For Parents

Ideally, a boarding school education is a partnership. The school, parents, and student comprise this partnership. What makes this relationship unique is that all partners must work together in the best interests of the student. In addition, each partner has a specific role to play and responsibilities to fulfill. Understanding those expectations is one reason families continue to see boarding school as a valuable educational investment in 2026.

Today’s boarding schools place even greater emphasis on communication, student well-being, and residential support systems than in previous decades. Many schools now offer expanded counseling services, structured residential life programming, and parent communication portals that help strengthen the partnership between home and school. Schools are increasingly prioritizing mental health support, digital wellness, and community-building initiatives.

School

Motivation

Obviously, the school wants the partnership to succeed for several reasons. First, student successes enhance the school's reputation. The academic marketplace remains highly competitive, and families have more educational choices than ever before. Parents conduct extensive research online, compare schools carefully, and frequently rely on both reviews and campus visits before making a decision.

As explained in The Future of Boarding Schools: What Parents Should Watch, boarding schools today are adapting to evolving parent expectations by strengthening wellness initiatives, residential life programs, and academic flexibility.

Schools such as Phillips Academy Andover, Choate Rosemary Hall, and The Hotchkiss School continue to expand wellness and leadership programming to meet the changing needs of students and families.

Contractual

The

2020-2021 have been unusual, depressing years as we all coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, notwithstanding all the gloom and doom, there was some good news in 2021. Several announcements of major gifts to private schools have lifted our spirits and given us, and the recipients, hope.

In October 2021, Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, announced that an alumnus had left a bequest to endow three faculty chairs. Also in October, the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Connecticut, reported that a current trustee and his wife had endowed a faculty chair. The munificence of these donors supports the stated mission of these schools.

The Berkshire School's mission statement notes:

"Rooted in an inspiring natural setting, Berkshire School instills the highest standards of character and citizenship and a commitment to academic, artistic, and athletic excellence. Our community fosters diversity, a dedication to environmental stewardship, and an enduring love for learning."

This video offers an overview of Berkshire School.

In its mission statement, The Frederick Gunn School states:

"In 1850 Frederick Gunn established a school based on the belief that strength of character was the goal of education. Today, The Frederick Gunn School rests on the four cornerstones of character: scholarship, integrity, respect and responsibility. Character is forged in a cohesive, diverse community informed by a challenging college preparatory curriculum, a broad range of athletic, artistic and social activities and

Disclaimer: I am not a health professional. I am a concerned parent and grandparent. This article draws attention to some of the questions I have about sending my grandchildren off to boarding school. ~Rob Kennedy

Getting your child ready for school in the summer of 2020 is a nerve-wracking experience for parents. We have always been concerned about our children's safety both at school and at home. We have taught safe behaviors since they were tiny tots. Sending them away from home to a residential school always posed issues of separation and homesickness that you and I were able to deal with more or less successfully. But sending them off to boarding school in the middle of a global pandemic? Well, that's something else again, isn't it?

Suddenly, all those familiar scenarios of dropping our children off at school seem so benign and distant. This COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything you and I have seen in our lifetimes. The virus seems to attack people of all ages. It seems to lurk in hosts and find new hosts via droplets that hang in the air. It lives on common surfaces such as doorknobs and stair railings. It spreads to its new host when he touches his face. Worst of all, there's no vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. Scientists are scrambling to create vaccines, but it doesn't look as though anything will be available before early 2021.

I have listened to This Week In Virology podcasts for

Graduates of boarding schools end up doing all sorts of things. Many of them become distinguished leaders in their chosen fields. Almost all of the alumnae and alumni selected below have also chosen to return time, talent, and treasure to the schools that gave them such a solid start to their careers. They serve on boards of trustees, raise money for their schools, and act as stalwart supporters of these institutions.

That's the point of this little piece: the dream of being something when you are young. Attend a school that will help you realize those dreams by giving you the skills, confidence, and belief that you can accomplish whatever you set out to do. That is the essence of a boarding school education.

Now, I hear you thinking everyone on this list is or was fabulously wealthy. Indeed, some are. But many were not quite well off when just starting out. All of these graduates share one thing in common. They had families that valued the sound, balanced approach to education that the schools they attended afforded them.

Notable Graduates

• Audrey McNiff, Goldman Sachs (retired), Lawrence Academy, Groton, MA
• Arthur Bunn, Bunn-O-Matic Corp., The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ
• Betsy Licht Turner, Northern Trust Investments, The Madeira School, McLean, VA
• Bette Davis, Actress, Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, MA
• Betty White, Actress, Horace Mann School, New York, NY
• Chelsea Clinton, The Clinton Foundation, Sidwell Friends School, Washington, DC
• Dan

Whether you are sending your child off to visit her grandparents or sending her back to school, you know how important it is for her to travel safely. After all, you have experienced almost every travel situation and glitch.

• But remember that you were traveling as an adult. You had the financial resources to book a hotel room at the minute when faced with a canceled flight, and your flight out was early the following morning.
• You knew what to do to satisfy the TSA staff as you made your way through airport security.
• Most importantly, you were street-smart and aware of your surroundings and had an exit path ready in case of some crisis.
• These are just a few things you need to teach your children before they travel alone.

Stay alert.

Given the frequency of terrorist and other attacks both in the U.S. and abroad, you must teach your child to monitor her surroundings constantly.

You would think that would be a given, but teenagers can and do lose themselves in their world on their smartphones.

• They put their earbuds on and tune everything else out.
• Teach her to know what's happening by looking around every few minutes.
• Once she has boarded her plane, she can listen to her music uninterrupted, except for the safety announcements.
• Staying alert also means not napping or falling asleep while sitting at the gate.
• Gate changes tend to occur when we least expect them.
• Even more annoying is that