Wishing you a very happy beginning to 2025! Miriam School and Learning Center, although covered in glistening snow, is bustling with our students’ return to school and the promise of all of the good things that happen here throughout our winter months. 

This month we are excited to officially launch our new strategic plan. I cannot express how freeing and fulfilling it is to work for an organization with a child-centric philosophy that melds so closely with its programming model. 

In the upcoming months, as we lean into this work, I would like to use this forum to address topics and questions that have come up around the strategic plan. The open lines of communication, feedback, help, and support from our community are critical. The mission and vision of Miriam can only come to fruition by working in partnership. My door is always open. Please do not ever hesitate to send an email or make an appointment to meet with me or my colleagues. 

One important question is, “Will the vision of an expanded Miriam to the “Midwest and beyond” change the school model of personal connection, small class sizes, integrated therapies, and collaborative partnership?”  The answer is a resounding no, the pillars around the strategic plan are simply looking to ensure the ability to continue to use our model to help children not only in our school and through our outreach services now but for decades to come. We believe our 67 years of doing this good work should be shared with others. We are working to ensure that the “Magic of Miriam” which I define as our small classes, integrated therapies, collaborative team approach, and our strong sense of community, remains strong and affordable. Families, staff, board members, and alumni love what we do and how we do it.

Through this plan, we can strategically scale our personalized, special educational approach to utilize existing spaces to help more students and their families who need us without compromising the Miriam Way. Furthermore, with our core value commitment to excellence, we plan to explore and respond to the feedback we received from our current families. For example, some of the ideas that have surfaced were the desire for more after-school programming, enhanced executive functioning skill development, and opportunities for middle school students to access the pathways of rigor that already exist at our high school (i.e.  Miriam High students can take Intro. to Engineering, take math classes for college credit, etc.)

Another great question is: “What does expansion look like?”  For the 23-24 School Year, Miriam School and Learning Center served over 1600 children. Last year, we had 163 students enrolled in our K-12 school. Through our Learning Center, we provided various special education services (evaluations, summer camps, therapies, and specialized instruction) in 100 partner schools and through private pay to over 1500 children. Currently, we have a wait list of approximately 15 children, and we have possibilities in our facilities, such as at the Olivette Campus, to enroll more students. Through the lens of the strategic plan, we are looking at growing enrollment in the next three years to 190 students. This is just 27 students more than last year spread throughout our entire K-13 program. There have also been inquiries and great feedback around developing a post-graduate year of high school for students who did not have the benefits of our K-12 school or developmentally need more time to develop their skills before fully enrolling in college or fully entering the workforce. Furthermore, the Learning Center last year served 100 zip codes and within the next three years, they intend to grow their reach to 115 zip codes. Currently, they are expanding services in St. Charles County. 

Expansion melds well with what Miriam has been doing since the founding of our Learning Center department in 2006.  In our strategic plan, we have deliberately positioned the Strategic Planning Committee to ensure change management oversight and efficiency of our infrastructure to support any growth. We will have project management software in place, senior administration and board leadership oversight of each of our objectives, and committee membership to continue to make sure there is organization-wide voice and feedback to our plan’s progress. 

Thank you for support.

Warmly,

Meg Bamford, Head of Miriam School and Learning Center