The School believes that challenging academics can coexist with a supportive and collegial environment; in fact, they will enhance each other. In a strong community, individuals support one another in the pursuit of personal achievement but are guided, individually and as a group, by the School’s values.

To create a community of learners, MICDS will work to encourage the ethics and values essential to the development of a whole and healthy citizen. While employing the practices of rigorous self-analysis and accountability, MICDS will develop a community that radiates the qualities characteristic of a healthy family: individual members will know that they are appreciated for their individuality while they are bound together as a unit by shared values and aspirations. As in a family, the School will aspire for its students to attain not only intellectual prowess but moral and ethical fitness combined with respect for individual differences and perspectives. The School is dedicated to the development of the moral and ethical dimensions of each individual and the community as a whole. In such a supportive community, individuals will feel secure in their efforts to learn and feel emboldened to take risks and learn from mistakes.

Additionally, MICDS has a long tradition of encouraging leadership and producing citizens who demonstrate those qualities in their lives.  Every effort will be made within the School to promote quality leadership opportunities and to equip students with the skills for both leadership and teamwork.

To develop further a community of learners, MICDS will foster an environment in which all individuals have an opportunity to reflect and deepen their own personal visions. MICDS will work to translate individual visions into institutional teamwork. It is through teams that individuals and institutions can learn best and the sense of shared goals will emerge. The School will strive to develop a community in which teamwork is valued; where relationships are based on caring and respect; in which cooperation outweighs competition; and where knowledge is valued for its own sake. MICDS will encourage faculty to work as teams, collaborating on how best to guide student achievement and realize the School’s goals.

How individuals interact and communicate affects the strength of a community. The School is committed to encouraging an environment of mutual respect, understanding and acceptance among students, their families and faculty.  Individuals need the opportunity to mingle and relax and to exchange ideas and concerns. To build a true community of learners, students and faculty need opportunities to interact on a collegial basis.  The School will work to increase the opportunities for the interaction of faculty and students between divisions.

Inclusiveness.  An inclusive, non-discriminatory culture that values diverse viewpoints and embraces students, parents, faculty and staff from the full spectrum of racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and economic backgrounds is an imperative.  Only within such a community will students become prepared as successful citizens of the global environment to lead lives of purpose and service.  This Strategic Plan calls for leveraging the further work that the School will do in connection with the ISACS self-study process in order to develop a comprehensive program for diversity.  On a near-term basis, the School will also encourage the adoption of the principles of inclusiveness within its academic and extracurricular programs.

Parent Partnership.  At MICDS, we define parent partnership in the following way: parents and teachers build relationships that enable them to solve problems and become allies on behalf of the development and well being of children.  We know that when parents and teachers build robust relationships and work effectively together that our students are the ultimate beneficiaries.  We are dedicated to creating an environment that fosters healthy relationships and we are discovering structures and tools that are critical to maintaining these relationships.

Each teacher in our community commits to partnership by drafting a partnership resolution that defines how he or she will live into the partnership and support students and parents.  Teachers and parents are guided in their actions and interactions through clearly defined expectations.  Leveraging the success of the Partnership Café Meetings in the Middle and Upper School divisions, MICDS will continue to seek ways for parents and faculty to interact that build and foster relationships.  The School will also incorporate into the Parent Partnership a set of procedures for effectively addressing parent/student/teacher issues promptly when they arise.

Community Service.  As stated in its Mission Statement, MICDS is dedicated to encouraging all its constituents to participate in acts of service to others. MICDS will continue to improve its community service programs in which its students can give of themselves to meet the challenges of our nation and to improve the world around them. It will encourage faculty, parents, and alumni to join in that effort.  This Strategic Plan calls for each division of the School to evaluate all of its current programs involving community service and/or service learning, to determine whether these programs should be optional or mandatory, and to find opportunities to incorporate a “service learning” approach directly into the curriculum where appropriate.