FA ACADEMICS
100+ Years of Diversified and Boarding Enrollment at Fryeburg Academy BY LAURA AYER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
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ryeburg Academy, founded in 1792, is one of the oldest private schools in the United States. Unlike many secondary schools during this early era, the Academy’s mission to provide an education beyond simple elementary training and the school’s unparalleled firsts to admit female students as early as 1806 and later, in 1947, to enroll African American students in the boarding program — set the course for the Academy’s defining legacy. These forward-thinking ideas would mark the turning points in the school’s 229-year-history — both for their innovation and groundbreaking shifts from what was the traditional educational landscape at the time. However, the main challenge posed by Academy’s 1792 charter was not coeducation as much as it was to “operate a private institution with a public mission” (LaCasce p. 53). As a town academy, the school’s mission was primarily driven to accommodate” varying levels of ability with different educational needs” and serve local students and those outside the area. No one understood the complexity of student diversity and maintaining “democratic demographics” as well as Elroy O. LaCasce, the Academy’s headmaster that served the school from 1922-1955. During LaCasce’s 33-year leadership, the Academy’s expanded boarding program and recruitment efforts flourished. In 1922, during LaCasce’s first year as headmaster at Fryeburg Academy, the school “enrolled fifteen out of a total enrollment of 119 students who commuted from Center Conway by train.” That following year, Kennett High School was newly built, and Conway students could attend that school — eliminating nearly ten percent of the Academy’s enrollment. (LaCasce p. 56). The need for recruitment and diversification of the school’s student body was clearly evident. By 1933, after a long and arduous process in attending town meetings to recruit students and lobbying for increased state funding, LaCasce successfully enrolled most students from Fryeburg, Lovell, Chatham, East Conway, Hiram, and some from Brownfield, Sweden, and Denmark. Surprisingly, the main enrollment obstacle during the 1920s and 30s was unplowed winter roads. By 1934, the roads began to be plowed, which paved the way for more students from neighboring towns to enroll at the Academy. (LaCasce, p.56). Additionally, the consolidation of high schools in neighboring towns increased the Academy’s enrollment growth during this period with more commuting day students. LaCasce’s
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A 1902 newspaper advertisement for the Academy cites the addition of the Alumni House as “a building recently added to the institution by the alumni to be used as a dwelling house for girls. It is provided with electric lights, bathroom, and all modern conveniences. A matron has charge of the house as well as the girls who live in it.” Tuition was advertised as $7 per week, and lodging $3 per week. (The Good Old Days’: Nostalgic Glimpses of Another Era, p. 26).
