Will Whittle be around next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got this update!

Parent Community, an update regarding the final investor meeting last night. The final committee vote was shifted by a couple days to allow for some final revisions to the financial model to ensure a positive outcome in the vote. There were meetings late into last night and they continues throughout the day today. As Manny informed the staff this afternoon, there are arrangements being made to meet payroll as this will likely delay funding a few days longer. Chris remains optimistic of a positive and imminent outcome providing long-term capital for the school. In fact, one of the investor groups visited the school today to tour the facility and engage with faculty and students. Thank you for your continued engagement and patience. With school in session, we wanted to wait until Manny updated staff before posting here. We will keep you posted as we hear about the campus visit today, and progress on the model and vote. We realize this is not the finality we are all seeking, but it appears we continue to inch closer.

Thanks for sharing this! It seems incredible that all that stands between hundreds of millions being funded to the school are a few rows on an excel spreadsheet.... Unless Chris Whittle is busy adding a few zeroes to enrollment stats and tuition inflows.. This bizarre saga gets stranger by the day. Hope you and your kids are doing as well as possible under the circumstances

[Anonymous]

My gosh, this just drags on indefinitely. Are they meeting payroll these days?

[Anonymous]

"There are arrangements being made to meet payroll as this will likely delay funding a few days longer.." = hey parents, we need another handout to pay teachers but trust us, the money is almost here. Trust us. Like when we said it was in our 2 week grasp back in mid December

[Anonymous]

..parents making side deals with the corrupt owner to keep him afloat so Larlo can have a college transcript that looks official....while contractors who designed the school, built the school, marketed the school have stood in line over a year with millions and millions in liens, writs and enforcement actions--yikes...better to duck and cover and see what happens as the press will sniff this out....regardless of anyone's good intent to save the day.

[Anonymous]

I think in all of this we are losing the view that these are kids. THe seniors are probably waiting for acceptances and the sophmores and juniors are probably scrambling to land somewhere that will accept them. In all of the drama - we (including myself) have forgotten what impact this will have on these kids. It is just really sad. I hope that local schools will accept them with open arms even if the transcripts are odd and the curriculum is poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think in all of this we are losing the view that these are kids. THe seniors are probably waiting for acceptances and the sophmores and juniors are probably scrambling to land somewhere that will accept them. In all of the drama - we (including myself) have forgotten what impact this will have on these kids. It is just really sad. I hope that local schools will accept them with open arms even if the transcripts are odd and the curriculum is poor.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got this update!

Parent Community, an update regarding the final investor meeting last night. The final committee vote was shifted by a couple days to allow for some final revisions to the financial model to ensure a positive outcome in the vote. There were meetings late into last night and they continues throughout the day today. As Manny informed the staff this afternoon, there are arrangements being made to meet payroll as this will likely delay funding a few days longer. Chris remains optimistic of a positive and imminent outcome providing long-term capital for the school. In fact, one of the investor groups visited the school today to tour the facility and engage with faculty and students. Thank you for your continued engagement and patience. With school in session, we wanted to wait until Manny updated staff before posting here. We will keep you posted as we hear about the campus visit today, and progress on the model and vote. We realize this is not the finality we are all seeking, but it appears we continue to inch closer.

Thanks for sharing this! It seems incredible that all that stands between hundreds of millions being funded to the school are a few rows on an excel spreadsheet.... Unless Chris Whittle is busy adding a few zeroes to enrollment stats and tuition inflows.. This bizarre saga gets stranger by the day. Hope you and your kids are doing as well as possible under the circumstances

I imagine that tightening credit conditions and increasing borrowing costs due to the Federal Reserve’s planned rate hikes are a big part of the equation right now.

[Anonymous]

While the economic backdrop isn't helping, Whittle's issues are far more fundamental: enrollment far below projected, expenses materially greater than revenues, huge pending liens and lawsuits, declining staff and faculty morale.

[Anonymous]

This is a for-profit business. For staff -- teachers, of all people -- to put their own money into it in an attempt to help the kids is depressing and outrageous in the extreme. I hope to God every teacher there stops doing that immediately and never puts a dime into it again.

I know that teachers all over do put money into their schools. But this is not a struggling public school or nonprofit that hasn't been able to raise enough tax or charity funding.

This is a for-profit business that was created primarily to provide a financial return to investors out of tuitions wealthy parents were expected to pay for their children's schooling. It's run by a multimillionaire who, just a year or so ago, repeatedly bragged to anyone who'd listen that he'd raised between 700 million and a billion dollars from such profit-seeking investors to make this an elite institution like no other.

If well-intentioned staff are putting any of their own money into this mess. unfortunately the only result of that will be to prolong the remaining families' hopeful delusion about the school's viability. And that delusion isn't really helping the families or the students. It'll only encourage Whittle to continue his lying and manipulating.

This is a tragedy on so many levels.

Wishing you the very best as you go forward, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a for-profit business. For staff -- teachers, of all people -- to put their own money into it in an attempt to help the kids is depressing and outrageous in the extreme. I hope to God every teacher there stops doing that immediately and never puts a dime into it again.

I know that teachers all over do put money into their schools. But this is not a struggling public school or nonprofit that hasn't been able to raise enough tax or charity funding.

This is a for-profit business that was created primarily to provide a financial return to investors out of tuitions wealthy parents were expected to pay for their children's schooling. It's run by a multimillionaire who, just a year or so ago, repeatedly bragged to anyone who'd listen that he'd raised between 700 million and a billion dollars from such profit-seeking investors to make this an elite institution like no other.

If well-intentioned staff are putting any of their own money into this mess. unfortunately the only result of that will be to prolong the remaining families' hopeful delusion about the school's viability. And that delusion isn't really helping the families or the students. It'll only encourage Whittle to continue his lying and manipulating.

This is a tragedy on so many levels.

Wishing you the very best as you go forward, PP.

I agree with everything you've said except one thing -- Chris Whittle is no multi millionaire. This is probably the most incredible lie that he has been able to peddle (and is likely the reason he is so desperate to keep the school afloat to keep the illusion alive a little longer). What is likely closer to the truth is that he is flat broke. He was foreclosed on out of his multi hundred million mansion in the Hamptons last year because he was completely underwater on it... (how else does a house once listed for $140 million sell at auction for a credit bid of 700k?!).. His very wealthy wife filed for divorce late last year cutting off his access to her purse.. And now, since the DC campus is the one "asset" he's left with, he is apparently getting faculty and administrators to go into debt to prop up the sinking ship and having parents donate to cover payroll. Beyond reprehensible. Truly a tragedy for so many children as well as the faculty with careers and families to think of..

[Anonymous]

Will this thread outlast Whittle?

[Anonymous]

This thread has generated more in advertising revenues for DCUM than Whittle has generated in tuition!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many students do they have currently?

Around 160-170 I believe, after some decided to leave over winter break.

[Anonymous]

How many teachers are still working?

[Anonymous]

Why was the very heartfelt post from a current teacher / admin detailing all that is going on at the school deleted by mods?