Haverford is entering a new era in which its values and campus are reimagined to better nurture connection and community. The changes have been reflected in the new vision plan, which the administration, the board, the faculty, and the students have been working on.
“We want to take a holistic look at our campus and make sure that any construction or renovation we do in the future is intentional and part of a well-thought-out long-term plan,” Head of School Mr. Tyler Casertano said.
The plan is based on the school’s mission and vision statements.
“The vision includes a mission statement emphasizing that every boy is known, challenged, and supported, with a focus on relationships, scholarship, and character, preparing students for lives of purpose and impact,” Mr. Casertano said.
The vision plan has five main pillars to uphold the vision: achieve weaves every strand of the student journey into a unified whole; anchor deepens shared experiences, strengthening community and character across ages; attract draws in exceptional students, faculty, and staff; ensure protects the school’s future, securing its long-term vitality; and build ensures that every space supports the mission these pillars uphold.
These pillars don’t specify exactly what will be done. Instead, they define what the school is trying to accomplish, leaving room for faculty and staff to determine how to execute over time.
“The strategic vision itself is a long-term, nine-year framework leading up to the school’s 150th anniversary,” Mr. Casertano said. “It’s not a detailed plan; it’s meant to define who we are, who we want to be, and what priorities will get us there. It was developed over about two years with input from students, faculty, parents, alumni, and the Board.”
The campus master plan is an extension of the strategic vision, specifically the ‘build’ pillar. The school has hired Hastings Architecture, based in Nashville, Tennessee, to lead this transformation. They use criteria such as culture-building, community, and character to maximize student engagement and community connection.
“We don’t see facilities for their own sake. We see them as delivering a program or an experience. So we’re not evaluating spaces based on how new or nice they are, but on whether they effectively support engagement and connection,” Mr. Casertano said. “Some early priorities that have come up include improving parking and traffic flow, making better use of shared spaces like the Community Room, expanding certain athletic facilities to allow more student participation, and rethinking the Quad so it actually connects different parts of campus rather than acting as an isolated space.”
“When building that plan, everything matters: student needs, budget, space limitations, aging buildings, and future growth all have to be considered,” Chief Financial Officer Mr. Peter Maas said.
While the school is looking to stay on campus, they’ve explored other properties, including the school’s land on Roberts Road.
“We bought the Roberts Road property for optionality, the possibility of using it, but we didn’t have a specific plan,” Mr. Casertano said. “At the time, we thought we might need more space, but now we’re realizing that the tightness of the campus is actually a strength. We may be able to redistribute things within the current campus to meet our goals, though it’s still early.”
“The purpose of the strategic vision was to bring the community together to define who we are at our best and what priorities support that.”
Mr. Tyler Casertano
Although crucial, the vision plan is only a small aspect of all the operations.
“The process is a long one,” Mr. Maas said. “The first phase is completing a strategic vision, which is a major effort on its own. Once that vision is in place, we move into the discovery phase. Surveys, focus groups, meetings, and research help us understand how our facilities and grounds meet current needs and what will be required in the future.”
Hastings Architecture is handling survey work to try to understand the campus, everything from elevation changes to grading. In fact, there are four stories of elevation change across campus, from the high point near Haverford Friends to the low point near Railroad Avenue. They’re also looking at the townships’ restrictions on impervious coverage ratios, meaning how much land allows water to drain through.
“After discovery, the findings are reviewed with school leadership and other constituents to make sure the consultant captured everything accurately,” Mr. Maas said.
Currently, the townships are still outlining what they need in terms of buildable space and regulations, so the school doesn’t yet have enough clarity to begin neighbor conversations.
“When there is agreement on the requirements, architects and planners develop preliminary solutions,” Mr. Maas said. “These early concepts outline possible construction and renovation scenarios at a high level, and they go through further review and refinement. Once one or two concepts are approved, we begin the detailed work of determining feasibility—zoning, permitting, financial modeling—and we engage with our neighbors as part of that process. After all of this, a final concept is developed, and the financial and fundraising plans are refined. Those results determine the project’s phases and schedule.”
Implementing the strategic vision includes activity-requirement changes, the lower school house system, scheduling changes, measuring student engagement more closely, and aligning faculty around shared definitions of concepts such as academic excellence and rigor.
“The purpose of the strategic vision was to bring the community together to define who we are at our best and what priorities support that,” Mr. Casertano said. “Every decision will be evaluated based on that identity and mission.”
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