"The school was distressed by the prospect that the farm would be sold and developed," said Head of School Andrew Vadnais. "We worried about what would happen to the land."
'Estate Sites'
The farm, which was listed with Bain Real Estate in Kent, was advertised as having "enormous potential with over a mile of town road frontage, sweeping views and lake frontage. ... There are several fabulous estate sites that could be selected and developed ... ."
South Kent School has a 500-acre campus on Bull's Bridge Road that borders Hatch Pond, and the Arno Farm, which is owned by retired professor Datlva Vagts, also borders the pond. The farm has been listed in two parcels, a 21-acre parcel priced at $800,000 and the 200-acre farm listed for $2,500,000.
Mr. Vadnais was quick to point out that the private preparatory school is not purchasing the land. Instead, 128 acres would be purchased by alumnus F. K. Day of Chicago, Class of '78, and leased to the school. Mr. Vadnais also stressed that sale has not yet been closed and that variables remain.
"This [proposal] is still a big 'if'," he said, saying that an "intent to purchase" has been signed and that an environmental consultant is currently reviewing the land. He said that the purchase would include the farm buildings and surrounding acreage and that there is the possibility that additional parcels could be donated by the Vagts family.
"We are working with the Kent Land Trust to partner there," Mr. Vadnais said.
Professor Vagts, whose family has owned the land since the early 1940s, reportedly wanted to keep the land in farming but is selling because his daughters are not interested in it. The Arno family, which has farmed the property for 40 years, has a lease that expires in 2013. Mr. Vadnais said he did not know whether that lease would remain in place. "That is between the Arnos and Professor Vagts," he said.
Hatch Pond, the connective tissue between the farm and the school is also a focal point for the property's future. Mr. Vadnais said the school would use the parcel "to work with the students to understand global climate change." A primary focus would be an effort to reclaim Hatch Pond, which is dying after 200 years of exposure to human industry. "It would be part of our stewardship program to see if we can save Hatch Pond," said Mr. Vadnais. "I don't know if we will be successful, but in many ways it is the process that counts [for the students]."
A 2006 report by limnologist George W. Knoecklein, of Northeast Aquatic Research, indicated that the pond is "extremely eutrophic." Eutrophication is defined as "a process whereby water bodies ... receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth." Mr. Knoecklein said Hatch Pond is producing large of amounts of phosphorus and cited the lack of oxygen below the four-foot level in the summer and extensive weed growth as other problems he found with the pond.
Some of the problems with the pond are exacerbated by nutrient run off from the Arno Farm.
The school is committed to its new curriculum on environmental change, whether the farm becomes available to it or not. "One of the philosophical parts of the program is to look at the interface between humans, animals, the environment and technology," Mr. Vadnais said.
Mark Berghold, director of academic resources at South Kent, said there is almost a "complete disconnect" for 90 percent of South Kent School students between their "virtual" lifestyles and the land.
Mr. Vadnais said the campus at the farm would address such issues as sustainability, and that there would be "some kind of farm." The boys would raise organic produce, which would be used at the school. Mr. Vadnais said the production of the food would be part of the school's effort to become "carbon neutral" by 2020.
In establishing the agricultural operation, the school would return to its roots. South Kent School was established in 1923 on a former dairy farm and in the early days there were not many activities there in which the boys were not involved, including harvesting crops grown on the farm for the students' consumption.
The 2010 version of this model would see the Arno farm converted into a separate campus with about 15 students housed there as part of a semester-long course of studies. Although plans are still developing, it is possible the program would be open to students from other schools.
"We want to make sure that every student has the opportunity to take part in this program," said Mr. Vadnais. "There will be some kind of requirement because we want them to be introduced to the need for global change. Institutions of education have to start dealing with these issues. These are challenges that will be significant for these kids and it would be wonderful if they take and interest and say, 'Things have to change.'"
Rick Chavka, associate head of school and director of the global center, said that South Kent is already member of the Green Schools program. He said implementation of the developing program depends to a large extent on the environmental studies currently being undertaken at the farm. He predicted that the school could start a small program at the farm "as early as next fall."
South Kent has 152 boys enrolled this year, and about 20 percent of its population is drawn from foreign countries. This factor opens another avenue to the school, with administrators seeing the possibility of exchange programs to expose the students to environmental initiatives around the world.