My mother, Carole Nysmith, was our founder. Carole was a career public school teacher in many different California and Fairfax County schools. Her last teaching assignment was in Fairfax County’s GT program, now known as the AAP program.
Carole loved teaching. But the longer she taught, the more frustrating she became as she realized that there was not enough time to address the true potential of the students with class sizes ranging from 25 to as many as 40+ children.
Carole met with students before school, during lunch, and even after school. However, the more time she devoted, the more frustrated she became as it became clear just how big the gap was between what she could do in the time she had available and where the children’s true academic potential lay. It broke her heart to realize that she was not able to help her students reach their true potential.
While talking with another GT teacher in the school, Carole mused about what the possibilities could be if a school had smaller classes and a much lower student-to-teacher ratio. The more she thought about how transformational a program like that would be for children with an aptitude for learning, the more the musing became a plan. In 1983, Carole made up her mind, quit her teaching job with the County, and began to hire teachers and secure a location to begin her experiment.
It was financially difficult. Although Carole’s husband Bob, was an assistant director for NASA, he was still a government employee, so finances were tight. Carol borrowed money from the inheritance that her children had received from their grandparents, sold her small condo in Ocean City MD, and put her house on the line for a loan to start the school. As any entrepreneur will attest, the early years are very challenging emotionally and financially.
Carole found a location for the school in the old Reston visitor center near Lake Ann. It was a small building nestled into an apartment complex. And while it had lots of windows, it was a bit limited in that it had three classrooms and one toilet. Although it was very small, it was filled with the joy of learning. Carol’s vision of the school was that learning should be fun. Carole was also a visionary. She believed that STEM education was a critical piece of the educational puzzle she was assembling long before STEM became an acronym. She also incorporated many other revolutionary ideas such as daily foreign language, logic, performing arts, and perhaps most importantly, an emphasis on happiness into the children’s daily curriculum.
The Nysmith School began in September 1984 with 55 students and seven teachers. The school ran on a shoestring for a long time. However, Carole discovered that the low ratios she mused about transformed every part of the education she delivered to the children. Not only did she find that the low ratios would allow her to teach them to their true potential and meet their academic needs, but it was also more fun for the children and the teachers. Creating an environment where the children could share ideas and nurture the social skills of the children in a way that was impossible in the larger class sizes.
Slowly but steadily, the school grew over the years, moving several times as it outgrew each facility and moved into larger locations. Eventually, Carole found a piece of property on EDS Drive with 13 and a quarter acres on which she could build a school that incorporated the best ideas she had found worked over the slightly more than 20 years that the school had been operating.
Carole’ son Ken agreed to join the school in 1985 for a “couple of years” to help Carole manage many of the support role functions that are necessary to successfully run a small business. Although Carole relinquished her title as head of school to her son Ken in 2012, she remained very actively involved in the school’s leadership until her passing in 2019.
September 2024, the Nysmith School celebrates its 40th anniversary moving from concept to fruition. Over the years the school’s reputation grew. Nysmith went from being a small niche school to a medium-sized destination school where the unique education and the profound benefits to both its students and teachers were so profound that the school now attracts families from all over the world. Families have quit their jobs, sold their homes, and moved to the area specifically for their children to attend The Nysmith School.
South Africa
Sydney, Australia
