Falmouth Academy representatives visit NNS
BY STEVE SHEPPARD
Representatives from Falmouth Academy visited the Nantucket New School Wednesday to measure interest in future attendance at the private school by island children.

While many students over the years have gone off island to board at private secondary schools, Falmouth Academy is a day school and does not have dormitories. The proposal is that Nantucket students would stay with host families and return home on weekends.

“There are many families for whom boarding school is an attractive option,” noted New School head of school David Provost, “but the prospect of sending their 14-year-old off for weeks at a time is untenable.”

“We’re interested in developing a relationship with Nantucket,” said Falmouth Academy headmaster David Faus, “and starting small.”

Indeed, the Cape Cod school is committed to staying small, with 215 students in grades 7 through 12. Host families could accommodate up to four Nantucket students, Faus said.

Faus and Provost agreed that the novel approach was still in the formative stages, prompting last week’s informational meeting with parents. “My primary interest in this is, as someone who helps families explore secondary schools, the idea of one being close by is attractive,” Provost said.

“We’re presenting ourselves as an option,” Faus said. “There is a connection between the Cape and the islands . . . and it’s nice for residents to have options and alternatives.”

Falmouth Academy is one of two private secondary schools on the Cape.

Host families have been regularly affiliated with Falmouth Academy — since the school’s inception in 1977, families have housed 58 different students from 23 different countries. The idea would be to have Nantucket students live with a family from Sunday through Friday and come home on weekends. Faus said host families typically have a student attending the school.

The Nantucket New School, which has 94 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, will have nine students entering high school this year. Provost said that about half of each New School graduating class attends boarding school and half move on to Nantucket High School.

Falmouth Academy students come from the Cape and also from off Cape in towns like Plymouth, Plympton and Marion. There are also 25 students from Martha’s Vineyard. One of the families who volunteered to host a Nantucket student is from the Vineyard.

Falmouth Academy and the New School have a connection in that long-time Falmouth Academy headmaster Bruce Buxton serves on the board of directors of the New School, and Provost is also on the board of Falmouth Academy. Faus said Nantucket students outside the New School who may be interested in attending could contact him at 508-457-9696.

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