St. John's Prep Plans to Add Middle School, New Academic and Fitness Centers

School officials at St. John's Prep unveiled a development plan last week to build a new science, math and technology building for the high school, along with a new wellness center, and add a comprehensive middle school program.

The strategic plan, Prep 20/20, centers on "academic excellence, student life and the school’s mission," say school officials. In addition to the new buildings, Advanced Placement and technology course offerings will be expanded and the plan also focuses on growing the Catholic boys' school's endowment to support its tuition assistance program.

There is no price tag associated with the overall project at this point. The 175-acre campus sprawls on either side of Spring and Summer streets, off Route 62 in Danvers.

"The middle school program will engage students at a formative moment in their development. It will be a student-centered environment, challenging yet supportive, where boys can learn and thrive," said Headmaster Edward Hardiman.

The middle school will enroll 300 students in grades 6-8, offer many of the same type of courses and opportunities available to the older students, and is slated to open in September 2015. 

Instead of constructing a new building, an existing high school classroom building (Brother Benjamin Hall) will be renovated to include classrooms, science labs, fine arts space, study areas, school counseling offices, a dining room and administrative offices.

The enrollment application period for the program will begin next winter and renovations are slated to begin in June 2015. School officials say the middle school arose out of interest in such a program by North Shore families.

Along with the middle school, the new science, math and technology center is part of the first phase of the plan and construction is scheduled to begin on the new high school facility in April 2014.

Once those projects are complete -- the goal is September 2015 -- construction will begin on a new fitness and wellness center that will accommodate all 20 interscholastic sports and other related programs at the Prep. The goal is to better provide full access to all athletic programs and facilities for all students.

Administrators say the entire school community -- parents, alumni, students, faculty, staff and trustees -- was involved in the research, study and collaboration over the past three years that went into the strategic plan.

As for tuition assistance, Hardiman says: "St. John’s must be affordable for families from a wide spectrum of incomes, including middle class families."

The Salem News reports that high school tuition at the Prep is just shy of $20,000 while tuition costs $36,100 at the Pingree School in South Hamilton and $40,300 at the Governor's Academy in Byfield. Bishop Fenwick High School, however, costs $12,600.

“We live in dynamic times that call us to prepare students for lives of meaningful citizenship and faith in a rapidly changing world. The vision expressed in the strategic plan reaffirms our mission and builds on the strength of our program. It is a natural extension of our mission to educate young men in an atmosphere animated by faith, brotherhood and wisdom,” said Bernard Caniff, Jr., chairman of the Board of Trustees.

You can check out the Prep 20/20 page on the school website to learn more. St. John's Prep was founded in 1907 by the Xaverian Brothers and presently provides a Catholic high school education to 1,150 students from 80 cities and towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.