When it was announced that the all-girls Hockaday Residence Program in North Dallas would close, alumni Sara Speer Selber felt profoundly sad. “My first thought wasn’t a ‘thought’; it was one-hundred-percent emotional because girls will not have the opportunity to have the international experience that I had,” she said.
Ela Hockaday was an educator, administrator, and socialite who founded the original Miss Hockaday’s School for Girls in 1913 based on the cornerstones of character, courtesy, scholarship, and athletics. She was a member of the Texas Philosophical Society, the Dallas Philological Society, the Virgilian Society of America, the Dallas Woman’s Club, and the Dallas Garden Club.
“I have such a profound respect for what Ela Hockaday envisioned,” Selber told Dallas Express. “She was very specific. She chartered Hockaday as a boarding school and day program and she left the school to the alum.”
But in April, the Board of Trustees voted to eventually close the Hockaday Residence Program with a target date of May 2025.
“The reality is that long-term market pressures led to persistent challenges in the program, affecting enrollment, finances, and the student experience,” said Dr. Karen Warren Coleman, who serves as the Eugene McDermott Head of School at Hockaday. “Based on a series of reviews of the long-term trends and challenges over many years, the Board took an action it believed was the responsible one, educationally and fiscally.”
In protest, Selber, a 1975 graduate of the illustrious private school, organized a group of 470 Hockaday alumnae called Save Hockaday Boarding.
“What we have been doing is asking for information from the Board of Trustees and the school and what we have been asking for consistently is to sit down and meet with an ad hoc committee that has been formed that is full of professionals that could help build a globally recognized and financially sustainable resident’s program for the school,” Selber said in an interview. “That’s all we’re asking for is a meeting and it hasn’t happened.”
However, Coleman told Dallas Express that there were many meetings leading up to the decision to close the boarding program.
“We have had multiple meetings and conversations throughout this process and those meetings have been open to all alumnae,” she said. “We’ve been as transparent as possible and, in that regard, have held meetings with multiple groups of alumnae to share our research and get their input during the Board’s review process and then to bring them up to speed on the decision.”
But Selber insists the school has not been treating them equally.
“The Board of Trustees has never had an international Board of Trustees, and has really never had anyone on that board that doesn’t live in Dallas, Texas,” she said. “The border alumnae group has never been in leadership positions, ever. We have never really been approached for much of anything other than to do a $2.5 million match to renovate the boarding department.”
Selber further alleges the school has not produced any documents in response to a request for an accounting of their donations.
Coleman responded to that allegation in an interview, stating: “All donations to Hockaday have been used for the purposes for which they were designated. Donations to boarding are used for the Boarding Program.”
Of the 1,115 students currently enrolled at Hockaday overall, 44 are boarding students, according to data provided by Hockaday, which is just under 4% of student enrollment.
For the past five years, enrollment in the boarding program has hovered between 70 to 80 students, up to 7% of overall student enrollment.
“As the program transitions, we are continuing to look at a number of initiatives to further enhance the educational and global learning experience at Hockaday,” Coleman said. “The school will develop plans for expanding day enrollment and financial aid, developing partnerships and outreach to recruit diverse students, faculty and staff, and continuing to enhance the student experience and support student well-being.”
In addition to closing the boarding school, the administration recently announced a modification to their policy, which creates a new option for students who choose not to wear the traditional Hockaday graduation dress.
“Beginning with the Class of 2022, in addition to the white dress chosen by their class, seniors will have the option to graduate in a traditional white academic graduation robe and mortarboard in addition to or as an alternative to the graduation dress,” Coleman said. “This change is designed to ensure every student feels included and celebrated on graduation day.”
Julie Allen, a boarder at Hockaday who graduated in 1983, has fond memories of the dress code and her stay at the school. “I loved my years at Hockaday,” she said. “I boarded four years and it was a tremendous experience. It was just fabulous for me. I’ve always thought that the true Hockaday experience involved boarding. To me, the day students only got half the experience.”
Allen also liked the traditional aspects of the Hockaday experience, which included wearing a white dress on graduation day.
“When you come into the school, when you accept a place at the school, you know that you’re going to do that at the end,” Allen told Dallas Express. “You could choose a hat from a variety of colors, and then you got to adorn it with flowers. I don’t really see a problem with wearing a white dress for a couple of hours to continue a tradition.”
Although Miss Hockaday’s era has ended, the school’s vision remains the same, according to Coleman.
Hockaday’s mission today is: “Believing in the limitless potential of girls, Hockaday develops resilient, confident women who are educated and inspired to lead lives of purpose and impact.”
“Ela Hockaday foresaw the changing role of women and provided each of her students a rigorous, classical education — unusual for girls’ schools of the time,” Coleman said. “By allowing Hockaday to refocus resources, we will better enable the school to expand access for ethnically, globally, and socio-economically diverse students in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth community.”
According to Hockaday data, 44% of current day-school enrollment self-identifies as a student of color.
“This is the highest number in our school’s history, and has risen from 36% just two years ago,” Coleman added. “This effort will build on Hockaday’s long history of excellence, deep roots in Dallas, and commitment to preparing young women of all backgrounds for lives of purpose and impact.”