The Eight Schools Association: The Ivy League of Prep Schools?
By Andy Holden ‘07
Editor
During the late 1970s, Choate, Exeter, Andover, St. Paul’s, Hotchkiss, Deerfield and Lawrenceville, seven of the most prestigious New England preparatory schools, began meeting annually to discuss common issues and educational practices in general. The headmaster and two members of the board of trustees from each school attended the informal meetings. After the first meeting, Northfield Mount Herman was included in the group, rounding out what is now referred to as the Eight Schools Association.
Several years ago, the schools began to discuss a more formal partnership and added a second meeting between the headmasters.
“Headmaster Shanahan initiated the idea for a more formal partnership several years ago,” said John Ford, Dean of Students, “and because of his initiative the Eight Schools Association has expanded and will soon include athletic competition between the schools as well as collaborations between the schools’ academic and arts programs.”
Shanahan Appointed
Choate’s headmaster, Ed Shanahan, was appointed the first president of the Eight Schools Association because of the leadership and dedication he has exhibited to the partnership, or, as Shanahan joked, “out of retribution.”
Shanahan envisioned a partnership between the eight schools comparable to the Ivy League where the schools collaborate not just in athletics but in curriculum, admissions, advanced placement and policy on early decision programs. Last year, this vision became a reality as the schools voted to become an official organization.
The association hired an executive assistant, William Bardel; he will help to both organize and enrich the association.
Bardel has traveled to each to each of the eight schools and has talked with various administrators, department heads, and faculty to figure out ways for the schools to collaborate and create a common interscholastic spirit.
Bardel has proposed several interesting activities including a meeting of the eight school’s art directors at Exeter, a choral jubilee at Northfield Mount Hermon, and in collaboration with Deerfield, an anniversary publication of the best student literary submissions. In addition, the directors of each school’s debate program are discussing a potential annual debate tournament.
In the next few years, conferences and meetings between faculty members of the eight schools are also expected to begin. Currently, the only options for teachers who want to learn new teaching practices are regional and national teaching conferences. Most teachers do not have the time to travel to other parts of the country for conferences. Because of the relative proximity of the schools, meetings between teachers of the Eight Schools Association would be much more convienent for the faculty while still providing a great opportunity to further their teaching skills.
Though the Eight Schools Association provides a new and unique athletic opportunity, for the time being, each of the eight schools remains committed to its current athletic structure; for instance, Choate will remain in the Founders League.
“The problem is that there are schools outside the association who we have long-standing relationships with that we don’t want to leave behind. For example, would we ever ask the Cross Country team to leave Loomis Chafee, their biggest rival, in its wake? Absolutely not,” stated Ford.
A formal athletic conference is also unlikely because of the lack of immediate proximity between the schools, but athletic directors have been discussing the possibility of several play days and tournaments between the Eight Schools each term.
One of the major issues that these schools face is overspecialization by students, particularly athletes. There has been a lot of controversy over athletes, particularly hockey players, abstaining from participation in other sports or activities so that they can spend more time playing for club teams or working out.
“We are looking to create a more level playing field among schools with significant admission and demographic overlap and to capitalize on the potential for this group of schools to provide leadership for other prep schools in New England and beyond,” said Ned Gallagher, Athletic Director.
The association has been conducting a study of the varsity teams at each of the schools in an attempt to ensure that any one school is not doing things that give it an athletic advantage over the others.
“I think there’s no question that all of us are concerned about the implications of specialization for our core academic and residential life purposes,” Shanahan added. “We want to support our student-athletes but not in a way that compromises our academic mission.”
The Eight Schools association aspires to help address larger educational issues such as Advanced Placement classes, early decision and early action in the college process, as well as stress in student’s lives.
“The most important thing we can do as a collection of schools, in addition to improving what we do individually and collectively, is to speak out publicly regarding larger educational issues that the country is facing,” stated Shanahan, “We do not want to do that arrogantly, but we are quite visible as a collection of schools, and I think we will command an audience that will be willing to listen to us.”
