At a meeting of the St. James Vestry on April 23, 1821, permission was given to build an Academy on the church grounds. It was to be called "St. James Academy, Baltimore County". In the book, St. James My Lady's Manor by Josh Cockey, it is described as "a small brick building built against the churchyard wall near the place where the driveway now enters the yard at the large gates. The school house faced south, twenty feet in width and in length, running about thirty feet with the wall. It consisted of one full story and a semi-basement." Tuition for the year was $2.00 for reading, writing, ciphering, and grammar; $3.00 for mathematics and geography; and $5.00 for Latin and Greek. An extra $1.00 fee was charged in the winter for heat. School was in session year-round. The Academy was closed sometime before 1893, when the bricks from the school structure were used to construct the church bell tower.
In 1957, the Reverend John Baden and a committee of three parents, Dr. James Miller, Mr. Jay Secor, and Mr. Edward S. Voss Jr., re-established the Academy as a country, parish day school. It opened for Kindergarten through Sixth Grade with an enrollment of fifteen students and a faculty of three. At that time, students met in the Parish Hall for classes. In 1965, the facilities were expanded. Prior to the first AIMS self-study in 1983, the Vestry of St. James Church (with guidance from Dr. Bob Crosby) reorganized the structure of the Academy to include a Board of Trustees and initiated an ambitious long-range plan. Under the Headship of the Reverend Ralph Harper, Mrs. Jill Ellis and Mr. Carl E. Ortman and the leadership of the the Reverend Dr. Heyward H. Macdonald, the school flourished.
As enrollment numbers grew, a successful 1 million dollar capital campaign entitled "A Dream Unfolds" was implemented in 1985 by former Board Presidents, Mr. Arthur Gompf and Mr. Richard Moore. The expansion of the grade structure to include Seventh Grade in 1993-94 and Eighth Grade in 1994-95, was implemented to meet the needs of our growing community. SJA is indeed a place to grow! In 1996 a second capital campaign “Let the Light So Shine” raised 2.5 million dollars under the leadership of Mr. Richard Clarke. A 4.5 million dollar bond issue facilitated completion of Phases I and II of Project 2000, The St. James Center in 1999 and The Science and Technology Wing in 2001. Under the Headship of Dr. Elizabeth Legenhausen, the physical plant of SJA has increased to 103,000 square feet accommodating the current enrollment of 350 students (250 in Grades Kindergarten – Fifth and 100 in Grades Sixth-Eighth), 74.7% of whom live within the immediate communities of Baltimore and Harford counties (20 minute drive). As the reputation of the school spreads beyond the community, the number of inquiries and enrollment applications have strengthened.
St. James Academy is a non-profit organization governed by a self-perpetuating 21 member Board of Trustees (who operate at the behest of the Vestry of St. James Church). The Board meets five times per year to consider the recommendations of its twelve committees (Academic Advisory, Annual Giving/Development, Athletic Advisory, Building/Grounds/Preservation, Building Planning, Capital Campaign, Committee on the Trustees, Faculty/Trustee/Head Relations, Executive, Finance, Long Range Planning, Teacher Compensation). The Academy operates on tuition income with additional revenue generated through our Annual Giving Campaign and Patrons' Association fundraisers.
St. James Academy is a member of AIMS, National Association of Independent Schools, National Association of Episcopal Schools, Middle States Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools, approved by the MD State Department of Education, and an International Baccalaureate MYP world school.