Board of Trustees

Whitfield School is a nonprofit corporation overseen by a Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees employs the Head of School, sets the annual budget for operations, and promotes the mission of the School.

Whitfield 2030: The Strategic Plan of The Whitfield School 

Enduring Mission, Evolving Methods, Extraordinary Experiences

In the winter of 2023, Head of School Chris Cunningham launched a comprehensive strategic planning process to guide his work in the years ahead. His goal was to develop a vision for Whitfield’s future that was ambitious and forward-looking–but also authentic to Whitfield and rooted in its fundamental educational values. Partnering with Ian Symmonds and Associates, a nationally-recognized research and planning firm, with more than 20 years experience working with independent schools, Dr. Cunningham formed a steering committee including trustees, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrative leaders. 

This committee met throughout the winter and spring, exploring educational research, market analysis of the St. Louis region, an institutional SWOT analysis, generative exercises, and a review of trends in the independent school and education sector. This process of research and ideation culminated in the early summer of 2023, with the steering committee developing a carefully focused set of strategic priorities and initiatives. That fall, the board of trustees unanimously endorsed the committee’s work, including a new school mission statement and first-ever vision statement. 

Taken as a whole, the strategic plan offers a bold, ambitious roadmap for Whitfield through the end of this decade. The plan includes an extension and expansion of our long commitment to experiential teaching and learning, to creating opportunities for students to learn by doing, both in the classroom and out in the world. It calls us to fulfill the promise of community by creating a school that reflects the richness of St. Louis and by ensuring that all members of our community can participate fully in The Whitfield School experience. It challenges us to articulate to the St. Louis community the unique and life-changing benefits of a Whitfield education, and to help all of our students reach their full potential. And it challenges us to create the physical and financial infrastructure, from transformative giving to transformative new learning spaces, that will guarantee Whitfield’s financial sustainability in the 21st century.