Page 7 - Priorities #17 2001-October

Priory families have done their part generously with tuition increases and annual giving to meet the teacher compensation challenge. But this issue isn’t going away any time soon. It is unreasonable to expect these sources to provide a long-range, reliable solution. We will be more secure in our hiring and in any future crises when our savings are closer to theirs in size.
Challenge: Bring A Priory Education To Students Of All Income Levels
As tuition increases, our need for funds to support all students must increase, too. About 20% of Priory’s student body receives some financial support and we want to protect this tradition.
Golden Jubilee Solution: Protect Financal Aid With Endowment
Endowment is the cushion that covers this cost when other income drops.
Challenge: Encourage Academics and Activities to Flourish
Our student body has more than doubled in the past decade, yet no new buildings have been added. Students thrive on the broader curriculum and choices of after-school activities, but we need more classrooms and meeting spaces to house them. Our well-loved Assembly Hall and Seminar Room is overused as a performing arts classroom/meeting room/activities space. And it is now too small to hold the whole community for assemblies.
Golden Jubilee Solution: A Cutting-Edge Center for the
Performing Arts Leads the Way
The key to all these space needs is a new Performing Arts Center to replace the Assembly Hall. As Al Ebneter, our trustee overseeing space planning, explains,
“It makes sense to build a new multi-use facility with some additional classrooms for the performing arts because it meets a need and it opens up space throughout the rest of the campus. The construction would be between the gym and Founders Hall, away from the academic area. The vacant Assembly Hall can then house the library expansion, and the vacant library can become a student center. Consolidating the student activities and services frees up classrooms where they are needed in the academic wings.”
Al and our architects have designed an ingenious, attractive, facility that will accommodate
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Additional faculty housing is well under way. This sketch was done by Trustee Al Ebneter, who is overseeing all the facilities construction for Golden Jubilee campaign projects.