The AHSTF is part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival- the world’s largest and most prestigious arts festival. It’s an all-encompassing event with shows produced throughout the city during August- in settings ranging from tradition to open air.

St. Andrew’s-Sewanee head Rev. John Thomas is understandably proud of the theater program:

“Our community is well aware of the outstanding productions that Robie Jackson and her colleagues [John Holleman, and Katherine Anderson] have created with and for our students…We are delighted that our students will have the opportunity to take their talents to the next level by performing for an international audience.”

Selection and participation in the AHSTF comes through nomination and application.

This year marks the second nomination for the SAS theater program and the program’s first application. High school programs are identified and chosen based on their most recent bodies of work, awards, community involvement, philosophies, and recommendations.

Congratulations to SAS!

Linden Hill occupied a unique niche in the boarding school world working with middle and high school boys with attention issues and learning differences in a small, personal, family style setting.

Linden Hill head, James McDaniel laid bare the reality in his letter to the community announcing and explaining the decision. In an amazing detailed and honest letter, McDaniel explains that Linden had come up against some economic gulfs that the Linden Hill family was unable to bridge.

I share these excerpts, but I recommend reading McDaniel’s letter in its entirety:

…It is well documented over the course of the past several years that Linden Hill School has experienced lower enrollment causing reduced tuition revenues against our total operating costs. Our school was already burdened with extraordinary debt and could ill afford the dramatic decline in revenues…

We came to the understanding that our need for fundraising each year was growing at a rate that would exceed our small community’s ability to respond. We were, in short, rapidly approaching an inevitable closing of the school for lack of funds. We responded to this stark reality directly during the summer of 2011 to critically examine (1) our place in the LD/ADHD middle school market, (2) our programs to meet our population’s needs, (3) our staff’s skill sets to provide services to this population at the highest level and, finally, (4) our overall business model for sustainability. We came to the ultimate conclusion that we must take bold steps if we were going to have any chance of saving the school. At the same time, we recognized that those steps might not save the school. Nonetheless, making some dramatic changes was our only hope, however slim, of survival.

…Despite this effort and given the extreme pressure on the fundraising efforts and donors themselves over the past several years, it became increasingly evident that that we have exhausted the ability of our constituents to rescue the school from the ravages of a depressed economy and our significant enrollment declines. Recognizing this, the Board of Trustees determined that the current and projected expense of keeping Linden Hill School open is more than our community could bear or risk. Thus, the Board has voted to close Linden Hill after the end of this school year, June 8, 2012.

…Each year, we forged ahead and made ends meet, rising and falling with each student lost or big gift received struggling to close huge gaps annually between tuition revenues and expenses. The cumulative effect of this existence was deleterious to our ability to provide the best of staffing and to maintain the highest consistency of expectation for each member of the community. Yet, despite it all, we opened and closed each school year having helped our boys along in their lives, thanks to the courage of our faculty, board, and parents.

We are deeply saddened that we must make this decision regarding a school that has helped so many fine young men and their families. Our tradition has been a proud one as the oldest junior boarding school in America for boys with learning differences. We hope that through each of us who has been affiliated with our school, its legacy will live on.

Peace be with all of you as you carry forth the legacy of Linden Hill School.

Sincerely,
James A. McDaniel

The intallments feature students, and teachers, talking about their programs and, often, the benefits of a small interconnected community.

Dixson’s reports show Marvelwood students engaged in experiences ranging from the service oriented caring and training of future service dogs, to the artistic pursuit of jewelry making, to athletic rock climbing.

Each story offers a window into, not only what Marvelwood students experience, but also how Marvelwood faculty work, as well as the things that the greater Marvelwood community holds important and valuable. The high level of connection and individual pursuit is classic small school.

Marvelwood School: Cool for Puppies

Marvelwood School: Cool for Jewelry

Marvelwood School: Cool for Critters

Marvelwood School: Cool for Rock Climbing

To watch the reports go to: http://www.wfsb.com/category/211215/cool-schools

The entire Cool Schools series is kept on a single page. You’ll find the Marvelwood reports individually available in the past reports bar below the main video viewer window.

The teams won the U18 Tier 1 National Championship for second straight year marking their fourth championship out of the last six.

Played in Buffalo, NY, the S-SM boys beat the LA Jr. Kings 2-1.

“A few were udderly opposed to the change…but mostly this has been accepted as a natural outgrowth of our school’s transition to a kinder and gentler institution. When we reviewed all the visioning data, it behooved us to make the change immediately,” explained head of school Father John Thomas.

Read, “SAS Mascot Change Stirs Controversy.”

If you’ve got the future Paula Abdul or Nicole Scherzinger living under your roof, then the Grier School’s Summer Intensive Dance Program could be a great option for them.  Girls ages 12-17 will spend several hours each day during the Pennsylvania school’s 3-week program, held June 24-July 13, learning ballet and jazz technique, choreography for performance, and exploring several dance styles.  In addition to dance instruction, participants will also have the opportunity to enjoy traditional “camp” activities such as swimming, outdoor sports, and creative writing.

Grier Summer Intensive Dance Program

For those parents who regularly catch their young one reading by flashlight under the covers at midnight, you may want to consider the Summer Session at the Cardigan Mountain School in New Hampshire.  With a wide array of academic offerings, your bookworm will probably enjoy classes such as Literary Luminaries and Grammar Gurus.  Girls and boys in grades three through nine can choose to participate in either a 3-week (June 23-July 14) or 6-week session (June 23-August 2) at Cardigan.   In addition to the academic component, Summer Session participants will also participate in fun weekend trips and afternoon recreational activities.

Cardigan Mountain Summer Session

Boys and girls ages 7-17 with learning differences or attention issues, such as ADD/ADHD or Dyslexia, will benefit from the summer program offered by the Linden Hill School in Massachusetts.  Held July 8-28, the Linden Hill program combines academic coursework with recreational activities such as fishing, hiking and mini-golf.  The academic component of the program focuses on maintaining skills developed during the school year, not on remediation, and is intended to provide participants an opportunity to prevent regression over the summer months.

Linden Hill School Summer Program

If your son or daughter is entering grades 6-9 and has a passion for adventure, New Hampshire’s White Mountain School Climbing Camp might just be the place for them.  From beginner to advanced, participants will learn the fundamentals of rock climbing, gear placement, and anchor building from certified American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) instructors.  Offering one or two-week sessions in July, this camp is sure to be a hit with your young thrill-seeker!

White Mountain Climbing Camp

Any future Lionel Messi or Serena Williams will feel right at home participating in the Baylor School’s Team Baylor Sports Camp.  Sports enthusiasts ages 8-13 can spend the week of June 24-29 on the Tennessee school’s campus training with experienced coaches in sports including tennis, soccer, golf, and volleyball.  Team Baylor participants range in ability from novice to expert and, regardless of skill, will receive individualized instruction.

Team Baylor Summer Program

No matter what type of interests your son or daughter has, there is most likely a residential summer program that would be a great fit for them.  An added bonus to participating in programs like those mentioned above is that, not only will they stay active during their time off of school, they’ll be making great friends and creating lasting memories at the same time!

Stephanie Simon’s Reuter’s piece, “Insight: Public schools sell empty classroom seats abroad,” elucidates the why’s and how’s of rural american public schools turning to international students to fill classrooms. Simon covers the wooing of wealthy foreign- tuition paying- students to districts in Pennsylvania, New York Arkansas, and Maine.

The thematic thread binding the geographically disparate districts- shrinking demographics means they need money and students to survive.

For those of you familiar with the old New England Academy model, I suspect you’re saying to yourself, this is nothing new. It is, but it isn’t.

In the old academy model (which predated regional public school systems) towns paid the academy tuition to educate the students. A boarding component was part of the academies from the beginning providing families and towns the option to have students live on campus if a school wasn’t available in their area or they lived too far away to commute.

This new story is different in that we see public school systems adding a boarding component from scratch with the express intent to help build student population and shore-up finances. The schools have infrastructure in place and empty seats. Why not use them and improve the bottom line?

James Crotty adds a bit to the conversation over at Forbes.com in a piece titled “Should American Public Schools Be Reserved for Americans?”

He sets up the use of agents (although he calls them- more politley – recruiters) and touches on the motives of the process as well as the support and services issues.

Combined, Simon and Crotty set-up the situation as American school systems seek to fill seats and close budget gaps by creating tuition driven offerings for wealthy foreign students. And, they touch on some of the tensions and issues:

• Some Americans believe that public schools should be American?
• International students compete for resources with domestic students?
• Do international families understand what it means to live in rural small towns?
• Are the public schools honest in their marketing to international families?
• And, most importantly from my perspective, can, and are, the public schools doing for international students what they tell international families through their marketing materials, through their agents, and in person?
• What are they selling and are they living up to their end of the bargain?
• The role of agents in the process?
• U.S. local parent tensions.

All of these questions and concerns are a good start.

Certainly tuition room and board in a public school with a home stay setting is cheaper and it opens American educational opportunities to broader range of international students. But, the boarding school administrator in me thinks that international parents and students should be asking a few more questions about student life and living in these quasi boarding school settings.

Questions From A Boarding School Eye

I don’t begrudge these districts getting into the boarding school business. I’m sympathetic to tight budgets and shrinking student populations. But, I think as they open their doors to international boarders, public systems need to professionalize boarding programs.

Regarding professionalization, I think traditional boarding schools have the public school with home stay approach beat. Traditional boarding schools are full service operations with athletic programs, arts programs, weekend programs, sometimes school six days a week.

If I were an international parent, I’d begin with these questions:

• Where is the school located?
• Who is in charge of my student’s safety and well being?
• How often are trips to cities, or other areas available?
• What kinds of student life programs are public schools developing for their international students?
• Does the school/district have a formal student life program?
• Does the school/district have a formal international student program?
• Does the school/district have an international student advisor with whom we and our student can speak and who will work with the student in school?
• How will we interact with host family?
• What kind of college placement office does the school operate? Is it staffed by a college placement professional?
• Does the school offer college test preparation programs?
• What is the school’s college placement record?
• What is the school’s record in college placement?

You can see where my questions go.

Much of what gives richness to school life occurs beyond the classroom. Boarding schools are adept at creating and cultivating these experiences and have a long history doing so- well.

If I were an international family being wooed by a public school system that recently added a boarding program, I’d start my research by asking some questions. Yes, the public school education with a home stay option may be cheaper, but it also may lack some the programs that make a sound boarding school education.

Jeannie Norris, Miss Hall's School

Jeannie Norris concludes her 16 year run as head of Miss Hall’s this coming June- just part of her thirty-three years spent in and advocating for girls education.

While passionate about the thinking and philosophy behind single gender education, Norris had very strong roots in the concrete.

During Norris’s 16 years, Miss Hall’s:

“built and renovated more than 40,000 sq. ft. of facilities, including the Elizabeth Gatchell Klein Art Center, the Humes Euston Hall Library, and the Anne Meyer Cross Athletic Center, and completed a master plan to guide future expansion;

Raised more than $55 million dollars through two major initiatives, the Centennial Campaign and the Go Far, Go Together Campaign, which was launched in October 2009 and is now $32 million toward its $50 million goal.”(MHS)

The foundation Norris has built is formidable and her Citation of Leadership Award from The Association of Boarding Schools is well deserved.

The game was a rematch and avenging win with S-SM having lost to Finland earlier in the tournament.

S-SM’s Willie Raskob tallied a hat trick to lead the win.

My thanks to S-SM for sending this along. I had never heard of the World Sports School Challenge so of course I had to do some digging. Hockey Canada put together the WSSC to provide a showcase for their high level prep hockey programs.

“The World Sport School Challenge will give students attending Canadian sport schools the chance to play at a higher level, refine their skills and show the country they can excel internationally…Having Hockey Canada proactively work with sport schools to make this happen adds much to the development of many up-and-coming young players, who may one day end up wearing the maple leaf on their jerseys,” explained Andy Oakes, event chair and president of Okanagan Hockey Academy.

Additional resources:

Shattuck-St. Mary’s hockey program

Boarding schools with hockey

Prep School Hockey: There’s a place for you to play

Boarding school in MN

In Kents Hill School, LaCasse and his family found a school that fits with his thinking as an educator and an environment that offers students profound and powerful lessons.

LaCasse observes that Kents Hill offers an exceptional experience that results from “a program that’s in tune with the reality of adolescence,” and a “faculty as intentional and thoughtful as any that I’ve seen.”

Listening to LaCasse one senses that Kents Hill is quite a community.

Additional resources:

Kents Hill School – www.kentshill.org

Boarding schools in ME