A Strategic Planning Partnership
Central Catholic High School, founded by the Marist Brothers and situated in Lawrence, Massachusetts, serves 1,200 students from over 60 communities in 3 states.
The 2025-26 school year marks their 100th year in Catholic education.
Meitler was invited to help the school create a strategic plan that would guide the school’s vision for the next five years. Having worked with Central Catholic High School on a plan in 2000 and again in 2010, the team at Meitler was familiar with Central Catholic and excited to assist the school community.
Partnering with Meitler: Setting New Goals Rooted in Mission
The President, Chris Sullivan, wanted a true partner for this process. CCHS was also beginning its accreditation process, so he and his team were seeking a strategic plan that would align with that work as well. The school’s leadership was greatly assured by our depth of experience in school strategic planning, along with our promise to be on hand if needed during implementation.
As Meitler began the work, we assembled a strategic planning committee comprised of faculty, staff, alumni, board members, current parents, community members, and an elementary feeder school principal.
We held multiple focus groups, interviews, administered surveys, met with all faculty and staff members, collected and analyzed demographic data over five visits.
The Next Level of Excellence
The school’s ongoing commitment to assisting families who desire, but cannot afford, to send their children to CCHS, has resulted in a robust mission-aligned tuition assistance model.
This model is supported by generous donors who possess a strong allegiance to Central Catholic High School. It was important to the school community that this commitment remain a pillar of the next strategic plan. With that in mind, the goal to strengthen long term sustainability through strategic planning and investment emerged.
The school’s rich history, committed alumni, and long-tenured faculty and staff, including many former students, presented an interesting challenge. Certain of the new families and staff revealed feeling like outsiders in the company of the veterans who’ve been involved with the school for years.
Because of this, Meitler helped CCHS craft a bold goal to cultivate a culture and climate of belonging, growth, and shared mission.
Facilities also came up a lot in conversations. We didn’t ignore that, making it a concrete target to ensure that the campus remains a modern, sustainable, and safe facility that supports a holistic educational experience.
Additional goals for the next five years were set in the areas of:
- Catholic identity
- academic excellence
- enrollment management
- finance, advancement
- facilities
- leadership.
Through a creative and collaborative process, CCHS and Meitler took an initial draft of goals that were somewhat narrow and gap-focused and together made them bolder and more expansive.
That’s where the excitement blossomed. As our team met regularly with CCHS to develop those goals into actionable steps, there truly was a sense of ownership that set in. What made the school great in the first place would be strengthened.
A final challenge was how to deal with several anticipated changes in key leadership positions. It became clear that a comprehensive mission-aligned succession strategy needed to be a central goal.
This meant:
- Mentoring future leaders who embrace the Marist Catholic identity.
- Recruiting leaders from a highly qualified community who reflected the diversity of the student population.
- Retaining leaders because of their love for the Marist mission to be present, live simply, see each other as a family, love our work, and all in the way of Mary.
Turning Strategy into Action: Implementation and Accountability
“The thing that really impressed me about Meitler was the implementation process that accompanied the plan”. — CCHS President, Chris Sullivan
Strategic planning is a lot of work. Execution is where strategy finds its impact.
Meitler didn’t leave everything to theory. We delivered a method for accomplishing the goals of the plan and provided a tool to measure achievement, and that was exactly what CCHS was seeking.
“What good is a plan that sits on the shelf?” Meitler Senior Consultant, Jackie Lichter asks.
Since aligning with the accreditation process was important, we incorporated the research questions needed for accreditation into our survey collection to avoid survey fatigue amongst the parents, faculty, and staff. Some of the plan’s goals may double as accreditation goals.
The Meitler Difference: Relationships that Drive Results
A strategic plan doesn’t need to be flashy to be effective. What truly sets Meitler apart is the relationships we form with our clients.
The President, the Principal, the Committee, and the faculty/staff all really come to know and to trust us. We don’t tell clients what they need to do next, we collaborate with them every step of the way.
We become like one of the staff members — recognizing and calling folks by name, remembering the small details about their lives, and experiencing the friendly excitement that comes with each visit.
“What impacted me most was how much Central Catholic puts the student at the center of every decision they make. Even their website leads with the students. To me, that really set them apart from many of the other schools I have worked with during my time at Meitler.” — Jackie Lichter, Ph.D.
Don’t let outdated plans hold back your mission. Learn more about how Meitler partners with Catholic schools to strengthen advancement and leadership.
