This story is part of our January 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

As a Jesuit High School graduate, I am writing to express my sincere concern about Jesuit High School’s Board of Trustees’ sudden decision to change the fundamental mission of the school by converting to a coeducational institution. The views expressed below are my own but also shared with many community leaders, including Julie Teel, Bill Warne and a multitude of alumni, parents and other important members of our local and regional community.

For 60 years, Jesuit High School has done something both simple and profoundly difficult: It has taken teenage boys — forces of chaos, appetite and uneven judgment — and formed them into disciplined, reflective, service-oriented young men, “Men for Others.” That is not a niche project; it is something important to Sacramento and this region.

Jesuit’s stated mission is clear and unapologetic: “A Roman Catholic college preparatory dedicated to forming competent young men as conscientious leaders in compassionate service to others for the greater glory of God.” As we all know, that mission has worked. Over 12,000 alumni, now entrepreneurs, developers, builders, soldiers, teachers, judges, attorneys, physicians, fathers and husbands, stand as a living testament to Jesuit’s decades of success.

Yet today, with little warning and less transparency, the school proposes to abandon its founding identity by transitioning to coeducation. The rationale offered is financial necessity. But the process and the premise deserve far more scrutiny and transparency than they have received.

Jesuit’s revered former president, Rev. John P. McGarry, S.J., articulated the school’s purpose with admirable clarity: “I am committed to collaborating with our outstanding faculty, staff, administrators and the Board of Trustees, and partnering with our parents, to further the important mission of Jesuit High School in continuing to educate and form young men.” The emphasis is not incidental. “Young men” are not a placeholder term, nor a vestige of outdated language. They are the subject of the mission.

Rev. McGarry has also explained the outcome Jesuit seeks: “We want Jesuit students to be men of integrity and honesty; men who are respectful, faithful, generous, and grateful. … Men for and with Others who work for the Greater Glory of God.” This is formation, not merely instruction. And formation depends on environment.

Single-sex education, particularly for adolescent boys, is not driven by ideology. It is an educational choice supported by decades of experience at Jesuit and many other institutions. Boys take intellectual risks differently. They respond differently to discipline, mentorship and competition. Anyone who has spent time in a Jesuit classroom (or a locker room) understands this intuitively.

Which makes the suddenness of the decision all the more puzzling. As Chair-Elect Dr. Amy Rogers put it, “Jesuit High School is not a school with a mission. We are a mission with a school.” That is a stirring phrase, but it cuts both ways. If Jesuit is truly “a mission with a school,” how can the very population the mission was designed to serve be so easily altered?

To many alumni and parents, the move feels less like discernment and more like a declaration. No comprehensive, independent financial study that warrants the change was done. No broad appeal to alumni was made, despite an exemplary and generous history that has quickly funded chapels, stadium lights and scholarships for decades. Apparently, the mission was immutable right up until the moment it wasn’t.

Let’s be clear: This is not an argument against educating young women. Nor is it nostalgia masquerading as theology. It is an argument that Jesuit High School occupies a distinct and valuable place in our community precisely because it focuses on forming boys into men of character. In an era marked by social fragmentation, declining male educational outcomes and a crisis of purpose among young men, dismantling one of the region’s most successful models seems…bold. Or reckless. Possibly both.

If finances are the concern, there are alternatives that do not require abandoning Jesuit’s identity.

First, Jesuit should launch a comprehensive alumni-led capital and endowment campaign explicitly tied to preserving the all-boys mission. With over 12,000 alumni, many deeply loyal to the school’s traditions, this is not a fantasy. It is a missed opportunity. Alumni have repeatedly shown they will give generously when asked and when they believe the mission is being honored. And they have already done so here, having immediately pledged over $4 million to preserve this mission.

Second, Jesuit can restore and publicize the rigorous academic and behavioral standards that once made admission a badge of honor. Scarcity creates value. Excellence attracts families. Reclaiming Jesuit’s reputation as the region’s most demanding — and rewarding — college preparatory experience would strengthen enrollment without diluting identity.

Third, Jesuit should expand mission-aligned partnerships, internships and leadership programs that make the school unmistakably attractive to families seeking formation, not just credentials. Alumni networks can and should play a central role here as well, connecting students to real-world service and professional mentorship that reinforces the “men for others” ideal.

None of these paths is easy. But neither is transforming boys into men. Jesuit has never chosen the easy road — and that is precisely why it has succeeded.

The question facing Jesuit is not whether change is necessary. It always is. The question is whether change should mean abandoning what has worked for 60 years. Before rewriting the mission, Jesuit owes it to its community to exhaust every option consistent with that mission.

After all, if Jesuit truly is “a mission with a school,” then preserving that mission should be the first priority — not the first casualty.

Kryiakos Tsakopoulos is a 1989 graduate of Jesuit High School,  a Hillsdale College Trustee, and co-chairman and president of AKT Investments.

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