The St. Margaret’s School campus on Water Lane remains shuttered following the announcement this summer by Church Schools of the Diocese that it would not reopen this year. But a small, determined group of supporters continue to search for ways to revive the school, seeking donations, naming new staff, and moving forward with academic and recreational activities for potential students.
Efforts are ongoing to reopen St. Margaret’s School in Tappahannock at its campus located along Water Lane.
Elizabeth “Sissy” Crowther, who served as the SMS Board of Directors chair, told the Rappahannock Times this week that “there continues to be good momentum and excitement along the waterfront with the coastal classroom and the sculling/ rowing academy. Plus there were lots of things the girls were doing in the community that had never been done before. We are convinced this good momentum is transportable to the future.”
In July, the Board of Trustees of Church Schools in the Diocese of Virginia (CSDV) determined that school would not reopen for the 2025-2026 academic year due to ongoing enrollment and financial issues. The CSDV owns and operates six schools in Virginia, which included St. Margaret’s, under the management and control of a Board of Trustees.
“Trustees reached this decision after careful consideration of St. Margaret’s enrollment and fund-raising for a 2025-2026 year, as well as the prospects for returning St. Margaret’s to financial sustainability in the years ahead,” wrote Henry Broaddus, the president of the CSDV, in a letter to the SMS Community. “Unfortunately, following more than a decade of declines in both student enrollment and tuition revenue, as well as the likelihood of continued decline in the upcoming year, the Trustees see no viable path forward.”
Elizabeth “Sissy” Crowther, who served as the SMS Board of Directors chair, told the Rappahannock Times that the school’s supporters felt it had reached goals the CDVS had outlined during the past school year.
In early June, the CDVS cautioned parents that the school’s ability to reopen was in jeopardy because it had failed to make adequate progress in meeting two specific goals laid out for it in an agreement reached with the school earlier in the year:
1. They must enroll 79 students who are prepared to pay a “substantially higher percentage of the annual cost of a St. Margaret’s education” and
2. all $2.1 million in pledged donations must be received.
The school had an enrollment of 70 last academic year, about half of the student population in 2009- 2010.
“Our position is we did have enough students, enough funds, and even a small reserve to have a good school year and it was Church Schools decision not to move us forward for some reason,” Crowther told the Rappahannock Times. “Over the summer, we courted some larger donors with a commitment of $6 million as well as some others. There’s no reason to stop this mission of having a girls school on the Rappahannock that has been doing well for 104 years. There is enough interest and monetary support to keep the school going.”
With that goal in mind, a new organization (The Foundation for St. Margaret’s School) has been formed “to act as the governing board for a reorganized St. Margaret’s School, with the purpose of “fundraising, resource management, operation, and advocacy for a girls’ school in the Episcopal tradition, in Tappahannock, Virginia.”
Crowther noted that FSMS is independent of the CSDV.
“We’re taking donations and pursuing 501(c) 3 (nonprofit) status,” Crowther said.
A building has been rented along Water Lane to establish an office for FSMS.
“Educationally, we are doing some things right now as we make the transition,” she said.
She said that includes music lessons, sculling/rowing on weekends throughout the fall, SAT prep, and other educational support efforts. She said notice about these efforts will be announced once a website is established for FSMS.
Crowther said an initial staff of six has been hired to help start a transition with the hope of reestablishing the school at the Water Lane campus.
“We have funds in a new account,” said Crowther. “Our hope is to work with Church Schools to acquire and transition the property back to a school for girls along the Rappahannock which was the mission donors and families have supported for over a hundred years.”
Crowther said the CSDV is currently having the Water Lane campus appraised to determine its value.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by an SMS parent, Brett Christina Glymph, that seeks an injunction against CDVS “from prematurely closing the school” remains in the court system. CDVS has filed a response asking that the request be dismissed. No hearing date on the matter has been set.
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