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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

St. James School, Maryland
Saint James School is an independent boarding and day school in the U.S. state of Maryland. Founded in 1842 as the College and Grammar School of St. James's, the school is a coeducational college preparatory school and the oldest Episcopal boarding school in the United States founded as a boarding school proper.

History

Saint James is the second iteration of a type of school conceived by William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796–1877), who founded model schools on Long Island in 1828 and 1836. The founding Rector of Saint James was John Barrett Kerfoot (1816–1881), who was Muhlenberg's principal disciple for thirteen years before Muhlenberg sent him to Western Maryland to extend the mission. The models established at Flushing and College Point, Long Island, and St. James, Maryland, were the mother lode for much subsequent prospecting. Graduates and staff from Saint James founded St. Paul's (The Rev. Joseph H. Coit, M.A.), Concord, New Hampshire, St. Mark's, Southborough, Massachusetts; and several other schools. Racine College in Wisconsin (1852) was modeled on Saint James, and its celebrated rector, James DeKoven, recruited faculty from Saint James.

Administration

Saint James is one of twenty-four Episcopal Schools in the Diocese of Maryland. The school is governed by a board of trustees. A Prefect Council, made up of ten seniors elected by the students and the faculty, upholds the traditions of Saint James and assists faculty members and the Headmaster in the school's day-to-day operations. Of this group, one member is elected Senior Prefect, and they lead the Prefects.

The Sacristans and Chapel Vestry assist in the liturgy of daily services. The Senior Sacristan is the second-ranking position for students on campus, following the Senior Prefect, and is the chief student assistant to the Chaplain, currently the Rev. Dr. Brandt Montgomery. Saint James School is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and the Maryland State Department of Education. The school is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools, the Association of Independent Maryland Schools, Cum Laude Society, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and the National Association of Episcopal Schools.

Sex abuse

In the 1980s, several boarding students were sexually abused by Father Kenneth Behrel, a teacher. The school dismissed Behrel. Prosecutors in a trial that eventually resulted in Behrel's imprisonment found that the school bore some responsibility.

Campus

Saint James School is situated in a rural area. The Georgian-style buildings are in 100 acres (0.40 km) farmland containing a natural spring, fields, and streams. Total acreage exceeds 800 acres. The school lies 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Hagerstown and is approximately 70 miles (110 km) from both Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

  • Claggett Hall: The largest boys' dorm on campus, Claggett houses over 60 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-formers and several faculty members.
  • Kemp Hall: The campus student center.
  • Powell Hall: The main academic building with over 20 classrooms.
  • John E. Owens Library.
  • Kerfoot Refectory.
  • Laidlaw Infirmary.
  • Cotton Building and the Bowman Fine Arts Center: The Fine Arts Center houses the auditorium, which seats about 300. This building includes music study rooms, the art studio/yearbook room, and a Choir room. The Mummer's Society puts on several plays every year, including a fall drama, a spring musical, senior-directed plays, and the Christmas Tradition of St. George and the Dragon.
  • Alumni Hall: Alumni Hall houses two wrestling rooms, two dance studios, a weight room, locker rooms, and a fieldhouse. The field house contains three basketball courts, which can be converted into four tennis courts or two volleyball courts.
  • The Chapel.
  • Mattingly Hall: A dorm for third- and fourth-form boys. Hershey Hall was renovated in the spring of 2006 and renamed Mattingly Hall in honor of John M. Mattingly '58.
  • Onderdonk Hall: A dorm for second- and third-form boys.
  • Holloway House: The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-form girls' dorm.
  • Coors Hall: A dorm for second-, third-, and fourth-form girls.
  • Bai Yuka: The school's water source, the Bai Yuka is a natural spring that runs through campus and whose name is Native American for "fountain rock".
  • Biggs Rectory: The headmaster's house was completed in 2002.

Notable alumni