Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences (commonly referred to as Seattle Academy or SAAS) is a coed independent middle and high school located on Seattle, Washington's urban Capitol Hill. As of 2020, school review website Niche ranks Seattle Academy as the seventh best private high school, ninth best college prep private high school, and fifty-eighth most diverse private high school in Washington state. History Seattle Academy was founded by Jean Orvis in 1983, who served as head of school until the 2008-2009 school year. From 2009 to June 2018 the head of school was Joe Puggelli, who previously had a long and varied career, including US Army service, publishing, education, and coaching. In July 2018 long-tenured faculty, staff, and coach Rob Phillips became Seattle Academy's Head of School. The school has a 21-member board, which consists of current parents, alumni parents and alumni of the school. The chair is David Sheppard. The school has 1,069 students. Annual tuition is $39,750 during the 2021–2022 school year. The school consists of grades 6–12. In 2017, the institution broke ground on a $48 million, five-story middle school building located at the intersection of 13th Avenue and Union Street. SAAS consists of six main buildings: the Temple building (the school still shares the same building with the Temple De Hirsch-Sinai), which houses the Upper School Humanities Department; the Vanderbilt Building, the Arts Center, which houses math and art classes; the Gym, complete with a weight room, multiple exercise machines, and a basketball court (SAAS's gym is one of the largest school-owned gyms in the Seattle area); the STREAM Building, a Gold LEED certified facility dedicated to the Upper School Science curriculum; and the Middle School Building, a five-story middle school building which opened in Fall 2018, which is also LEED-certified and targeting LEED Gold. Technology Seattle Academy has an extensive technology program, which includes full-time tech support staff, a fully wireless campus, and mandatory laptops provided for all Upper School students. The middle school has a full computer lab and a number of laptop banks. The school has converted its former Moodle-based academic software to a customized, Schoology-based education software client. Student life Seattle Academy has many student-run clubs and academic teams facilitated by faculty members. Notable teams include: Youth Legislature - multiple state officers elected Speech and Debate - Speech team is often State Champions; both compete at the national level Mock Trial