Feynman School Closing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FFS just go to public school.

So my children can master the English language as you have? No thank you.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t want to be a board member. They’re going to get sued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Or, deal with public for the next few months while putting in applications for the Fall.

Unfortunately, this is what we have to do. I also don't want to put my kid in another small school with potentially sketchy finances that isn't the school we wanted for long-term so we'd be applying to the schools we want for the Fall anyway. We didn't budget to pay two private school tuitions for one kid. The school just noticed everyone that no one is getting their money back. So bankruptcy court it is I guess.

Please tell me that this is because teachers are being paid

Teachers are not being paid past Friday, but apparently will still be expected to pack their rooms, hence the extra week of break, or so it seems from what I've heard. Shameful behavior from the administration.

[Anonymous]

How can they not return the money? What did they do with that money? Who exactly is responsible for this?

I’m sorry for the families and staff who are now out of a job. And if the school expects them to spend unpaid time packing up their rooms, that’s absurd. If it were me, I’d just pack up what’s exclusively mine and leave the rest of the room a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Or, deal with public for the next few months while putting in applications for the Fall.

Unfortunately, this is what we have to do. I also don't want to put my kid in another small school with potentially sketchy finances that isn't the school we wanted for long-term so we'd be applying to the schools we want for the Fall anyway. We didn't budget to pay two private school tuitions for one kid. The school just noticed everyone that no one is getting their money back. So bankruptcy court it is I guess.

Please tell me that this is because teachers are being paid

Teachers are not being paid past Friday, but apparently will still be expected to pack their rooms, hence the extra week of break, or so it seems from what I've heard. Shameful behavior from the administration.

Teachers are not getting paid past the 13th and do not have an answer if they will be paid the last 3 days of school on the final paycheck due to pay period ending days prior. We were told sorry this is your last paycheck and good luck out there! Teachers were being paid in a 12 month period and not in 10 months as stated in our contracts and have had NO response from any members on this issue of underpayment. We expect no response on this issue as we have no response to any issue ever during the school year. Staff learned they would be losing their jobs the same day that parents found out the news with the very same email. Horribly run with no administration and leaving teachers to fend for themselves or thrown under the bus. Such a high tuition when they told us they wouldn’t even buy us tape anymore. What a joke this has been! It’ll be a blessing for the kids to find a solid school wherever it may be and all teachers are here to help kids transfer in any way possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One option for some students:

https://www.baretscholars.org/

HILARIOUS!!!!!! Send business to our buddy Chris WHITTLE, why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Or, deal with public for the next few months while putting in applications for the Fall.

Unfortunately, this is what we have to do. I also don't want to put my kid in another small school with potentially sketchy finances that isn't the school we wanted for long-term so we'd be applying to the schools we want for the Fall anyway. We didn't budget to pay two private school tuitions for one kid. The school just noticed everyone that no one is getting their money back. So bankruptcy court it is I guess.

Please tell me that this is because teachers are being paid

I cannot imagine they are paying the teachers and if they are, they should be providing an education. THis is horrific they are not refunding money.

Teachers are not being paid. We are being underpaid from our contracts and can get no answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can they not return the money? What did they do with that money? Who exactly is responsible for this?

I’m sorry for the families and staff who are now out of a job. And if the school expects them to spend unpaid time packing up their rooms, that’s absurd. If it were me, I’d just pack up what’s exclusively mine and leave the rest of the room a mess.

Look to the head of the school an empty brain who lacks acceptance of fault that she claims to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the school has a GoFundMe fundraiser 6 months ago, seeking to raise $175,000 and only received $1,650.

“If these critical funds are not raised, the students will not have access to the education that they need. No other institution in area provides what they need to thrive.”

https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-minority-students-at-feynman-school?attribution_id=sl:2a5430b1-fa62-4bea-9269-655eb8f82b72&lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Also she posted the same fundraiser more than once and marketed it for minority students as a guilt trip with photos of students that haven’t existed for years! They recommend for families and staff to ask their families and jobs for money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a kid at Feynman 10 years ago. Great parent community, poor leadership, but my kid had a blast there.

I have no proof of this but the rumor mill back in the day was that Susan Gold's father always covered any financial shortfall. He apparently was a successful lawyer and made significant contributions.

This ending is sad to hear. Whoever the educational consultant is, your analysis was spot on. Susan Gold was an educational bleeding heart but was not good at running a business. RIP Feynman.

Yes he did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the school has a GoFundMe fundraiser 6 months ago, seeking to raise $175,000 and only received $1,650.

“If these critical funds are not raised, the students will not have access to the education that they need. No other institution in area provides what they need to thrive.”

https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-minority-students-at-feynman-school?attribution_id=sl:2a5430b1-fa62-4bea-9269-655eb8f82b72&lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Also she posted the same fundraiser more than once and marketed it for minority students as a guilt trip with photos of students that haven’t existed for years! They recommend for families and staff to ask their families and jobs for money.

This is crucial. It shows she has not been honest with parents for many months about her ability to provide the services they paid for. The GoFundMe is dated 14 May. While last year's school was still in session and parents and new families were paying tuition and signing up for next year for an education she knew she couldn't provide. Parents were not informed of any financial issues until an aggressive out of place fundraising plea at back to school night in September. Appreciate whoever found that and posted it!

I'm not seeing the fundraiser posted a second time on GoFundMe, but yes we were told to ask everyone we know for money (completely inappropriate).

She hasn't posted anything on Twitter since 2013, but did post a link to the GoFundMe in mid-August.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can they not return the money? What did they do with that money? Who exactly is responsible for this?

I’m sorry for the families and staff who are now out of a job. And if the school expects them to spend unpaid time packing up their rooms, that’s absurd. If it were me, I’d just pack up what’s exclusively mine and leave the rest of the room a mess.

Organizations go bankrupt all the time. You're one creditor among many. You're behind secured creditors and you're behind the teachers and other staff owed wages. Maybe you can get lucky and prove that they knew this was inevitable and took tuition money anyway. If there is enough evidence that it raise to fraud, then you can go after the school leaders personally, but that's a very hard standard to meet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is it that there isn't operating insurance to cover something like this

Insurance exists for just about everything. Whether or not people are willing to pay for it is a different story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they not return the money? What did they do with that money? Who exactly is responsible for this?

I’m sorry for the families and staff who are now out of a job. And if the school expects them to spend unpaid time packing up their rooms, that’s absurd. If it were me, I’d just pack up what’s exclusively mine and leave the rest of the room a mess.

Organizations go bankrupt all the time. You're one creditor among many. You're behind secured creditors and you're behind the teachers and other staff owed wages. Maybe you can get lucky and prove that they knew this was inevitable and took tuition money anyway. If there is enough evidence that it raise to fraud, then you can go after the school leaders personally, but that's a very hard standard to meet

They'd have to file for bankruptcy. My guess is they'll do everything in their power to avoid doing so and simply dissolve the nonprofit entity. Which leaves few options for staff to try and get wages, let alone families trying to claw back tuition they paid. Unfortunately, I think folks are going to have to sue the individual school leaders personally.

Just in case anyone needs names, here are the folks listed as Officers and Directors in the most recent 990:
Robert M. Gold
Ursula A. Golladay
Philip H. Cullom
Mitzi Wertheim
Susan A. Gold

[Anonymous]

Is there a link that talks about Feynman closing?