Middle School Plan Advances with $25 Million Fundraising Effort

An architect’s concept drawing of the proposed middle school as seen from the State Route 73 toll road.

By Alia Sajjadian and Mirabelle Jiang

Over the summer, the Sage Hill School Board of Trustees approved the launch of a five year fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $25 million to build a middle school.

Plans for the middle school project include a new cafe, several classrooms, and a larger second gym that could accommodate all students in grades seven to 12 for schoolwide events. The building would be constructed on an athletics practice field between the Lisa Argyros and Family Science Center and D. Diane Anderson Family Humanities Building.

The Sage Hill administration has outlined the goals for creating a middle school as expanding the student population, better preparing students for success in high school and increasing the amount of students with flexible tuition, Head of School Patricia Merz said.

Currently, 14% of students at Sage receive need-based financial aid. However, the middle school’s opening would see 20% of the entire student body on some form of flexible tuition.

Middle school grade levels will consist of 70 students, Merz said. Students from feeder schools such as The Pegasus School, St. Mary’s School and Harbor Day School will be offered deferred enrollment to continue their education at Sage Hill after graduating middle school. However, Merz hopes that the middle school will also “expand access to more families who might have never considered Sage before,” such as families with elementary students from public school districts.

Senior Ryann Langdale said she believes that “students come to Sage to meet a lot of different types of people.” She worries that the introduction of the middle school will limit the diversity of experiences and voices from incoming freshmen, as the number of open spots in the ninth grade is potentially reduced by half.

Athletic facilities and drop-off zones will be shared between middle and high school students. To mitigate traffic, the two schools will run on separate schedules, with the high school start time being pushed back to 8:30 a.m. Middle schoolers will also only use athletic facilities during the high school’s hours, preventing overcrowding of the space in the evenings.

Current students have also expressed concern that construction noise will be a constant issue during the school year. However, Merz is confident that noise pollution and dust will be minimal.

While it is too soon to gauge what the middle school curriculum will look like, Merz believes that “it will look like Sage, just with younger years” with an emphasis on growth and self-discovery instead of academics and rigor. She also hopes that the similarity between the two curricula will better prepare middle school students for academic success in ninth through 12th grades at Sage Hill.

“There will be that learning curve that will need to take place,” Merz said, referring to the anticipated divide between the level of preparation of incoming freshman from the middle school versus the students entering from the public school system.

Merz also foresees more opportunities for high schoolers at Sage Hill to demonstrate leadership within the middle school.

Sophomore Tina Tahbaz believes it will be an exciting opportunity for high schoolers to “guide middle schoolers in their preparation for high school and even the future.”