Comprehensive Assessment For Valley Forge Military
Academy and College
CONTENTS
Executive Summary......................................................................................................................... 1
Governance ..................................................................................................................................... 4
The Academy................................................................................................................................... 6
Academy Retention and Recruitment ............................................................................................ 9
The College.................................................................................................................................... 10
Development................................................................................................................................. 13
The Parent Experience .................................................................................................................. 16
The Student Experience ................................................................................................................ 16

 Executive Summary
Governance
1. If the Board does not change in both form and function, the school cannot survive.
2. The Board needs to commit to ongoing training to learn what it means to be an
independent school and college board.
3. The Board needs to stop being reactive. The “ready, fire, aim” decision making process has
brought the school close to closure.
4. The Board hires a President to run the school’s day-today operations. Board members
need to stay out of day to day operations of the school and begin following the chain of
command if they need information to meet their mission.
5. The Board should recruit new board members outside of the alumni base.
6. All board members must be in a position to make significant gifts to the school and must
understand that their seat on the Board requires that they do so on a yearly basis.
7. The Board must develop and adhere to a plan to bring the faculty salaries and benefits
to a level that will enable the school to recruit for an increasingly short supply of
teachers.

Overview
1. Valley Forge Military Academy purports to be a competitive college prep school, yet the
programs, facilities and services that it offers have not kept pace with similar priced
independent schools.
2. Valley Forge Military Academy is geographically well placed for both a small, college
prep, boarding and day school.
3. The School cannot rely upon full paying international students to compensate for the
fact that nearly all the domestic students are heavily subsidized, mostly through
unfunded tuition discounts.
4. The school should find ways to engage the greater community as much as possible.
5. The school should investigate a five-day boarding program.
6. Going forward, the Academy needs to hire experienced independent school and college
professionals to run the academic and business sides of the school and whose
1

 experience in fine independent schools and colleges reflects the caliber of the
experience of those running the military side.
7. The School should investigate a one-year high school post graduate designed for
students to gain appointments to U.S. Service Academies and entrance to private fouryear military colleges.

Enrollment
1. The school should carefully review the messages on the website, both intended and
unintended to ensure that they accurately reflect the mission of the school and the
parents that they hope to attract.
2. The Admissions Office staff needs to be trained in independent school best practices.
3. The School should find a way to bring admissions visitors onto the campus through
another
4. The reregistration program needs be very different if it is to be used as a retention tool.
5. The college program needs to be studied so that a more cohesive student body can be
developed that reflects the mission of the school.
6. The college athletic program needs to be evaluated to ensure that the program is
mission appropriate and that it serves the needs of the student-athletes.

Development
1. The development office needs to be staffed in a way that reflects their considerable
goals.
2. The board needs to begin to plan for a comprehensive campaign to fund initiatives
beyond the annual fund.

Client Experience
1. Parents chose Valley Forge for their sons because of the military model. They are looking
for more order and discipline not less.
2. There is a great deal of satisfaction among the parents with the recent leadership changes.
3. The school should look for ways to involve parents in the life of the school in support of
their sons
4. The school should empower the cadets to expand the weekend activity offerings.
2

 5. The School should put together a plan to begin to deal with the backlog of deferred
maintenance in the physical plant.
6. The athletic program needs to be studied to ensure that it supports not only the mission of
the school, but benefits the cadets as indivduals.
7. The Academy should consider recruiting teachers differently, utilizing independent school
channels rather than public school sources and actively recruiting veterans who are more
likely to understand and support the military model.

3

 Governance
The school will not survive if the Board continues in its present form and function. Valley Forge
Millitary Academy and College is a small independent institution with an endowment of
approximately $10 million that is far short of what is necessary to fund the school in times of
scarcity. Tuition, room and board is approximately $45,000. There seems to be, however no
strategic vision coming from the Board that gives any indication that they grasp this reality. An
independent school and college board has two major responsibilities:
1. To carefully choose and support the President who is in charge of the day to day operation
of the school.
2. To ensure the financial health and sustainability of the school.
Despite the Board members relatively kind self-appraisal as evidenced by the board surveys, the
board has failed in both of these responsibilities. (See Appendix A)
While the recent hire of General Lord as President appears to be the right man at the right time,
the experience for the class of 2018 was more indicative of the Board’s track record. The few
Cadets in that class and their parents who were at the school for four years experienced four
changes in the President’s office. This “ready, fire, aim” approach to decision making is one
hallmark of this board.
Enrollment declined 40% at the Academy in the last five years. Relatively steady enrollment in the
college came at the expense of decisions that resulted in a fractured student body and 98% of the
students receiving significant financial aid, much of it unfunded. Rather than study the problem
with the President and develop a strategic plan that would lead to sustainability, the Board
became overly involved in the day to day operation of the school. Several mid-level managers
reported a board “in the weeds” without really being informed. For a school that stresses the
military model, the board’s willingness to circumvent chain of command is remarkable. Certainly,
there may be rare occasions when a board member needs to interact directly with a faculty or
staff member. In those cases, that interaction needs to be cleared first with both the President
and the Board Chair prior to the interaction. The exception may be the chairs of the development,
enrollment and finance committees who must interact with senior administrators in order to
prepare agendas for their committee meetings.
An example of the Board reaching into operations is the recent appointment of the Dean of the
Academy. The school desperately needs experienced independent school professionals to take the
Academy forward. Even if Dr. Lea was the right candidate, the process of placing him permanently
in the position was flawed. Independent schools do not replace senior leadership without a
national search. This is even more important at a time when the school is experiencing a downturn
in enrollment. An inclusive, transparent process needs to be put in place by the President. If the
Board wants to suggest candidates, that is their prerogative, as it is the prerogative of every
alumni, parent, faculty and staff member. But the process and the decision rests with the
4

 President. If he wants input for key hires, he can form a search committee. Unless asked, the
Board needs to remain in their lane.
The Board has not executed its fiduciary responsibility to the school. The school is nearly $7
million in debt and running a deficit in this year’s budget.
There are too many Alumni on the Board. Alumni always look at an institution through the lens of
what it was. In the case of the board, they are driven to volunteer to assist the school based on
the positive experiences that they had as cadets. The problem is that the Valley Forge is not going
to survive by looking backwards. What is needed is a new vision for a small, independent, college
prep boarding school in the military tradition. That does not mean the loss of connection to the
customs and traditions of the school. For example, potential source of board members are service
academy graduates who have gone on to great success outside of the military after they have
completed their service. These are people who would see value in the mission of the academy and
might bring a fresh perspective to the work.
The bottom line is this. The Board finally appears to have hired a President who understands his
job. He has begun to assemble the leadership team that can address the issues facing the
Academy and the College. The board now has one short term priority: to give or get the financial
resources that will give the President the time that he needs to move the school into the 21 st
Century and toward long-term sustainability. Once the financial runway is built, the Board must
turn its attention to an inclusive strategic planning process.

5

 The Academy
Valley Forge Military Academy is a small boarding school for students in grades seven through
twelve. This means that the market in which the Academy competes is the small independent
boarding school market whose target is parents with the ability to pay over $44,000 per year for
precollegiate education and are inclined to send their sons to school away from home. It is a tough
sell for any school. Valley Forge’s standing as a military academy is a double-edged sword. On the
one hand, there are going to be parents who immediately reject the military model. On the other
hand, the school has a unique brand and niche that makes it one of the few choices like it in the
country. The website Boarding School Review, one clearinghouse for Boarding School Information
for potential parents and students ( https://www.boardingschoolreview.com/ ) Lists eighteen
Military Boarding Schools in the country, ranging in size from 80 to over 800 students.
Valley Forge Military Academy is shrinking.

2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18

Grade 7
16
10
11
3
5

Grade 8
34
29
21
22
15

Grade 9
60
41
41
32
39

Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12
72
73
78
68
67
68
52
64
71
42
59
59
42
42
58

Total
333
283
260
217
201
Total

Amt
Change
-50
-23
-43
-16
-132

Percent
Change
-15%
-8%
-17%
-7%
-40%

As of October 1, there were 201 Cadets enrolled at the Academy. This represents a 7% decrease
over the previous year, and a 40% decrease over a five year period. There are many reasons for
this. Chief among them was the fact that the Academy was not living up to its promises to parents
who sought the school for its commitment to teaching the five cornerstones: Academic Excellence,
Character Development, Personal Motivation, Physical Development, and Leadership. Parents in
the focus groups reported little discipline, students cutting classes, disruptions in class, little
supervision of study halls, and reduced opportunities to participate in athletics.
It should come as no surprise then that 63% of the school receives some form of financial aid,
much of it unfunded, effectively lowering the average tuition collected per cadet to less than
$28,000. The school cannot long continue to subsidize an average of $16,000 per Academy Cadet.
Like many American boarding schools, the Academy depends upon the recruitment of full paying
international students to help balance the budget and make up for the policy of heavy discounting
for U.S. Students. This is problematic. The competition for International students is fierce and the
demand for mission appropriate international students for Valley Forge greatly outpaces the
supply of those students. Most parents of international students rely upon the assistance of
agents to place their children in schools overseas. The parents of top tier students are concerned
first with the college placement record of the schools that they consider and the agents are keenly
tuned to the demands of their clients. Besides the Service Academies, which foreign nationals are
not eligible to attend, Valley Forge does not consistently place students in the brand name, high
profile universities that the parents of top tier international students demand. Because of that, the
school is not attracting those students. Other factors impact the supply of mission appropriate
international students including:
6

 1. The increase of high-quality education at home. Schools in sending countries such as China
are being built at a remarkable rate and the academic programs mirror those of top tier
U.S. independent schools. Parents in those countries now have options that were not
available less than a decade ago.
(http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180209120222866 )
2. The current political climate is not encouraging parents to send their children to the United
States when there are other more welcoming alternatives. The World Education Service in
a recent article stated that:
The American Council on Education (ACE) and 32 other higher education associations, for
instance, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court when the court took up
hearings on Trump’s latest travel ban in April 2018 that noted that the ban “sends a clarion
message of exclusion to millions around the globe that America’s doors are no longer open
to foreign students, scholars, lecturers, and researchers.” It “jeopardizes the vital
contributions made by … [these individuals] by telling them in the starkest terms that
America is no longer receptive to them.”
https://wenr.wes.org/2018/05/latest-sevis-data-number-of-international-students-in-theu-s-is-declining
The Challenge then lies in attracting more full paying domestic parents to the school. This requires
a change in mindset. As enrollment has declined steadily, it is easy to blame increasing tuition as
the cause of the exodus. In fact, the problem does not lie with the cost. Tuition, room and board
at Valley Forge actually represents a relative bargain in the small boarding school world where
costs can reach well over $50,000. The problem lies with the value proposition. The Academy has
quite frankly not kept pace with the small boarding programs with which it competes in terms of
program, facilities, services or outcomes. Valley Forge Military Academy is a shadow of its former
self in terms of enrollment because it remains a mirror of its former self in terms of programs,
facilities, and services. This will be discussed in greater detail in the section about the student
experience.
The Market
Valley Forge Military Academy sits squarely in the middle of the eastern megalopolis that extends
from New York to Washington D.C. Within a mile of the campus is a train station providing reliable
transportation to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia where Cadets and their families can access
trains to New York to the north and Washington DC to the south. Several major interstate
highways pass within a few miles of the gates of the school. Simply put, the Academy is ideally
placed for a small boarding school. Given the geographic advantages, investigating a five-day
boarding program makes a great deal of sense.
The Academy also sits in the middle of a prime independent day school marketplace. Several
independent schools charging nearly the same amount for day school as the Academy charges for
boarding, including Episcopal Academy and Haverford School are thriving within a short drive of
7

 the Academy. The difference is that those schools have developed a reputation in the area for
academic excellence that the Academy does not enjoy. However, as the Academy’s value
proposition increases the following graph indicates that there are over 8500 high school students
living in households with a median family income of over $106,000 in the school districts
immediately surrounding the Academy.
Enrollment

Conestoga
2062

Radnor
1177

Marple-Newtown
1165

Haverford
1709

Lower Merion
1440

Upper Merion
1142

Total
8695

Median Household Income

$121,687

$106,209

$82,596

$99,043

117,914

$80,419

$102,626

The Academy could begin outreach to the community by publicizing events on campus like
parades and concerts. They could also organize community appreciation events that will enable
members of the local community to be on campus and interact with the Cadets in less formal
way.
The Academy should actively publicize in the local market its success rate placing graduates in
the Service Academies. A significant number of students and parents in both the boarding and
day school markets would be interested in a school that was a conduit to the Academies. A
curriculum designed with Service Academy admission in mind would appeal to both students
currently attending high school as well as those who need an extra year of high school in order
to improve their record for admission
The Marketing and Communications Overview contained in Appendix A provides an in depth
look by the Healey Director of Communications, Valerie Asuncion, at the marketing effort of
both the school and the college. She is impressed by the work produced by Mary Heller and
believes that the “Leaders at Every Level” will resonate in the educational marketplace. There
are a number of questions however the essential question is this:
Is your well-oiled machine on the right track? Have you agreed across the organization about
whom you are trying to reach and what you are promising them? Are you answering the right
questions for the prospects most likely to buy what you’re selling?
As an example of a well-oiled machine on the wrong track, a look at your website reveals the
following clear messages:
1. The School is not marketing to full paying parents. The opening photo on the website’s
homepage tells the reader that “Valley Forge Military Academy awards more than $4
million in scholarships and financial aid annually.” That message is not directed at the
people who can afford to pay $45,000 per year for precollegiate education. It signals
that Valley Forge is expensive and the school understands that they have to soften the
blow. It also tells potential parents that they can come into the school expecting not to
pay what it costs.
2. This is not really a college prep school. The second page of the website says that 95% of
the class of 2017 went to college, while 3% joined the military and 2% entered the
workforce. Those would be impressive numbers if the school were a comprehensive
8

 public high school. It’s a tough sell for a parent to pay nearly $200,000 over four years of
education for their child to join the Army.

Academy Retention and Recruitment
Like many of the people in positions of authority at the Academy, the Director of Academy
Admissions had no experience in independent school admissions prior to taking the job. Because
he is well organized, committed to the mission and has the requisite skills to be successful
promoting the Academy. The Academy should invest in training for him. The Association of
Independent School Admissions Professionals ( https://www.aisap.org/home ) provides resources
for both new and experienced admissions professionals.
Marketing to Full Pay (http://www.marketingtofullpay.com/ ) is run by Claude Anderson, Dean of
Enrollment at Northfield Mount Herman School in Massachusetts. Generally recognized as one of
the top independent admissions professionals in the country, Claude runs workshops periodically
around the country.
Reregistration is not well handled at the school. It should therefore not be surprising that
retention has been an issue. Reregistration begins in March with an email to parents requesting
that they complete online course registration with their sons. There was a follow-up email every
two weeks subsequent to the initial email blast. The Dean of Enrollment then spent the summer
contacting any parent who had not reregistered. This is a bad system on lots of different levels.
1. In a college prep school, the Cadet’s academic advisor or college counselor should work
with the Cadet to ensure that the proper courses are being taken. That’s what parents
are paying for.
2. In a school that is experiencing retention issues, the process should be happening much
earlier. If a parent is considering leaving the school, the school needs to know that long
before they fail to respond to a couple of emails in March and April. By that time, there
is one month of the school year to address issues.
3. If course selection does not begin until March, and continues through the summer,
staffing for the new school year can’t be properly planned.
The Academy should consider the following revised procedure:
1. The Course selection process should be completed by each Cadet with his academic
advisor or college counselor by February 1.
2. The advisor should set a phone appointment or conference with the parent to apprise
them of the course selection.
3. The advisor will then hand the parent the contract for the coming school year with a March
1 return deadline.
4. Incentivize parents to return their contracts on time by offering a reduction in the
registration fee for contract returned by March 1
5. On March 2, phone calls are made to parents who have not reregistered to determine the
cause. Those calls should be coming from either the President, the Superintendent, the
Commandant or the Dean of the Academy.
9

 Recruitment
On October 10, a member of the Healey Education Foundation Staff called the Academy
Admissions office and conducted a secret shopper interview. The results were mixed. The call was
answered by Anne Brennen. Her approach was courteous, polite and welcoming, there was little
to connect the caller to the school. The caller was not asked about her interests and needs. She
wasnot asked how she heard about Valley Forge. When asked about a tour, she was informed of
the Open House on November 10 and directed to register online. When the caller asked about day
vs. boarding, she was told that it depended upon the needs of the parent. Yet the caller was never
asked to define those needs and, as a result, the caller did not get an important question
answered. She was then directed to the website for more information. There has not, as yet, been
any follow-up.
When a prospective parent calls the school, the office must assume that they have read the
website. It is up to the admissions office to determine:
1. How they heard about Valley Forge. The answer to this question can help to determine
the effectiveness of various marketing efforts.
2. What interests the prospective parent about the Academy. This can help to direct the
parent to people on the campus who can assist in recruiting the new student.
3. When are they available for to visit the campus. Directing a parent to an Open House is
not necessarily a bad thing. But rather than sending the parent to a website to sign up
online, the question is, “IS November 10 a good day for you? If it is, let me sign you up for
our Open House.” Then a follow-up card or email to confirm attendance is in order as is a
follow-up call after the event. If the Open House is not convenient, “When is a good time
to schedule a visit to the campus for you and your son?”
Admissions is sales. And the admissions staff needs to understand that every call is an opportunity
to sell Valley Forge.

The College
The College suffers from an identity crisis. The college has four identifiable groups in one
institution and they often perceive that they have conflicting interests.
1. The Early Commissioning Program students are committed to service in the United States
Army after graduation. They wear uniforms that are different from the other members of
the corps and, because of training commitments are not generally part of the Corps
leadership.
2. Members of the Corps of Cadets are full time students who live on campus. It is from this
group of students that the Corps leadership comes.
3. Commuter Students are not part of the corps. Rather they live off campus and come to
school for class.
4. Athletes are generally recruited to play a sport at the school. Athletes can be either
commuters or members of the Corps. Some hold leadership positions.
10

 Virtually no college student pays the full tuition, room and board. Early Commissioning students
are paid for by the Army. Athletes receive full, unfunded tuition scholarships. Members of the
Corps and commuters are often provided financial aid, both funded and unfunded. This does not
mean that the cost of education is covered. A significant number of students, many of them
recruited athletes, take out significant loans in order to cover their expenses at the school. It is not
uncommon for a student to graduate from Valley Forge with $40,000 in debt. That’s not
defensible.
On paper, Valley Forge Military College costs over $50,000 to attend. That’s actually a tough
number to find. The only way that I could find the full cost of tuition, room. board and books was
to fill out the form on the webpage and providing a great deal of information. Given that the
fictional parent who filled out the form was from a family of four making $65,000 and living in
Pennsylvania, the net tuition came to $37,000 after a $15,000 grant in aid. That’s a hefty price tag
for a junior college. By comparison, an academically talented student whose family makes $65,000
would be fully funded at the University of Pennsylvania with no loans expected.
The College is simply not sustainable in its present form. Except for the Early Commissioning
Program, there is no value proposition. If the cybersecurity program operated in a state-of-the-art
facility, there may be a case to be made for attendance in that program, but not at a price that a
student would be asked to pay at a top private four year university.
The athletic program is a financial drain on the college with little return on investment. The
athletes are actively recruited, often without the involvement of the Admissions Office. I was told
by the Senior Director of Admission that it was not uncommon to see a coach escorting a recruit
on campus without having that recruit come through the Admission office. When an admissions
counselor finally does get the opportunity to talk with the recruit and discuss the military
obligations in the Corps of Cadets, they hear things like, “The football coach told me I wouldn’t
have to do all that stuff.” It should come as no surprise then, that the athletes are generally not
model cadets, although some do buy into the program after they arrive and more than one has
risen to a position of authority within the corps.
The school needs to study its entire athletic program to ensure that it meets the needs of the
athletes as well as filling seats at the college. The facilities and program are not conducive to high
powered junior college athletics. College football players, for example, typically gain muscle and
weight as a result of highly developed weight room workouts and increased calories in the form of
training tables with large quantities of protein rich meals. The football players that I spoke to at
the focus group are losing weight. This is a result of a high carb diet with insufficient calories and
missed meals due to a rigid meal schedule that often finds them with leftovers or no food at all by
the time they get out of practice.
The commuter program was implemented as a way to increase enrollment without a lot of
thought as to how it would affect the Corps of Cadets. While there may be a way to effectively
implement a commuter program at a military college, the program is going to take a great deal of
time and study to get right. It would be worth the College’s time to do that.
As is true in the Academy, people have been placed in positions of authority at the college who do
not have the experience or training to do their job. The Dean of the College is very bright,
understands the inner workings of the college better than anyone on campus, has a passion for
11

 the mission and is completely underqualified to be the Chief Academic Officer at a $50,000 per
year academic institution. She has never taught at the college level and holds no administrative
degrees or credentials.
The Dean’s appointment as well as the Senior Director of Admission’s appointment are the result
of hiring practices that devalue the academic program of both the Academy and College. They
were both promoted to the positions they currently hold from junior level positions in the college.
In the case of admissions, she was virtually the last woman standing when her boss left his
position with no notice in the middle of the night. It’s hard to imagine on the military side of the
school, a junior TAC being promoted to the Commandant’s position.
The result is a fractured program in the college that needs to be fixed.

12

 Development
The development office was rated 0-5 on the following ten key performance indicators. A O
reflects no evidence of the performance indicator and 5 reflects an overwhelming strength. The
Ratings and reasons for those ratings are below:
1. The school has a work plan including clearly defined job descriptions and documented
role responsibilities for all members of the office?
Score: 4
The development office is well managed and has a work plan that outlines the
development goals for the year and the path to achieve the goal. The Vice President of
Advancement has worked with a steadily shrinking staff to ensure that all of the work
necessary to achieve the goals is being completed.

2. The development program is staffed and funded to meet fundraising expectations?
Score: 2
The development office is grossly understaffed for the size of the goal that they
consistently are given. The Staff with a goal of annual goal this should should at a
minimum include:
•
•
•
•
•
•

The Vice President for Development
A Major Gift Officer pursuing gifts above $25,000 and planned gifts
An Annual Fund Director ensuring that the Forge Fund reaches goal and feeding
prospects to the Vice President and Major Gifts Officer
Alumni Director who coordinates all alumni outreach and plans alumni and
executes alumni events.
A Development Assistant who takes care of gift entry, stewardship and the
donor management data base
A Development Assistant who functions as administrative assistant for the Vice
President and Major Gifts Officer as well as providing assistance as needed to the
Annual Find Director and the Alumni Director.

Development is one of only two revenue streams to the school. As of this writing, the
Forge Fund stands at 28% of goal. This is one example of literally being penny wise and
pound foolish. Fully staffing the development office, given the management of the
program will no doubt lead to increases in attainment.

13

 3. Development communications are sufficiently financed to meet the fundraising
expectations and consistent with the school’s message and branding?
Score: 3
Development Communications are improving. Collateral materials are being produced
that will support the school’s development efforts

4. An identified staff member, with involvement in planning the school calendar,
controls all fundraising activities, including other internal or external campaigns?
Score 4
The development office would like to coordinate all fundraising activities, but their
efforts are not always successful. Athletics is one area where the solicitation of gifts is
not always well corrdinated. The Vice President should be firmly in charge of all
development efforts
5. The office has a plan for moving donors through the gift pipeline towards greater
support, while simultaneously tracking and replacing those who move to a new level?
Score: 2
In a mature development operation, the Annual fund manager is able to analyze giving
data as well as do prospect research on a broad range of donors. Because current
staffing does not provide the time necessary for that to happen, it is difficult to tailor
annual fund solicitations for anyone other than the major gift prospects.
6. Does the development work plan
- focus on increasing total donors?
- use gift bands ($1-$100, $101-$250, etc.) as a metric to broaden the base of the donor
pyramid?
- provide incentive to find lost alumni?
- ensure appropriate attention to acquiring new donors
While gift bands exist for the Forge Fund, staffing restrictions preclude some best
practices from being put into place, including working to move donors from one level to
the next and systematically increasing the donor pool.
Score: 3
7. Does the office provide programs and events that engage and cultivate alumni,
parents/grandparents, corporate donors and philanthropic organizations?
Score: 3

14

 The office does provide programs and events to engage parents and alumni. It may be
possible to use existing school events, such as parades or concerts, to target donors
from the community.
8. Does the office have accurate information (demographics, employment and interests)
on school alumni, donors and prospects to effectively target and engage them?
Score: 4
The School uses eTapestry for prospect management. This is a sophisticated program. In
order to get the most out of the investment in this tool, it is necessary for a staff
member to have responsibility for management of the database. Current staffing does
not allow that to happen.
9. Are the Board members knowledgeable about the fundraising process and the roles in
the organization?
Score: 2
One of the Board’s primary functions is to ensure the financial viability of the school.
While some on the Board understand that role and in addition to giving generously,
assist in identifying or cultivating donor prospects for the school, most do not.
10. Is there a direct communication and relationship between enrollment, marketing,
academic and other administration support functions to assist in the fundraising
needs and efforts?
Score: 4
The Vice President for Development works closely with the marketing and
communications team to ensure consistent messaging across platforms and on
collateral materials.
Total Score: 31
The development office has a heavy lift on an annual basis. Two things make this possible. The
first is the strong management and major gift cultivation by the Vice President for
Development. The second is the strong relationship between the Vice President and the
President. The President understands his role in development and he looks to the Vice
President to set the table for solicitation of major gifts.
The problem is that without careful strategic planning, year after year the development office is
simply plugging a hole in the bottom of the revenue bucket. As the Board begins to think
strategically, part of the plan needs to include a comprehensive campaign that will enable the
school to address infrastructure needs as well as fund such initiatives as financial aid and
program development.
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 The Parent Experience
Parent surveys reflect a great deal of satisfaction with the program, particularly with the
leadership changes that have recently taken place. (Parent survey results can be found in
Appendix B.) There is support for the direction of the school and the renewed emphasis on
discipline and accountability in the Corps. The parents in the focus groups expressed similar
sentiments. They cited examples in the past of cadets not held to account for being disruptive in
class or cutting class completely.
In the focus groups, more than one parent expressed frustration at the lack of opportunities for
parent involvement except for fundraising events. They also expressed frustration at having to
choose between going and watching their sons play an away game on Parents’ Weekend or going
to the Friday night parent event. Since they could not do both, they chose to support their sons.
This is such an easy thing to fix. On a big weekend like Parents Weekend, no team should be
playing away. Standard independent school best practice is to schedule games for all teams at
home and staggered so that all athletes have the chance to play in front of a crowd.
A word of caution about all of the support. As pointed out in the enrollment section, the school
has not kept pace in programs, facilities, and services with other small boarding schools. One
example of this is the advertisement of tutoring services and academic support on the school’s
website. If you are asking parents to pay $1250 a week to go to school, they have a reason to
assume that is an all-inclusive price. Faculty members should be providing office hours during the
day so that students can get extra instruction, if they need it, at no additional cost. To the faculty’s
credit, 60% of the faculty rated the accessibility of extra help a 4 or 5. Less than 13% rated this a 1
or 2.
Given that the faculty appears to be handling the majority of the extra help issues in house, it
makes sense to remove the tutoring ads from the website. Most independent schools keep lists of
qualified tutors for the rare case that the faculty member charged with teaching the student
cannot meet the needs, for example in the event of extended absence. They then share the names
with the parents on an as needed basis.

The Student Experience
The perception is that the college students choose to be at the school while the Academy students
are sent there. There are lots of reasons that a boy might choose to attend VFMA and a parent
may consent to send him. The school should be explicit about what those reasons might be. Of all
the competition, nobody does this better than the Army and Navy Academy. Their website is
worth a look ( https://armyandnavyacademy.org/). They emphasize school first. Parent and
student testimonials are weaved throughout the website and interesting articles about the
advantages of boarding school, single sex education, and a military education are found on the
admissions pages. The cost of the school is readily apparent.
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 The physical plant is impressive at first glance. Unfortunately, for many visitors the first glimpse of
the Academy is through the back door. The Admissions office entrance is accessed by a service
road that runs at the very back of the campus. Once inside, the buildings appear dated and poorly
maintained. The barracks do not appear to be much changed for decades. The dining hall is not an
inviting place to eat. The classrooms all have a metal grate covering the windows on their doors.
A new coat of paint is relatively inexpensive and can work wonders in updating the look of the
space. Cadet labor, either volunteer or forced, can be put to good use. But the school needs to
figure out a long-term plan for updating facilities. 21st Century Boarding Schools do not look like
20th century boarding schools.
Academy athletics is an issue. The inability to consistently field teams is going to cause students to
leave. At the middle School level, the creative solution of finding a way for an eighth grader to play
soccer in the local recreational league could be expanded to more students in more sports. This is
also an area where a program designed to place high school students and high school post
graduate students into Service Academies and other private military colleges could help the
school. Those students tend to be athletically inclined and if the same effort is placed into bringing
them to campus as is currently placed on recruiting junior college players, the Academy’s stock is
likely to rise.
The Academy and College are both primarily made up of students who live on campus. Yet there is
very little for Cadets to do. Vermont Academy is a small boarding school in the middle of nowhere
in Saxon’s River, Vermont. Their website ( https://www.vermontacademy.org/page/studentlife/residential-life) provides the following overview of the weekend program:
So what happens on the weekends? In a word, plenty. In addition to our annual events like Winter
Carnival and Casino Night, there are dances, concerts, theatrical productions, volleyball games and
outdoor fires in our Nick Grout '03 Memorial Fire Pit. Off-campus activities can include hiking and
camping trips, as well as athletic and cultural events, such as lacrosse games at Dartmouth
College, or Blue Man Group in Boston. Trips to the mall and visits to Burlington can also be found
on the weekend schedule. Most weekends include Saturday night at the movies and, during the
winter, Sunday skiing and snowboarding at Stratton or Okemo mountains.
This is the range of activities that boarding school parents and students expect. On a recent visit to
the campus I came across the schedule of activities for October. They consisted of a bus to the
King of Prussia Mall on each Saturday. The Cadets expressed frustration with the lack of activities
available to them, particularly on closed weekends when they cannot leave the campus. One
cadet talked about looking at old yearbooks and seeing dances, clubs and activities that are no
longer part of the program. The Corps is supposed to be Cadet led. The Academy should consider
having Cadets organize clubs and activities, both on and off campus, in which their peers could,
with adult supervision, participate.
A school is only as strong as its faculty. As teacher vacancies occur, by requiring teaching
credentials, the school is searching for candidates from the same sources used by the public
schools. This is almost certain to provide candidates who are neither committed to the military
model of education or likely to stay at the school once a higher paying public school opening
occurs. The result is that the quality of the faculty is uneven at best. A public school mentality
permeates. Faculty members are hard to find on campus outside of school hours.
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 Because there is an expectation that independent school teachers will contribute to the life of
the school outside of the classroom as coaches and club advisors, the school should recruit
faculty the way that independent schools recruit. Rather than being concerned with a teaching
certification, independent schools seek graduates from strong colleges and universities with
degrees in the subject areas of need. Because of Valley Forge’s unique place in the market, it
might also actively recruit veterans who may be interested in teaching and coaching but are not
interested in pursuing a teaching credential. These people would be more likely to understand
and support the military model outside the classroom.
By the same token, the school must demonstrate a commitment to the faculty. The Board must
develop and adhere to a plan to bring the faculty salaries and benefits to a level that will enable
them to recruit for an increasingly short supply of teachers. Many small boarding schools house
a majority of their faculties on campus. This helps to build community. One possibility is to
renovate at least a portion of the currently closed dormitory and convert it into faculty
apartments.

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