Composition

In 1948, administrators at Belmont Hill, Brooks, Browne & Nichols (now BB&N), Governor Dummer (now The Governor's Academy), Milton, Noble & Greenough, St. Mark's, and Tabor established the Private School League. From the start, the ISL contained a mix of day and boarding schools, as well as religious and nonsectarian schools. The league changed its name to the Independent School League in 1974.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1960s and 1970s, Middlesex, Groton, St. Sebastian's, Roxbury Latin, St. Paul's, Lawrence, Rivers, and St. George's joined the league.^{[citation needed]} Tabor left the league in 1972 and St. Paul's left in 2017, at which point Tabor rejoined the league.^[4]

Stance on scholarships and postgraduates

The ISL forbids member schools from providing athletic scholarships (or any other scholarships not based strictly on the student's financial need),^[5] a policy that has been met with some controversy. In 2011, the ISL found that Lawrence Academy had granted excessive financial aid to some of its football players, in addition to scheduling too many football practices in the off-season; as a result, the ISL stripped Lawrence of its 2009 and 2010 football conference titles and imposed a three-year bowl ban.^[6] Previously, St. George's (which Lawrence had defeated 48-15 the previous year) "made national headlines" by forfeiting its conference football game against Lawrence,^[6] asserting that the Lawrence team had such a large talent advantage over its conference rivals that playing Lawrence was a safety risk to its own athletes.^[7][8] Citing this policy, St. Paul's left the ISL in 2017;^[9][10] it is now a joint member of the Six Schools League^[11] and the Lakes Region League.^[12]

The ISL also forbids member schools from fielding postgraduate students on their sports teams.^[5] Accordingly, future NBA player Duncan Robinson was required to transfer from Governor's to Phillips Exeter for his postgraduate year.^[13]

Absence of rowing competition

The ISL does not sponsor rowing, even though eight of the sixteen ISL schools (Belmont Hill, Brooks, BB&N, Groton, Middlesex, Nobles, St. Mark's, and Tabor) have boys' and girls' crews.^[14] New England high school rowing is administered by the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA), which was founded in 1947 and predates the ISL by one year.^[15]

Since NEIRA began awarding team championships in 1984 (for boys) and 1989 (for girls), the crews of ISL member schools have won the boys' coxed fours team trophy 32 out of 37 years, and the girls' coxed fours team trophy 18 out of 32 years.^[16] With the exception of Tabor and the now-departed St. Paul's, ISL schools do not compete in boys' and girls' eights, where teams like Kent, Andover, and Exeter participate.^[14][16]

Current Members

Former Member

Football

As of the fall 2023 season, the ISL was divided into the following divisions for football:^[37]

• ISL 7 Division: Belmont Hill, BB&N, Governor's, Lawrence, Milton, St. Sebastian's, Thayer
• ISL 9 Division: Brooks, Groton, Middlesex, Nobles, Rivers, Roxbury Latin, St. George's, St. Mark's, Tabor

Boys' ice hockey

As of the winter 2023-24 season, the ISL was divided into the following divisions for ice hockey:

• Keller Division: Belmont Hill, Governor's, Lawrence, Milton, Nobles, St. Sebastian's, Thayer, Tabor^[38]
• Eberhart Division: Brooks, BB&N, Groton, Middlesex, Roxbury Latin, Rivers, St. George's, St. Mark's^[39]