Marist School’s Board of Trustees has approved a five-year strategic plan, giving President J. D. Childs the green light to share details of a compelling vision for the school’s future. In presentations throughout October, Childs highlighted the plan’s three overarching themes which call for Marist to amplify its longstanding mission in Catholic education, innovate on a tradition of educational excellence, and ignite a path forward of continued excellence in forming hearts and minds for compassionate leadership. The new strategic plan promises a thriving future for Marist School and reflects months of deep reflection and community engagement.

“There is a great deal of excitement around a plan that was built in complete partnership with our community,” said Marist School President J. D. Childs. “We sought input and listened intently to ensure our new strategic plan addressed the school’s most pressing needs, preserved our Marist mission, and enacted initiatives that keep our educational offering attractive to prospective families.”

A Community-Wide Effort

Marist launched the comprehensive strategic planning process in early 2025. Embodying the mission directive of “communal pursuit of excellence”, the process was inclusive and collaborative, encouraging all members of the Marist community to provide feedback through surveys and roundtables. Partners in Mission, a consultancy specializing in advancement leadership services for Catholic education, helped guide the effort.

“We very intentionally made involvement, responsiveness, and community building hallmarks of our strategic planning process,” said Scott Kingsfield, chairman of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee and a Marist School trustee. “The success of this collective effort yielded an ambitious, yet achievable strategic plan and signifies to me that Marist School is stronger than ever.”

During the process, the planning team focused on eight domains: academics, student life, Catholic identity, facilities, finance, advancement, enrollment and marketing, and governance as they identified objectives and priorities drawn from research, data, and ample discussion. The culmination was an interactive summative workshop that helped drive consensus and revealed three important themes that will serve as the umbrella for the objectives and tactics that paint a compelling image for Marist School’s future. Expressive of the vision and direction, the themes require the school to invest in its distinctive Marist identity as well as enrich and build upon the success of the formative education provided to students.

Theme #1 Amplifying Our Mission

Since 1901, the distinctive Marist mission in education has created a lasting bond that unites the school’s more than 10,000 alumni. The remarkable nature of the Marist community is a profound reflection of the Marist priests who model a distinctive way of living the Gospel and serving with great humility. Letting actions speak louder than words, the priests embody the gentle and faithful presence of the school’s patroness, trusting in God through accompaniment and service, as if hidden and unknown.

“In looking to the future, it is imperative that we have unwavering fidelity to our sacred Marist mission,” said Childs. “Through our planning process, we studied our Society of Mary heritage and the inspiration of our Marist priests to draw out the particulars of doing school in a Marist way. That way has propelled us throughout the school’s history, and now we bring heightened intentionality to how we go about this work of education as a Marist school.”

Amplifying the Marist mission means intensifying our focus on forming students as whole people and beloved children of God. Strategic plan objectives around this theme are manifested through a focus on student well-being, mission-aligned faculty, ample academic resources, leading-edge facilities, and a strong parent-school partnership, which is essential to providing an effective Marist education.

As the key enactors of the educational mission, teachers are a central focus. Recruiting and compensating mission-aligned, student-centered faculty remains a priority, and the school has forged a profile of a Marist educator to aid in finding teachers who fit well within the institution and motivate students to be their best.

Students are another primary focus of plan objectives, particularly related to their emotional and physical safety as well as their well-being and mental health. Other objectives elevate a disciplinary program characterized by personal accountability and character formation and promote healthy digital habits and citizenship.

To enliven the distinctive Marist approach to education for parents, a new mission groups initiative has launched, which will foster small-group discussions about parenting and formation through the lens of Marist values.

Campus as Holy Ground

Marist School’s campus is where students develop their God-given talents and learn to offer them as gifts to make a better world. Therefore, Marist’s buildings and grounds play an important role in amplifying the Marist mission. Of late, Marist has engaged in a campus planning process that prioritizes enhanced facilities and incorporates significant faculty and staff input and expertise from Marist School trustees and architects.

“The campus master plan we are developing is an infrastructure strategy that will allow us to achieve objectives in the strategic plan and thereby enact our mission on behalf of our students and families with greater vitality,” remarked Childs.

Theme #2 Forming Hearts and Minds

The second theme of the strategic plan concentrates on the important work Marist School does to form the hearts and minds of students. The Marist educational experience is known for shaping the whole person, allowing the faith, character, and intellect of students to grow and flourish for the purpose of service and leadership.

“Our goal is for our faculty to center their full attention on the many facets of student learning, to cultivate curiosity, foster spiritual growth, and expand young minds through teaching methods nuanced with innovation and care,” explained Childs. “Our strategic objectives related to forming hearts and minds will guide the educational journey in a way that can ensure success for all our students.”

Key objectives include evolving learning spaces for state-of-the-art technology and flexibility, developing an AI literacy and digital citizenship initiative, and providing a curriculum structure that features tiers of academic opportunities to facilitate student success. The issue of academic-life balance is critical, so the plan includes an objective to study, understand, and address this challenge without sacrificing the value of a rigorous program.

Accompanying students in their learning journey at Marist, as opposed to a teacher-centered method, is a distinguishing feature of the school’s educational approach. As such, a strategic objective to form hearts and minds involves creating mentoring opportunities between teachers and students. Another objective will prioritize professional development for both teaching and non-teaching faculty to leverage expertise and provide the tools for educators to walk alongside students with insight and compassion.

Theme #3 Igniting Our Future

The final theme of the strategic plan calls Marist School to boldness and stewardship. Marist’s future relies on a robust pipeline of prospective families wanting to entrust the education of their children to Marist School. The outstanding outcomes of Marist alumni demonstrate time and again the value of a Marist education. So, a key objective to igniting Marist’s future involves building upon a dynamic and data-informed enrollment strategy to attract mission-fit families. Beyond the obvious financial benefits, the energy and vitality of a full school is meaningful and essential to the fulfillment of the Marist mission.

Other key initiatives to ignite Marist’s future call for growing the endowment and preparing for a capital campaign that will fund the priorities of the strategic and campus master plans. Marist also will craft a five-year financial framework to be able to consider challenges and opportunities in ways that promote sound decision-making and a future-forward perspective.

“Our strategic plan captures the essence of who we are: a school faithful to our Marist mission of forming the whole person in the image of Christ through instruction grounded in religious values, the teachings of the Catholic Church, and the spirit of the Society of Mary. The plan reflects our confidence in the direction we are heading, and our readiness to meet the future with courage and conviction,” said Marist School Board of Trustees Chairman Mike Cote. “It charts a thoughtful path forward, and I commend J. D., Scott, the team at Partners in Mission, and all involved for coming together in the spirit of Marist collaboration to ensure Marist is on its best course for the future.”

Measuring Our Success & Looking Ahead

Accountability is central to achieving the objectives of the strategic plan. Marist has developed an internal dashboard of key performance indicators to track progress, and, through a regular cadence of meetings, the administrative team will engage together as many objectives are interwoven through multiple domains.

The new strategic plan ensures Marist School remains grounded in its spiritual and educational legacy while preparing students to use their God-given talents to make meaningful contributions in the world.

“Our future rests not in maintaining the status quo, but in inspiring new partnerships, investing in people and programs, and boldly building the capacity to respond to the evolving needs of students and society,” Childs said.

As the school looks to its 125th anniversary in Atlanta, the new strategic plan represents a resounding reaffirmation of identity, a call to innovation, and a renewed avowal of the value of an education rooted in what it means to be Marist made.

Learn more about Marist's Strategic Plan.