Restructuring for 2024-2025

Dear Albany Academies Community,

We are writing today with an important update regarding some changes that will take place at The Albany Academies in the upcoming academic year.

Over the last few years, the School’s enrollment has been decreasing, mirroring the overall decline in private school enrollment in the region, driven in part by lower birthrates and ongoing economic uncertainty across the country.

Despite our extensive efforts to bolster enrollment, the School’s Senior Leadership Team and Board of Trustees have concluded that we must take action now to better match the School’s operating costs to current revenues and prepare for a strong future. Therefore, after significant research and careful consideration, the School is enacting a restructuring plan.

The goal of this restructuring is to ensure the continued growth, success, and fiscal sustainability of the School. To achieve this, program options were carefully reviewed in order to ensure the breadth and depth of our academic offerings are preserved while considering various budgeting models that achieved meaningful cost savings.

Beginning in the 2024-2025 academic year, The Albany Academies is making the following operational changes:

Preschool will no longer be offered.
Lower School (PK-4) classes will be coeducational.
Middle School will remain single-sex.
Grades 9 and 10 will join Grades 11 and 12 in being coeducational.

As part of this restructuring, we made the difficult decision to reduce the size of next year’s professional community. Faculty and staff were notified of this decision earlier today, and school leaders have spoken privately with each employee personally impacted by these changes.

As difficult as this may be, we are confident that restructuring in this way will allow us to maintain and improve the reputation of The Albany Academies as a premier academic institution that develops high-character, intellectually curious students and prepares them for future success.

Going forward, we envision that The Academies will:

Capitalize on our strength as the Capital Region’s premier institution.
Emphasize that we are an academic institution with strong athletic and arts programs.
Understand and follow best practices for teaching and learning in our ever-changing world.
Complete the campus realignment with Lower and Middle School students on one campus and Upper School students on another, with a “diamond-shaped” configuration of our divisions:
- Full coeducational sections in the Lower School with all necessary support services.
- Full single-sex sections in Middle School, when students need it most.
- Fully coeducational Upper School that continues to deliver premier academics with an emphasis on STEAM, collaborative education, and leadership development.

Honor our single-sex traditions in our co-curricular programs. This includes separate meetings for boys and girls (Chapel and Morning Meeting), separate student governments, separate organizing structures (Houses and Sisters Classes), and separate celebrations (Bacon Bat and House Day).
Develop an annual budget with a meaningful surplus to invest in faculty and campus revitalization.
Follow our Facilities Master Plan as a thoughtful guide to campus preservation and modernization.
Continue to be a welcoming, cohesive community.

Our priority remains the well-being and success of our students, and we believe these changes will contribute to a stronger and more vibrant Albany Academies. We appreciate your continued support of the School and your cooperation during this transitional period. The Academies’ spirit has always been one of resilience and unity, and we are confident that, together, we will navigate these changes and emerge even stronger.

Sincerely,

Chris Lauricella P'20, '22

Head of School

Eric Lewis, ‘83, P'17

Board President

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