ORCHARD LAKE, Mich. (WWJ) -- Ochard Lake St. Mary's Preparatory is set to enroll female students next fall for the first time in its 135-year history.
The school announced Tuesday it plans to transition to a co-divisional school for the incoming 9th-grade class for the 2020-2021 academic year, meaning boys and girls will be educated in a single-gender classroom environment on the same campus, while providing "the advantages of co-educational interaction without social pressures in the classroom."
"With the boys and girls in separate classrooms for the majority of their instruction, students have a choice of when and how they socialize during break times, before, and after the school day ends," school officials said in a statement.
St. Mary's Headmaster Bob Pyles said he recognizes the opportunity represents change, but the school's core values remain the same.
"Importantly, the extraordinary men and women of our faculty and staff remain the foremost resource in the daily formation of St. Mary's students. Through their work rooted in faith, maintaining the culture of opportunity, growth, and accomplishment will be our highest priority as we transition to this new model," Pyles said in a statement.
Speaking to WWJ, Pyles says the move is a look toward the future.
"It's really us looking down the road at enrollment and the number of students that would be available, the number of school-age students, and the trends are showing that number is dropping and that number has been dropping for many years. So we're looking at what we can do to keep our enrollment where we're at," Pyles told WWJ.
He says research has shown that students perform better in single-gender classrooms.
"I don't know if the boys tend to dominate when they're together – I don't know how that works – but the research has shown that they will perform better, so we're going to concentrate on women in science," Pyles said.
St. Mary's received advice from three nationally-regarded Catholic high schools that have recently adopted similar models -- DeLaSalle Collegiate in Chicago and both Holy Cross and Xaverian High Schools in New York City -- according to a press release. All three schools report that enrollment and student opportunities have increased and strengthened since transitioning to a co-divisional model.
Pyles says some parents have been upset, but they are getting used to the idea.
