Sidwell Construction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:COVID is superseding everything else. The school is fine financially, stop with the dooming.

I hate people that bring up GDS when talking about SFS, but GDS was able to complete construction and have their buildings open on time even during COVID. I’m not sure how this can be an excuse for SFS, unless the issue is that COVID has negatively affected their finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:COVID is superseding everything else. The school is fine financially, stop with the dooming.

The school still has a large amount of debt from the earlier building projects. Bryan has discussed this. They were trying to pay down that debt while also conducting a campaign to raise over $150 million in new money for the new campus and to boost endowment. I don't know how you define "fine financially" but that is a huge lift under even the best circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COVID is superseding everything else. The school is fine financially, stop with the dooming.

The school still has a large amount of debt from the earlier building projects. Bryan has discussed this. They were trying to pay down that debt while also conducting a campaign to raise over $150 million in new money for the new campus and to boost endowment. I don't know how you define "fine financially" but that is a huge lift under even the best circumstances.

Unfortunately Sidwell are considered a “church” for tax purposes and are exempt from filing a 990. It really would be interesting to have better insight into their financial situation. From everything I have read so far, they are not in terrible shape but there is enough to cause some worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COVID is superseding everything else. The school is fine financially, stop with the dooming.

The school still has a large amount of debt from the earlier building projects. Bryan has discussed this. They were trying to pay down that debt while also conducting a campaign to raise over $150 million in new money for the new campus and to boost endowment. I don't know how you define "fine financially" but that is a huge lift under even the best circumstances.

Yeah - the problem is that this great opportunity to buy and unify the campuses came along, but without the money to carry both campuses for a long period. Now they're in the pickle of turning to current families for money for a new campus that they may not get to enjoy, given how far out it is.

COVID clearly hasn't helped, because like everywhere they had to spend $millions for COVID related upgrades (which, given how little on campus activity there has been, probably was a waste).

[Anonymous]

How much has/will this situation affect admissions? Can we expect better admissions results for full pay and development cases?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much has/will this situation affect admissions? Can we expect better admissions results for full pay and development cases?

I can only guess that the impact on admissions will be that - all things being equal - it will probably help more so now than at any other time to have deep pockets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COVID is superseding everything else. The school is fine financially, stop with the dooming.

I hate people that bring up GDS when talking about SFS, but GDS was able to complete construction and have their buildings open on time even during COVID. I’m not sure how this can be an excuse for SFS, unless the issue is that COVID has negatively affected their finances.

You must be way outside the loop. Sidwell didn’t have the financing for the consolidation/renovation BEFORE covid. The properties were purchased, but the rest was largely fundraising dependent. Before COVID. Keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much has/will this situation affect admissions? Can we expect better admissions results for full pay and development cases?

I can only guess that the impact on admissions will be that - all things being equal - it will probably help more so now than at any other time to have deep pockets.

Schools are ALWAYS looking for families who will reliably and generously support the capital campaign, year in and year out. And yes, it’s probably more true now than before the need for the giant construction project. I wouldn’t think it’s a massive change from most years though. Development families keep the school’s key functions running, including especially financial aid. Not taking a position on this (good, bad, or otherwise), just stating reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COVID is superseding everything else. The school is fine financially, stop with the dooming.

I hate people that bring up GDS when talking about SFS, but GDS was able to complete construction and have their buildings open on time even during COVID. I’m not sure how this can be an excuse for SFS, unless the issue is that COVID has negatively affected their finances.

You must be way outside the loop. Sidwell didn’t have the financing for the consolidation/renovation BEFORE covid. The properties were purchased, but the rest was largely fundraising dependent. Before COVID. Keep up.

NP. If I understand correctly, they may have had the money to renovate the Washington Home buildings but they then went and spent it on an office building next to the post office?

[Anonymous]

Three years on, and eight and a half years since this saga began, not only is there still no progress on construction or consolidating the campuses, I haven't seen any update on the process from the administration in years.

What could the plan possibly be now? At one point they started plastering the parking garage pickup lane with murals and slogans, as if a capital campaign was imminent, but then nothing.

Maybe the mistake was buying 3939 Wisconsin as the poster above said? But that was rented out to the City Ridge construction for years, so hopefully it wasn't too much of a drag on the finances. Now City Ridge is finished. The school is carrying the Washington Home which is badly underused, and still has to at as a commercial landlord for 3939 Wisconsin during a huge office market downturn (seems like it'd be good to admit it was a mistake and sell, but it's a terrible market for that now.)

I was going to say, I'm not angry about this, just incredulous at the years-long radio silence to parents, and that we all go along with it. I wonder if they even mention any of this in admissions -- is there any hope of it ever concluding, or have they just given up on it ever happening so they don't talk about it? So, I guess I'm a little angry. What is the head of school working on that's higher priority than this embarrassment and financial albatross?

(And please don't come with "there's no impact on finances because it's a different pot of money." You could maybe make that claim at the beginning, if there were major gifts made to handle the transition. It's eight and a half years in, and any money donated for those buildings is fundraising hat could have gone to something else. Plus, we all drove past the equipment every day as they put a new roof or something on 3939 Wisconsin. It's not free to carry these buildings.)

[Anonymous]

The board is also culpable for decisions made around this- they should be held accountable, and if you know anyone on the board you are well within your rights to ask them. Most of them are current family members and none of them are above reproach

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP... tongue in cheek comments aside, it really is true that GDS has handled their expansion/consolidation in a much more community friendly way than Sidwell. If you've followed the respective ANC processes, you know this is true. I think this is why so many people refer to GDS as the most authentically "Quaker" school in DC.

I don't know if this is intended to be serious, but it's actually spot on having watched the two processes closely. It's especially the case with respect to carbon emissions, which SFS surprisingly doesn't seem to care much about.

- Non-SFS/GDS parent with no dog in this fight

Why do you say that SFS doesn't seem to care much about carbon emissions?

Because they did the bare minimum that they were required to do in terms of vehicle trip limitations, instead of voluntarily matching the higher standards that GDS agreed to implement (putting aside whether or not GDS had a choice).

I am no GDS hater, nor do I love Sidwell.

But the GDS project is different because it involved tearing down buildings and starting with a 100% new build. This provides far more flexibility than modifying an existing structure. Not to mention, GDS completely ignored their community agreement by exceeding admissions (by A LOT). And, SOO many families do NOT take the bus as is required - dropping off kids in local neighborhood to "walk the rest". This is not community friendly or emissions friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Three years on, and eight and a half years since this saga began, not only is there still no progress on construction or consolidating the campuses, I haven't seen any update on the process from the administration in years.

What could the plan possibly be now? At one point they started plastering the parking garage pickup lane with murals and slogans, as if a capital campaign was imminent, but then nothing.

Maybe the mistake was buying 3939 Wisconsin as the poster above said? But that was rented out to the City Ridge construction for years, so hopefully it wasn't too much of a drag on the finances. Now City Ridge is finished. The school is carrying the Washington Home which is badly underused, and still has to at as a commercial landlord for 3939 Wisconsin during a huge office market downturn (seems like it'd be good to admit it was a mistake and sell, but it's a terrible market for that now.)

I was going to say, I'm not angry about this, just incredulous at the years-long radio silence to parents, and that we all go along with it. I wonder if they even mention any of this in admissions -- is there any hope of it ever concluding, or have they just given up on it ever happening so they don't talk about it? So, I guess I'm a little angry. What is the head of school working on that's higher priority than this embarrassment and financial albatross?

(And please don't come with "there's no impact on finances because it's a different pot of money." You could maybe make that claim at the beginning, if there were major gifts made to handle the transition. It's eight and a half years in, and any money donated for those buildings is fundraising hat could have gone to something else. Plus, we all drove past the equipment every day as they put a new roof or something on 3939 Wisconsin. It's not free to carry these buildings.)

If you are in the Sidwell community, you would know radio silence on this is no different than anything else. I'd argue there's a bit more shared on this topic if you attend and pay attention, as Bryan has covered this in the annual updates. And, of course they don't discuss it in admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP... tongue in cheek comments aside, it really is true that GDS has handled their expansion/consolidation in a much more community friendly way than Sidwell. If you've followed the respective ANC processes, you know this is true. I think this is why so many people refer to GDS as the most authentically "Quaker" school in DC.

I don't know if this is intended to be serious, but it's actually spot on having watched the two processes closely. It's especially the case with respect to carbon emissions, which SFS surprisingly doesn't seem to care much about.

- Non-SFS/GDS parent with no dog in this fight

Why do you say that SFS doesn't seem to care much about carbon emissions?

Because they did the bare minimum that they were required to do in terms of vehicle trip limitations, instead of voluntarily matching the higher standards that GDS agreed to implement (putting aside whether or not GDS had a choice).

I am no GDS hater, nor do I love Sidwell.

But the GDS project is different because it involved tearing down buildings and starting with a 100% new build. This provides far more flexibility than modifying an existing structure. Not to mention, GDS completely ignored their community agreement by exceeding admissions (by A LOT). And, SOO many families do NOT take the bus as is required - dropping off kids in local neighborhood to "walk the rest". This is not community friendly or emissions friendly.

But you’re not a GDS hater 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP... tongue in cheek comments aside, it really is true that GDS has handled their expansion/consolidation in a much more community friendly way than Sidwell. If you've followed the respective ANC processes, you know this is true. I think this is why so many people refer to GDS as the most authentically "Quaker" school in DC.

I don't know if this is intended to be serious, but it's actually spot on having watched the two processes closely. It's especially the case with respect to carbon emissions, which SFS surprisingly doesn't seem to care much about.

- Non-SFS/GDS parent with no dog in this fight

Why do you say that SFS doesn't seem to care much about carbon emissions?

Because they did the bare minimum that they were required to do in terms of vehicle trip limitations, instead of voluntarily matching the higher standards that GDS agreed to implement (putting aside whether or not GDS had a choice).

I am no GDS hater, nor do I love Sidwell.

But the GDS project is different because it involved tearing down buildings and starting with a 100% new build. This provides far more flexibility than modifying an existing structure. Not to mention, GDS completely ignored their community agreement by exceeding admissions (by A LOT). And, SOO many families do NOT take the bus as is required - dropping off kids in local neighborhood to "walk the rest". This is not community friendly or emissions friendly.

GDD exceeded admissions because so many more people switched to private during Covid, and their yields were much higher than they had expected. What did you want them to do - revoke admission offers? And they are got into compliance as soon as they could - please see all the complains on this board about how few offers they made the last couple of years.

Now the traffic part I know nothing about. But I believe most private school parents are selfish and entitled, so I wouldn’t be surprised.