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SHADY SIDE ACADEMY AND FOX CHAPEL COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL SIGN LETTER OF INTENT IN PREPARATION FOR MERGER
The boards of trustees of Shady Side Academy( SSA) and Fox Chapel Country Day School( FCCDS) have executed a Letter of Intent in preparation for a merger of the two schools, with the goal of FCCDS joining SSA as a second elementary school campus in 2017-2018.
“ The planned merger will be a big moment in the history of these two schools and offer significant advantages to both institutions,” says SSA Board of Trustees Chair Mike Hannon.“ For Shady Side, it will extend our geographic reach into the growing North Hills, while our existing Junior School continues to enjoy strong enrollment in the thriving East End.”
“ We are very excited about formalizing a relationship that has been very close over the years,” says Fox Chapel Country Day School Head of School Sharon Smith.“ Historically, Country Day has been a strong feeder for Shady Side’ s Middle School, so many Fox Chapel Country Day School families are also Shady Side Academy families.”
While a final agreement is not yet in place, the transaction being planned is a merger and not a purchase. Merger discussions between the two schools have occurred on and off for nearly 30 years, but the timing now meets both schools’ strategic needs. Preliminary merger discussions began in earnest last summer between the two boards, with the objective of establishing an affiliation that preserves the unique attributes of each school’ s program and culture.
In early February, both SSA and FCCDS notified their faculty, staff and parents of the intention to pursue a merger. Each school has scheduled town hall meetings to share the vision for the merger and to answer questions and hear feedback from constituents. As prescribed by the Letter of Intent, two working committees comprised of trustees, administrators, faculty members and parents of both schools will be diligently working
through the curricular and operational aspects of a merger and sharing best practices this spring. The goal is to draft a final merger agreement before the end of the 2015-2016 school year, which would be presented to the boards of both schools for approval.
If approved, the merger would take effect in the 2017-2018 school year. Both the SSA Junior School campus in Point Breeze and the FCCDS campus in Fox Chapel would continue operating in a similar manner as they are today, with both campuses feeding wellprepared students into SSA Middle School. Historically, a majority of FCCDS graduates have gone on to attend SSA Middle School, which is located less than a mile up the road.
ANNUAL SAINT SEBASTIAN PARISH FESTIVAL
Join in on the fun at this year’ s Saint Sebastian Parish Festival scheduled for July 11 through 16 on the church grounds, located at 311 Siebert Road in Ross Township. The festival runs Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 10 p. m. and Saturday from 5 to 10 p. m. Admission is free! This year’ s festival features a special Kids Zone for children 8 and under, expanded games of chance, thrilling rides with a one-price ride-all-night bracelet, Super Bingo and so much more!
ROYAL OAK ART SHOW
Royal Oak School hosted its Art Show on May 15. This year’ s central theme was“ The Forest” and featured the creativity of children in nursery school through kindergarten. Classrooms contained ponds where paper bag frog puppets waited for passing bugs and sand painted salamanders and crayfish swam. Papier-mâché foxes and raccoons were spread out around the large gym while Warhol silkscreened butterflies decorated the walls. A Picasso waterfall flowed over a cave, housing bats and leading to a papier-mâché beavers lodge. The annual art show is held around the same time every year. Please watch for next year’ s event and plan on attending! n
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