Why does St. Andrew’s want to become a pre-school through twelfth grade school?

The union with St. Francis will make St. Andrew’s stronger in several ways. First and foremost, it will secure a strong “pipeline” of students into our Middle and Upper Schools. In the past decade several of our traditional “feeder schools” have added their own Middle Schools and at least one has announced plans for an Upper School. This change in the independent school marketplace, combined with a clear demographic dip in elementary and middle school students and rising tuitions, has impacted our inquiry and application numbers during the past several years.

Additionally, we know that many families desire to minimize transitions by having all of their school-age children in a single school. We are confident that adding a lower school will secure our future by creating a deeper pool of potential students for St. Andrew’s and thus giving us the resources to serve all of our students even better.

Beyond admission and enrollment, are there other benefits of expanding the range of grades?

We expect positive benefits for faculty attraction and retention, especially for those teachers and staff who can now enroll their own children in an expanded St. Andrew’s. Curriculum development, skill development and reinforcement, and cross-grade student interactions are all richer in a three-division school.

Has this union been in the works for long?

The Board and administration have been studying the potential benefits of grade expansion for more than a year, as part of a strategic effort to ensure and enhance St. Andrew’s long-term sustainability. We considered the feasibility of building our own Lower School from scratch, but the costs and logistical obstacles would have been prohibitive.

We first approached St. Francis about a potential union in November 2007 and serious conversations began in January. While the last three months of discussion and planning have been focused and intense, the fact that an agreement was reached in only three months demonstrates the compatibility of the two school’s missions and cultures, as well as the depth of our shared history. This union stems from the trust and respect the leaders of the two communities have for each other.

Why did this union come as a surprise to the two communities? Could there have been more public discussion about the union ahead of time?

The leadership of St. Francis asked us to keep our discussions strictly confidential, and we agreed to do that. Confidentiality allowed our discussions to be frank and creative, and protected each community’s reputation in case an agreement was not reached.

What are the financial costs and benefits of this union for St. Andrew’s?

We constructed a ten-year financial model to evaluate the financial implications of the union. We are prepared to run moderate deficits in our new lower school for the first two years, after which we are confident that the pre-school through third-grade budget will be balanced or in surplus. We expect “payback” of our initial investment to occur within six years.

St. Andrew’s has run balanced budgets for more than twenty straight years and has established sound reserves in the past decade; therefore, the potential early-year costs of this union can be funded out of the school’s normal cash flow. There will be no negative impact of the union on our present students, faculty, programs, or campus.

In fact, the students that will begin flowing into Middle and Upper School from our new Lower School should create an income stream that, in the future, will increase our ability to moderate tuition increases in grades 6-12 without compromising support for faculty, financial aid, or academic or other programs. There are savings in serving this number of students, making the pre-school-Grade 12 model very attractive to us. This union should have financial benefits for St. Andrew’s in the long run.

Does this union change St. Andrew’s mission or strategic priorities?

St. Andrew’s will remain focused on challenging and supporting each individual student and continuing its long tradition of educating a broad range of learners. We will remain an independent Episcopal school that fosters a diverse and inclusive community, welcoming students and families from all backgrounds and traditions.

We remain committed to building our endowment, becoming an ever more broadly diverse and inclusive community, maintaining a first-rate faculty that challenges and supports each student, and enhancing our commitment to excellence and balance among our “four pillars” of academics, arts, athletics, and spiritual life.

At the same time, we believe that this union will give us the momentum and financial strength to move more quickly from the present endowment campaign towards completing the Postoak Campus by funding and building our long-awaited new athletic center and chapel/arts center.

Do we have the space to add fourth and fifth grades on the Postoak Campus?

Absolutely. Our current zoning cap is 495 students, and we do not plan to ask for that cap to be increased in the foreseeable future. Three years ago we completed a thorough space-utilization study of the Postoak Campus. We know that we can accommodate approximately 485 students in our current space, if those students are properly balanced in each grade level. With a grade 6-12 enrollment of about 450 students, adding one section each of grade four and five will be fine. In fact, those students will use common areas such as the gymnasium and fields at times when those areas are comparatively underutilized now.

Speaking of zoning, what do we need to do to add grades four and five on the Postoak Campus?

We will seek a minor zoning modification from the Montgomery County Board of Appeals to begin fourth and fifth grades and build a play area for those students. Because we will not seek an increase in our enrollment cap or permission for a new building as part of this decision, we are optimistic that our request will be granted. We have worked hard to build positive, trusting relationships with our neighbors, and will continue to do so.

What are some implications of having younger students on our current campus?

We will obviously need to use scheduling to ensure that students of different ages have their own spaces and activities. At the same time, there will be positive aspects of having a larger age span on campus, with the younger students adding their spirit to the school while older students have the opportunity to act as mentors to their younger fellow Lions.

We will also be able to create an elementary program that intentionally prepares students academically, athletically, artistically, and culturally for success and leadership in Middle and Upper School.

Do you expect this union to bring any other benefits to St. Andrew’s?

Becoming a pre-school through twelfth grade school will give St. Andrew’s the profile to be a “thought leader” in the larger independent school community. Our mission to challenge and support each student, to strive for the full development of each child’s potential in a fundamentally positive environment, fits perfectly with the emerging science of how children actually grow and learn. St. Andrew’s is ready for this new opportunity, and we are ready to become an educational model for other schools.

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