The MacDuffie School in Springfield was founded by a husband-and-wife team, John and Abby MacDuffie, who were educators, but also visionaries. They conceived an institution that would help prepare women for college so they could stand on their own. Today, the model is quite different — the school now welcomes men, too — but the mission remains the same.

The MacDuffie School sits high on a hill in the Maple High Six Corners neighborhood of Springfield.

It’s a place where expectations and goals stretch far into the horizon and success is realized through high ethical standards, respect for diversity, and habits of mind that demand critical thinking and self-confidence.

“We say that one of the great things is how far you can see from here,” said Kathryn Gibson, head of the school. “We use that as a metaphor for where our students can go if they apply themselves. Our mission is for students to have the confidence to meet and achieve their full potential in whatever field they are interested in.”

It’s been that way since John and Abby MacDuffie founded the school in 1890. The married couple shared an interest in creating a college-preparatory school where women had access to the same education afforded to men.

“Few colleges for women existed at the time,” said Gibson. “They wanted to offer the opportunity for higher education and really prepare women for college so they could stand in their own right, whether they were married or single.”

That model worked for the better part of a century, or until MacDuffie, as well as many other women-only schools, became severely challenged by its limiting nature. Today, MacDuffie has a coed population with both day and boarding programs.

“The board of trustees decided to admit male students right before the start of the centennial, much to the dismay of a lot of alumni and people in the community,” Gibson acknowledged. “Girls schools had fallen out of favor, and the boarding population had diminished. The change was made for financial reasons, as the board felt going co-ed would grow the enrollment.”

The strategy worked, and the population almost doubled over the next 10 years, providing the school with some needed financial stability. Today, the school, like its students, is taking the long view and crafting a plan to secure continued success years down the road.

In this issue, BusinessWest looks at how MacDuffie has changed in some ways over the past several years, but still remains committed to the principles on which it was launched in 1890, and still shares character traits with its founders.

History Lesson

From the time the school was founded, its focus has always been on the future. That was the philosophy taken by John and Abbey MacDuffie, who were considered pioneers in the field of education.

John was a graduate of Harvard University, while Abby was one of the first graduates of Radcliffe College, whose colorful history began with a private progam known as the ‘Harvard Annex.’ The Annex was established for the instruction of women by Harvard faculty after prolonged efforts by women to gain access to Harvard.

Abby met John when she was a boarder in his family’s home, and their relationship blossomed into marriage.

They were dedicated educators who trained their teachers in effective practices. In addition, Abby was a suffragist and abolitionist. Although the Civil War was over, during her childhood her father had been fired from his job due to his views about equal rights.

“Long before civil rights became a term, Abby was very interested in equal rights for women and blacks,” Gibson said. “That still permeates the school’s philosophy and mission. It’s something I am very proud of, especially given our Springfield location and the way the world is today.”

The MacDuffie School was born when John and Abby purchased the former Howard Sisters School on School Street and changed its name. Classes included biology, Latin, English, astronomy, and physical education, which were not offered to women in public schools.

In the early years, the majority of students were boarders. By the mid-’60s, half of the population was day students, and many international students were in attendance.

There has been a tremendous consistency of purpose and mission throughout the school’s history, which includes staying on the cutting edge of education. Gibson believes the consistency comes from the fact that two families ran MacDuffie for almost a century.

John and Abby were at the helm from 1890 to 1936. When they retired, it was taken over by their son Malcolm, who was a math teacher. He found he missed the classroom, and five years later, in 1941, Ralph Rutenber and his wife were put in charge. They ran the school for another 31 years.

Ralph wanted to expand the campus and thought the property across the street would be a perfect spot. So he made friends with the property owners and told them about his dream.

“He envisioned a self-contained campus there, and in time, people either sold or gave him their property,” Gibson said.

The campus has continued to grow, and Gibson, who is housed across the street in a historic Central Street residence, finds it a remarkable privilege to be at an institution that changes with the times, yet holds fast to traditions and standards that are central to the school’s character.

Looking Ahead

Maintaining these traditions, while also keeping the school financially sound and able to compete in the changing field of education, is the primary goal of a sweeping new strategic plan developed by the board of trustees in 2007.

The overall goal was to ensure that MacDuffie thrives in years to come, so one of the initiatives was to institute a graduated tuition rate. But despite the well-laid plans, the downturn in the economy is expected to significantly impact next year’s revenue and student population. “We have had a lot of applicants this year, but we expect our enrollment to be down by 20 to 25 students,” said Gibson.

The current enrollment is 205, and if projections are accurate, that will mean a reduction in staff for MacDuffie, rated as one of the top 10 private schools in the country in terms of the number of faculty members with graduate degrees.

About 45% of students receive financial aid, which ranges from 5% to 95% of their tuition cost. The aid comes from the school’s operating budget and is supplemented by help from several directions. “The companies that support our scholarship initiative are Pride, TD Banknorth, Hampden Bank, Bank of Western Massachusetts, and Chicopee Savings Bank,” Gibson said.

Several alumni are also supporting partial scholarships for current students, and MacDuffie has received grants to support its library and special programs from United Bank, PeoplesBank, NewAlliance Bank, and Bank of America. “We try to accommodate students with financial need as much as we can,” he explained.

The system of graduated tuition began during the 2007-08 school year. Gibson said the goal is to ensure that tuition is not prohibitive, since Catholic school costs significantly less and most private schools cost between $7,000 and $10,000 a year.

MacDuffie’s tuition is $16,000 for sixth-graders, $18,000 for seventh-graders, $20,000 for eighth-graders, $22,250 to attend the day school in grades 9 through 12, or $38,995 for high-school boarders. That amount does not include books.

The board also formulated ambitious plans for growth and had hoped to break ground for a new science addition and gymnasium. Both projects are on hold due to the economy.

“But there are glimmers in our eye,” Gibson said, adding that he expects between 52 and 54 boarders next year. All of this year’s 46 boarders are international and come from countries that include Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, Ethopia, Jamaica, and Germany.

Day students hail from 30 cities and towns within a 30-mile radius. The school relies on educational placement agencies, the Internet, and word-of-mouth advertising to attract new students.

The school has benefitted from the MassMutual Privatized High School Scholarship Program, which has provided almost $1 million of full-tuition scholarships to students at MacDuffie, Cathedral High, and Pioneer Valley Christian School in Springfield.

The program was designed to pay 100% of the tuition cost for 10 MacDuffie students a year for four consecutive years. Students are accepted into the program at the end of eighth grade.

“They have to demonstrate excellent grades, have parental support, be good citizens, and be motivated,” Gibson said, adding that recipients must also maintain a B average. The majority are from Springfield schools, and many live in single-parent homes.

MacDuffie’s first class of MassMutual Iniative graduates will attend the commencement ceremony this year. The program has been highly successful, but the fourth and final class of students began classes in the fall, which will translate to a loss of income next year.

MacDuffie has taken steps to cover the projected loss and is preparing for the future. It recently completed renovations to the Sally Fenelon Young Auditorium at a cost of $100,000, and hopes to raise between $2 million and $3 million for a new science wing when the economy improves.

Next year, the school will also offer merit scholarships for the first time to incoming ninth-graders. One will be awarded to a student who wants to pursue the arts, another will go to a superb athlete, and a third will be given to an outstanding scholar. Children of MacDuffie alumni can also apply for their Legacy scholarship.

Although the economy presents real challenges, the quality of education is so high that Gibson is not worried about the future, despite the anticipated drop in revenue and enrollment.

“We don’t know what the summer will bring, but we still have had a healthy number of inquiries,” she said.

Academics have always been the school’s highest priority. The advantage of being a girls-only school was that students didn’t have to worry about being ‘too smart’ and could pursue their interests without peer pressure from the opposite sex.

Today, the philosopy holds true, even though the school is coed. “Many of our students proudly call themselves geeks,” said Gibson, adding that they might not be able to be themselves in public school because of negative peer pressure, but they can at MacDuffie.

She points to coups scored by MacDuffie’s math team as well as support for and from peers who participate in other activities, including this year’s production of My Fair Lady.

“One of the champions of our math team had a solo in the musical, which speaks volumes about how accepting and encouraging our students are of each other,” she said, adding that the school’s foreign-language program is intense and accelerated. By the third year, students are reading novels and newspapers and discussing ideas and current events in the language they are studying. “English is almost never spoken in these classrooms.”

She is also proud of the school’s science program, which uses problem-based and inquiry-learning approaches.

Class size on the 20-acre, 13-building campus is small, and the student/teacher ratio is about seven-to-one. These are just some of the factors contributing to an impressive statistic: 100% of the students go to college, and Gibson credits the ability of graduates to excel in a wide variety of arenas to their exceptional writing and foreign-language program. “We are a liberal-arts school, and writing permeates every course,” she said. “Our students’ ability to write distinguishes them in college and in the workplace.”

School of Thought

Since John and Abbie MacDuffie opened their doors to their school, it has stood on high ground — in both a literal and figurative sense.

Staying on top of its game has been challenging at times, but the foundations on which the school was built have always prevailed.

And thus, the school with the proud past is poised for an exciting, fulfilling future. Just like its students.