In a recent Gallup/Walton Family Foundation study, teachers shared that, regardless of their level of job satisfaction, they are feeling burned out. The October 2025 SAIS Pulse Perspectives revealed that one of the leading causes of faculty and staff departures is “personal/family decisions,” which may be an indicator of the heavy loads being carried by faculty and staff.
In the high-achieving culture of independent schools, there is often an unspoken pressure to perform at the highest level – to do more and to do it better and more quickly. While this drive for excellence can be a strength, it can also create environments where wellness – among faculty and staff, but also with administration, students, and families – feels countercultural or secondary. Porter-Gaud School (Charleston, SC), which serves approximately 1,000 students ages 2 through grade 12, shares how wellness has become a central, strategic priority for the entire school community, moving beyond short-term wellness initiatives toward a lasting culture with built-in support systems.
Institutionalizing Wellness: Policies and Structures
Faculty and staff cannot nurture a sense of belonging in students if they themselves do not feel cared for, valued, and supported. The Episcopal identity of Porter-Gaud calls the school to honor human dignity and to see each person as a whole being: intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and physical. This conviction led Porter-Gaud to place wellness at the heart of its work.
The school’s current strategic focus on wellness was originally guided by two standing board committees, the Community Engagement and Belonging Committee and the Wellness Committee, which helped the school strategize and articulate wellness as an institutional priority. Building on that foundation, Porter-Gaud also created a Wellness Committee for faculty and staff, which ensures that employee voices shape priorities and practices and provides a space for surfacing needs, ideas, and recommended changes that directly impact daily life at the school.
One of the most significant structural shifts for Porter-Gaud has been the creation of the Office of Community Engagement and Wellness, led by Dr. Yerko Sepúlveda. This office brings together belonging, service, and wellness under one coordinated vision. By uniting these areas, the school affirms that wellness is not only about personal health, but also about the ways people feel valued, connected, and sustained through meaningful service to both the internal school community and the broader local community.
Cultural Practices That Enhance Belonging
To build community, Porter-Gaud School follows traditions and everyday practices that foster connection. At both the beginning and end of the year, Head of School DuBose Egleston hosts large celebrations to thank faculty and staff for their commitment to the school community. These moments of recognition set a tone of gratitude and remind the community of the collective spirit that anchors the work.
Each division also has a faculty representative who meets regularly with Egleston, creating an intentional bridge between faculty and administration and ensuring that questions, ideas, and concerns are not only voiced, but also considered in shaping schoolwide decisions. Faculty know their perspectives matter because there is a dedicated system for listening and responding.
Faculty and staff are also invested in innovative practices. When a new initiative or need arises, colleagues are openly invited to join committees and task forces that help shape the direction of the work, as evidenced most recently with the school’s year-long focus on developing “Dialogue Across the Community” guidelines and lessons during election season. Group participants include representation from all school divisions and administration, reflecting a true spirit of collaboration and shared purpose.
Porter-Gaud hosts several groups to provide a communal space for the sole purpose of building community well-being, with strong buy-in from faculty and staff. Groups are wide ranging, including a support group for faculty who have lost a loved one or who are caring for a loved one who is ill, the Faculty and Staff of Color group, and summer meetups, such as a bi-weekly faculty workout group and a summer book club. A robust new faculty cohort is supported both at the beginning of the school year, as well as with coordinated gatherings throughout the cohort’s entire first year.
Together, these traditions, celebrations of commitment, structures for voice, groups, and open invitations to co-create help faculty and staff feel seen, valued, and connected to one another in ways that strengthen both the school culture and mission.
Leadership: Modeling and Accessibility
The Porter-Gaud leadership team actively models well-being through both words and intentional actions,placing care for people at the center. Leaders consistently interact with faculty, staff, and students in ways that prioritize human needs, whether by stepping in to cover a class, checking in on how someone is doing, or pausing to listen with presence. These gestures send a powerful message that well-being is not an afterthought but a shared responsibility.
Egleston and the division heads also create spaces for pause, encouraging the community to slow down amidst the busyness of the school day. They embody servant leadership, demonstrating that leadership is rooted in service, humility, and care. This extends to small but meaningful practices, such as choosing healthy lunches and gathering around a meal with colleagues, providing moments that nourish both body and relationship.
With an open-door policy, leaders remain approachable, signaling that no concern is too small and that all voices matter. The senior leadership team extends this same ethic of care to one another, checking in regularly and fostering space for honesty, vulnerability, and mutual support. In doing so, the team models that leadership is not about carrying burdens alone, but about cultivating a culture where well-being is visible, shared, and deeply valued.
To protect valuable faculty and staff time, Porter-Gaud streamlines internal communications and announcements through a central channel, the internal faculty and staff newsletter. “This Week at Porter-Gaud” condenses everything faculty and staff need to know into one weekly email, reducing the email burden while also fostering a positive culture by celebrating personal milestones and professional achievements as a community. The email open rates average around an astounding 80%. Time-sensitive announcements or changes in policies and procedures are communicated in stand-alone, vetted emails that are intentionally scheduled to prevent email fatigue and increase engagement.
Wellness and Data: Informed Decision Making
With a strategic focus on wellness, Porter-Gaud School conducted a full evaluation of all related curricula and programming and hired Dean of Wellness Liz Boeschen in 2023 to lead this work with vision and structure. One of the school’s strategic plan tactics –Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical Wellness – commits Porter-Gaud to implementing research-based programs and coordinated learning practices throughout the school that focus on the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of students, families, faculty, and staff.
The school draws from a variety of surveys and feedback loops of faculty and staff, students (grades 6-12), and parents and caregivers. Taken together, these tools enable Porter-Gaud to view the entire ecosystem of well-being across its community, understanding how adults, students, and families are flourishing or struggling and where attention is most needed.
The results are not static reports but become living guides for action. They allow the school to identify and recalibrate wellness priorities for each school year within a three- to four-year strategic cycle. Insights from these surveys have informed adjustments to the school’s advisory program and drug use prevention program, strengthened approaches to conflict resolution, and clarified the professional support most needed by faculty and staff.
By grounding the work in evidence rather than assumptions, Porter-Gaud ensures that wellness initiatives respond to real needs, remain sustainable over time, and honor the school’s commitment to seeing each member of its community as a whole person.
Connecting Wellness to the Mission
Shifting long-standing cultural norms takes time and persistence. Resistance is natural when wellness is perceived as one more initiative layered onto already demanding schedules, rather than a foundational shift in how we live and work together. Having a defined wellness program provides a system for faculty and staff to focus on their own well-being and incorporate it into student programming. Subsequently, at Porter-Gaud, well-being has become a topic that is frequently discussed throughout the day, both in and out of the classroom.
Porter-Gaud encourages schools to begin with listening and to anchor wellness in your school’s core identity, whether that is faith-based, mission-driven, or community-centered. Frame wellness not as an optional extra but as an essential condition for sustainable excellence. Make small but steady structural changes that demonstrate commitment over time, such as adjustments to scheduling, consistent feedback loops, and visible modeling by leaders. Gradually, these shifts weave themselves into the culture, softening the pressure to constantly perform and making space for both belonging and flourishing.
Special thanks to contributors Liz Boeschen, Dean of Wellness; Catherine Hilpert, Director of Strategic Communications; and Dr. Yerko Sepúlveda, Head of Community Engagement and Wellness.
Ideas Into Action
Porter-Gaud School as an institution is committed to supporting the overall well-being of faculty and staff through a comprehensive set of benefits, resources, and programming. (Expand to learn more.)
Special attention is given to onboarding new faculty to welcome them into the Porter-Gaud School community.
Takeaways for Schools
Faculty and staff wellness isn’t a perk; it’s a strategic investment in the future of schools.
Related Resources
The School Community Feedback Survey is a comprehensive assessment tool designed specifically for independent schools to gather meaningful insights from parents, staff, and students. This survey captures feedback across all critical aspects of the school experience, providing actionable data to drive continuous improvement and strategic decision-making.
