After the first couple weeks of school, it has become apparent that the administration of St. Paul Academy and Summit School is attempting to overhaul many dated aspects of school life. This process has started with expansion, and has now moved into rewriting the current mission statement.

After the Independent Schools Association of Central States (ISACS) review last year, one of the critiques of the school was that its mission statement had already been fulfilled. The ISACS board recommended that SPA write a mission statement that would serve as a philosophy to carry the school forward.

On Wednesday, the faculty representatives from the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools and junior and senior representatives met to share their thoughts about what SPA meant to them. Bruce Tait, of Tait Subler, a strategic consultancy, led the workshop and conducted various exercises to explore the values and goals that SPA promotes. No mission statement came out of the meeting, but Tait will take the thoughts shared to a professional writer who hopes to have a committee statement before the end of this year.