You won’t miss the Episcopal School of Jacksonville anymore as you press the pedal along Atlantic Boulevard if the independent institution’s $18 million capital campaign is successful.
The school is preparing for major upgrades, including its road-front visibility along Atlantic Boulevard near the ramp to the Hart Bridge.
A major new entryway at the main 56-acre Munnerlyn Campus will be joined by a similarly significant entrance to a redeveloped 28-acre Knight Sports Complex about 2 miles east.
In fact, the campaign overview remarks that the main entrance signage is “difficult to see unless you are right in front of it,” making for a “weak reference” to Episcopal’s identity.
That identity is set for a major enhancement.
The school is preparing for the public launch of the “Lead the Way” 50th anniversary campaign to revitalize the campus at 4455 Atlantic Blvd. and develop the sports complex, now just a few fields, at 6525 Atlantic Blvd.
The entrances will serve as the unifying front gates to even more significant improvements at the middle and upper school, which borders the Arlington and St. Johns rivers.
Head of School Charley Zimmer said in a statement the projects will serve Episcopal “as it heads into its next half century of preparing tomorrow’s leaders.”
The school is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015-16.
Episcopal said it is embarking on campus and facility improvements that, as part of its strategic plan, will support its growing athletics programs, technology and study needs of its students and programming needs in academics.
The school also is committed to increasing its endowment.
Rob Clements, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said in a statement the capital campaign focuses on supporting the school’s long-term strategic plan and vision for academics and student life at Episcopal.
Some phases of the campaign have begun. The Board of Trustees, the faculty and the staff have backed the campaign with 100 percent participation, Episcopal said.
The larger communitywide push is planned for early winter.
Development is projected over several years as funding becomes available.
Episcopal projects enrollment of about 870 students in the new school year, up from about 845 last year. Its middle school comprises the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and the upper school serves freshman through senior students.
The school says more than 80 percent of its students participate in at least one sport and the Munnerlyn Campus athletic facilities haven’t been updated since the 1990s.
“Our Athletics Department is fielding 60 teams, and our facilities must keep pace with the growth of the sports program,” Episcopal says in the campaign overview.
The Knight property was bequeathed by former trustee Ray Downing Knight upon his death to Episcopal and the Museum of Science and History. The school later bought the museum’s parcel for future development. The Walton Boathouse was dedicated on the property in January 2004.
Property records show six buildings on the Knight site, including the boathouse.
Site plans filed with the city show the smaller five structures, built from 1928 to 1975, will be demolished.
The Knight Sports Complex will be the only high-school campus in Jacksonville devoted solely to sports, according to Episcopal.
The capital campaign also will enhance the Jacob F. Bryan III Library on the Munnerlyn Campus and raise more funding for endowments.
According to Episcopal, the current endowment generates about $300,000 for the operating budget annually. Most of that is earmarked for financial aid and some is restricted for program support and faculty professional development.
“Building the endowment is an essential part of the campaign,” Episcopal said in a statement.
The school said in the overview that unlike many independent schools, it has no institutional debt and a “robust endowment” is the most important factor to keep the school affordable. Endowment earnings provide financial aid and program money currently funded by tuition.
Episcopal’s basic tuition for the 2015-16 academic year is $21,000 for middle school and $21,800 for the upper school.
By comparison, basic day-school tuition at The Bolles School for the coming year is at $22,250 for sixth through eighth grades and $22,930 for high school.
Episcopal said its almost $6.8 million endowment is small compared to peer institutions in the state, such as the $28.5 million endowment at Ransom Everglades School at Coconut Grove and the $12.5 million endowment at Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park.
Episcopal said the campaign co-chairs are Susan Jangro and Thad McNulty. Honorary co-chairs are Preston and Joan Haskell.
The campaign core committee comprises the chairs as well as Board of Trustees members Clements, Thomas Donahoo Jr., David C. Hodges Jr. and William Steitz III.
The 29-member board includes Daily Record Publisher Jim Bailey.
Episcopal said its campaign goal was approved by the trustees after a comprehensive feasibility study to test the school community’s support for the priorities and funding levels.
The Episcopal School of Jacksonville will ask the “entire ESJ community” to participate and expects to make contact within a year.
Episcopal said the campus improvements follow the development of the Munnerlyn Center in 2004 and the Parks and Lastinger Halls, dedicated in January 2011, which were commitments to academic advancement.
Zimmer has been working on the campaign for more than a year and will retire June 30, at the end of the 50th year of the school.
He will be succeeded by Adam S. Greene, who becomes head of school next July 1.
***
Episcopal to ‘lead the way’
Episcopal School of Jacksonville’s approximate $18 million 50th anniversary capital campaign includes a strategic plan to make upgrades on its Atlantic Boulevard campus and nearby sports property. Early-stage plans call for upgrades to the main Munnerlyn Campus and the nearby Knight Sports Complex. Some details could change as plans progress.
Munnerlyn Campus
The Munnerlyn Campus athletic improvements on the main property at 4455 Atlantic Blvd. are designed to include:
• A redeveloped McCormick Field, which hosts football practice and games in the fall, soccer in the winter and lacrosse in the spring. The complex will include coaches’ offices, concession stands, a small campus store, meeting spaces, a press box, a new second-floor observation deck, stadium seating and weight rooms. FieldTurf already has been installed on the football field.
• A redesigned Semmes Aquatic Center, which serves swimmers in the Episcopal and AmberJax programs. The current swim building will be torn down. Restrooms and locker rooms will be improved. A new second-story shaded observation deck will be built for spectators. Pool equipment will be relocated.
• Improved baseball facilities to the Ray Downing Knight Baseball Field, in which the softball facilities will be relocated to the Knight Sports Complex and the current softball field will be used as a practice field for baseball. The field will also add more covered batting cages, bleachers and dugouts.
• Enhancements to the Jacob F. Bryan III Library, which opened in 1991. Planned improvements include creating a large meeting space for classes, clubs and other groups; flexible space and new configurable furniture; windows lined with a work counter with recharging power access; a covered and screened outdoor study area; and the addition of a designated space for the school’s archives.
• The Munnerlyn Campus Entrance, which will involve razing the Oak Lane office building at the campus entrance to put up matching signage on both sides. A roundabout is planned at Munnerlyn and St. Elmo drives. An event lawn or green space will replace the tennis courts, which will move.
Knight Sports Complex
The 28-acre Knight Sports Complex at 6525 Atlantic Blvd. will be the only high-school campus in Jacksonville devoted solely to sports, according to Episcopal. It now is “largely hidden by a row of trees and overgrowth along Atlantic Boulevard,” the overview states.
Now featuring some fields as well as the riverfront rowing facility and boathouse, it is being designed to include:
• A new entry to match the Munnerlyn entrance. The existing entrance to the Knight property will relocated to align with the stoplight at Glynlea Road.
• A 5,000-square-foot field house to serve all sports to include bleachers for viewing, coaches’ offices, concessions, locker and meeting rooms, bathrooms, press box, ticket booths and an upper-deck viewing area.
• A 12-court lighted tennis center to accommodate the courts that will be removed from the Munnerlyn Campus and will include a small clubhouse with coaches’ offices and restrooms. Central bleachers will include a shade pavilion.
• A new softball complex with a game field and practice field along with covered batting cages, dugouts and lights.
• Two sports fields with central bleachers and a shade pavilion. The cross country start is at one of the fields and the track winds through the property.
• Expanded use of the existing two-story Arlington riverfront Walton Boathouse, which will add a kitchen for more use by the school and for facility rental events.
• Parking, lights and maintenance facilities. The plan shows 250 parking spaces among guest parking and game-day parking lots as well as game-day parking under trees.
Endowments
The “Lead the Way” capital campaign also will be developed to secure more funding for endowments.
The campaign wants to create:
• $50,000 minimum endowed scholarships for student tuition.
• $250,000 minimum each for endowed faculty chairs, endowed head coach funds, endowed funds for Harkness Teaching to provide classroom tables and chairs as well as teacher training, and endowed program funds
• $100,000 minimum endowed fund for international studies
• $50,000 minimum alumni Legacy Funds.
(904) 356-2466