The Kiski School, an all-boys boarding school located just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, has been involved with online education in one form or another since 2007. I have been teaching remotely through various platforms and scenarios since then, even teaching my Precalculus class at 5:30 a.m. from a hotel room just before my first OESIS Conference in Marina Del Rey, California. When the global pandemic struck in the spring of 2020, Kiski was well-positioned for a transition to remote learning. As we look forward to what our schools will look like in the fall, I am sure some independent schools are implementing or are considering an online branch of their brand. This concept should be viewed through multiple lenses based on our experience.

Independent schools come in all shapes, sizes, and degrees of financial means, each with its challenges. Financially speaking, both day schools and boarding schools would want to consider a reduced tuition rate to their online students. By doing so, day schools would risk cannibalizing the market they are trying to target. Boarding schools would splinter the communities that make them unique while still demanding an incrementally higher cost with the risk of impacting in-person programming and…