SAIS HeadLines: A Month of Gratitude, Quick Tuition Study, President's Letter and SAIS Winter Conference

Letter from the SAIS President Dr. Kirk Walker

I tend to see metaphors in everything. I was once an English teacher, and my assigned curriculum compelled me to teach (or try to teach) adolescents the concept. I learned the lesson, whether they did or not.

As I stood at the podium at our recent SAIS Annual Conference and looked across the room, I was struck by how that assemblage was a metaphor for the civil society we wish to create.

A Month of Gratitude

By Paige Phillips, Upper School Dean of Students, Spartanburg Day School, Spartanburg, SC

In recent years, a primary focus of the mission of the Spartanburg Day School Student Government Association has been to take deliberate action to positively impact our school community. Though the concept of gratitude is certainly nothing new, the idea to give direct, sustained focus to such an initiative within our upper school community was outside our normal framework and actually born from heartache and struggle.

Quick Tuition Study: 2018-19 Data

SAIS collects the following data from member schools on an annual basis:

Operating budget
Highest tuition dollar amount
Student Enrollment
Tuition percentage increase from year to year

The overall average increase for all SAIS member schools included in this data is 3.2% and the median increase is 3%. The data report may be found here .

Hot Topics on the SAIS Listservs

SAIS offers private listservs for heads of school, division heads (upper, middle, lower), athletic directors, administrative assistants, and now, academic support staff, as well as other groups. These popular message boards allow for a wide variety of conversations on topics such as continuous re-enrollment, remote learning, dress codes, curriculum, social media policies, and whether it’s okay for Uber to pick up students on campus.

Not on our listserv? Go to sais.org/listserv to see all available listservs and sign up.

SAIS Featured School: The Dunham School, Baton Rouge, LA

The Dunham School is an independent Christian school serving girls and boys in grades PK3-12. At Dunham, you’ll find intentionally small classes, where a blend of traditional and innovative teaching is combined with the latest technology to ignite creativity and intellectual curiosity.