School for Blind adopts strategy to ensure its future

PAOLI » On the cusp of its 100th anniversary, RoyerGreaves School for Blind has begun work on a comprehensive strategic plan that will ensure its programs, buildings, technology, and campus will support the needs of the students and adults it serves well into the future.

Royer-Greaves School provides education, training, multiple therapies and support for students and adults who are blind or visually impaired and have cognitive, physical, or other disabilities. The Paoli school was founded in 1921, and its approaching centennial makes this an especially appropriate time to evaluate changes that will position the school to further its mission, said RoyerGreaves Executive Director Vicky Mayer.

“Our student and adult populations continue to change. Our understanding of the support that they need to live as independently as possible continues to grow. Assistive technologies get better and better. It only makes sense that we study our present services and resources and design a delivery model that addresses this dynamic environment,” Mayer said.

Through strategic planning, Royer-Greaves and its planning partners will:

• Evaluate the school’s educational, therapeutic and training programs and compare them to current and future needs the students and adults the school serves.

• Determine programming requirements and develop a facilities master plan that will support campus, buildings, educational and training needs.

• Establish a prioritized schedule for the needed projects – a process commonly called phasing.

• Devise a funding strategy.

As a key component of the strategic planning process, a facilities master plan was initiated in June.

“At a program level, we’re at functional capacity. School and Adult Training Facility programs need more space for additional enrollment, and some classrooms and hallways need to be redesigned to accommodate modern wheelchairs and other adaptive equipment,” said Royer-Greaves Strategic Planning Consultant Jim Powers.

Other needs are being discovered as RoyerGreaves and its project partners interview faculty, staff, parents, community members and other stakeholders and observe as staff members, students, and adults use and move through campus spaces. Gathering information about an existing space and using it to make improvements germane to the people who use it is a concept known as evidencebased design, said Bruce E. Adelsberger, AIA, Principal at BartonPartners, the architecture firm hired to lead the project.

Royer-Greaves is very proud of its history and ties to the community. Adaptive reuse of the current buildings while preserving the school’s past is among the key goals for the strategic plan. “We want to preserve a classic Chester County fieldstone home and grounds while creating fresh, contemporary spaces that support a 21st Century educational and clinical model,” Powers said.

The most important criteria must be how well a building supports, or can be made to support, the people who use it, Adelsberger said. For example, “Accessibility is something that we as designers deal with every day, but with this project, it is going to be a huge discerning factor.”

Adelsberger notes that design that works for people with disabilities usually works well for everyone. Most people will use crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair due to age or an injury. Parents pushing strollers or even someone carrying something will benefit from wider doorways, corridors, and ramps.

This is the first time Royer-Greaves has taken an

in-depth planning analysis to this high a level, but it won’t be the last time, said Board of Directors Secretary John Beatty, who has years of strategic planning experiencing stemming from his previous tenure as director of personnel and assistant to the superintendent

in the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District. “After this initial process, we will be aggressively planning every five years, and tweaking the overall plan on an annual basis to make sure it is consistent with the school’s goals and long-range plans,” he said.

Royer-Greaves has always valued the many varied contributions the community has made to support the school and its

mission, and Mayer has begun assembling a team of local neighbors, business people, and others to advise Royer-Greaves as part of its planning process. Informational meetings will be held periodically for all who are interested; related news and meeting schedules will be shared through the Royer-Greaves newsletter, on Facebook, and via the Royer-Greaves website, www.Royer-Greaves.org.