Kiski School will start enrolling girls next fall
A first in the Saltsburg school’s 136-year history
The Kiski School, an all-boys boarding school in Saltsburg, will start enrolling girls next fall, a first in the school’s 136-year history, officials announced this week.
Head of School Christopher Brueningsen cited impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic that led to fewer people sending their children to boarding schools and the financial stability of the institution as driving factors behind the decision. Kiski officials announced the change Thursday.
“It’s good news for Kiski,” Mr. Brueningsen said in an interview with the Post-Gazette. “We’re going to be on this path for growth and success but it’s also really emotional. I’ve been here for 22 years as head of school and we love our allboys model that we’ve had for 136 years, so saying goodbye to it, at the same time it’s happy it’s sad.”
The Kiski School opened in 1888 after Andrew W. Wilson, cousin of President Woodrow Wilson, purchased a resort hotel to transform it into the preparatory school for boys that would rival similar institutions along the East Coast. Since then the focus has been on educating boys to help them succeed in college and life. Today, the school’s slogan is “A life-changing, all-boys, boarding school,” and the website touts academics, athletics and brotherhood.
But like boarding schools across the country, the Kiski School has been grappling with enrollment and financial challenges since the pandemic.
When schools shuttered and fears rose over COVID-19, boarding schools largely saw decreasing enrollments as parents chose to keep their children at home. That’s the opposite of charter and cyber schools, which saw enrollment increases after the pandemic because parents expressed frustrations with public schools.
In all, boarding schools have seen a 20% decline in enrollment at
single- sex boarding schools in the past decade. And only 12% of families with boys will consider boys-only education options, according to a Kiski news release.
For boarding schools, enrollment declines include international students, a population that has not rebounded since the pandemic.
At Kiski, that means Asian students and teens from China have not returned to campus. That population makes up 15% of the student body, causing the school to lose $1.7 million in tuition.
Despite those numbers, Kiski officials over the past few years have worked to keep enrollments flat — with about 190 students attending the school — by fundraising $2 million a year and recruiting new students to replace those who did not return.
But to keep the current model working the school would need donors to provide $2 million per year in perpetuity to fill the operational gap, or a single endowment of $40 million, something that is not sustainable moving forward, Kiski’s board Chair John Jacob said.
“Our major donors who love Kiski and want to help us are saying, ‘Our pockets are not bottomless’ and ‘You really need to look at your business model to correct things here on a financially sustainable path for the future,’ ” Mr. Brueningsen said.
Instead, the board looked at different options such as merging with other schools or relocating to attract more tuition capable families. In the end, board members unanimously agreed that making the school coed was the best choice moving forward.
“It’s going to be a big change for Kiski going coed but I think a lot of the same traditions that really have been near dear to a lot of the alumni are going to continue,” Mr. Jacob said. “It will just be in a different form of coeducation.”
School officials are now preparing for about 25 girls to start classes next year. The goal is to raise enrollments from 190 students to 225.
According to Mr. Brueningsen, the school in the past has hosted coed summer programs, so there are dorms ready for girls to use. They also recently opened a new athletic center with girls locker rooms for when they host coed sporting events.
Additionally, 70% of the school’s faculty have experience teaching at coed institutions. The school also plans to host professional development. It formed a coed advisory board and plan to hire a dean of girls to help with the transition and manage parent communications.
Applications for fall 2024 are now open.
“We want to make the right decision proactively so that we’re not backed into a corner,” Mr. Brueningsen said. “The school is not in financial jeopardy now or next year but you think about wanting to get things on the right track for the future and doing it on our own terms.”