The SGIS Three Campus Model: Sustainable Approach to Critical Work

The  St. George’s Independent School (SGIS) organizational model is unique, and often in my tenure as Head of School, I have been asked by colleagues around the country about how all the moving parts work together. With that in mind, I think writing the clearest description of the model I can might be helpful to those who seek to challenge the status quo of how independent schools align (or don’t) with the best ambitions of their cities/areas, as well as with like-minded philanthropic resources and community partners.

Almost six years ago when NAIS held its 2011 annual conference in Washington D.C., the theme was “Private Schools with Public Purpose.” Before, and even more after, the conference the theme fascinated me because I had difficulty seeing how our schools would do more than make baby steps in this direction. I sought to find examples of “private schools with public purpose” that were doing more than simply giving a sort of well-meaning lip-service to this idea.

At the time I was working at Hawken School in Cleveland, which perhaps as much as any school I could name at the time was leaping in to this space through its commitment to the Gries Center for Service and Experiential Learning, an extension campus in the University Circle Area of Cleveland. Later during my time at The Westminster Schools, I joined a community that had a multi-faceted approach to “public purpose” though the Glenn Institute, as well as the Center for Teaching. Additionally, in reimagining the priorities expressed through our use of time in the school, we not only reinvented how we would use time going forward at Westminster, but we opened the door to stunningly expanded opportunities to partner with the community of which we were a part and to which we strove to contribute.

Grounding all of this work is the idea that our schools have a responsibility to graduate students who are on a trajectory to contribute to the health and ongoing improvement of the communities in which they will work and live. In order to do this best, the characteristics and actions of the school must mirror the characteristics and actions of our ideal graduates. [Please take a look at our “Portrait of a Graduate.”]

The SGIS model: 

Founded in Germantown in 1959, St. George’s Independent School operated as an elementary school until the late 1990s when the school undertook a capital campaign to develop a beautiful 250 acre campus on the Wolf River in Collierville designed for students in grades 6 – 12. At the same time an anonymous donor group challenged the school to create another pre-K–5th campus in the City of Memphis to serve families who would not otherwise be able to access or afford an independent school education. Today SGIS serves about 1100 students on three campuses–two elementary campuses, one in Germantown and another in Memphis, and a third campus for grades 6 – 12 in Collierville.

Serving 147 students in pre-K–5th grade, the Memphis campus, founded in 2001 is unique in that virtually all of its students receive financial aid based on need, and approximately 60 percent qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch. To create a sense of community and camaraderie, each year students from both the Memphis and Germantown campuses participate in numerous events together, and they follow the same curriculum.

Students from both the Memphis and Germantown campuses benefit from interacting with each other and developing friendships. These relationships promote unity in an area that historically is divided along racial and socioeconomic lines. This is a city that at various times has pulled itself apart, and through our school we are ambitiously trying to be part of the glue that pulls it together. 

The Memphis campus attracts families from more than 30 ZIP codes. SGIS as a whole draws from over 50 ZIP codes. The first class of students who began their educations on the Memphis campus graduated in May 2016.

Financial Model:

To launch the Memphis campus, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church donated the facilities. A group of private donors provided $6 million in seed funds, and they continue to provide ongoing financial support. About 80 percent of SGIS’s operating budget comes from tuition and fees. The second-largest source, at 15 percent, is private gifts. Students at the Memphis campus pay tuition on a sliding scale based on income. The school’s full pay tuition appropriately aligns with, if it is not slightly lower than, the other top independent schools in Memphis. 

Sustainability: 

The campus relies heavily on donations, drawing on an investment from the donor group to fund operations. We are working to increase the corpus of the investment to ensure sustainability in perpetuity.

[If you would like to participate in supporting the Memphis campus, please contact our Advancement Office at 901-261-2340 or visit us on-line HERE ]

Staying true to the mission: 

Opening the Memphis campus was a unique and complicated idea both because of challenging logistics and because of the racial and socioeconomic divides in  the Memphis/Shelby County area. It operates on a different business model than the other two campuses, and it requires different staff and strategy. Members of the school community work diligently to build relationships across these socioeconomic and racial differences so that all SGIS students may benefit. Communication, planning, and collaboration are essential components of success.

Frequently Asked Questions:

“Does the tuition from the Germantown and the Collierville campuses support the Memphis campus?”  No. Tuition from the Germantown and Collierville campuses does not support the Memphis campus.  Germantown and Collierville tuition is used solely at Germantown and Collierville. Gifts from donors, as well as the tuition paid by Memphis campus families, support the Memphis campus. All Memphis campus families pay some portion of tuition, depending upon financial need.

“Did the creation of the Memphis campus divert funds needed at other campuses?” No. Actually, the opposite is true. The Memphis campus has been a fundraising catalyst for the other two campuses because of a system of challenge matches and releases. We have been able to expand our fundraising net to a larger group, resulting in dollars being released from the anonymous donors’ gift to go to the suburban campuses.

“How is the education of the Memphis campus students paid for and how does the scholarship funding work once the Memphis campus students get to the middle and upper school.” Tuition paid by their families and gifts from donors fund the education of the Memphis Campus students. Scholarship assistance for Memphis campus students follows them as they matriculate to middle and upper school.

[Reading another post, “St. George’s Non-Negotiables: Not Experiments”,  may provide additional, useful background and context]

[To learn more about what is next for SGIS, please read exciting news about our unique partnership with City Leadership and Serve901 through the St. George’s Bunkhouse, a satellite campus in Memphis’s Vollentine-Evergreen neighborhood, READ THIS. With 115 bunks in a beautifully renovated space, the SG Bunkhouse gives SGIS a new opportunity for community engagement.]

[To read an excellent telling of “The Story of St. George’s”, please follow the link HERE.]