For the first time in its 136-year history, The Kiski School — an all-boys private boarding school in Saltsburg — will welcome girls in fall 2024.

Head of School Christopher Brueningsen said the decision was an emotional one, but he believes it is the right one when looking toward growth and success.

“Maintaining enrollment has been challenging,” he said.

Declining interest has resulted in a 20% decrease in enrollment across the board for single-sex boarding school education in the last decade, while single-sex day schools continue to be doing OK, Brueningsen said.

With the exception of 2020, The Kiski School has maintained its enrollment, in part because Brueningsen said the school has raised “massive amounts of money” each year to cover the operating gap.

“It’s just not a sustainable model, I mean, that’s become clear,” Brueningsen said. “So the bottom line is, you know, times have changed — and we can’t sell people what they don’t want to buy.”

Brueningsen, 56, of Saltsburg has been at the helm of The Kiski School since 2002 after starting his career as a science and math teacher there in 1990.

There were two key factors that went into the decision, Brueningsen said, challenges associated with the pandemic and declining interest in single-sex boarding schools.

During the coronavirus pandemic, many boarding schools had “enrollment bumps.”

“Parents just didn’t want to have their kids away from home during a global health crisis,” Brueningsen said.

However, day schools — where children don’t stay overnight — weren’t impacted because parents were seeking in-person instruction for their kids that they weren’t able to find through public schools, he said.

Over the last couple of years, The Kiski School lost over $1.5 million in tuition, but it wasn’t just from the pandemic, Brueningsen said.

The Kiski School saw a “dip” due to the coronavirus, Brueningsen said, but one of the biggest factors was the loss of international students. The boarding school has students from 28 countries and 19 states.

Brueningsen said according to the National Association of Independent Schools, only 11% of parents will consider an all-boys school for their children. But a couple of decades ago, Brueningsen said, this number was more than 20%.

In 2019, The Kiski School also reset tuition to be 20% lower than the national average, which enabled there to be more of an “affordability factor” for families, Brueningsen said. Tuition for 2023-24 is $52,500, he said, and the national average is creeping up on $70,000 per year.

“We know that in the co-ed pool, that’s going to be attractive having a price point that’s lower,” Brueningsen said. “We know that affordability is one of the top factors for families.”

John Jacob, board chairman and member of the board of trustees since 2010, said 87% of The Kiski School’s students receive some type of financial aid.

The Kiski School’s board formed an enrollment task force last fall to explore various options for its future, and following “a lot of analysis and financial modeling” and consulting industry-leading experts, opening enrollment to girls ended up being “the right answer,” Brueningsen said.

Since the boarding school opened in 1888, daughters of faculty members have been allowed to attend — despite the all-boys model — Brueningsen said, and in the 1950s or early 1960s, he said there were female day students for a “brief period of time.”

But fall 2024 will mark the beginning of true co-education for the institution.

The Kiski School, along with other similar boarding schools, offers “a really interesting community,” Brueningsen said. He lives on campus with his wife, who is a counselor for the school, along with almost all of the other teachers.

Brueningsen also said almost all of the administrators also teach a class, as he teaches math.

Jacob, 53, of Somerset graduated from the school in 1989, and all three of his sons went to the school.

The decision to include girls was made, in part, to find more “tuition-capable families,” he said.

Campus changes

To prepare for girls entering the campus, Brueningsen said, there will be professional development training for staff to learn “the best practices for teaching girls.” However, he said, almost 70% of faculty members already have experience teaching in co-ed classrooms.

He said there is also a co-ed advisory board, including five experts in co-ed and girls’ education, that will help provide “advice and guidance” to ensure a smooth transition.

There will also be a new dean of girls position, Brueningsen said. The female students will reside in a newly renovated dormitory that’s already used by girls from the summer camps held at The Kiski School.

Residing in dorm rooms is one of the main draws of boarding school, according to Brueningsen, as students get to experience what going to college is like sooner, with built-in support.

“At night … if they’re stuck on a math problem … they can come over and knock on my door and get extra help,” he said.

For its first year of co-education, The Kiski School is looking to add about 25 girls, as Brueningsen said the school is looking toward a “gradual transition,” with a goal of a 50-50 split over time.

Based on transition data from other schools, Brueningsen said, it will probably take six or seven years to reach the balance, and The Kiski School is hoping to have 35%-40% of its students be girls by 2027.

Applications for fall 2024 are now open for boys and girls for grades 9-12 — for boarding and day school.

“We certainly haven’t compromised admission standards, but as the all-boys pool is shrinking, we want to make sure we maintain all of those high standards moving forward.”

Brueningsen said he would describe The Kiski School as a “traditional value school,” emphasizing civility, leadership development and honesty. He said 100% of students go to college after graduation.

“There’s no question we develop great leaders and kids who are really prepared for college and for life,” Brueningsen said. “We certainly weren’t at a point where we were looking over the cliff now, or next year or the year after, but being able to do this proactively was the right decision for the board to make.”

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