Why Not Start A High School?

On tours, or anytime there is a Nysmith gathering, I am frequently asked when Nysmith will add a high school. When we first considered adding the silver wing two decades ago, we conducted extensive analysis to determine whether it was feasible and made plans for the physical spaces necessary if it was.

As we studied the concept, we found that while we were confident that we could provide a high school academic program, there were and still are, several issues that led us to determine that adding a high school program did not warrant further consideration at this time.

With our class sizes of no more than 18 students in each class with two teachers and a total of four classes of each grade, the maximum number of students in each high school grade would be limited to approximately 72 students.  A significant number of Nysmith graduates are accepted every year at prestigious public (AND FREE) public high schools, TJ and AOS. This past year, 50% of our students that applied got in. In addition, several other students attend prestigious boarding schools in New England each year.  And if that were not enough, Nysmith graduates generally get their first or second choice of admission to large private high schools with large extracurricular programs to support their much larger high school enrollment. After acknowledging that it was likely that a significant number of graduating eighth graders would be leaving Nysmith for high school, the question came down to how successful Nysmith would be at recruiting new students to enter the school at ninth grade that would keep the positive and encouraging culture.

The Challenges of High School

One of our biggest challenges accepting older students in sixth through eighth grade right now is that if a child has been in a program that has jaded them towards learning or antisocial behavior, it is extremely difficult to change that mindset in such a short time. We feel strongly that in order to preserve the unusual happy collegial environment that we have in place at Nysmith, we are very selective in who we accept.  We have seen over the decades that it only takes one or two children in a class who make demeaning comments to change the environment.  That is why we spend so much time and we take such a proactive approach to teaching our students interpersonal, social and communication skills.  Skills that benefit them for their lifetime, but at Nysmith, transform the environment.  We certainly have accepted many students over the years for our upper grades, but it is a far more selective process that tends to concentrate on the character of the children almost as much as their academic capabilities.  However, in the context of a high school, the challenge of bringing in a significant number of new students with the academic capabilities and the social skills needed to maintain our environment are much lower.

The other obvious challenge is the question whether such a small environment is even in the students best interest.  A case can be made that Nysmith would be able to offer an academic program that could meet our students' academic needs at those grades, but does a high school graduating class of 40 children prepare the children to successfully enter huge universities? At their university, our students would be in lecture classes that would sometimes exceed 200 students for their 100 classes. Many of our graduates have expressed their feelings that Nysmith feels like their second home.  We feel that the second family feeling nurtures and supports our students through the difficult adolescent stage of life, but as they enter high school, they need more.  

Alumni have been prepared and are able to easily make new friends and collaborate with other students that they know very little about. High school is an opportunity to hone those skills, to broaden these friendships, and to reinforce that they are ready for even larger environments. And of course those larger high schools also have a lot more of the extracurriculars for the children to participate in while at high school.  It is the next logical step in their growth and preparation for the future.

And of course, no discussion of adding a high school would be complete without discussing the financial challenges. High schools are expensive. To add the necessary facilities and the academic programming would be financially daunting. Schools that offer high schools spend a disproportionate amount of their budget on their high school students. Tuition at high schools is expensive, but sometimes only makes up 50% of their operating budget. Which means that the schools relay upon their endowment fund as well as another key factor: fundraising. 

Since we do not have a high school, we are able to devote our resources to our preschool - eighth grade students. The form of those resources are the two teachers in each class, well paid teachers, expensive technology and science labs, and a high end facility.

What Is The Purpose?

In addition, over 90% of our children are accepted at their first choice of high school and 98% at their first or second choice of high schools, our students are not limited.  They can choose a high school that appeals to them as they are at the cusp of entry.  Many families ask about high school when they are looking for enrollment for their first grader, however as the parent of three children, I am the first to say that choosing a high school for my children when they were so young would not have been successful simply because they had not yet developed their interests enough to determine such a important choice. I say important because depending on how well they choose their high school, based on their interests and how they align with the schools philosophy & program, will have a tremendous impact on how well they do at that high school, which in turn plays a direct role into where they will be able to gain acceptance for college.

So in short, I am the first to never say never. A lesson that we learned when we said that we wouldn’t be doing a 6th grade or higher. But at this point in time, there is no discussion taking place of adding a high school for the foreseeable future. We are committed to providing the best preschool through eighth-grade program available nationwide.