St. Margaret’s School has been an ubiquitous part of the town of Tappahannock for over a hundred years, but recent events have put the school’s future in jeopardy.

The Church Schools of the Diocese of Virginia (CSDV) decided to close the school down in July 2025. But the desire to keep the school open is strong enough that a nonprofit initiative—the Foundation for St. Margaret’s School— came into being, the result of many alumni, former faculty, and members of the community banding together.

The story started back in October 2024, when the CSDV informed the St. Margaret’s School Board of Governors that the school had to meet a “cash test” that would allow it to issue employment and enrollment contracts for the upcoming year. The goal? $2.6 million, which was raised via pledges and donations by February 2025.

Meeting the cash test threshold, the school was allowed to issue the contracts for the 2025–2026 school year. Then came the rug pull.

Trouble arrived on May 28, 2025, when the CSDV notified parents, alumni, and employees that it had concerns about St. Margaret’s being able to be open come fall, doubting that the school could enroll 79 students and collect pledges by June 30. The CSDV then sent contract amendments for families and employees to sign in order to remain enrolled or employed, which acknowledged the possibility of the school being closed for the fall season.

On July 10, 2025, the CSDV Board members, aside from two representatives from St. Margaret’s, voted to close the school down, even after St. Margaret’s managed to meet and exceed another cash test goal, this time $2.7 million. The matter has been working its way through the Essex County Circuit Court ever since, with the plaintiffs arguing that the school has sufficient resources and students to support continuing operations.

A friend of the school made an offer to purchase the campus off the hands of the CSDV for $6 million, but the offer was turned down.

On July 30, the Foundation for St. Margaret’s School (FSMS) was incorporated and put together for the stated purpose of “fundraising, resource management, operation, and advocacy for a girls’ school in the Episcopal tradition, in Tappahannock, Virginia.”

At the helm of this board are members from what was once the school’s Board of Governors. It achieved 501(c) (3) status and worked to reestablish the school through fundraising, advocacy, and other methods, even renting a building on Water Lane and offering programs that included music lessons, rowing, and prep for the SATs, with the ultimate goal of trying to acquire the original campus on Water Lane.

The CSDV seems to have other plans, having stated that it would not discuss the matter further with the plaintiffs until a real estate assessment and site use analysis were completed. By October, neither had been provided.

That led to a new lawsuit against the CSDV on December 22, 2025, which argued that the closure of St. Margaret’s by the CSDV was “a breach of fiduciary duties, a violation of trust law, and an abandonment of the school’s charitable purpose,” with the plaintiffs including those who were once part of the Board of Governors, the chair of the FSMS, as well as two people who had served on the CSDV’s Board when the vote to close the school was conducted.

The case has continued up to this point, even after the CSDV filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that this was the internal affair of a religious organization over which the courts lacked jurisdiction.

Following another motion for dismissal by the CSDV on April 7, the next big decision is due to drop on April 20. A press release issued by FSMS stated that Judge John Martin indicated that a decision will be rendered on that day on whether the case goes forward or not.

It had been argued in the courtroom by the CSDV that it and the school were, from a legal standpoint, “one and the same,” with a comparison drawn to the situation surrounding the decision by Coca-Cola to discontinue Northern Neck Ginger Ale back in 2020.

“Just as Coca-Cola was legally entitled to pull the popular drink from grocery store shelves in order to reduce competition and strengthen its other product lines, CSDV has the same authority to make decisions about St. Margaret’s regardless of the school’s history, community ties, or the wishes of those who support it,” the press release argued.

Chap Petersen, the attorney for St. Margaret’s, argued against this view, stating, “The analogy was meant to justify CSDV’s legal authority. Instead, it confirmed precisely what this community already knows: CSDV trustees with no ties to St. Margaret’s School and Tappahannock are making boardroom decisions to erase a 104-year-old institution just as Coca-Cola erased a regional treasure it never truly understood or valued.

“CSDV cannot behave like a trustee for 100 years, i.e., holding funds for an all-girls’ school in Tappahannock, and then claim in court that the trust never existed. Under its bylaws, CSDV maintained a separate school board and foundation specifically for St. Margaret’s. It solicited charitable donations under specific conditions and administered them through a system of shared governance. Virginia statutory and case law recognizes that when that occurs, the assets are held in trust for that designated purpose and no other.”

Petersen concluded his remarks, stating, “The alumni of St. Margaret’s, people of Tappahannock, Essex County, and the broader Northern Neck region built this school. They donated to it. They sent their daughters to it. They worked there. And they were promised that their gifts would serve one purpose: the education of young women at that historic campus in Tappahannock, Virginia. They are simply asking for the Court to let the case go forward.”

If the ruling goes for the plaintiffs, then the case goes on, with April 29 being teased as a potential date. If it goes in favor of the CSDV, then the case is tossed.