BAY AREA ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS: THE PREMIER PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN THE TAMPA AREA

Founded in the later part of the 20^th Century, the Bay Area Association of Independent Schools (BAAIS) is a consortium of more than a dozen of the top-rated private schools located in and around Tampa, Florida. These schools include some of the best-known schools in Florida, many with a national reputation, attracting the best applicants and delivering academically rigorous and athletically vigorous educational programmes to prepare pupils for the future and give them the best possible head start.

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ABOUT

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area is one of the largest conurbations in Florida and on the American Gulf Coast including a number of cities and large townships dotted around the Tampa Bay coastal inlet. Tampa is the primary city in the metropolitan area and owes much of its modern history as a city to the nascent American cigar industry and the establishment of key military infrastructure in the Tampa Bay. The city and its surrounding suburbs and neighbouring cities experienced significant growth when substantial migration to the area occurred in the post-war period between 1946 and 1964. Indeed, Tampa’s boom can be attributed to the Baby Boomers born there and marking the period of the greatest population growth and increased prosperity in modern American history.

Attracted by the warm, sub-tropical climate and the burgeoning industrial transformation and the jobs that went with it, hundreds of thousands of American families and migrant families located to Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg and other towns and cities across mid-Florida. With that came massive-scale property development and infrastructure development and, more recently, tourist amenities and retirement facilities making the Tampa area a key destination for holidaymakers and retirees too.

This population growth boosted demand for schools and many of the region’s best-known educational institutions trace their foundation to this boom period in the 1950s and 1960s. Some, however, have a much older heritage, owing their establishment to early religious missions, particularly by Catholic orders who dispatched their adherents to the region in the 1800s. Many of these schools operate as private institutions in order to maintain their faith-based ethos. Some of these particular schools have garnered a reputation as being excellent educational choices that have long catered to the city’s elite and most prominent families.

There are currently more than one hundred private schools in Tampa and its surrounds at all levels from early years to high school and delivering a wide variety of educational programmes and pedagogies from international schools, sports academies, special educational needs schools and all manner of faith-based schools. Families exploring their options in the area are sure to find a school that meets their search criteria, including single-sex schools, boarding schools, fully-inclusive schools, schools that maintain a progressive ethos and those that offer a Bible-based curriculum. Most faiths and philosophies are catered to with options for all ages.

A select few of the better-known and most prestigious of the Tampa area schools have come together to form the Bay Area Association of Independent Schools (not to be confused with the Independent Schools of the San Francisco Bay Area (ISFFBA) in California, on the west coast). The BAAIS membership comprises a broad range of private schools, including boarding schools, faith-based schools or those that subscribe to a global citizenship programme. It includes elementary schools, college-preparatory high schools and all-through schools. Thus, the association’s members offer the full K-12 pathway.

These schools recognise the benefits of working together to add value to their offer. The formation of regional or hyper-local schools consortia is a common trend within the independent schools sector. Such organisations allow member schools to ensure that, through cooperation with their peers, they can share best practice approaches to their educational delivery, foster growth through competition and benchmarking against their rival and peer schools. Furthermore, such consortiums may realise synergies through combined purchasing groups, common admissions fairs, or common testing frameworks. This allows the member schools to raise awareness of their unique market position and offer, better differentiating themselves from their wider competition whilst also advancing standards. Similar groups exist across the United States representing local schools in partnership or centred around a specialism of the member schools, such as the:

• Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS)
• Association of Independent Miami Schools (AIMS)
• The Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington (AISGW)
• Atlanta Area Association of Independent Schools (AAAIS)
• The Boarding School Coalition (BSC)
• Boston Independent School Collaborative (BISC)
• Charlotte Area Independent Schools (CAIS)
• Charlottesville Area Independent Schools (CAIS)
• Cleveland Council of Independent Schools (CCIS)
• Downtown Early Childhood Association (DECA)
• Downtown Independent School Consortium (DISC)
• Early Steps
• East Bay Independent Schools Association (EBISA)
• Education Collaborative of Western New York (EDCO WNY)
• Eight Schools Association (ESA)
• Great Boarding Schools (GBS)
• Greater Charleston Association of Private Schools (GCAPS)
• The Guild of Independent Schools of New York City (GISNY)
• Houston Area Independent Schools (HAIS)
• Independent School Council of New York City (ISCNYC)
• Independent Schools Admission Association of Dallas (ISAAD)
• Independent Schools Association of Northern New England (ISANNE)
• Independent Schools of the Nashville Area (ISNA)
• Independent Schools of St. Louis (ISSL)
• Independent Schools of the San Francisco Bay Area (ISSFBA)
• Independent Schools of South Florida (ISSF)
• Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools (LMAIS)
• Los Angeles Independent Schools (LAIS)
• Memphis Association of Independent Schools (MAIS)
• Mid-Altantic Boarding School Group (MABS)
• Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS)
• Midwest Boarding
• Midwest Boarding Schools Association (MBSA)
• New York Interschool
• Oakville Independent Schools (OIS)
• Palmetto Association of Independent Schools (PAIS)
• Pasadena Area Independent Schools (PAIS)
• Pittsburgh Consortium of Independent Schools (PCIS)
• Puget Sound Independent Schools (PSIS)
• San Diego Consortium of Independent and Private Schools (SDCIS)
• Ten Schools Admission Organization (TSAO)
• Texas Boarding Schools Association (TBSA)
• Triangle Independent School Consortium (TISC)
• Western Boarding Schools Association (WBSA)
• Western Connecticut Boarding Schools Association (WCBS)

These associations vary to the degree under which they integrate and the extent to which the participating schools collaborate. However, many of these schools share close relationships with their partner schools and many of these consortiums act as co-operative membership associations.

BAAIS is such a consortium. Under the auspices of the Bay Area Association of Independent Schools, the members co-operate on a variety of common initiatives and policy points, working together to advance their interests and to represent their membership and, more generally, the independent school sector in the region. The organisation exists as a lobbying group and representative voice for its members as well as a coordination function to host events and combine administrative resources of the member schools with respect to matters of common interest.

The schools also arrange interscholastic competition under the BAAIS banner, including various athletic and sporting events and a host of academic events including the middle school Battle of the Books reading competition. The member schools also pool their marketing resources and their college admissions functions to organise admissions fairs and to invite college admissions representatives to the BAAIS College Fair for high school graduating classes.

Membership may vary and the association maintains a limited online presence, however it is known to have recently included the schools listed below, namely: Academy of the Holy Names, Academy at the Lakes, Admiral Farragut Academy, Berkeley Preparatory School, Calvary Christian High School, Corbett Preparatory School, Jesuit High School, St. John’s Episcopal School, St. Mary’s Episcopal Day School, Saint Paul’s School, Shorecrest Preparatory School, and Tampa Preparatory School.

The dozen or so member schools often cooperate with one another outside of BAAIS events and with other local schools, some of which occasionally participate in BAAIS events (such as associate schools American Youth Academy and Carrollwood Day School). These schools also tend to benchmark their performances against one another and national peer schools through organisations such as the Global Education Benchmark Group (GEBG) and the Elementary Schools Heads Association (ESHA), both of which boast memberships which are comprised of some of the most prestigious schools in the United States and internationally.

The BAAIS schools are also fully accredited schools in good standing with the Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Many are also members of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and other national membership bodies.

If you would like to find out more about the Bay Area Association of Independent Schools, please get in touch with your any of the member schools listed hereunder or using the contact details set out below.

Our readers would very much appreciate any insights or views from students, alumni or faculty at any of the BAAIS member schools so please feel free to share your experiences with us in the comments section. If you took part in any BAAIS events or initiatives, we would particularly welcome your contributions as this can be enormously helpful for prospective pupils and their families or incoming staff members.

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MEMBERS

CHOOSE LIST VIEW FOR A SIMPLE LIST OF ALL LISTED SCHOOLS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN SELECT SCHOOLS USING THE MAP BELOW.

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