. Create student driven community projects that external stakeholders and businesses will engage and support.

4. Work with military base commanders and school liaison officers to provide consistency and clarity of the PSA Vision, Mission and Values.

Long Range Goal: Increase advocacy efforts to enhance community participation in school activities and events.

Objectives

1. Develop simple marketing tools for PSA stakeholders to use to advocate for the school.

2. Improve roadside signage for enhanced visibility and messaging communications to visitors and passing traffic.

3. Create a section in the “PSA Cultural Guide” to include language for Board Members, stakeholders, teachers, and staff to use when advocating for the school.

4. Actively solicit stakeholder feedback to improve advocacy tools and techniques.